Election 2009: Voters in Herriman and Bluffdale 'clean house'

Incumbents who have been in office since Herriman's 1999 incorporation were booted out Tuesday.

Mayor Lynn Crane and City Council members Michelle Facer Baguley and Jerry Walker all lost to City Hall newcomers. New Mayor Josh Mills said "it's a demographic shift in population."

"There's a lot more newer people; it's a changing place," said Mills, the 34-year-old vice president of W.C. Mills Insurance Inc.

Mills campaigned with council candidate winners Mick Shannon and Craig Tischner. The three pledge to follow their "Contract for Herriman City," which includes reducing taxes, reverse the 30 percent council pay hike and remove the mayor's second city manager job.

Crane is currently paid an additional $96,000 salary a year as the city manager on top of his $24,000 mayor pay. Mills said those powers will now be separated.

Ugly campaign tactics in Herriman also backfired. An anonymous mailer targeting Shannon's DUI citation caused an outpouring of support for the 60-year-old founder of the Children's Miracle Network. Among the four City Council contenders, he took 33 percent of the vote.

Bluffdale residents also cleaned house. After years of fighting in City Hall, residents of the south valley city also voted out all incumbents.

Nancy Lord and Bill Maxwell — both seeking second terms on the City Council — were ousted in favor of former Mayor Noell Nelson and two-year resident Alan Jackson.

City Hall newcomer Derk Timothy will take the helm as mayor. Incumbent Mayor Claudia Anderson was kicked out in the primaries. The one-term mayor was stripped of her administrative powers two years after taking office and then sued the City Council.

"There is definitely a message that voters have sent," Timothy said. "I don't think that the residents of Bluffdale want to put up with the differences that have been occurring between the City Council and mayor. And I think that needs to be one of my top priorities, to make sure there's continuity in Bluffdale city."

West Jordan will also see a new mayor. City Councilwoman Melissa K. Johnson slid to an easy victory with 71 percent of the vote. The professional mediator campaigned on her record of fiscal restraint.

In South Salt Lake, Mayor Bob Gray's assistant Cherie Wood won with about 62 percent of the vote. The longtime city employee beat out former Mayor Wes Losser.

In the rest of Salt Lake County, incumbents ruled.