After a marathon four-hour public hearing Tuesday night, the City Council tabled a proposed ordinance that would have stripped Lehi's mayor of some of his powers and given them to a strong city manager.

Instead, council members agreed to work with Johnson in upcoming work sessions to tweak the ordinance and decide whether they should vote on it or let the public decide the issue at the ballot box.

"If we, as a council and a mayor, can't sit down and hammer out some kind of agreement, I think it's a disservice to the community," Councilman Mark Johnson said before the vote.

Many at the meeting found the council's first crack at changing Lehi's government to be unacceptable. As outlined, the ordinance would have divested Johnson of his power to hire and fire workers and invested that power in a strong city manager, who would be overseen by the City Council.

Councilman Johnny Barnes said the ordinance's intent is to have five council members making decisions instead of only one person - the mayor.

Backers of the council at Tuesday's meeting also argued a full-time city manager would be better informed and equipped to make decisions than an uninformed, part-time mayor.

Critics, though, countered the change would vest more power with an unelected bureaucrat, who would not be answerable to the public.

"It's inappropriate for the City Council to try and . . . take away power from the mayor [who] citizens elected," said resident David Manning, one of about 200 residents packing Lehi's Legacy Center for the meeting.

Added resident Bonnie Clark: "If change is needed, let's put this on the ballot and let the [voters] decide."

The dispute over who should call the shots in Lehi is part of an ongoing spat between the mayor and council. It started with Mayor Johnson's campaign promise to shake up City Hall, a pledge that stirred up some council members and staff and ensured Johnson's first few months in office would be no honeymoon.

Already-frigid relations with the council waxed colder recently when Councilman Johnson used the city newsletter to rebuff allegations about taxes the mayor made during his campaign. Then the council refused to allow the mayor to respond in the newsletter.

Matters worsened when Mayor Johnson told the council in March he would not reappoint Ed Collins, which prompted the popular city administrator to resign, effective at the end of June.

Councilman Johnson credited Collins' fiscal prowess for the city's top bond rating and said the council crafted the government-change proposal to protect the city's financial interest and curb the abuse of power. Council members said the mayor got rid of Collins without cause.

But Manning and other critics noted the proposed ordinance empowered the council to also fire a city manager without cause.

So there's no difference, Manning said. "You just want to take away his authority and put it into your own hands."

For his part, Mayor Johnson acknowledged he and council members have had their differences since he took office in January, but he added, that is how government works.

"You did not hire us to get in the harness to pull the plow together," he said. "You hired us to give some thought to it and decide what direction that plow was to be pulled. . . . That doesn't mean we're going to agree all the time."

After the council's vote, resident Jim Davis found himself unable to root for either side.

"I don't think we need to replace Lehi's form of government," he said, "only the sorry elected officials who are running it."

meddington@sltrib.com