City officials say they have filled one key position in municipal government and could fill another later this week.
The City Council has named David Tuckett city attorney, replacing Glen Vernon, who served in the position from February to October 1991. Vernon had replaced Dave McMullin, who had served as city attorney for 33 years, with some help from Springville attorney Randy Kester.Although city officials said they wished Vernon good luck in his new post, he added some consternation by also vacating his city administrator duties to accept a similar position in King Salmon, Alaska.
Mayor Richard Harmer said lack of an administrator left the city in dire straits, especially as the city is beginning its fiscal 1993 budgeting.
"I've had some 12-hour or 15-hour days to sort out some things that were left over," Harmer said. "It's certainly kept me busy."
However, he said that city officials could hire an administrator as early as this week. "We held the final interviews last week, so now it's up to the council."
Appointment of a new administrator may also have been delayed because the vacancy occurred during the City Council transition. Fred Swain, Russell Hillman and Kirk Mittelman have replaced Stephen Hanson, JoEllen Whitelock and Mike Rogers, Harmer said.
If the new administrator picks up the slack the way Tuckett has, other city officials will have a much easier time in office, Harmer said.
Tuckett, 29, said he has cleared up a backlog of cases that have existed since Vernon's departure. "It wasn't really too bad. We had about 10 or 12 cases that had sat for a while, but they've been taken care of."
For Tuckett, a 1990 graduate of BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School, the position was the opportunity of a lifetime.
"Usually, these kinds of positions don't come open because the attorneys tend to stick around for a while," Tuckett said.
Though he is relatively inexperienced and young, Tuckett has experience working for Provo City (as an law school intern) and for 4th District Court Judge George E. Ballif as a clerk and bailiff.
He said he quite enjoyed each experience and that "in particular, I enjoyed working in municipal law. There's a bit of criminal prosecution, and the civil side is challenging, too."
In addition to the city attorney work, which is part-time, Tuckett said he plans to open up a private practice, working out of his office in the Payson City Offices, as had McMullin previously.