LINDON — Generous. Wise. Patient. Positive.

Those are a few of the words Lindsay Bayless uses to describe Jeff Acerson, a longtime city councilman who recently was appointed to serve as mayor of Lindon.

"He's also delightfully fun at the right time," says Bayless, who will work alongside Acerson in her position on the City Council of the growing Utah County city.

Acerson, says Bayless, a seven-year veteran of City Hall business, is the sort of person she would trust with "just about anything, personally and involving the city."

According to others in Lindon city's decision-making circle, Acerson is the right guy to replace Larry Ellertson, who left the elected post in Lindon to become a Utah County commissioner.

Acerson was picked by the council Feb. 1 from a field of five applicants.

Toby Bath, a member of the council that chose him, said Acerson is very intelligent, deliberate and has the time, energy and resources to devote to the position.

"I think Jeff is an excellent choice for the simple reason that he's been on the council," Bath said. "He sees how the city's going and knows the issues."

One of those knotty issues is a proposal to share with neighboring Pleasant Grove some of the tax revenues earned from a budding business development.

Another involves funding from the Mountainland Association of Governments for transportation. Issues involving the development along 700 North need to be resolved.

And Lindon needs a recreation center, perhaps a library.

Residents also have asked city officials to carefully watch hillside growth and protect the rural character of the city with the motto "Lindon, a Little Bit of Country."

Acerson knows it would have been a considerable learning curve for a newcomer.

"In essence, the people who reside in Lindon enjoy Lindon for what it is. They're very comfortable seeing growth come if it comes at a reasonable pace. That's always been the approach," Acerson said. "We're not willing to give the farm away for growth."

Acerson appreciates the vote of confidence from his fellow city officials and considers it a great opportunity to follow Ellertson as a mayor.

However, he plans to carve out his own legacy.

"I'm very motivated to not fill his shoes but walk the path that he has walked," Acerson said.

He thinks a lot of residents would willingly do what he's able to do if they had the means and the time. Semiretired at 49, Acerson has both.

But to call him semiretired is not quite accurate.

Since he left his post as a corporate spokesman for WordPerfect Corp., he served on Gov. Mike Leavitt's Y2K Commission, worked for the World Cup Games and was part of the management team at Soldier Hollow during the 2002 Winter Games. He has consulted with the Osmonds to help produce the Fourth of July Stadium of Fire shows in addition to a variety of other projects.