14 apply to serve as Taylorsville mayor

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Taylorsville • A former mayor, a City Council member, two planning commissioners and two Realtors are among 14 applicants vying to be mayor of this west-side community for the next year.

Also seeking the job are a nurse, an attorney, a boilermaker, a business owner, a human resources director, a software engineer, a retired federal employee and a certified public accountant.

The new mayor will be selected Wednesday by a majority vote of the five-member City Council. One job candidate, Councilman Jerry Rechtenbach, presumedly has one assured vote: City officials have concluded that the state law on filling midterm vacancies in municipal offices allows him to cast a ballot.

All qualified candidates who applied by the Friday deadline to serve the remainder of Mayor Russ Wall's term will be interviewed Wednesday. Applicants have to be a registered voter, have lived in Taylorsville for the past 12 months and not have any felony convictions.

The council will vote after one or two rounds of questioning on a replacement for Wall, who is resigning to become Salt Lake County's director of public works and regional development. This first vote will be followed by a runoff between the top two vote-getters.

The interviews and voting, as well as all materials submitted by the applicants, will be public.

The mayor's term runs until January 2014, and the salary is $82,472 a year. The appointee is scheduled to be sworn in at noon Thursday.

If Rechtenbach is appointed mayor, his City Council spot for District 3 will be filled through the same process. There are three years remaining on the term. The mayor's spot comes up for election in November.

pmanson@sltrib.com

Twitter: PamelaMansonSLC