Chris Larsen has been a long-standing figure in Ephraim municipal leadership, having served on the city council for 14 years and as Mayor for 6.5 years as of December 1, 2025, according to the December 2025 City Newsletter. His leadership in the city has been noted by fellow officials; for instance, Dennis Nordfelt, writing in the same December 2025 City Newsletter, congratulated Larsen as a winner of a recent municipal election. This election saw a voter turnout of 51% of the registered voters in Ephraim.
Larsen's connection to the city's history is noted in historical cemetery records, as reported by Margie Anderson in the January 2023 City Newsletter. These records indicate that a man named Chris Larsen, who was the father of a former Mayor named Calvert Larsen, was responsible for one of the early water systems in the area. This individual commenced the Larsen Water Project in the summer of 1914, a project that required nearly four years to complete at a cost of $250,000. That historical project involved digging canals and boring a tunnel through the mountain to carry water to farms in Pigeon Hollow.
In more recent years, Larsen has shared personal reflections with the community through a "Mayor's Corner" column. In the January 2023 City Newsletter, Larsen expressed his excitement to serve as mayor and discussed the importance of community support during times of economic difficulty, such as inflation and job insecurity. He shared a personal anecdote regarding his struggle with arthritis, which makes shoveling snow difficult, and credited a neighbor for shoveling his sidewalks and driveway during snowstorms in the two years prior to January 2023.
As of the city's staff directory dated August 18, 2026, Larsen is listed as the Mayor within the Mayor & City Council department. The city's governance includes the City Council, which is a municipality responsible for local administration. The city's administrative functions include managing public notices, such as a notice of a proposed property tax increase posted on July 30, 2026, which was scheduled for a public hearing on August 19, 2026. Such hearings allow citizens to participate in person or virtually to comment on proposed budget changes, such as a proposal to increase property tax revenue by 10.58% above the previous year's budgeted revenue, excluding eligible new growth, according to the July 30, 2026, public notice. Residents can interact with the city government by contacting the office at 435-283-4631 or visiting the official city website.
What this means for Ephraim
For Ephraim residents, the long tenure of Chris Larsen represents a continuous link between the city's historical water projects and modern municipal management. As the city manages contemporary issues like property tax adjustments and water infrastructure, the leadership's experience provides a sense of stability and historical continuity for the community of 5,611 people.
