Voters dumped two incumbents and foiled a re-election bid by a former City Council member in an election focusing on controlled growth.

Running in her first contested bid to represent District 3, Julie Davis lost to businessman Fred W. Jones by a 10 percent margin, according to unofficial results of Tuesday's general election.Jones said the victory margin would have been greater had he not misunderstood the intentions of Salt Lake newspapers wanting his pre-election input and a photograph. He thought they wanted him to advertise, so he declined saying he didn't have aspirations to become a professional politician.

That got misconstrued into a statement that he didn't have any desire to win, but only wanted to push Davis to work harder.

Jones rescued his bid - which he thought was almost derailed by the misunderstanding - with a door-to-door campaign where he cleared up his intentions and found out what residents' needs are.

"That's why the vote was the way it was. The people wanted fresh viewpoints and ideas," said Jones. "I hope to represent the area well and resolve some issues that face the area."

Chief among those issues in District 3, which covers the northeast quadrant of the city, is economic development.

Jones, 39, is a third generation Murray native. He is chief executive of Westech Fuel Equipment, F.W. Jones and Associates real estate development, and Westech Glass. He is married and has two children.

Davis was appointed to the council in January 1987 to fill an unexpired term and ran uncontested the following November.

Also losing a chance for a second term was Mary Jane Ashton, losing her District 5 seat by a wide margin to Leon B. Robertson.

A retired associate vice president at the University of Utah, Robertson, 61, has also served on the Murray Civil Service Commission, Murray Advisory Board and a location task force for Murray City Hall.

He said he supports selective economic development and opposes combining Murray's services with the county.

In the race for District 1, incumbent P. Gary Ferrero defeated rival Gene H. Rosvall, who had held the seat before Ferrero ousted him four years ago.

With the election behind him, Ferrero said he will continue his work of balancing economic growth with residential and commercial needs, and Murray's past traditions.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my first four years and my work is not finished," said Ferrero, the current council chairman and private attorney.

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(Additional information)

The ouster of Julie L. Davis and Mary Jane Ashton from the City Council is sending a signal to Murray city politicians: Don't count on winning a second term.

Since Murray switched to a council-mayor government in 1981, only two incumbents have been re-elected after serving a full four-year term.

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The rejection of single-term candidates started in 1985 when incumbent Mayor LaRell D. Muir and councilwoman Elna Kirkham lost their bids for re-election in the general election. But their successors, Mayor LaVar C. McMillan and councilman Norman Nielsen, lasted only until November 1989.

In 1987, Davis was appointed to the council 11 months before she ran unopposed to secure her seat. Ashton and P. Gary Ferrero unseated the incumbents in 1987.

But, according to Tuesday's unofficial results, Ashton and Davis lost their second term bids making Ferrero only the second incumbent in the past 10 years to have been re-elected after serving a full-term.

The first was Greg Brown, who was re-elected to the council in 1985. In 1989, he tried to step up to mayor but finished fourth in a four-way race.

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