Voters will take another step toward filling those chairs Tuesday when they narrow the field of mayoral and council candidates.

Five hopefuls are vying for the mayor's part-time seat. The top two vote-getters in this week's primary will advance to the Nov. 2 finale. Nearly 30 council candidates are seeking eight spots on the fall ballot. The council will include a mayor and four council members. Together, they will hire a full-time manager to run the city's day-to-day affairs.

Cottonwood Heights - with 34,000 residents - is set to become Salt Lake County's 16th city in January after voters overwhelmingly approved incorporation in May.

The mayoral candidates - Sue Bitter, Chad Booth, Kelvyn Cullimore, Jerri Harwell and Jim Keane - agree on many issues. They want to ban any more billboards - a driving force behind incorporation - and contract with the county for police protection and public works.

None wants to build a new City Hall; they would rather rent space, at least during the city's infancy. And all five candidates vow to vote against any tax increase. Harwell hedged her pledge a bit in case of "unforeseen natural disasters."

But the candidates' views diverged on several fronts.

On franchise taxes - which cities can slap on utilities, such as cable television - Bitter, Cullimore and Keane stand dead-set against such levies. Booth and Harwell want to study the issue further.

Booth, for one, backs user taxes in which residents pay for services they receive.

"I would choose not to raise any taxes," he said. "But no matter how well devised the plan to manage the city, the real numbers of cost and revenue are still separated by a moat of issues that we must yet navigate."

Keane balks at opening a city justice court. "I do not see the need to incur additional costs in starting and maintaining a court system," he said.

Booth likes the idea, but not if the court's aim is merely to pump up revenues.

Most of the candidates want to keep the city's name: Cottonwood Heights. But Booth would like to shorten it to Cottonwood because it is the area's traditional moniker. Harwell wants residents to vote on the name.

The candidates also differ on their priorities.

Cullimore - president and chief operating officer of Dynatronics Corp., which makes medical devices for physical therapy, and a co-sponsor of the incorporation push - plans to focus on building a "solid financial, organizational and cultural foundation for the new city."

"It's important we get off to a strong start," he said.

Bitter, a member of the area's community council and owner of a gardening company, sees communicating with residents as the top priority along with "setting an example of correct and ethical behavior."

"Our people are intelligent," she said, "and if they know the issues, they can help make wise decisions."

Booth, owner of Chadwick Booth and Co. Broadcast television productions and host of KTVX Channel 4's "At Your Leisure," pledges to protect the "real asset of Cottonwood: the quality of the neighborhoods."

"Second to that," he said, "[is] to make sure that taxation is fair and equitable for both businesses and residents."

Keane, part owner of a medical-device startup company, wants to obtain the best services for residents and set up the city so that it fills their needs.

"With the right mayor, the transition to a city can be a smooth one," he said.

Harwell, a free-lance writer and an adjunct instructor at Salt Lake Community College, vows to keep in touch with residents and their needs.

"I will make myself available via booths or tables at grocery stores and other places in the community," she said, "to talk one on one with the citizens of Cottonwood Heights throughout the year."

Cullimore has raised the most campaign money, about $12,800, mainly from businesses and friends, according to financial disclosures. Booth put in most of his $4,850. Bitter chipped in about half of her $4,336. Keane has $942, all from himself, and Harwell raised $420 from friends.

tburr@sltrib.com

Cottonwood Heights primary

* Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Tuesday's Cottonwood Heights primary.

* To learn where to vote see the notice in today's newspaper, call the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office at 468-3427 or visit

http://www.clerk.slco.org.

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Links to candidates

* For more on mayoral candidates, visit http://www.cottonwoodheightsmayor.com

* For more on City Council candidates, visit http://www.cottonwoodheights.org

Click here for a graphic where the mayoral candidates stand.