Sutton says he has indeed gotten his hands dirty. He and a public works employee put up 1,500 feet of white vinyl fencing around the city cemetery and plan on putting up another 1,200 feet next year, he said.

Back at the town office he has applied for and won several grants for the town with another $200,000 in grant requests pending. He also rounded up $95,500 in used equipment — by his own count — for the volunteer fire department, castoff items from other Utah County departments. Goshen firefighters were woefully short on equipment, he said.

"We needed him," Mayor Marvin Jacobson said. "He's getting grants for us. We have to quit living in the 1940s."

White contends, "Anybody can file for those grants."

In addition to updating the town's ordinances and procedures, some of the more pressing issues facing Goshen are water for growth and fire safety and garbage service.

"We can't grow too fast because we don't have the water," Jacobson said.

Goshen now has 332 homes, including the three that were added last year.

"Developers are knocking on our door," Jacobson said.

But with only two small water tanks totaling 250,000 gallons serving the town, growth has stalled.

"If there was a three-alarm fire the water would be gone in 3 minutes," Jacobson said. "We have no water storage."

The Town Council has approved a 500,000-gallon water tank that is expected to be built this winter. Half the tank will be reserved primarily for fire fighting needs. A new $851,000 water infrastructure, including piping and water meters, is on tap for the entire town.

In June the city received a $139,000 Community Development Block Grant from Utah County that will be used to help fund the project.

White has objected to the cost of the project and argues that the water system should be rebuilt a little at a time as the town can afford it.

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E-mail: rodger@desnews.com