January 2018 | Vol. 18 Iss. 01
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LOOKING BACK AT MURRAY 2017: THE YEAR OF CHANGE By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com
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hange, transformation, transition…whatever one may choose to name it, it could be seen all around Murray in 2017. Murray has had big changes before, but probably not since the implosion of Murray’s iconic smokestacks has there been a transformative year like this one. In some cases, the change was unavoidable. With the numerous endings and beginnings taking place, the city may well be on the verge of a new era. Mayor Change is hard, and the mayor’s office was certainly hit the hardest. Well-liked Mayor Ted Eyre’s battle against cancer progressed to where he needed the assistance of a cane or wheelchair to get around. Eyre determined early in the year that he would not run for re-election, but it became tragically apparent that he would not finish out his term. With the mayor’s seat up for grabs, four candidates filed to run for election. Going into the primary were three seasoned office holders: Murray City Councilman Blair Camp, Former four-term Murray Mayor Dan Snarr, and Salt Lake County Councilman Richard Snelgrove. New-comer Verl Greenhalgh completed the quartet. Mayor Eyre and the entire city council endorsed Camp, causing Greenhalgh to rebuke the council endorsement as being divisive. Murray citizens took a keen interest in the election, packing meet-the-candidates nights held by the Murray Chamber of Commerce. Murray mayoral elections are held on off-election years, opposite state and national election years; typically, few Murray voters cast their ballots in off-years. However, 2017 experienced a change in that pattern, as Murray saw a 13.6 percent voting increase—up
A police escort attends Mayor Ted Eyre’s funeral (Photo/Rae Delliskave)
to 36.6 percent in 2017 compared with 22.9 percent in 2013. In addition to active local races, the county clerk’s office attributes the improved voting numbers to the convenience of mail-in balloting. The primary narrowed the race between Snarr (who received 40.98 percent or 3,668 total votes) and Camp (who took second with 33.51 percent or 2,999 votes). Both candidates campaigned on their qualifications. However, it was clear that many Murrayites were uncertain as to what each would accomplish as mayor, as evidenced by the numerous questions at the meet-and-greet nights. If the race wasn’t dramatic enough, the pass-
ing of Mayor Eyre two weeks after the primary set in motion changes to the mayor’s office the city has never seen. Upon a vacancy in the mayor’s office, the law specifies that the chair of the city council be appointed as acting mayor until an interim mayor is selected. In a first for Murray, Diane Turner became the first female mayor of Murray, being that she was the chair of the city council. The law requires an interim mayor to be appointed by the city council within 30 days of a vacancy in the mayor’s office. Turner, who was running for re-election for city council, declined to be considered, as she would have had to give up her
council seat. Three citizens applied to be interim mayor, including Camp. The city council ended up selecting one of their own, and Camp was sworn in as interim mayor, and Turner became the shortest serving mayor in Murray history. According to Camp, “It was his (Eyre’s) desire for me to finish his term. He told me that he wanted me to do it.” Compared to other mayoral races in Utah, the Snarr and Camp campaigns were relatively cordial. The election attracted 46 percent of all registered Murray voters. Interim Mayor Blair Camp captured 52 percent to former Mayor Dan Snarr’s 48 percent share of ballots. Election observers feel that most of the electorate who had supported Snelgrove and Greenhalgh in the primary more closely identified with Camp than Snarr when it came to the general election and gave Camp the edge in the final results. City Council Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states that “Every object persists in its state of rest…unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed on it.” Certainly, Newton’s first law could be applied to the Murray City Council as the forces of change in the Mayor’s Office required changes to the city council. With Camp running for mayor, a vacancy was guaranteed for district two in 2018. Turner was running unopposed for re-election for her seat. Seeking Camp’s council seat were Dale Cox, the retiring president of Utah’s AFL-CIO, and businessman Darrell Pehrson. For the first time, the council had to address filling the mayor’s office vacancy. As chair of the city council, Turner had to fill the roles of acting mayor and still represent her district on the city council. As Camp was compelled by Mayor Eyre Continued on Page 5...
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