Eagle Mountain, Utah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eagle Mountain is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. The city is a new development located to the west of the Lake Mountains, which are west of Utah Lake. It was incorporated on December 3, 1996 and has been rapidly growing ever since. The population was 2,157 at the 2000 census. By 2005 the estimated population had reached 10,343.[1]
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[edit] History
John Walden and Eagle Mountain Properties purchased land in a bankruptcy sale. Initially purchasing the land for the water rights, Walden later decided to form a city.
Eagle Mountain was a planned city built around a concept of new urbanism, and incorporated in December 1996 with a population of approximately 250 residents.
Pony Express Elementary, Eagle Mountain's first school, opened over capacity. A new elementary school, Eagle Valley Elementary, opened in time for the 2004-2005 school year, also opening over capacity. The Ranches Academy, a public charter school, opened for the 2004-2005 school year opened at its set enrollment capacity.
[edit] Government and politics
Eagle Mountain has had several mayors in its short history. Debbie Hooge was appointed the first mayor by the Utah County Commission upon incorporation in December of 1996. At the next regular election in October of 1997, Hooge reluctantly placed her name on the ballot because there were no other candidates. She was then elected as the city's mayor but immediately began to prepare one of the city councilman to replace her. By October of 1998 Hooge resigned in favor of Councilman Rob Bateman, a former mayor pro-tem of Alpine, Utah. Bateman fulfilled his commiment and at the next regular election, Paul Bond was elected mayor and served his full two-year term. Kelvin Bailey then ran against Greg Kehl, a city councillor, and won by about 70 votes. Bailey resigned on June 30, 2005, citing financial problems and a need to have time to develop his inventions. Vincent Liddiard, the Mayor Pro Tem, took the lead until David Lifferth was appointed by 5-0 vote of the council on August 2, 2005. Lifferth resigned his position as mayor at the end of the final council meeting for 2005. Brian Olsen, the mayor pro tem and mayor-elect filled the seat for the final days of 2005. Brian Olsen was the sixth mayor to serve in the office since 2005 until he resigned on October 20, 2006. Councillor Linn Strouse was appointed to fill the mayor seat on October 21. The vote was 3-2, with council members Liddiard and Jackson dissenting.[2]
In the general election in January 2006, Brian Olsen was seated as mayor (defeating Brigham Morgan) and David Lifferth and Heather Jackson as council members (defeating Alicia Hill and Donna Burnham).
Immediately prior to resigning as mayor, Lifferth's last official act was to officially name the Utilities Administration Building (the City Hall) in honor of former mayor Kelvin Bailey. The sign would have read, "Eagle Mountain's Mayor Kelvin Bailey City Administration Building". While David Lifferth felt he had the power to make this change as Mayor, the council disagreed. After Brian Olsen was sworn in, the proposal fizzled out and was finally killed.
Currently, Heather Jackson, David "Dave" Blackburn, David Lifferth, Linda "Linn" Strouse, and Vincent Liddiard hold seats on the city council.
Bailey and Eagle Mountain gained some national attention in March 2003 when Bailey reportedly claimed to have been kidnapped and forced to drive to Barstow, California. FBI personnel were briefly involved in the case. Bailey reportedly confessed that he had invented the kidnapping story due to his "struggling with the stresses of his responsibilities as mayor and with his job as a construction consultant. He admitted making up the story to appease his wife until he could return home and explain his disappearance." [3] Bailey initially pled not guilty to misdemeanor charges of filing false police reports, but finally accepted a plea deal in 2005.
Interestingly, to-date Brigham Morgan and Greg Kehl are the only two city councillors to finish four-year elected terms. No Eagle Mountain mayor has finished a four-year term. The city council determined that part of the problem lay in the fact that the mayor received a monthly stipend of $1,000. In July 2005, the council approved a salary for the mayor of about $70,000 per year, including benefits. The money was procured from sewer funds, which were already lagging far behind demand. The city must expand its sewage treatment facility for the "South Service Area" or will likely have a building moratorium when the plant reaches capacity. The cost for this is estimated to be $5 million, with only $500,000 raised so far from a federal grant.
