5 vie to become first mayor

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Five candidates will compete in an Aug. 3 primary with hopes of serving as the first mayor of the recently incorporated city of Cottonwood Heights.

The top two finishers in the mayoral primary, and the top two candidates in each of the four council district primary races, will advance to the Nov. 2 general election. Cottonwood Heights officially will become a city on Jan. 1.

About 32 percent of the area's registered voters participated in the incorporation election in May with 85 percent voting in favor of creating the new city of 34,000.

Proponents of the incorporation said they wanted to make their own decisions on planning and zoning issues. Previously, the Cottonwood Heights Community Council had only the power to make recommendations; final power rested with the Salt Lake County government.

The issue of billboards also has been prominent in the community in recent years. Many residents say they want to keep them out.

The mayor, essentially an at-large council member, will serve as the chairman of the City Council in the new city's council-manager form of government.

The new city stretches from the Holladay border on the north to the Wasatch-Cache National Forest on the east, 1300 East on the west and Creek Road to the south.

Here is a brief look at the mayoral candidates:

Suzanne B. Bitter is a 26-year Cottonwood Heights resident who has served for two years on the Cottonwood Heights Community Council and helped campaign for the incorporation.

"I put in a lot of volunteer hours. I walked to 1,700 homes myself," said Bitter, who is walking to those same homes now in her campaign for mayor.

"I'm telling them that I want more people involved in government, that I want people to be better informed," she said. "With the incorporation, unless you knew someone on the committee, you never knew what was happening, and I want that to change in the government."

If elected, Bitter pledges to pay for her own Web site she would use to keep citizens informed about news and happenings in city government.

"One of the biggest issues is planning and zoning," she said. "We finally want to have our own say in what happens."

Bitter has seven years of experience on the Cottonwood Heights Elementary School Reflections Committee, which supervises a school arts program, including five years as chairwoman.