KAYSVILLE — With the polls still open and votes still being cast that would affect their future, members of the Kaysville City Council met to carry on business as usual Tuesday evening.

Mayor Neka Roundy and Council member Gil Miller were running for re-election, with Council member Steve Hiatt challenging Roundy for the mayoral post. Both Hiatt and Miller won their seats.

The candidates “sparred” only a week earlier, during a Meet the Candidates night at Fairfield Junior High School. “I’ve owned small businesses and when the bottom line starts to shrink I wouldn’t raise prices and expect my customers to stick around,” said Steve Hiatt, when asked about how he could increase the city’s revenue without raising residents’ taxes.

Hiatt said decreasing expenses and supporting local businesses would help the city’s finances. “I’d take a hard look at what our expenses are. There are innovative ways to save money.”

Mayor Roundy said the current city council “has been extremely proactive in keeping within a budget.” She indicated that for every dollar a resident pays in property taxes, the city provides $1.19 in services, so a balance needs to be found in tax revenues from other sources. Bringing businesses to Kaysville “increases business revenue for more sustainable tax revenue.”

The Main Street project, the Shop Kaysville First program, a better website and better networking among businesses are all helping market the town to businesses, according to Roundy.

Hiatt said attracting business to the city “comes down to customer service.” Where necessary, the city should be willing to work with new businesses on issues such as the timing on payment of impact fees so that businesses know they are welcome.

Gil Miller, who ran for a second term on the council, said people tell him they want to keep Kaysville the way it is. “That’s wonderful. It tells us we’ve got something special.” Miller’s council assignment has been parks and recreation and said the city “probably the best recreation program in all of Davis County if not the state.” He said he hopes to see development of more “passive parks” for citizens and ensure that all parks are used effectively to benefit all citizens.

Jared R. Taylor also spoke in support of city parks – especially Wilderness Park and its proximity to town. He said residents had approached him with concerns about recycling and while he supported a centralized recycling center, he was opposed to a mandated fee that might hurt those on fixed incomes.

Brian D. Cook, who served eight years as Kaysville mayor and 10 years on the council, also ran for one of the two open council seats. He said his priorities are families, educating and protecting children, and maintaining the quality of life Kaysville residents now enjoy. He also supported looking at expenses the “same as a business or a household” to find ways to save, and bringing in economic development to the city.