Incumbents confident in elections
 
Written by Brian Ahern
The Spectrum
Washington County municipal races

The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run for the offices up for election in Washington County's cities and towns was Friday at 5 p.m. All candidates are listed below. An (I) next to the candidate's name indicates he/she is an incumbent.

Apple Valley
Two town council seats
Apple Valley did not provide a list of its candidates by deadline.

Enterprise
Three city council seats
Candidates: Jared Bollinger, Darcy Holt, Eldon Hood, Barry Jones, C.R. Thelin and Mike Yardley

Hildale
Mayor and three city council seats
Hildale did not provide a list of its candidates by deadline.

Hurricane
Three city council seats
Candidates: John Bramall-(I), Eddie Campbell, Richard Howard, Pam Humphries-(I) and Darin Thomas-(I)

Ivins
Three city council seats
Candidates: John Bremseth, Tim Bryan, JoAnne Cooper, Ron Densley, George Ewell-(I), Rick Hawk, Deborah Kidder, Claudette Larsen and Lorrie Webster

LaVerkin
Three city council seats
LaVerkin did not provide a list of its candidates by deadline.

Leeds
Two town council seats
Candidates: Joe Allen, Peter Aurigemma, Nate Blake and Alan Roberts-(I)

New Harmony
Two town council seats
Candidates: Robert Goodwin-(I), Curtis Hadley, and Scott Pace

Rockville
Two town council seats
Candidates: Steven Cox, Daniel McGuire and Megan Honer-Orten-(I)

Rockville/Springdale Fire Proection District
Two board members
Candidates: Robert Orton and Barry Rhodes

St. George
Three city council seats
Candidates: Gil Almquist-(I), James Atkin, Ed Baca, J. Brian Dial, Tara Dunn, Jimmie Hughes, Sam Laub, Matt Mortensen, Jon Pike-(I), Gloria Shakespeare-(I) and DR Wall

Santa Clara
Three city council seats
Candidates: Curtis Anderson, Herb Basso-(I), Mary Jo Hafen, Bill Jacobson-(I), Chad Jensen and David Whitehead

Springdale
Three town council seats
Candidates: Louise Excell-(I), Kathy LaFave-(I), Mike Marriott, Robert Ralston and Allan Staker

Toquerville
Three city council seats
Candidates: Ty Bringhurst, Daren Cottam-(I), Paul Heideman-(I), Anita Lowe and Lynn Olds-(I)

Virgin
Two town council seats
Virgin did not provide a list of its candidates by deadline.

Washington City
Three city council seats
Candidates: Jean Arbuckle, Daniel Drown, Dennis Gibson, Michael Heaton-(I), Justin Holbrook, Ben Martinsen, Ron Mayfield, Kress Staheli, Ron Truman and Jeff Turek

ST. GEORGE - The slate of candidates is now set for city council races throughout Washington County, and some incumbents say they have a distinct advantage over the large number of challengers.

In St. George, the three incumbents up for re-election say modest revenue gains and an improving economy would undoubtedly help their chances against the eight opponents vying for their jobs. Facing off against incumbent City Council members Gil Almquist, Jon Pike and Gloria Shakespeare, the eight challengers are: James Atkin, Ed Baca, J. Brian Dial, Tara Dunn, Jimmie Hughes, Sam Laub, Matt Mortensen and DR Wall.

"St. George has weathered the storm better than most communities with similar demographics and economic structure," Almquist said. "The direction of the city is upward. Statistics in most areas are improving."

Voters throughout the city, he added, would certainly see those improvements. For the first time in more than three years, the city has had the revenues to fund local road widening and parks projects that officials say improve quality of life.

"More money has been allocated to transportation, the budget was again balanced," Almquist said.

Pike, meanwhile, said he expects incumbents to be attacked on such spending.

"Some people may question things like spending money on things like roads when money is tight," he said. "But you can only put off those things for so long."

When it comes to the anti- incumbent sentiment felt throughout state and national politics, Shakespeare said she expects the City Council to be largely spared.

"The only ones I've seen facing a tough resistance are the ones who've been there for a long, long time," she said.

All three of St. George's incumbent City Council members on this year's ballot are running for their second four-year term.

Though he's not running this year and pledges to stay neutral throughout the campaign, Mayor Daniel McArthur said he still plans to stay involved. He added he expects this year's race to be devoid of the negativity and ugliness seen in recent local election cycles.

"From my perspective, I don't see any hot button issues," he said, adding that most of the decisive politics would take place in Washington D.C.

"All the hot button issues are with the national stuff," he said.

And with the local economy beginning to stabilize, McArthur said he anticipates the race will take a more personal direction.

"I don't think that will be quite as prominent an issue," he said of the economy. "We're leveled a bit."

Instead, he said he foresees the candidates themselves being the driving force behind this election.

"I think it will be about each person and their merits," he said. "They'll be voting for an individual."
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published July 15, 2011
 
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