Provo gets a younger version of what it had before.
Kelly Atkinson finally gets a chance to get out of the spotlight.Tom Dolan sets a record.
And a handful of incumbent mayors, including those from Orem, Spanish Fork, Payson, Midvale, Taylorsville, Logan, Pleasant Grove, West Point, Roy and Clearfield, get the boot.
The 1997 municipal elections are over, with residents in 230 cities and towns picking their leaders.
Few voter turnout records were set, leaving many newly elected officeholders glad to be in office but disappointed that more residents didn't participate.
- PROVO: Lewis K. Billings, the city's former chief administrative officer, easily defeated City Councilman Karl J. Thalman in the mayor's race.
Billings' victory suggests a majority of Provoans are content with the direction outgoing and often controversial Mayor George Stewart took the city.
"We've got some real great momentum. We don't have to stop the train and turn it around," said Billings, adding that administrations prior to Stewart's also deserve praise for Provo's prosperity. "I think the credit goes way back."
But Stewart's hand-picked successor won't be a clone. Billings, 41, said he'll run the city using more residents than any other administration has over the past 20 years.
"This is the people's government, and they deserve to be involved," he said.
Still, some things will be same. Billings doesn't plan to revisit one of the most volatile issues of the Stewart era: swimming on Sundays. The mayor-elect will leave the Veterans Swimming Pool closed on Sundays.
Billings withstood a vicious attack on his character in the week preceding the election. An anonymous group called Ethics 4 Provo ran a series of newspaper ads questioning his ability to lead the city. Billings fought back and offered a $500 reward for the names of the "faceless and spineless" detractors. Thalman said he didn't have anything to do with the ads.
- WEST JORDAN: Former legislator Kelly Atkinson stumbled badly following his primary election victory and lost handily Tuesday to newcomer Donna Evans.
Atkinson's life, personal and political, couldn't have turned much worse over the past month.
First, he was accused of sexual harassment by a former female employee. Based on those charges, he was fired as executive director of the Utah School Employees Association, a union he helped build for 15 years. He was then sued in court by the former employee.
But his campaign really was sunk by allegations leveled by a former friend that Atkinson had an extramarital affair 15 years ago and - worse for Atkinson - that Atkinson instigated and approved of the former friend's affair with Atkinson's wife.
Atkinson said Tuesday night that he really didn't blame West Jordan voters for turning away from a scandal-scarred candidate and picking someone else.
He added that he would fight the charges in and out of court, adding he may sue the people who are saying hurtful things about him and his wife for defamation and may sue publications that print the allegations for libel.
His wife, Penny Atkinson, remains the assistant West Jordan city manager and now must work alongside Evans.
- SANDY: Mayor Tom Dolan was all smiles as he enjoyed his record-setting victory.
Dolan is the first Sandy mayor to win a second consecutive term in anyone's memory. Historically, Sandy voters have taken great joy in voting out their mayors.
Dolan got 71 percent of the vote, final but unofficial counts show. While that falls within the landslide category, his opponent was the relatively unknown and certainly underfunded John Locke, a retired steel fabricator who moved to Sandy just seven years ago.
Dolan, Sandy Councilman Scott Cowdell (also a winner Tuesday) and a number of other winners bemoaned low voter turnout across the state.
"Only 16 percent of voters in Sandy turned out," said Cowdell. "That's just terrible, especially with the important issues" before the city. The city of Sandy put up more than a dozen large signs several weeks ago encouraging residents to vote. But only 9,612 out of 56,884 registered voters did.
- OREM: Mayor Stella Welsh was defeated by a two-to-one landslide from those voting for businessman Joe Nelson.
"I think they're tired of the growth (in the city), and there was a very well-organized campaign against us," said Welsh.
Nelson said it's clear the voting public wants to be heard by the mayor and the council.
"I'm surprised at the percentage gap, though," said Nelson. "The secret is that I got out with people and I listened to them. I stayed on that the whole time."
The lone incumbent councilman to run again lost also, along with a planning commissioner and a former councilman.
- TAYLORSVILLE: Councilwoman Janice Auger captured 60 percent of the vote to unseat incumbent LaVelle Prince in what had been expected to be a very close mayoral race in a city that is only 2 years old.
Four incumbents were returned to office including appointee Ken Cook, and voters chose retired Utah Highway Patrol administrator D.L. "Bud" Catlin to fill the fifth council seat.
Auger said she was surprised by her victory margin. "I thought it would be a close race, but I've felt the momentum of the campaign since the day I filed," she added.
- SALT LAKE CITY: Mayor Deedee Corradini was not up for election this year, but the race for four open City Council seats was still plenty exciting.
In districts 3 and 5 the contests went right down to the wire, with the winners - Tom Rogan and Roger Thompson - just eking out victory. Both men won, 51 to 49 percent. Thompson, in fact, was trailing opponent Jackie Biskupski with all but one precinct reporting, nipping her by just 43 votes out of 3,153 cast. Biskupski can ask for a recount, but she'll have to pay for it herself.
Incumbent Keith Christensen and Planning Commissioner Carlton Christensen claimed victory in districts 7 and 1.
Though the races were nominally nonpartisan, in an unusual move the Salt Lake County Democratic Party endorsed Biskupski and informally supported Rogan, even though their opponents are also Democrats. The race between the liberal Biskupski and the moderate Thompson proved to be the most contentious.
"I'm going to try to bridge the differences in our district that may have surfaced in the campaign," Thompson said Tuesday.
- SALT LAKE COUNTY: Voters countywide approved a $50 million recreation bond. The money will build or expand 12 different facilities. County property taxpayers won't be dinged for the improvements; the bond will be paid back from revenue raised through the one-tenth-cent sales tax earmarked for the arts and recreation passed by the County Commission a year ago.
- In West Valley City, residents put a stamp of approval on the current leaders by re-electing all four incumbents. Mayor Gearld L. Wright becomes the first mayor in the city's history to win a second full term in office.
- In Murray, Daniel Snarr defeated Leon Robertson to replace incumbent Mayor Lynn Pett, who opted not to seek re-election. But the big surprise was the election of John Ward to the District 2 Council seat. Ward, a write-in candidate, handily defeated incumbent Councilman Lynn Turner, 705 to 517.
- Former state lawmaker Dix Holt McMullin steps back into politics after defeating newcomer Roy Harward for mayor of South Jordan by almost 2,000 votes.
- DAVIS COUNTY: Layton Mayor Jerry W. Stevenson earned his second term by defeating City Councilwoman Lyndia Graham by 435 votes. In the City Council race, incumbent Stuart Adams was the top vote getter, while third-time candidate Renny Knowlton took the second open seat.
In Clearfield, Mayor Neldon Hamblin lost his bid for a fifth consecutive term. City residents approved a $15 million bond, $10.4 million for a new City Hall/public safety building and $4.5 million for a railroad overpass on 200 South.
- LOGAN: Incumbency, past and present, got short shrift here, where former mayor Newell Daines and lame-duck Mayor Darla Clark fell to Doug Thompson. Thompson had 3,274 votes to 2,298 for Daines and 1,958 for Clark, who had lost the primary by 41 votes and ran as a write-in.