West Valley City • When the crew began to fill the selected holes on the north-south road one year, 2200 West is not in the list. District 1 Councilwoman Carolynn Burt took the City Manager Wayne Pyle for a bumpy ride and make a point. The road was repaired.
District 3 Councilman Russ Brooks also took a direct route when he decided in late 1990 that the city needed a portable stage for community events.
Then-City Manager John Patterson said there was not enough money. Brooks negotiated a special price for the stage "show-mobile" portable vendors bring to a convention in Salt Lake City, and West Valley came up with the money. West-side suburb made his money back a few years later by renting a portable stage during the 2002 Olympics.
"It actually cost the City zero dollars," said Brooks.
Burt and Brooks attended their last city council meeting as a member in December, after selecting against running for a new term to give others the opportunity to serve. They also have personal reasons: Burt, 74, was battling leukemia and is scheduled to do a bone marrow transplant this month, which will lead to weeks of missed board meetings.
Brooks, 64, had received a call from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve as a bishop and will travel further to work on the sale of natural gas industry.
"They both cared passionately about improving our city, and their retirement is actually the end of an era," said Mayor Mike Winder.
Burt and Brooks is part of the council that brings Maverik Center, Family Fitness Center, Hale Centre Theatre and the Utah Cultural Celebration Center to the city, he said.
Kevin Fayles, old people active in the community, said that Burt and institutional knowledge of Brooks' will be missed.
"I think they have a track record of making hard - and correct - decision rather than thinking about the political wisdom," he said.
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Work for the people • Brooks, who grew up in West Valley City and graduated from Granger High School, worked for Questar Gas for 35 years before retiring. He was elected by the council in May 1995 to replace Gordon Evans, who resigned to serve LDS missions, and was elected in September and three times after that.
Councilman Don Christensen believes Brooks won because he always did what he thought was right. "He works for the people," said Christensen, who became campaign manager Brooks' to run both. "It does not matter if he were friends."
Brooks said that except for show-mobile it, "is everything else I accomplish with my fellow city council members."
Councilman Corey Rushton said Brooks had a great perspective on how issues affecting the population average. "Russ is also, surprisingly, the most enthusiastic member of the board despite his mild-mannered," he said.
At the board meeting in August, state Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, head of the Utah Taxpayers Association, criticized the increase in property taxes and 18 percent ownership of the West Valley Maverik Center and fitness center, which compete with private companies.
Brooks raised his voice when he defended the city leaders, recorded an increase of only two from West Valley City was founded in 1980.
"I do not believe that you will come here and say to the previous council, the mayor before, that they have not done the right thing for the city," he told the senator. "We have developed into a first-class city for men and women who are elected by citizens to make choices, to make this a better place to live, play and work."
Brooks believes the city will be more driven by the Fairbourne Station, half a billion dollars in the development of residential space, retail, hotel, office and green in addition to a transportation center now under construction.
"When they saw what was happening, people are proud to be from West Valley City," said Brooks.
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Speaking his mind • Burt, a small business owner who has lived in the city since 1961, also originally appointed to the board, filling the seat left vacant by the death in 1998 Leland DeLange. He was elected to the position a year later and won re-election twice.
From the beginning, Burt is a vocal and fight for issues she believes merits District 1 constituents. "I'm not a wallflower," she said.
What is good for the district is not necessarily good for the entire city, Burt said, and he lost a lot of noise at the end of 6-1. But there are also successes.
He lists as accomplishments: getting the first three parts of the park and public art placed in the West Valley, a statue of hockey players at the Maverik Center. He made the first donation, $ 6,000, to the artwork.
When Family Fitness Center was built in the late 1990s, he insisted that the pool deep enough to dive and meet the specifications for the competition. Once again, he reached into his own pocket, donated $ 12,000 for the starter block and $ 4,000 for board records. When he learned that only one lane lap pool has a system of time, he came up with the money - he does not remember how many - for the system time in seven other lines.
Nancy Day, Fitness Center director, said Burt also gave generously of his time, serving as a volunteer official at a swim meet.
"This program will not be a place in any way without the help and assistance," said Day.
Burt also bought benches for the park and regularly gave to Hale Centre Theatre and the Community Education Partnership, which provides educational programs before and after school for the children.
And he's not done. Burt said he would donate $ 40,000, the rest of the money earned as a member of the board, to the bell tower bell tower at Fairbourne Station.
She and her husband are building a new home in Highland. He will miss his friends and lives in West Valley City, where the couple once had a car wash and Scott Drive-In and still have the rental properties. He hopes to continue volunteering with community groups.
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