Joyce Forbes Brown for Layton City Council

I

t's good to be in the driver's seat. And Layton indisputably has been there for a long time running. The largest city in Davis County has been attracting economic development like no other Top of Utah city, and there's no indication its stature among its neighbors is diminishing.

Incumbent Layton City Councilwoman Joyce Forbes Brown exudes a quiet confidence that matches her city's position. When asked by the Standard-Examiner's Editorial Board whether or not she would support tax incentives to help the city's Old Downtown, she didn't hesitate: "I believe that a city like Layton offers enough that if someone wants to put their business here that they would do so because they like the area, because they like what it has to offer without having to have an incentive to come here."

Short answer: no incentives. Layton, she says, has the "tools in place" to see that the city is further developed the way the council and its citizens want to see it grow.

We like that attitude -- maybe better described as certitude -- in a Layton leader, and that's one of the reasons the Standard-Examiner's Editorial Board is recommending Brown be re-elected to her seat on the Layton City Council.

Since Layton is growing, and will continue to for 15 or 20 years to come before expected buildout of available land, development is an overriding issue in the city. Brown says her goal is to guide new development and, in rare instances, redevelopment projects so as not to create more traffic. The way it is now, when people who don't live in the city think of Layton, they as are apt to imagine traffic congestion as much as restaurants and retail and movie theaters. And even for people who live in Layton, when they go to shop, they must deal with the traffic, too.

Brown points out that many of the congested roads are state-owned and managed. The city is working with the state to ease the traffic. But, she notes, the city has undertaken and will continue to work on its own roads -- mostly east-west routes like Gentile Street -- to relieve congestion in high-traffic areas. She looks forward to a complete interchange at Main Street and I-15, not only to help take pressure off the interchange at Hill Field Road, but to speed revitalization of the Old Downtown.

Another goal she's pursuing is a new building for the Layton Police Department, which now shares space with the 2nd District Court. She'd like to see the department housed in one shop -- making the patrol and investigate divisions more "cohesive," as she sees it. We'd like to see more thought given to possible satellite stations across the city, but the experts should settle that question.

We also think she ought to give more consideration to the possibility of establishing voting districts in addition to the city's at-large council seats -- at least investigate the idea -- but she's dead set against it, preferring the way the system now operates.

Lastly, we're impressed by Brown's record of service in the community -- she's been a PTA president at both an elementary and high school, volunteered for the Boy Scouts and even took the time to attend the first Layton Police Citizens' Academy in order to familiarize herself with the job peace officers perform.

For these reasons, we hope Layton voters agree with us and return Brown to the Layton City Council for a second term.

Watch video of interview with Scott Freitag

Watch video of interview with Joyce Forbes Brown

Watch video of interview with Barry Flitton

Watch video of interview with Don Wilhelm

Watch video of interview with Renny Knowlton

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