SALT LAKE CITY — In Weber County, North Ogden residents chose a new mayor to replace its fallen leader, National Guard Maj. Brent Taylor, who was killed during a deployment in Afghanistan in 2018.
Voters elected businessman S. Neal Berube to fill the remaining two years of Taylor’s term as he successfully gained 57% of votes, compared to his opponent Lynn Satterthwaite, who gained 43% of votes, according to unofficial Weber County results released at 9:30 p.m.
Berube credited his win to running a fair campaign and “not getting caught up in the mudslinging.”
“I thought it would be very close. And to be honest, I didn’t anticipate winning this,” he said. “This is my first entry into politics. My opponent had quite a bit more experience.”
Berube said he previously worked with Taylor.
“He’s a good man and we’ll surely recognize his contributions to the city. We’ll take his good and we’ll add to it,” Berube said.
Satterthwaite, a former North Ogden city councilman, conceded after seeing the initial results.
“I’m disappointed, but I’m convinced he’s a great, a capable guy,” he said.
During his four-year term on the City Council, Satterthwaite also spoke highly of the late mayor.
“I have a great respect for the man. A lot of us were a bit more conservative than he was,” Satterthwaite said.
Brent Chugg, who was appointed interim North Ogden mayor after Taylor’s death, will continue to serve in the position through the end of the year.
Due to fewer major mayoral races in Salt Lake, Weber, Davis and Utah counties, election officials reported low voter turnouts.
Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said 3,968 people in Salt Lake County voted at polls. Though no lines were reported at voting centers, shortly before polls closed Swensen said people were lined up in their cars to drop off mail-in ballots at the Salt Lake County Government Center.
Swensen said updated results will be released Thursday and Friday at 3 p.m.
Utah County Clerk Amelia Powers said the county’s election website crashed due to the amount of people trying to visit it.
“Our website is having issues right now,” she said shortly after 9 p.m. The site was working by 9:20 p.m.
So far, Powers said the county’s voter turnout was 26% and she expects it to be just shy of 30% once all votes are counted.
Davis County ran into a similar hurdle as website issues pushed election workers to post preliminary results to the county’s Facebook page. By 10 p.m., Davis County Clerk Curtis Koch said the site was up again.
Unofficial end of night results showed 33.9% voter turnout in Davis County.
“I don’t want to downplay the success, but the number clearly shows there’s opportunity for the public to exercise their voice more strongly than they did tonight,” Koch said.
After Weber County posted its unofficial results Tuesday night, elections director Ryan Cowley said there had been no issues. As of 9 p.m., Cowley said he was waiting for ballots from two voting centers to come through. He reported Weber County’s voter turnout to be at about 36%.
“Everything has gone super, super smooth,” he said.
Weber County
For Ogden’s mayor seat, incumbent Mayor Mike Caldwell earned 59% of votes compared to his opponent Angel Castillo, who earned 41%.
Competing for Hooper’s mayor seat, Dale R. Fowers led with 68% of votes while opponent Lori L. Brinkerhoff earned 32% of votes.
Salt Lake County
Brighton
In the newly incorporated town of Brighton, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Danial E. Knopp and Don O. Despain competed to become the town’s first-ever mayor.
Knopp was ahead of Despain by only five votes, according to unofficial results released after 9:30 p.m.
Last year, with an estimated population of 260, Brighton residents voted in favor of incorporation by 105 to 63 votes.
The move came after residents felt decisions made by the U.S. Forest Service and Salt Lake County leaders compromised watershed and forest health, Barbara Cameron, president of the Big Cottonwood Canyon Association, told the Deseret News previously. Voters in favor of incorporation said they wanted to have a voice on matters related to traffic, toilets, tourists and forest health.
West Jordan
After West Jordan residents voted to change its form of government, incumbent Mayor Jim Riding and Dirk Burton competed to be the city’s first strong mayor.
Unofficial results posted after 9:30 p.m. showed Burton led Riding by 461 votes. Burton garnered 52% of votes, while Riding earned 47.5% of votes.
During the 2017 general election, West Jordan residents voted to transition from a council-manager form of government to a mayor-council format.
David Church, general counsel for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, said under the mayor-council form of government, mayors can veto council decisions and function as the executive branch, while the council acts as the legislative branch that adopts the policies and laws appropriate for the city.
In August, Riding told the Deseret News he opposed the shift in government, but felt qualified in the role. Riding was elected mayor under the council-manager format in 2017.
Millcreek
In Millcreek, incumbent Mayor Jeff Silvestrini and Angel Vice competed for the mayor’s seat.
According to unofficial results released after 9:30 p.m., Silvestrini had 77% of votes. Vice garnered 23% of votes.
Millcreek made the transition from township to city in 2017.
Utah County
In Utah County, no mayoral seats were up for grabs.
In Provo, unofficial results showed residents voted against the Provo City School District’s $245 million bond by 63% of votes. About 36% voted to approve the bond.
The bond was planned to cover construction and rebuilding costs of schools like Timpview High School, Westridge Elementary School, Dixon Middle School and others. The bond would have required the average home in Provo valued at $270,000 would pay $317.13 annually in additional property taxes over a 21-year period.
Davis County
In Layton, Joy Petro led opponent Joyce Forbes Brown with 53% of votes, according to unofficial Davis County results released around 10 p.m.