EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Eagle Mountain's City Council voted 3-2 to approve a full-time mayor position. But the controversy surrounding the issue is not likely to die soon.

At a public hearing Tuesday, 16 residents made remarks, and the scope of their comments and their differing opinions served as a microcosm of the debate that has surrounded this issue for more than two years.

"I'm not asking you to do anything you shouldn't do," Mayor Kelvin Bailey told the audience of about 50 residents. "We all like success, we all like progress and we want to maintain it."

Bailey, who will resign from office Thursday afternoon, said working as the mayor of Eagle Mountain on a part-time basis is like having your hands cut off.

"People have to make a living," he said. "You can't make a living doing this job."

His comments failed to sway eight of the speakers, who spoke strongly against the proposal.

"I have to say I'm not convinced," April Driggs said. "We're told (by Bailey) we shouldn't compare our city to other cities, but he asks us to compare it to a football team. I don't get the comparison."

Driggs expressed a sentiment, echoed by three other speakers, that the proposed salary was far too much. Under the measure, the mayor will receive an annual salary of $49,982 and another $20,000 per year in insurance and retirement benefits.

Another citizen, Marcy Vigil, said the money was a fair exchange for what is asked of the mayor.

"I think we need a mayor who attends all the meetings at the city level, the county level and the state level, so our city has a voice," she said. "Five dollars per resident is not asking a lot for that."

Opponents of the measure said they feared a full-time position would exclude many of the most qualified candidates, who would be unable to take a four-year hiatus from their careers, and that the issue was too controversial to be decided by the City Council.