Grantsville voters said no to hazardous-waste incinerators within Tooele County but only by a narrow margin in a non-binding referendum on Tuesday.
The question appeared on the community's municipal primary ballot after residents petitioned the Grantsville City Council, which had rejected two previous requests to poll voters.The closeness of the vote - 42 percent for and 58 percent against - renders the results of little use to the state officials who must make the decision, said retiring Mayor Fred L. Hale.
"It was so close, I don't think it will have any effect," Hale said. "This was just an opinion poll. It was not a binding referendum in any way. Grantsville has no say whatsoever."
The state Solid and Hazardous Waste Committee is reviewing two applications for hazardous-waste incinerators that would be built about 40 miles west of Grantsville.
Hale said that the council never has taken a position on the incinerator, although he personally favors it. The only vote taken by the council was to reject two attempts at putting a referendum on the ballot.
The question finally was added after an initiative petition containing 500 signatures was presented to the council. Some residents fear the incinerator could make Utah a dumping ground for hazardous waste from other states.
Hale said the question should probably have been more specific about where the facility would be located, noting that the proposed site is in a remote desert area already set aside for such purposes.
Similar referendum questions will be on the Nov. 7 general election ballots in Wendover, which is also located within Tooele County, and in rural Millard County.
The incinerator issue may have played some part in the race to succeed Hale. City Councilman Thomas J. Ware, who Hale said opposes the incinerator, came in last place among five candidates with 12 percent of the vote.
But City Councilman Howard L. Murray, who supports the incinerator, according to Hale, garnered the most votes, 259. Murray will face former Councilman Richard L. Castagno, who finished just five votes behind, in November's general election.
By just 25 votes, Grantsville residents rejected the idea of establishing a 4 percent utility tax on gas, electric and telephone bills to raise money to build a $100,000 city recreation complex. That vote, too, was non-binding.
HEBER CITY - A three-way race for mayor was narrowed to two candidates when one-term Mayor Gordon Mendenhall was knocked out with only 19 percent of the vote.
Mendenhall had run on his record of economic development and improved relations with county government, citing the easing of requirements for businesses to move into the city's empty industrial park.
But he was beaten by Heber City Council members Scott W. Wright, the manager of a Heber City drug store who won 59 percent of the vote; and Lincoln A. Rasband, a retired schoolteacher who garnered 22 percent.
Wright, who is completing his second term on the City Council, promised voters he would revive the industrial park board to attract new businesses to the facility.
Rasband, who has served on the council for two years and was mayor of Heber City between 1982 and 1986, wants to further improve the city's relationship with Wasatch County.
In the race between five candidates for two four-year seats on the Heber City Council, only part-time city zoning administrator William Archibald won't appear on the general election ballot.
Archibald came in last place, with 8 percent of the vote, behind incumbent City Councilman Bob Morris, with 32 percent; retired grocery store manager Harris Parcell, with 29 percent; US WEST technician Val W. Draper, with 22 percent; and government contractor Paul Royall Jr., with 9 percent.
PARK CITY - Newcomer John Lamarre, a technical writer for Hercules, was ousted in the three-way race for mayor. The runoff in November will be between City Council members Ann G. MacQuoid, who won 48 percent of the vote, and Brad Olch, who got 40 percent.