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Posted: 2:36:01 PM- North Salt Lake Mayor Kay Briggs soon will resign as mayor because he is being transferred by his employer, the LDS Church, to the Dominican Republic.

Briggs said Wednesday that he may move in August, but probably will commute back to Utah and North Salt Lake, where he will keep his home, for a while. He has not decided when to step down, but it might be in early October, he said.

"I could have said no and stayed on as mayor. It's not like they're forcing me to go," said Briggs, who for more than two years has managed business affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Caribbean.

The church recently appointed an area president for the region, and Briggs was asked to represent the church's presiding bishop there as well.

"My wife and I are excited about the prospects," Briggs said.

They will live in Santo Domingo, where a home is being remodeled for them.

"I'm going to hate giving up being mayor. Other than that, I'm ready to go." Briggs, known for his shock of white hair and booming voice, said he regrets leaving before the city's lawsuit against Salt Lake City is resolved or its master plan for trails and parks fully realized.

North Salt Lake sued Utah's capital last year, asking the court's help in disconnecting 80 acres it owns inside Salt Lake City's boundaries. North Salt Lake wants to develop part of the land with a cemetery, homes, parks and trails. Mayor Rocky Anderson, however, wants the land kept as open space because it is one of the few remaining sections of the ancient Lake Bonneville's shoreline that has not yet been developed.

Two potential replacements for Briggs have emerged: the man he defeated in his bid for a second term last November and a city councilman.

Juan Arce-Larreta, an advocate for change who ran against Briggs, said he remains interested in being mayor. But he is not optimistic and expects the council to instead go with an insider.

"The council, the mayor, the whole good old boy network that is North Salt Lake politics does not engage the citizens nearly as much as it should," said Arce-Larreta, a former attorney who is now a stay-at-home dad.

Councilman Lynn Ballard is expected to pursue the mayor's job as well. He did not immediately return a reporter's phone call Wednesday. Ballard recently lost a primary bid for a Davis County Commission seat.

City Manager Collin Wood said state law specifies the council pick a new mayor, who holds office until the next municipal election. That would be in November 2007.

The council probably will take applications from interested residents in August.

Wood said he has not explored the legality of Briggs continuing as mayor once he has moved his primary residence to the Dominican Republic. "Basically, he's going to be living out of two homes, one there and one here," Wood said.

Briggs said he has been traveling to the Caribbean twice a month for more than two years, so commuting in the other direction should not prove too difficult.

As a temporal-affairs director for the LDS Church, he will have responsibility for business affairs on more than two dozen Caribbean islands as well as the South American countries of Guyana and Suriname and the territory of French Guiana.