The example that Jergensen, Buhler and Council member Jill Remington Love specifically point to is the compatible-housing ordinance the council passed in December. The ordinance restricts height, garage placement and side-yard setbacks to force new and renovated houses to match their neighbors in scale. The statute went through months of revision and public hearings with extensive public comment.

"The night we were trying to adopt it, the mayor was at the meeting and was trying to get up to speed, to figure out what it was that we were doing," Buhler said. "What issue have we had that more directly impacts the people of the city than this? He parachutes in for the meeting. It was kind of strange and sad."

Anderson said that any claims his travel holds up city business are false.

"There has never been anything that was held up because I was out of town," Anderson said. "If there's something that somebody needs to talk to me about, I can always be reached."

Councilman Carlton Christensen said that although Anderson might be reachable, sometimes his presence would matter more than a phone call or a representative's attendance.

"I was surprised to not see him at (Police) Chief (Chris) Burbank's swearing-in ceremony," Christensen said. Anderson was in New York for a conference March 31 when Burbank took over from former Chief Rick Dinse.

Anderson pointed out that he interviewed and selected Burbank in time to take Dinse's place, and that his trip was scheduled before he knew when Burbank's first day would be.

"I may have missed a ribbon-cutting or recently the swearing-in of our police chief, but I think substance is more important sometimes than ceremony," Anderson said.

Other mayors

Even so, mayors of other Western cities slightly larger than Salt Lake City don't travel nearly as much as Anderson.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, for instance, was gone 34 days during the same time period. Hickenlooper's travel schedule coincides with much of Anderson's, including several trips to conferences for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon almost never leaves town, said his spokesman, Scott Phelps. Phoenix, home to 1.4 million people, has had $10 billion invested in its downtown in the past two years, Phelps said.

Gordon's "pet project is essentially keeping Phoenix on the rise and not blinking and not missing opportunities," Phelps said. "He doesn't like to be gone. He's afraid that we'll have the chance to land another corporation or build another high-rise and he'll miss it."

In Utah, other government leaders also travel less than Anderson. Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon was gone 25 days from March 2005 to March 2006. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. traveled about 40 days in the same time period.