IVINS — There is a crowded field for three positions on the Ivins City Council in Tuesday’s election that includes one incumbent, one former incumbent, advocates against short-term housing, a retired Las Vegas hospitality trainer, the CEO of Tuacahn, a former homicide detective and the leader of a domestic violence prevention group.
That field will be whittled down as the top six vote-getters in the primary will advance to the Nov. 21 general election for the three non-partisan positions.
Two of the three incumbents will not be returning. Dennis Mehr, an eight-year veteran of the council and the mayor pro-tem, and 2022 appointee Adel Murphy are not running for re-election.
Susan Lynne Ertel: Ertyl is an English professor at Utah Tech and also serves as the president of the DOVE Center, which helps local survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Along with her leadership position at the DOVE Center, she has also held leadership positions at Utah Tech as a previous president of the Faculty Senate.
Ertel was on the 19-member committee that decided on a new name for what was then Dixie State University. Before that, in 2012, she had organized a campus organization pushing for a name change. Back in 2016, she was honored for her advocacy for LGBTQ students at the university.
With experience teaching university-level courses going back to 1989, Ertel came to Southern Utah in 1999. She was recently awarded the Excellence in Education award from the Utah Tech Board of Trustees.
Ertel last ran in the 2019 primary council election, finishing ninth out of 10 candidates with 265 votes and failing to advance to the general election.
Ertyl’s response on her priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: My major issues are water (now and in the future), affordable housing and reasonable commercial development. Ivins is a special place and we need to be strategic as a City Council to keep it that way.
Sharon Barton: Currently retired, Barton was previously a manager in the staffing industry for more than 20 years of management in the staffing industry including franchise development. She also ran an independent consultant business for 12 years.
Barton has been a co-leader of the advocacy group Defenders of Greater Ivins and her husband Michael was one of the plaintiffs in a failed lawsuit to overturn a zoning approval for The Retreat residential and commercial development in Southeast Ivins.
Along with Defenders of Greater Ivins, she has also held advocacy positions with Ivins No-Kill Animal Supporters, Ivins Night Sky Initiative, Wreaths Across America, Heritage Days and several local election campaigns. She was also a volunteer in the gathering of the Ivins General Plan Survey of residents.
Barton has resided in Ivins since 2015. This is her first time running for political office.
Barton’s response on her priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: My priority starts with supporting the results of the 2022 General Plan Survey. In doing so, I will invest the time and energy that’s really needed to be able to make good knowledgeable decisions based upon preserving Ivins’ heritage and natural assets, encouraging community involvement and incorporating smart sustainable growth and fiscal responsibility.
Kevin M. Smith: Following in the footsteps of his uncle Hyrum W. Smith, Smith is the CEO and executive producer of the Tuachan Center of the Arts and has been with the center for 25 years. He also serves on the Utah State Board of Tourism Development, the Greater Zion Tourism Advisory Board, and on the Zions Bank Regional Advisory Board.
In 2020, Smith secured $1.9 million in CARES Act funding after appealing before the Washington County Commission and secured additional funding for the center that kept it operating while the Tuacahn Amphitheater was shuttered during the pandemic.
In 2021, the fired principal of Tuacahn High School and other officials with both the school and the Tuacahn Center of the Arts accused Smith of wrongfully terminating them – accusations that were denied by a spokesperson for the center. Tuacahn severed ties with the school and it moved to a new location in St. George as Utah Arts Academy.
The grand marshall of the 2019 Heritage Day Parade also serves on the Ivins Economic Development Committee. This is his first time running for political office.
Smith’s response on his priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: Smith did not provide a response to St. George News.
Sharon Gillespie: Gillespie is the president of the home association board at The Palisades residences. Before that, she worked in the corporate world with positions in such companies as Johnson & Johnson and Bausch & Lomb.
She has been a fixture at City Council meetings as an advocate against short-term housing and was one of the primary founders of the advocacy group Defenders of Greater Ivins. Along with Barton, she was at the plaintiff’s desk during the court hearing on the unsuccessful attempt to overturn a rezoning for The Retreat residential and commercial development in Southeast Ivins that includes short-term rentals.
She has had other local leadership roles as a co-chair for Ivins Wreaths Across America and also helped with the gathering of the Ivins General Plan Survey of residents. She is the advertising coordinator for this year’s Heritage Days and is also part of the group trying to create an Ivins Veterans Memorial.
While Gillespie has never run for public office, she did apply the take the open position that was to be chosen by the City Council that left when Sue Gordhammer left the council in February 2022. After a hearing of eight candidates that also included current City Council candidates Cheyne McDonald and Paul Bryson, Murphy was selected to take the seat but is not running for re-election.
