Arts, parks tax is OK'd in south Davis

Following Tuesday's elections, south Davis County residents can expect to see a new performing arts center take shape over the next year.

Election results  » State of Utah Elections Office (Lieutenant Governor's Office)  » Salt Lake County Clerk

The Syracuse mayor will keep the title of CEO, and that city will finally get a restaurant that serves alcohol for on-site consumption.

Six incumbents were voted out of office, including one mayor, in an election that saw a 44 percent of active voters turn out to the polls.

"That's not too bad," said Davis County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings.

Centerville Mayor Ron Russell said he was excited to see voters in his city and in Bountiful approve a one tenth-of-a-cent sales-tax increase for recreation, arts and parks, known as a RAP tax. The measure, which will pave the way for a multimillion-dollar South Davis Performing Arts Center, failed in Woods Cross by 47 votes and West Bountiful by 7.

"With Bountiful and Centerville in, we've got a project," Russell said.

The biggest upset in Davis County was perhaps in the Sunset mayoral race where newcomer Dan Gotchy, 41, grabbed 57 percent of the vote to defeat Fred C. Childs, the interim mayor for the city.

"I feel a little scared," Gotchy said after his win. "I'm sure it was a big upset."

He credited a lot of door-to-door contacting for the victory.

Sunset had 959 voters turn out, its highest in recent years.

Scott Freitag, 38, will be the newest Layton council member starting Jan. 1. The victory was especially sweet for him, since he narrowly missed being elected two years ago. He'll replace Stephen Handy, who did not run for re-election after two terms.

Joyce Forbes Brown and Renny Knowlton both retained their seats on the Layton council by finishing first and third respectively.

Knowlton's victory also put to rest concerns about him only being "appointed, not elected" to the council two years ago, after an unsuccessful run for mayor.

In Clearfield, Don W. Wood, 53, solidly retained the mayor's post with almost 74 percent of the vote to only 25 percent for his opponent, Glen Mills.