His easy confidence, keen mind and willingness to tackle tough tasks make the 51-year-old official the point man on many fronts. For starters, when not hunkered down in City Hall, he runs a $30 million company.

Then, as mayor, he spearheaded a failed effort to form the Unified Police Department within Salt Lake County. He is behind the current multicity drive to form a small school district. And, perhaps in his most-difficult effort, he worked to ease the painful transition for 150 households displaced from the former Meadows mobile-home park.

So the question is: Where does this go-to guy plan to go next? Is he a rising Republican star in Utah politics?

"Rising target, maybe," he grins, alluding to the controversial movements he has grown to represent.

It all began early in 2002 as Cullimore became the spokesman and organizer for the city's incorporation effort. In 2004, he was elected mayor.

Since then, it has been one issue after another.

"The potential division of the Jordan School District is a huge issue," says Riverton Mayor Bill Applegarth. "But I believe he's honestly trying to have financial equity between the east and west for funding school construction."

Applegarth describes Cullimore as smart and reasonable.

"He's a good, honest, wonderful man," he says. "He's constantly looking at issues and trying to answer hard questions. I admire him."

Scott Bracken, a Cottonwood Heights city councilman, says Cullimore's attention to detail makes him a lightning rod.

"He's very thorough - he reads every single page of every proposal," Bracken says. "There's a propensity for people to go with what they want, to put in a cursory effort due to lack of time. That's not the case with him."

"Some people ask me how I run a $30 million company and a $20 million city," says Cullimore, chief executive officer for Dynatronics, the physical-therapy-equipment company he and his father, Cullimore Sr., launched in 1979. "I've always been a numbers guy."

The publicly traded Dynatronics mushroomed in size and, in 1993, moved into a plush two-story office building in Cottonwood Heights. In 1996, it also opened a second headquarters in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Emerging competition signaled major changes for Dynatronics this year. On July 1, the company acquired six of its distributors.

"We had to take steps to protect our distribution channels," Cullimore says. "Now we're faced with the daunting task of assimilating those companies."

As for talk of his leadership abilities, Cullimore reflects on his unsuccessful attempts to hold student-body offices from the seventh to 10th grades. During his junior year, the planets lined up.

"I won because no one else wanted to plan the prom," he says.

A strong work ethic - which he says took root early in his life - has vaulted him into leadership positions ever since.

"My upbringing was not to look to others to make a difference - that it was up to me to do that," he explains. "I enjoy the challenge of how to make things better."

When a developer purchased the Meadows to build million-dollar homes, Cullimore dived in to do what he could to help, meeting with stakeholders and the vulnerable residents week by week.

"That was not his issue. Those residents were going to be displaced no matter what," says state Sen. Carlene Walker. "He wasn't looking for votes; he was looking to do the right thing."

Walker met Cullimore while working together on the city's incorporation. She remembers asking him to run for mayor.

"He came into our meetings and was a voice of reason," she says. "He took leadership in a very collaborative way."

However, she warned him early on that heading up the new city would be a minefield.

"He was willing to take on those challenges," Walker says. "He has tremendous potential - I do see him climbing the political ladder."

Yes, he's a certified workaholic.

"We both are," says Laurie Cullimore, his wife of almost 29 years. The couple have reared five children and have one granddaughter.

Laurie Cullimore praises her husband's ability to live in the moment.

"When he's home, he's here," she says. "We have his undivided attention. He really does balance everything pretty darn well."

She isn't nudging her husband to seek higher office.

"He'll have to decide where he wants to go from here."

For now, Cullimore is content. "At the moment, no other offices appeal to me," he says. "People ask if I'll run for re-election. That I don't know - I'll decide in a couple of years."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com

About Kelvyn Cullimore

AGE: 51

FAMILY: Wife of nearly 29 years, Laurie Lyn Cullimore, and five children - Courtney, Chris, Clayton, Carson, Cardin - and granddaughter, Addison.

* EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in financial and estate planning.

* CHURCH SERVICE: Served LDS Mission in Quebec under Wayne Owens, the late Utah Democratic congressman who had a profound influence on him.

* CAREER: CEO of Dynatronics.

* CIVIC INVOLVEMENT: Member of the incorporation committee for Cottonwood Heights; mayor since 2005; finance committee chairman for the Unified Fire Authority Board; treasurer for Conference of Mayors for Salt Lake County; board member of the Jordan Education Foundation, which raises money to supplement school funding.

What Cullimore says:

My dad taught me that you have to learn to tell people to go to hell and to have a good journey.

I must have a defective gene because I really enjoy being mayor. I like tackling problems and solving them.

...

He has a great sense of humor - he's a bug. He can trick me and I fall for it, even after all these years.