One day after Bluffdale voters stripped Mayor Claudia Anderson's executive powers, she sent associates from her company to strip her office bare. The large room, once peppered with her personal furniture and artwork, was virtually empty late Wednesday afternoon.

In an e-mail to The Tribune early Wednesday evening, Anderson explained that "the council has put money in the budget for office furniture. So I thought I should bring my personal items home."

But the empty office left some confused.

"We feel the mayor has abandoned the citizens of Bluffdale," said Lora Chisholm, president of Citizens for Bluffdale, which opposed the mayor in the referendum vote. "No one knows where she's gone or what she's done, and we have no statement from her."

Anderson said Wednesday afternoon she understood the vote and was "devastated."

"I thought I was doing what they wanted me to do. I got into this to serve . . . but they voted for a city manager, and I'm OK with that if that's what the people want," she said.

The embattled mayor - she has yet to reach the middle of her four-year term - said she would "absolutely not" run for re-election in 2009.

Councilman Bill Maxwell said the council's future behavior would likely reflect the mayor's.

"If she wants to continue to be combative, then there's not much we can do except push on and do what's right," he said. "She can help us, or she can choose not to."

And much like the mayor, some embattled council members are questioning whether they will run for re-election.

Councilwoman Martha Speed is up for re-election this November, along with Jess Kelley and Craig Briggs. Speed is still mulling her decision, but her colleagues said they likely would not seek another term. Kelley said eight years are enough, and Briggs said he can't handle the fighting.

"This last 18 months have been so contentious that it's just broken my will to want to continue," he said. "If that's what I have to deal with over the next 2 1/2 years, then no way will I continue."

sgehrke@sltrib.com