Several cities clamored Monday and Tuesday to secure a small school-district split on the November ballot.
But not everyone was happy to get the ballot moving: the Salt Lake County Council reluctantly certified the ballot Tuesday. Council members are still upset about the Legislature's move last week to sidestep the county and create a way to get the Jordan split on the ballot without the county council's input.
"I don't think it's good public policy to take voting rights away from citizens or their elected officials," Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said.
Lawmakers cut the county out of the Jordan School District split equation during a special session last week by allowing a public vote if municipalities representing 80 percent of a new district give the go-ahead. That way, a city representing a minority of the proposed new district couldn't hijack an election. Only 4 percent of those in the proposed Jordan split-off district live in unincorporated parts of the county.
That means Sandy, Draper, Midvale, Cottonwood Heights and Alta could move ahead with a new district they've been working to build for over a year without a decision from Salt Lake County.
The county has been teetering on whether to approve a vote on the split. Alta did not have time to vote on the split so quickly, but its vote is not needed since the other four cities made up the required amount.
"We wanted to move this quickly," said John Hiskey, Sandy's deputy mayor.
On Monday, Sandy and Draper voted for a school-district election. Midvale and Cottonwood Heights approved it Tuesday. If residents in those cities — including Alta and unincorporated chunks of Salt Lake County, such as White City — vote for the split from Jordan School District, they will have their own district in fall 2009.
Added Kelvyn Cullimore Jr., Cottonwood Height's mayor: "We know there are those who are planning to file a lawsuit or talking about it, and if that happens, we want to make sure there was plenty of time to resolve that before the vote.
"Everything's been done to put it on the ballot, barring some legal action," he added.
West-side leaders have threatened to sue to demand a right to vote on the split.
Riverton officials held a public hearing Tuesday to talk about whether the city should spend money on such a lawsuit.
Riverton leaders did not vote on the issue, however, and decided to bring vote on it in two weeks.
Ballot language
"Shall a new district be created from portions of the existing Jordan and Granite school districts that would include the entire boundaries of the cities of Cottonwood Heights, Midvale and Sandy, all of the town of Alta, the portion of the city of Draper located within Salt Lake County, and certain portions of unincorporated Salt Lake County that are east of the Jordan River and currently within the existing Jordan School District?"
Contributing: Jared Page
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com; astowell@desnews.com