The scope of the job, he says, gives him no time.

Still, despite the demands - he rarely hits the ski slopes with his kids anymore or restores his classic cars - the 49-year-old incumbent desperately wants to clock in for four more years in City Hall.

"We don't need to go through a learning curve," he says.

Billings is referring to the time he has invested in a host of Provo plans. Plucking him from the picture, he insists, could doom iProvo, the city's fiber-optic network, squelch downtown revitalization and hurt the prospects for commercial flights at Provo's airport.

"These projects are at a critical juncture," the mayor says, arguing time, momentum, money and contracts could be lost by electing new blood. "We have to stay the course to get these things done."

On Tuesday, residents will make that call at the polls. The choice has engaged plenty of voices - and vitriol - given it marks a rematch between Billings and retired firefighter Dave Bailey, defeated in 2001 by a mere 365 votes.

While that race was tense, the current sprint has turned nasty. In recent weeks, for instance, Billings' less-than-scholarly grade report from Brigham Young University popped up.

Meantime, Bailey has been publicly tied to a well-known Democrat, with hopes the association cripples the challenger in Republican-dominated Provo - even though the race officially is nonpartisan.

And, last weekend, a mailer outlining an endorsement of Billings from three of Bailey's former fire bosses was approved for distribution by the incumbent's camp.

Billings, whose pulse quickens when discussing the campaign tactics, concedes the contest is the ugliest in which he has ever participated. He would prefer to hover above the political trenches, but was quick to ratchet up the rhetoric, calling some Bailey moves sad, "moronic," and like "high school pranks."

So it is for the lifelong Provo resident once groomed to be governor and now clawing for a third term as mayor of Utah's third-most populous city.

Crawling through interstate traffic this week, Billings took time to ruminate about his turbulent political ride.

As a teenager, Billings worked as a bookkeeper for a gas company then became a landlord when his father co-signed on a loan for a duplex. In that garage, he learned to restore vintage autos, a hobby, along with horse-riding, he now shares with his family.

Disappointed not to make Provo High's basketball team, he turned to work. After a short stint at BYU, Billings became executive vice president and general manager of a firm specializing in rotating memory storage for computers.

He continued to invest in real estate, dabbled in other business ventures and became active in GOP politics.

Before serving as Provo's chief administrative officer in the mid-1990s, Billings acted as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. He has been a delegate at four national GOP conventions and in 2000 served as co-chair of Utahns for Bush.

Billings brushes off critics who call him impersonal and autocratic. He points to a recent $50,000 fundraiser - "it lit people on fire," he says - organized by former Springville Mayor Hal Wing. The amount more closely mirrors a mayoral campaign's total war chest than cash raised in a single night.

Arguing the taxpayers of Provo "should hold me accountable," Billings says re-election will allow him to prove the mettle of existing projects.

He hopes to finesse iProvo to fruition, usher in a performing-arts center and add hundreds of jobs at a business center in the former Ironton industrial area.

The mayor also considers himself a key voice in the conversation to improve transportation, pursue a conference center to supplement events at BYU and continue the cleansing of Utah Lake.

To disrupt the current team, Billings charges, will disrupt the city - whose department heads will not stick around for a Mayor Bailey.

"They will leave," he says. "They will retire, or he will replace them. If we're not careful, we'll lose this moment to score. The clock will run out."

djensen@sltrib.com

Lewis Billings

* Age: 49

* Career: Two-term Provo mayor; was city's chief administrative officer

* Education: Studied engineering and technology at BYU and business at UVSC and University of Phoenix

* Political experience: Utahns for Bush co-chairman in 2000

* Fun fact: Restores antique cars

Billings on the issues

* How committed are you to iProvo and where does the project stand?

Billings: Strong advocate of plan that is half done. Compares Bailey's criticism to a candle "when the new light bulb is coming out."

* Response to criticism about ignoring public safety?

Billings: Says no department in the city sees more money on a whole than police. And fire is No. 2. "People in Provo do feel safe."

* What is your diagnosis on the future of downtown?

It has come a long way in eight years but must improve. The new performing-arts center will help feed that energy. " 'Live, work and play' is becoming its theme."

* Three council seats

* Citywide Council District 1: George O. Stewart, Mark T. Sumsion

* Council District 2: Paul R. Warner(i), Cindy J. Clark

* Council District 5: Cindy Richards(i), Adam Clark