Incumbency wasn't an advantage Tuesday as four Davis County mayors were voted out of office, and a fifth was trailing.
The losses by Sunset Mayor Janice Galbraith, Clearfield Mayor Tom Waggoner, West Bountiful Mayor Carl Martin and Farmington Mayor Dave Connors mean that seven of the 15 cities in Davis County will have a new mayor next year. Three mayors did not run for re-election.
With seven of nine precincts counted, Kaysville Mayor Brian Cook was behind Neka Roundy at press time. After Farmington, the Kaysville race would be the biggest surprise in Davis County if Cook loses.
During the primary, Cook was behind Roundy by about 450 votes.
Top issues in the Kaysville race included economic development, accessibility to elected officials and preservation of Kaysville's heritage. Roundy opposed a move earlier this year by Cook and the Kaysville City Council to shift control of the old Kaysville library to Davis County.
"That is such an important part of our heritage," she said in an earlier interview.
If elected, Roundy would be the only woman to win a mayoral race in Davis County.
In Clearfield, two-term mayor Tom Waggoner lost his seat to political newcomer Dan R. Phelps. Waggoner was eliminated in the October primary but decided to run a write-in campaign against Phelps and candidate Mark R. Shepherd.
Top issues in the race included a debate whether to move Clearfield's commuter rail station to a site across from City Hall. Unofficial results show that Phelps, an LDS seminary teacher, received 1,144 votes to Waggoner's 613 votes and Shepherd's 708 votes.
In addition, incumbent Councilmen Ivan Anderson and James Barlow lost their seats to Kathryn Murray and Vern Phipps. Voters in Clearfield also voted to create the North Davis Fire District, a consolidation of fire services with West Point City. About 61 percent of voters in Clearfield approved the consolidation; West Point votes had yet to be counted as of deadline.
In Sunset, two-term Mayor Janice Galbraith lost her seat to Councilman Timothy Isom. Isom, 43, works at the Wal-Mart distribution center in Corinne.
Isom received 553 votes; Galbraith received 299 votes. Voter turnout in the city was 35 percent.
In West Bountiful, Martin received 433 votes; his challenger, Councilman James Behunin, received 624.
In Fruit Heights, Centerville and Layton, mayoral seats were open as current mayors decided not to run for re-election. But they will be replaced by either current or former councilmen. Voters in Centerville picked former Councilman Ron Russell as their new mayor. Russell beat 22-year-old candidate Michael Johnson by 1,135 votes.
Fruit Heights will be led by Councilman Todd Stevenson, who beat Lowell R. Knighton by 517 votes.
Other races were fairly quiet. In total, six incumbent council members lost their races in Davis County, with votes still to be counted in five cities.
Even with the losses, seven Davis County cities will have at least two new council members. Layton and Kaysville will have three new council members.
Voter turnout in Davis County ranged from 22 to 35 percent.
E-MAIL: nwarburton@desnews.com