Leaders in Lehi square off

LEHI — The corridors of Lehi City Hall have been a little chilly since January when Howard Johnson was sworn in as the city's new mayor.

Sitting behind a desk scattered with papers but no pictures, in an office with no trademark photos of momentous handshakes, Johnson seems to try not to mind that becoming mayor is not all he thought it was cracked up to be.

Since taking office, he's clashed several times with the City Council — from disagreeing over city appointments to what gets published in the city newsletter to a proposal to change the form of city government that would make the mayor's role largely ceremonial.

But Johnson remains upbeat about his relationship with the council, most of whose members are veteran members of the elected government panel.

"I think the world of them. They are absolutely fine men— every one of them. They're doing what they think they ought to do, and we're just clashing," he said. "That's the nature of politics."

Johnson, a surprise winner in the race against two-term mayor Ken Greenwood, faced some friction early on when a council member wrote a column for the city newsletter that targeted issues — such as taxation— raised by Johnson during his campaign. In turn, Johnson asked to address the points raised in the newsletter, but the council said it was not an appropriate forum for such a response.

The council also tried to take administrative and chief executive officer powers from the mayor and give them to a city administrator, who would answer directly to the council. The proposed change would take the day-to-day responsibilities of the mayor, such as hiring and firing, and place them in the hands of the council.

The advantage of doing this, according to Councilman James Dixon, is that five council members would be involved in the process of hiring a new city administrator — not just one.

"I personally feel like the council-manager system of government would be more expeditious — more functional — and it would give the mayor opportunities to do other things, not necessarily taking away, but defining some things he would do in the city as the front-man instead of worrying about day-to-day jobs and employment and benefits and payroll and all of those kinds of things," he said.

One of the major conflicts between the City Council and Johnson deals specifically with Johnson's decision not to reappoint city administrator Ed Collins.

The council was in favor of reappointing Collins, but Johnson said he wanted "a fresh start." Collins announced his resignation from the position last week, a move that "disappointed" council members, Dixon said, but has not alleviated the struggle between Johnson and the council.