| Susan Praast, Emery town clerk, administers the oath of office to Gary Petty following his selection as interim mayor. |
On Feb. 28, Mayor pro tem Eric Anderson opened the special town council meeting to appoint a new mayor for Emery. Mayor Mike Williams passed away in January, creating a need for a mayor to serve until the end of his term. That term will end Dec. 31.
Gary Petty was selected by the council to serve as Emerys mayor during the final 10 months of Mayor Williams term.
The process of selection of the new mayor consisted of advertising for anyone interested in serving to apply at the town hall office. These applicants were brought before the town council to be interviewed. There were three applicants, Eric Anderson, Alisha Roberts and Gary Petty.
Anderson stood down from the mayor pro tem position during the interviews. The remaining council, Corinne Dalton, Gary Jensen and Patrick Sundstrom asked relevant questions of each of the three applicants.
The questions were: what experience will you bring to the office of mayor? what is your approach to annexation? how would you handle a resident who wants to be unincorporated from the city? how do you propose to promote economic development in Emery and the rest of Emery County? what is your most important goal to work on as mayor? what would you do to improve the sense of unity in the community? and are you competent to lead Emery through the process of getting the curb and gutter work done?
Each of the applicants answered the questions, and the council voted for their choice. Town clerk Susan Praast was on hand to swear in the newly chosen Mayor Gary Petty.