South Salt Lake's mayoral race features incumbent Wes Losser facing off against three challengers - two veteran city councilmen and one political newcomer.

Losser, 52, is seeking his second term.

While Losser boasts of the city's balanced budget and healthy rainy-day fund, its 10.4 percent increase in taxable retail sales, park improvements and more, his opponents say the city needs a change in leadership.

"I'm not happy with the direction in which the city is moving," says Bob Gray, on the City Council for the past eight years.

Gray, 65, spent 24 years as a police officer and headed up the South Salt Lake department from 1994 to 1997. If elected, he says he would reinstate community policing, a concept he says worked well in the 1990s until Losser "dissolved" it in 2001.

But Losser, who works for family-owned Callahan Tile, says he also supports community policing and that Gray simply took it too far.

"When Bob Gray was police chief, he turned police powers over to citizens, and police officers were painting curbs and gutters," Losser said.

Like Gray, contender Boyd Marshall, a three-term councilman, also wants to bring back community policing.

"We need to have a proactive police force. It's easier to nip things in the bud than to let them get huge and then deal with it," said Marshall, 49.

Tony Clements, 65, is a retired heavy-equipment operator who says he threw his hat into the ring because he "enjoys working with people" and now has time to serve the community.

Clements says he wants to "give the community back to the citizens."

"I'd let the people know what's going on and let them have their say. Right now they don't get that because they're not informed," Clements said.

Gray agrees that better communication is needed and recommends having citizen advisory committees that convey community views on major issues.

Losser's opponents say the city's crime rate is a major concern. Gray contends it drives businesses away; Marshall would address the problem of a "reactive" police force because "crime, graffiti and gangs are on the increase"; Clements would hire more officers and schedule more night patrols.

But Losser says crime is a concern everywhere and the city's police department is well staffed and well run.

"We have one officer per thousand, which is better than the average in the county," Losser says. "Our officers got an 8 percent raise this year, and we pick up 100 percent of their insurance costs as well."

If elected, Marshall - an industrial mechanic for Central Valley Water Reclamation - plans to aggressively seek companies to locate in South Salt Lake.

"We can't sit back and wait for someone to come. We need to get out and market ourselves, something that hasn't been done for the past three years," he said.

cmckitrick@sltrib.com

South Salt Lake races

l Mayoral race: Wes Losser (i), Bob Gray, Boyd Marshall, Tony Clements

l City Council races: (No incumbents) District 2: Lonny Casey, Rea Goddard, Wendy Losee, Edna Soderquist

District 3: Steven Norr, John Weaver

At-large: Betty Bates, Scott Cameron, Casey Fitts, Larry Young