Voters kick Bluffdale mayor off ballot

BLUFFDALE — Stripped of her administrative powers two years after taking office, Bluffdale Mayor Claudia Anderson was booted off the ballot in the primary elections Tuesday.

Anderson was the only Salt Lake County mayor to not move on to the Nov. 3 general elections. She received the fewest votes of the five mayoral candidates in Bluffdale.

"Well, I'm certainly disappointed. If that's what the citizens want, I'll certainly support them," said Anderson, who has butted heads with the City Council over the years, causing Bluffdale's June 2007 switch to allow the city manager to run the city government.

Newcomers Derk Timothy and Kim Fuller will instead battle for the mayor post. Timothy led Fuller by just five votes.

"It's time Bluffdale moves forward," Fuller said. "The council and the mayor just couldn't get along. That's going to be my biggest challenge as mayor, and we have to learn to get along and respect each other."

Current Bluffdale Council members Bill Maxwell and Nancy Lord moved on to the general election, along with Noell Nelson and Alan Jackson.

In West Valley, local dairy businessman Mike Winder came away from Tuesday's mayoral primary with a landslide victory of more than 75 percent of the vote.

The one-term West Valley City councilman will face Envision Utah spokesman Kevin Fayles in November, according to preliminary ballot counts published by the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office.

"There's still seven weeks to Nov. 3, but I think we're off to a terrific start," Winder said.

The councilman said he hopes to build on three pillars of his campaign: boosting the city's image, holding the line on taxes through strong economic development and reducing crime.

The pair triumphed over community activist Gerald Wise, who admitted during the primary season that his campaign was merely a way to get more people to come to City Council meetings.

The victor will replace West Valley's two-term Mayor Dennis Nordfelt, who announced in early 2008 that he will be stepping out of the political spotlight.