From Deseret News archives:
Business is big issue in Payson race
Both candidates were born and raised in Payson. Burtis Bills, a Payson Junior High School art teacher, lives in a home built by his great-grandfather.
His opponent, Rick Moore, helps run a family sheet-metal business. Both say they want the part-time mayor's job, which pays about $7,000 a year, because now is a critical time for their hometown.
"The decisions we make now are going to determine what Payson is going to be 100 years from now," Bills says. "So we've got to do it right and not let developers come in and tell us how to do it."
Bills, 56, has been on the five-member city council for six years.
Moore, 44, has never run for political office. He says when he decided to run Bills filled him in on the city's most pressing issues.
The city's top priority, both say, is to keep existing businesses in Payson and attract more. That is essential, Bills says, to give work to Payson residents now graduating from high school and college.
"A lot of our kids are having to go to Salt Lake for work instead of staying here," he says.
Moore says the city should focus on keeping current business owners in Payson happy instead of trying to get big-box retailers to come to town.
"We've got to remember who got us here," Moore says.
Both also support a proposal for a city-funded recreation center, although they say the matter should be put to a vote.
E-mail: jhyde@desnews.com
