To be or not to be — the question of incorporation will likely be at the top of the discussion list for Kearns' newly elected nine-member community council.

Residents plucked a mixture of new names and familiar faces to lead their community in an election that revamps a group the county severed ties with earlier this year.

Although the polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, results weren't tallied and released until Thursday.

Voters chose four members of the former council: Paula Larsen, Kevin C. Lundy, Alan Peterson and Kathy Larrabee. Lawrence Geisler was the only former council member who sought re-election and lost.

The new members are Samantha Anderson, Charles Henderson, Chuck McDowell, Thomas R. Dubach and Debra A. Conner.

McDowell said he believes the issue of incorporation will dominate the coming months.

"I think that's probably one thing (incorporation) that's on everybody's mind," McDowell said, adding a feasibility study is under way.

"A city can't exist without a tax base. We have a lot of resentment out here about the fact that, over the course of the last 10 years, neighboring communities have come in and, if I can use the word, 'pirated' our tax base."

McDowell said incorporation is possible and would be the best option.

Dubach, another new council member, agrees.

"We are at a point where we need to decide to remain Kearns or choose to become a neighboring city's residents," he said. "My concern is that Kearns remain Kearns."

Before such weighty issues as incorporation can be tackled, however, McDowell said the community needs to come together.

"There's been some controversy out here recently, and I think it's important that we restore the community's confidence," he said. "I think an important thing for us to get past the divisiveness that's been here the last few years and try to move on and do what's needed for our community."

The new election was held because the county mayor's office announced in March it would no longer recognize the Kearns Town Council, saying it was plagued with infighting and expressing concerns about the way state and federal grants were being administered. The grant administration became the subject of an investigation by the District Attorney's Office.

The county called for the council to reorganize, adopt new bylaws, change its name to a community council, hold new elections, then reapply for county recognition.

The old council, according to a letter from the county, had ceased to work productively, was filing financial statements with the county that were incomplete and inaccurate and should have been called a community council, as the name "town council" made it sound like a governmental entity instead of a citizens group.

Community councils act as liaisons between residents of certain parts of the county and the county government. For unincorporated areas like Kearns, they are the only elected body specifically focused on their community.

Their primary function is to work with county planners as they develop zoning and other plans for the area. They do not make zoning decisions, write ordinances or otherwise set policy, but they act as residents' voice in county planning.

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