Filing deadline expires

Forget about homes and yards; when Utah County voters head to the booths in November, they could be the designers of an extreme makeover for the county's political landscape.

The deadline to file to run for office in Utah expired Monday at 5 p.m., and the list of the candidates for Utah County shows a number of political newbies could be sworn in on Jan. 2 of next year.

All 24 of the county's incorporated cities will choose a mayor this year, but just over half of those cities, 14 in all, will have an incumbent running for re-election.

The turnover rate could be even higher at the city council level, where only 24 incumbents filed to run for a total of 52 city council seats that will be available across the county.

But despite the potential for a slew of new faces and ideas in elected positions, the name of the game for many candidates is business as usual. In American Fork, mayoral candidate Shirl LeBaron said one of his primary reasons for running is to "provide some stability."

"I want to ensure that certain things we (the City Council) are doing can get accomplished and get done," LeBaron said when he announced his candidacy in July.

LeBaron represents another trend in the county this year — city council members who are running in place of a mayor who is not seeking re-election. The same thing is happening in Alpine, Eagle Mountain and Payson.

Eagle Mountain, which in July became the second city in Utah County to have a full-time mayor, is one city that could see a tough race for mayor this year. Councilman Brian Olsen is running and will face three opponents, including former councilman Brigham Morgan.

Olsen and Morgan represent opposite views on one of the most politically polarizing issues in the city's recent history, the administration of former mayor Kelvin Bailey. Olsen voiced strong support for Bailey after he resigned from the mayor position in June, while Morgan was one of Bailey's sharpest critics.

But Eagle Mountain is not the only city that will have a tough race. Provo, the only other city in Utah County that has a full-time mayor, will be the site for a rematch of the 2001 election in which Mayor Lewis K. Billings narrowly defeated Dave Bailey by 362 votes.

Hotly contested elections do not appear to be the rule for Utah County this year, however. In Orem, the second-largest city in the valley, highly rated Mayor Jerry Washburn faces competition from only one challenger, David Workman, who himself admits that Washburn has been a great mayor.

"The mayor is fantastic, he's done a good job," Workman said. "But I believe that in city government you need to bring in new perspectives . . . new eyes, new ideas."

Workman said he will be running against Washburn because he wants to allow the residents of Orem a choice when they head to the polls.

Primary elections, if necessary, will be held on Oct. 4. The general election will be Nov. 8.

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Contributing: Sara Israelsen

E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com