Not long after taking office officially in 2006, Brian Olsen was caught up in controversy surrounding his claims that he held a Masters of Public Administration degree from Brigham Young University. It was found that he indeed did not have an MPA as his campaign candidacy declarations and campaign literature stated in both the 2003 and 2005 elections.[4] He refused to step down, despite the lies.[5] To compound the issue, his employer, the Utah Highway Patrol, opened an internal investigation in light of Brian Olsen having reported to the UHP that he held the MPA and received a decoration for holding the degree. Olsen, on a leave of absence to be Mayor in Eagle Mountain, resigned from the Utah Highway Patrol before the investigation was completed, causing the matter to be closed within the UHP.[6]
On October 20, 2006, Brian Olsen became the latest mayor to resign from office. The reason cited was "family and personal considerations".[7] Interestingly, this resignation was posted at around 3:00 p.m. on the same day an emergency meeting of the city council was called to discuss a pending criminal investigation involving a city employee. In light of this resignation, the council met in emergency session on October 21, 2006 and selected Linn Strouse to serve as interim mayor for a 30 day period. The vote was 3-2, with council members Liddiard and Jackson dissenting.[8]
On October 23, it was announced that Olsen had been charged with seven felony accounts of misusing public funds by the Utah County Attorney's office. Several city council members reported being aware of the ongoing investigation and were advised by the County Attorney to not speak about it until the charges were filed.[9]
[edit] Utilities
The utilities are owned by the city. While the Telecom department has been sold to Direct Communications, the city owns its own natural gas, electric, water, and sewer services.
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 108.0 square kilometres (41.7 square miles).
Eagle Mountain sits at the western base of the Lake Mountains in the flat Cedar Valley northeast of the city of Cedar Fort. An area known as The Ranches is also being developed just north of the Lake Mountains on Utah State Route 73 (west of Lehi), within the city limits of Eagle Mountain.
Highway 73 and Eagle Mountain Boulevard provide access to the city from Utah Valley and Salt Lake Valley, although the city center sits at least 15 miles from the two valleys' main transportation corridor along Interstate 15. The Utah Department of Transportation is in the process of planning a western freeway for the Salt Lake valley which would connect to Highway 73 only a few miles from The Ranches Parkway and Eagle Mountain Boulevard and provide more direct access to Provo and Salt Lake City. [10]
[edit] Demographics
As of the 2000 census, there were 2,157 people, 532 households, and 502 families residing in the town. The population density was 20.0/km² (51.7/mi²). There were 598 housing units at an average density of 5.5/km² (14.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.57% White, 0.32% African American, 0.37% Native American, 0.32% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.88% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.11% of the population.
There were 532 households of which 74.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 89.1% were married couples living together, 3.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 5.6% were non-families. 3.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 0.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.05 and the average family size was 4.18.
In the town the population was spread out with 47.4% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 6.3% from 45 to 64, and 1.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 21 years. For every 100 females there were 100.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $52,102, and the median income for a family was $52,434. Males had a median income of $40,777 versus $25,313 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,340. About 2.0% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.
Since the 2000 census there has been massive growth in Eagle Mountain and surrounding cities. City officials now estimate the total population to be closer to 13,500.
[edit] References
- ^ Population Finder — Eagle Mountain, Utah. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
- ^ Interim mayor for Eagle Mountain. The Daily Herald (2006-10-22). Retrieved on 2006-10-22.
- ^ Jury to decide fate of mayor. Deseret Morning News (2003-12-18). Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
- ^ Eagle Mountain mayor admits he lied about master's degree. The Daily Herald (2006-05-04). Retrieved on 2006-05-04.
- ^ Mayor won't step down. The Daily Herald (2006-05-17). Retrieved on 2006-05-17.
- ^ E.M. mayor's perjured pin. The Daily Herald (2006-05-31). Retrieved on 2006-05-31.
- ^ Eagle Mountain mayor quits. The Daily Herald (2006-10-21). Retrieved on 2006-10-21.
- ^ Interim mayor for Eagle Mountain. The Daily Herald (2006-10-22). Retrieved on 2006-10-22.
- ^ Eagle Mountain's ex-mayor charged. The Daily Herald (2006-10-24). Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
- ^ MountainView Corridor. Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
[edit] External links
- City's official website
- Eagle Mountain News
- Mountain View Corridor News
- Eagle Mountain Community Website
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
