4 candidates aim to unseat W. Jordan mayor

WEST JORDAN — One of Utah's fastest-growing cities, notorious for being one of its most politically tumultuous, West Jordan is living up to its reputation this election year. Four candidates are trying to bump first-term Mayor Bryan Holladay from office.

To some observers, the candidates — along with the seven running for two at-large City Council seats — all represent different factions in the city or harken to different political eras. One threesome — mayoral candidate Jeff Haaga and council candidates Karen Shaeffer and Jay Sheen — have announced they are running as a "team." Some also see Holladay and council incumbents Kathy Hilton and Stuart Richardson as an unofficial group — a group for voters wanting to stick with the current administration.

Other candidates have returned from the city's political past — the era of former Mayor Donna Evans, whom Holladay ousted in the 2001 election. Two council members from Evans' administration are now running for mayor. David Newton was an Evans supporter. Brian Pitts was her opponent.

These dynamics alone have heated up the West Jordan race, to be winnowed to two mayoral candidates and four council candidates in the Oct. 4 primary. But West Jordan residents have a host of issues to grapple with, many stemming from western Salt Lake County's rapid growth, and the candidates all have different takes on what issues are most important and what should be done about them.

The candidates were asked to respond to a questionnaire from the Deseret Morning News. A summary of their responses follows:

• Incumbent Bryan D. Holladay, 58, is nearing the end of the fourth year of his first term as mayor. Before becoming mayor, he served in the state House of Representatives for seven years. He listed as the city's top issues transportation, crime, fire and community pride. He touts the city's widening of 7800 South under his administration — a project undertaken after having been proposed for 10 years. He said the city is about to tackle a 9000 South widening from 4000 West to U-111. He pointed to his time as chairman of a committee of mayors, county officials and environmentalists planning the Mountain View Corridor highway. He praised the fire department's response time, calling it the best in the state, and said the city's police are good at proactive, preventive policing. "We know where crime is, and we attack that on the front end," he wrote. And he lauded the recent construction of a community-built playground, envisioned and created entirely by community volunteers and business donations.