Gillespie’s response on her priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: My number one priority is public safety. We need to provide an adequate budget for our fire/EMS and police to have the training and tools they need. Following that, closely, is smart, managed and reasonable growth. Ivins is at a tipping point and must execute choices in both residential and commercial growth that guide us responsibly into the future and preserve the unique spirit of Ivins.
James Barden: Before moving to Ivins and retiring, Barden was a sales supervisor for the beverage distributor Nevada Beverage Company in Las Vegas and also worked for the National Hospitality Institute training hospitality workers and others who sell or serve alcohol.
Barden spoke at a June Ivins City Council meeting advocating for developers to be forced to provide a more transparent “development plan.” But Ivins City Manager Dale Coulam responded to Barden by saying as of January, it will be against state law for a city like Ivins to ask for any development plan from homebuilders.
He is, at this point, the only candidate in Ivins to respond with a sought endorsement for the local group Southern Utahns for Transparency, which has accused Washington County of election fraud and petitions for voting to be returned to hand-counted ballots.
This is Barden’s first time running for political office.
Barden’s response on his priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: Managing growth. It is one of the major concerns of Ivins residents, as witnessed in our recent survey of residents. Growth can and should be controlled through responsible decisions by both the Planning Commission and the Council.
Our infrastructure and especially our roads, cannot handle overwhelming use. We are not a “resort” community. We should be recognized as an agricultural community.
Jenny Johnson: Johnson holds the distinction of being the only incumbent running in this year’s council election and also the council member with the longest residency. After living there for more than 50 years and seeing growth, from a town of a few hundred to a city of thousands, she is seeking her third term after being first elected in 2015.
Johnson spoke of her Ivins roots at a council meeting in March, holding back tears as she described what she said was people getting too worried about what other people are doing and the city imposing restricting like the color of housing on them.
She also has said she has expressed her Ivins origins by being a main organizer of Heritage Days since its inception. For more than 25 years, she was a volunteer certified firefighter in Ivins and is also the director of the Ivins Mini Miss pageant.
Johnson’s response on her priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: My main goal for running, again for City Council is to help provide balance in our local governmental decisions. I feel I can work well with both sides of any issue to do what is best for the community as a whole. I want to be a strong voice for the silent majority who love Ivins for what it has long been, what it is now and what we want it to be going forward.
Cheyne McDonald: McDonald is seeking a return trip to the Ivins City Council after he was voted out by 47 votes in November 2021 after serving since January 2010 on the council.
The owner and operator of the Speed Lube automotive service business, which has two stores in St. George, spent much of his childhood and all of his adult life in Ivins. Before the City Council, he was part of the city’s Planning Comission.
McDonald has also long been Ivins’ representative on the Washington County Solid Waste Board that handles all of the county’s trash, which he chairs. Because of that status, the council voted in February 2022 to allow McDonald to still represent the city on the Washington County Solid Waste District Board and he has continued to serve as its chairman.
McDonald made a previous attempt to return to the council last February when he was one of the eight candidates for an open council position that included current candidates Gillespie and Bryson but ultimately went to the outgoing Murphy.
McDonald’s response on his priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: McDonald did not provide a response to St. George News.
Paul Bryson: Bryson has had two lives as a 39-year veteran and homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department who also helped train Delta Force members in Iraq and a 17-year career as a realtor, architect and resident of Ivins.
This is his fourth time seeking a spot on the Ivins City Council and his second election.
The first time was in October 2020 when Bryson was one of seven candidates seeking a council appointment to fill a seat vacated by Miriah Elliot. At the time, council members heaped praise on Bryson and his resume with current member and candidate Johnson making a motion to select Bryson that failed. Derek Lawson was ultimately appointed.
Bryson next missed at the ballot box, when he ran in the 2021 council primary but failed to make the general election after placing last.
Last February, Bryson was one of the eight candidates for an open council position that included current candidates Gillespie and McDonald but ultimately the council went with Murphy.
Bryson’s response on his priorities as a member of the Ivins City Council: I will represent all values, voice and input of Ivins residents. I promise to use common sense solutions that always place the interest of the community first. The city needs a master plan which will be followed and serves the community. Encourage a business plan to establish a tax base that is not reliant on property tax. I will work to bring back confidence in local government by eliminating perceived conflict of interest with developers. Review and monitor the operations of the fire and police departments. I will work with all the communities and entities to lobby state legislators on bills negative to Ivins. Support the Water Conservancy District and its 20-year plan.
Update Sept. 2 12:40 p.m.: Sharon Gillespie entry edited to correct her previous occupation.
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