Indeed, the town's likely mayor and council members are so ecstatic about controlling their own destiny and escaping the clutches of nearby Eagle Mountain, that they are vowing to serve without pay.
"We're all volunteers, the entire town. We are so enthused about becoming our own entity and having a say on what goes on in our lives, that every one of us is going to be a volunteer," resident Lynn Gillies said Friday.
Gillies was Fairfielders' choice for mayor in a recent informal straw poll of the hamlet's roughly 150 residents. Michael Burch, Wayne Taylor, David Hansen and RL Panek were tabbed to serve on the Town Council.
Even so, the Utah County Commission has the final say about who gets to serve in the small town located 15 miles west of Lehi. Commissioners, until Dec. 1, are accepting résumés from residents looking to fill the positions, and probably will appoint the mayor and council before Dec. 14, according to Commissioner Steve White.
Once that happens, Fairfield officials have seven days to file articles of incorporation with the Lieutenant Governor's Office, which then has 10 days to certify the articles. If that happens, Fairfield becomes officially incorporated - with all the rights and responsibilities that entails.
White believes the town will succeed in making the transition from the county's control to residents pulling strings.
"It will require them to raise $3,000 to $12,000 a year more [in taxes] than they are currently generating," said White. "So I don't think they will have any problem. It's going to take a tax increase. But [from among] the people in the town we met with, none of them objected."
Panek, whose Cedar Valley Auto shop is one of the town's few businesses, says the rewards of incorporation are worth the risk.
"This allows us to get in a situation where we can act instead of react," said the 28-year resident. "Incorporation allows us to control what happens. We've got Eagle Mountain out here. I don't know what its full intentions are, but it could swallow us up in a hurry if we didn't do anything."
Gillies and other would-be leaders are already looking at ways to keep taxes from putting too big a bite on residents.
For instance, they have an agreement with the state Division of Parks and Recreation to hold municipal meetings in the Historic Fairfield School instead of building a City Hall.
And Gillies, a retired Army officer, says a woman who lives "kitty-corner" to his home already has offered to be the volunteer town clerk. If he is appointed mayor, he says his home might double as a repository for city records.
Whether or not Gillies becomes mayor, he has emerged as the town joker. Asked what Fairfield will do for police services, he says the town is so tiny that it doesn't need any.
"We just don't have crime here," he quipped. "We've got one jail cell. We put it out in the sagebrush. And if someone breaks the law, we just stick them in there. Then, if someone else breaks the law, we shoot the one in the jail cell and put the other one in there."
Gillies, of course, is only kidding.
Fairfield does not have a jail and has no plans for capital punishment. Gillies expects the Utah County Sheriff's Office will continue to patrol Fairfield once it is incorporated. Leaders also are looking to strike a deal for fire services with either Eagle Mountain or Cedar Fort.
meddington@sltrib.com
