Listening, openness, accessibility and plenty of hugging. Those are the buzzwords in this year's Bountiful municipal elections.
In what may be linked to Mayor Dean Stahle's stunning loss in the primary elections, candidates have been doing everything they can think of to distance themselves from the perceptions of poor public involvement and aloofness, deserved or not, that have surrounded the Stahle era.Candidates have been promising everything from not holding as many closed meetings, to mayoral candidate George Burbidge's proposal to hold a "Hug the Mayor Day" and create a "kinder, gentler, safer" city.
Council candidates Leslie Foy, Renee Coon and Roger Winslow said at a recent public forum they would never vote to close a public meeting. Another council candidate, Arnell Heaps, has campaigned to promote better communication between city council members and residents. Voters will choose two four-year council members.
Burbidge and mayoral opponent Bob Linnell have proposed volunteer committees to get the public more involved in important issues. Specifically, they have said they would use a committee to avoid a repeat of a recent redevelopment agency decision to contract with a developer to build a shopping and entertainment complex on Main Street. The decision was criticized because of little public notice and input.
Linnell said he wants to create an arts council to advise the city council on decisions regarding visual and performing arts.
He's pledged to try to get council meeting agendas published in area newspapers before the meeting. He also wants to publish a quarterly city newsletter that will be mailed out with utility bills.
But it's Burbidge's "Hug the Mayor Day" and his request, if he's elected, that everyone simply call him "George," that's probably the most memorable promise in this campaign of openness.
"George will set up a card table on Main Street or in one of the shopping centers to listen to passing citizens. He wants to hear complaints, praise and would like to give everybody a hug to show that someone in city hall cares," a Burbidge campaign flyer reads.
He also said that he wants to be available weekly to meet with constituents.
Another trademark of this election is the fact that the four council candidates are linked to single issues that helped motivate them to run.
Heaps, a former teacher and south Davis developer, has said that he wants to represent builders and developers on the council. He said he wants to develop new shopping areas in Bountiful.
Coon, a leading opponent of the of a pressurized natural gas pipeline proposed to run through Bountiful, has been frustrated by the city's refusal to join in legal action opposing the pipeline.
"We need to take more aggressive action to keep this from coming through our area," she said.
Foy, who garnered the most votes in the primary election, said he was motivated by his desired to preserve the city's historical values. A member of the city's Historical Preservation Commission, he has been critical of council decisions affecting the fate of historical structures. He also wants the city to prepare for its centennial in 1992.
Winslow, a former city councilman and west-side resident, said his area needs better representation. He said he wants to help better protect the area against encroaching industrial development.