Council candidate Marc J. Ellison said city plans should work with existing community members to maximize city efficiency. That includes working with local charities and churches to prepare for an emergency, and finding businesses to endow local arts, he explained.

Ellison also said it was important to set funding priorities and work within a tight budget to keep taxes down.

"I have received no candidate contributions from anyone," he said. "Being someone who struggles month to month to make sure the bills are met, I don't want my taxes to be raised."

Heidi Rodeback focused her remarks on improving the quality of life in American Fork neighborhoods. In the four years since she started the Greenwood Neighbors Initiative, she said, that group has started neighborhood-watch programs, started neighborhood surveys, and pushed for parks throughout the city.

But, she said, it needs better support from the city in order to spread to other neighborhoods.

"Since this has made such a dramatic impact in our neighborhood, and since other neighborhoods are facing the same thing, this is important for the city," she said.

Incumbent councilwoman Juel Belmont also addressed city-improvement issues, saying she voted against the broadband project and the $5 million bond the city issued to build up the infrastructure around The Meadows development, saying that money would be better spent on parks and Main Street rehabilitation.

"It is wrong to give large companies infrastructure while small businesses on Main Street get nothing," she said.

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E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com