PROVO — Contention is nothing new in Provo's City Council chambers, but a divide festering since the 2003 election has come to the surface.

The council — which has split into camps — reconvenes tonight for the first time since discord over a neighborhood revitalization program and a staff hiring led to open displays of disgust between council members in each camp.

Council members on both sides described that meeting with words like "war," "ugly," "circus" and "embarrassment," and they expressed hope tonight's public hearing on a controversial proposal to increase impact fees won't dissolve into more rancor, especially because it comes two days before the council is scheduled to participate Thursday in a six-hour retreat.

One second-term council member said the body's problems run deeper than at any time in his seven years in office.

"In my opinion, it's the worst it's ever been," Paul Warner said. "There is less openness, and fewer decisions are made with full discussion of the council."

Warner, Midge Johnson and Steve Turley wanted more input last month in the hiring of the council's new executive director. But council chairwoman Cynthia Dayton along with council members Cindy Richards, Dave Knecht and Barbara Sandstrom had the four votes they needed to promote their candidate and fast-tracked the hiring.

The move was allowed by city code, and Dayton said it avoided a drawn-out search and taxpayer expense. Opponents said it exposed a lack of dialogue between the two factions.

"What I see with the City Council is it's 4-3, 4-3, 4-3," said Terry Kemp, a Rock Canyon neighborhood leader. "That is sad. This position doesn't represent just four members of the council. I think a lot of people in the city are not impressed with the way the votes have been going."

The impression of a firm 4-3 divide is growing and could worsen as Richards and Knecht on the one side and Warner on the other prepare for re-election bids in 2006.

Each side says the other is playing politics.

Some predicted political battles would emerge after the November 2003 election. Turley upset an incumbent and promised to change Provo's political landscape.

Turley said he would defend property rights, a position joined by Warner and often Johnson, also in her first term.

Dayton herself toppled an incumbent. She joined Sandstrom, who was re-elected, Knecht and Richards in a bloc attempting to revitalize Provo's central neighborhoods. The foursome, frequently joined by Warner and Johnson in 6-1 votes, has directed millions of dollars of federal grants to purchasing old homes, renovating them and selling them at a loss to buyers who promise to live in them rather than rent them out.