The idea of turning Davis County into what would be Utah's largest city has support from some of the northern Utah county's mayors, even though it would mean they'd be out of a job.
The proposal, being discussed by representatives of the local Council of Governments, would transform the county from 15 separate entities into one big community known as "North Valley City.""I think it is only a matter of time when we have a North Valley City. Economy dictates that," said Syracuse Mayor DeLore Thurgood.
The county has an estimated population of 184,000, with all but about 12,000 people living in incorporated cities. If the county's cities were incorporated into one city today, the resulting city would be Utah's largest, topping Salt Lake City, which has a population of about 165,000.
Thurgood said not every public entity can afford to continue to have its own police and fire department.
"The economy is going to dictate to us. We are going to have to forget about turf," he said.
Thurgood said consolidating services in the north end of the county, similar to what the South Davis Fire District offers, would be a start.
More caution is urged by Layton Mayor James Layton, who says it takes a great deal of cooperation to pull cities together, and before he supported such a plan he would have to see a model.
Layton is concerned about the costs of bringing surrounding cities' building and service regulations up to the standards of Layton City, the largest municipality in the county.
But Clearfield Mayor Neldon Hamblin, who believes consolidating the county into one city may take 30 years, said that in a decade he can see cities close in proximity to one another merging.
"You need to learn to crawl before you can walk and then run," he said.
Sunset Mayor Norm Sant recalled that a few years ago, he proposed a cost-saving merger of Clinton, West Point, Clearfield and Sunset.
"I would like to resurrect that idea," he said.
Sant believes cities need to "down-size government" and the easiest way to do that would be to combine.