Patrick Dunlavy will accomplish a rare feat when he leaves office next January: He will wrap up three terms as mayor of Tooele City.
“There have been a few mayors who have served two terms, but nobody has served three terms until me,” Dunlavy said.
He considered a run for a fourth term right up until the final day for filing on June 7.
“The reason I decided that now might be a good time to go is because things are changing,” he said. “This job wears on you after a while. Despite of what some people think — that anybody could do this job — my background working with the city for so many years helped me during my time as mayor.”
The mayor will soon complete 50 years of service to Tooele City.
Dunlavy started out at the Tooele City Police Department for 11 years, served as finance director for a short time, city parks and recreation director for two and one-half years, and recorder for 23 years.
The mayor said he never applied for any of those positions; he was asked by others to take the jobs.
Dunlavy said his health is still good at age 70, and if he did continue in politics, it would be for another term as mayor. Some people have suggested that he run for Tooele County Commissioner.
“I really do love this job for the most part, and I really do believe that Tooele is the greatest city in Utah,” he said. “It has been an honor and a privilege to work around some very special people.
“The most important thing has always been my family, and I want to spend a lot more time with my wife Pam, my children and grandchildren,” Dunlavy said.
Becoming Tooele’s mayor was never on his wish list early on.
“The longer I was here, and after working for 10 different mayors, I felt I could do a good job,” he said.
As the city’s budget officer, he’s proud that he did not request the city council to consider a tax increase.
“It became a little more difficult because of the lawsuits, and I didn’t think I would be in this position for 12 years,” he said. “In today’s world that is something to be proud of. We still maintained high quality in services.”
Dunlavy said there are some things he feels badly about that weren’t accomplished during his three terms of office.
“One is getting a retail project going down at 1000 North, and the other is building a new public safety building and fire station on the north end of town,” he said.
Another frustration was the lack of improvement to Tooele’s historic district that runs along Main Street from Utah Avenue to 200 South.
“A lot of the property owners in this area live somewhere else and are not investing in their properties,” Dunlavy said. “We have not been able to convince businesses to locate in the area. We have new businesses coming to Tooele all the time now, but just not in that area. Lack of parking is one of the problems.”
Improvement in economic development efforts has been a major focus for Dunlavy.
Those efforts have paid off with an increase in businesses at Peterson-Ninigret Industrial Depot, including a 600,000 square-foot Cabela’s warehouse, Dunlavy said.
More rooftops is another goal for Tooele City in the future, and more residents are welcome. Even if they have to commute to other counties for work, the mayor indicated.
“We’ve really stressed our slogan: Welcome to Tooele — the Greatest City in Utah,” Dunlavy said. “I think over the years, we’ve raised that level of awareness throughout the state. It’s a clean community, and we’ve preserved open space on the east bench so it will always be available and look beautiful.”
The mayor said it was important for him that the city be transparent at it conducts business.
“I saw the mistakes that were made previously,” he said. “If you don’t want your community to have faith in you, and have confidence in you, then start keeping secrets. When you are doing the right thing for the right reason, there is no reason not to tell people what is going on.”
Dunlavy said his relationship with Grantsville City Mayor Brent Marshall is solid both as a friend and professionally. He said working together with a neighboring city is essential with economic development.
“It is important that we help each other on the economic front,” Dunlavy said. “If a company comes here and wants to do business and sees local governments can’t get along — it’s not good.”
Dunlavy said he’ll follow the advice of his father Howard and finish strong these next six months.
“My dad used to tell me: If you start something, finish it,” Dunlavy said.