With incumbents Dave Boothe and Jerry Smith opting not to run again this year, the race for two at-large seats is being contested by Robert Guiller, Daniel Combe and Austin Bennion.

Combe, a small-business owner and an alternate member for the Uintah Planing Commission for four years, told the Standard-Examiner that he’s running because he sees a lack of public participation and plenty of growing needs at the same time.

“I’ve been attending City Council meetings for the last five years and, at a lot of the meetings, I’ve been the only resident,” he said. “There’s really a lack of involvement in our local community of Uintah. A lot of residents love to say things but not do and I think with the water restrictions that are coming from Weber Basin, we also need to get on top of our septic problem and start pursuing sewer.”

Bennion, a nurse practitioner who hasn’t held office in the past beyond student government in school, told the Standard-Examiner he’s running in order to serve the community.

“I don’t really have an agenda or anything like that,” he said. “(Uintah’s) just been an awesome community and kind of has a small-town feel to it. I think one of my goals is to just kind of keep it that way. Most people that move down there like that feel.”

Guiller, a pastor at Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church in Uintah and a seven-year member of the Uintah Planning Commission, told the Standard-Examiner that community service also drove him to run.

“It’s a beautiful little community that has the heart to provide the Mayberry kind of feel,” he said, referencing the fictional town that served as the setting of the 1960s sitcom “The Andy Griffith Show.” “I love our community, I love serving in it and serving on our Planning Commission.”

Bennion said, if elected, he’d  like to improve public safety.

“I would like to see some improvement in our safety department throughout the city,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of sidewalks that other cities have. Improving safety, whether it be thorough reduced speeding and things like that, are kind of my primary goals.”

Combe said the current City Council is due some credit and he would like to pick up where they left off.

“The current council did an amazing job,'” he said. “They saved for years and got a whole bunch of government grants to put in the new water tanks, which allows our building moratorium to be lifted here in a month and a half, and they’re going to be able to add 100 (water) connections. With that, there’s going to be a boom in Uintah. At the same time, I want to continue that frugal looking-towards-the-future (attitude) that this current council has and not put anymore tax burden on the citizens.”

Guiller said safety is also one of his priorities.

“This community’s growing as all other communities are,” he said. “As our community grows larger, that pressure on our road system and the restrictions that we have with the railroad come to the surface a lot.”

The general election is slated for Nov. 21.