KEARNS — Kearns residents today will decide who will make up the newly reorganized community council, and they will be choosing from a large field of candidates.

The special election is being held today by county Mayor Peter Corroon's office after the old council was dissolved in March amid concerns about infighting and the administration of state and federal grants, which is being investigated by the District Attorney's Office.

And there will be a lot of names on the ballot. The council will have nine members — five representing their own districts and four representing the entire Kearns community — and 22 people are running.

County community relations specialist Jacqueline Murphy, who interacts with community councils on Corroon's behalf, said community councils play an important role for unincorporated areas of the county, which don't have their own town or city councils.

Community councils, she said, are "a group of citizens that get together to perform a particular task, to operate with the county's planning and zoning efforts. As that, they have access to the plans and all the things for the future of their community — they have a voice, if you will, for the future of their community."

Council members do not make zoning decisions, write ordinances or otherwise set policy, but they act as elected liaisons between community residents and the county officials who do make those decisions.

"That's why they are elected — so the community has input as to what will be said or sent forth as far as planning and zoning," Murphy said.

Voters must already be registered to vote in the general election, and Murphy said that while the election is run by the mayor's office rather than the clerk's office, it is intended to "mimic" the general election, so voters should not expect any surprises.

Voters are divided into five districts, which are drawn by voting precinct. A voter's precinct can be found by checking the voter registration card. The candidate list below includes the precincts that make up a district and that district's polling place:

• At-large council seats (four will be elected communitywide): Samantha Anderson, James "Jay" Childs, Floyd C. Fairbanks, Lester Laverne Forney, Lawrence Geisler, Charles Henderson, Paula Larsen, Richard M. Leonard, Chuck McDowell and Eileen Mittag-Stevenson.

• Western Hills District (northwest Kearns): Gloria Aitken and Thomas R. Dubach.

• North Kearns District (northeast Kearns): Alan Peterson is the sole candidate in this district.

• Bacchus District (southwest Kearns): Debra A. Conner and Daniel Coupe.

• Oquirrh Park District (south-central Kearns): Kevin C. Lundy, Joe Mena and Tawna Pippin.

• South Kearns District (southeast Kearns): Brett Higley, Kathy Larrabee, John T. Mills and Pam Todd.

---

E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com