Plenty of seats open in county municipal races
 
David DeMille
ddemille@thespectrum.com
The Spectrum
Washington County municipal races

Below is the list of Washington County cities and towns with the offices up for election. Incumbents are listed in parentheses.

Apple Valley
Two town council seats (Evan Brown, Kevin Sair and Trevor Black)
Filed so far: Sair and Roger Ashmore

Enterprise
Three city council seats (Bart Merrill, Dana Truman and Doug Clove)
Files so far: Jared Bollinger and Eldon Hood

Hildale
Mayor and three city council seats (Mayor Phillip Barlow, Joseph Jessop, Doran Jessop and Brian Jessop)
Filed so far: Barlow and Joseph Jessop

Hurricane
Three city council seats (Pam Humphries, John Bramall and Darin Thomas)
Filed so far: Humphries, Bramall and Thomas

Ivins
Three city council seats (George Elwell, Steve Jolley and Barbara Rusick)
Filed so far: Elwell, Ron Demsley and Rick Hawk

LaVerkin
Three city council seats (Scott Stratton, Doug Beecher and Hugh Howard)
Filed so far: Stratton, Beecher and Howard

Leeds
Two town council seats (Alan Roberts and Keith Sullivan)
Filed so far: none

New Harmony
Two town council seats (not available.)

Rockville
Two town council seats (not available.)

St. George
Three city council seats (Gil Almquist, Jon Pike and Gloria Shakespeare)
Filed so far: Almquist, Pike, Shakespeare, Jay Brian Dial, Tara Dunn, Sam Laub and D.R. Wall

Santa Clara
Three city council seats (Herb Basso, Bill Jacobsen and Bruce Anderson)
Filed so far: Basso and Anderson

Springdale
Three town council seats (Stan Smith, Louise Excell and Kathy LaFave)
Filed so far: LaFave

Toquerville
Three city council seats (Paul Heideman, Lynn Olds and Daren Cottam)
Filed so far: Heideman, Olds and Cottam

Virgin
Two town council seats (Bill Adams and Bruce Densley)
Filed so far: Densley

Washington City
Three city council seats (Jeff Turek, Mike Heaton and Roger Bundy)
Filed so far: Heaton, Ben Martinsen, Justin Holbrook, Ron Mayfield and Ron Truman

ST. GEORGE - Residents have less than a week to file for municipal city and town council seats and most races in Washington County still look pretty thin when it comes to candidates.

In 15 cities and towns throughout the county, most have yet to see any new names file for their open seats and many had fewer candidates than openings as of Monday afternoon.

"We've had a couple of people pick up the paperwork, but they haven't brought it back yet," said Hurricane City Recorder Kaden DeMille, where incumbents John Bramall, Pam Humphries and Darin Thomas all have filed to run again but so far have no challengers.

In some municipalities, such as Virgin and Springdale, the number of open seats is greater than the number of candidates at this point.

"We usually don't see most of the filings until the last day or so, so we'll see on Thursday or Friday," said Tom Dansie, director of community development and deputy clerk for the town of Springdale.

Two exceptions to the otherwise slow flow of candidates are St. George and Washington City.

In St. George, the three incumbent council members - Gil Almquist, Jon Pike and Gloria Shakespeare - all have filed to run again, as have Sam Laub, D.R. Wall, Jay Brian Dial and Tara Dunn. Gay Cragun, city recorder, said the large number will require a September primary to narrow down the field.

Washington City also has a busy slate so far, with four challengers already announced to run for seats held by incumbents Jeff Turek, Mike Heaton and Roger Bundy. Thus far, only Heaton has filed to run for re-election, said Danice Bulloch, city recorder.

Hildale is the only place with a scheduled mayoral race, where appointed incumbent Phillip Barlow must run along with candidates for three city council posts.

To run, candidates must have been a resident of the town or city for at least a year as of election day - primaries will be Sept. 13 and the general election Nov. 8 - and must pay a filing fee if required by the municipality. Candidates must also not have any felony convictions, unless their right to vote has been restored.

This year, municipalities are not required to conduct an election if the number of eligible candidates, including write-ins, does not exceed the number of offices for which the candidates have filed and there are no other ballot propositions. The city or town council can cancel the election and consider the candidates elected.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published July 12, 2011
 
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