"There are almost 5,000 residential lots already approved," he said. "That's going to take a few years, but that's a real crunch time for the city to make sure that the infrastructure is there and that they have some financial backing to help them with that infrastructure."

Such speedy residential growth can also lead to an increase in property taxes if not managed properly, Linford said.

"That's what I want to try and prevent," he said. "We have a lot of elderly families in this community who can't afford more property tax. I want to get some commercial in here to try and prevent that."

Stemmons, 42, is also new to the political arena. He said he decided to run for City Council in an effort to make sure Santaquin remains a "nice place to live."

"My concern to keep a long-term good community," said Stemmons, who finished fourth in the primary with 114 votes. "I plan on staying here, and I want to make sure it's still a good community 10, 20 years from now.

"I kind of have the philosophy that what we do now will affect us 20 years from now. We have to be wise in the decisions we make," he said.

Attempts to reach DeGraffenried and Durney for comment were unsuccessful.

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