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WEST JORDAN — Changes are coming to how the West Jordan City government is run. The city council voted Wednesday night to make its mayor a full-time employee.
It's an issue many other Utah communities struggle with: When a town turns into a big city, at what point is a full-time mayor critical?
West Jordan City Manager Rick Davis said his city's mayor has been a full-time worker with part-time pay for a long time.
"I think as the fourth largest city, the council felt like our time had come," Davis said.
With 108,000 residents today, the city expects to add another 60,000 in the next 30 years. Starting in January, with a new mayor, the position's salary will go from $18,000 a year to $89,000.
"We are only giving compensation to a position that has always been full time," Davis said.
Case in point: West Jordan Mayor Melissa Johnson was juggling her job as mayor with family responsibilities and could not meet with KSL News Thursday for an interview. But the change was her idea because of her experience in office.
"She thought that the city is only growing in complexity, and the attention that is required by any chief elected official is only going to increase as time goes on," Davis said.
"They call it public-service for reason: nobody gets rich doing this," said West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder.
Winder said he loves his job as mayor but cannot afford to run again. He makes $35,000 a year as a part-time mayor, but also works full-time hours.
"When I was first elected, Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan put his arm around me in a brotherly way and said, 'You are soon going to learn the great lie. There is no such thing as a part-time mayor,'" Winder said.
Winder said he's the first mayor in the history of the city who's not a retiree, and he believes that's largely a matter of pay.
"If you are offering executive-level pay, you are going to have executive-level candidates apply and run for the office," he said.
Both West Jordan and West Valley have council with city manager forms of government. Salt Lake and Sandy have council-mayor governments.
"If you're serving as mayor, you want to be fighting for your city as much as you can. And I'm proud, in the four years as mayor, that I've done that," Winder said. "But I cannot do four more years of that on a part-time wage, and that's pretty much the only reason I'm not running again."
Candidates interested in the office in West Jordan better decide quickly: they have only one week to file for race. Filing begins at 8 a.m. Monday, June 3, and ends at 5 p.m. Friday, June 7.
