In an effort to change Eagle Mountain's public image, council members are being asked not to commit any crimes.

Councilman David Lifferth, who is the city's most senior council member, having served since July 2005, had one piece of advice for the other members, many of whom were elected only in January.

"Don't anybody commit any crimes," he told the council. Lifferth posted his comment as part of his council retreat notes on his blog at DavidLifferth.com, and confirmed the quotes to the Daily Herald in an interview.

Unfortunately, his advice was no joke, he said. Having campaigned as a watchdog for the public interest, Lifferth said that while he wants to work well with the new council members, he also wants them to know that he expects them to be law-abiding examples to the rest of the community.

"It is just humorous and sad at the same time," he said. "Eagle Mountain is a beautiful place to live and a number of great families have chosen to live here and unfortunately, we have a handful of people that have done things that have really embarrassed the rest of us as decent, honorable and good people."

The decade-old city has yet to see a mayor serve a full, 4-year term, and has had a succession of mayors in the past two years alone.

While the roiling politics in Eagle Mountain have quieted since the November elections, the city has faced a water shortage and major road closure due to flooding.

November's election was marked with turmoil as candidate Richard Culbertson was charged with real estate fraud and his staff admitted running fake campaign ads to tarnish his opponents.

Perhaps the three most public mayoral melt-downs in this city include Brian Olsen, who admitted to lying about having a masters degree, fired the city manager, searched other council member's laptops for porn, and then resigned ahead of criminal charges of misusing public funds.

The criminal case against him is pending. His temporary replacement, Linn Strouse, almost immediately fired the new city manager, causing the city staff to hold their own meeting to demand she step down. Strouse refused to show up to two city meeting at which the council publicly said it wanted to discuss removing her from her office, and she has since been charged with accepting gifts while in office. That case is pending. Olsen's predecessor, Kelvin Bailey, faked his own kidnapping.

Lifferth said the city's reputation for corruption and political scandal "is going to take a while to overcome, but we will get there by being open and honest on the City Council." He noted that the council expects residents to obey the laws it sets and residents must be able to expect in return that council members will be law-abiding citizens.

In warning council members to at least not break any laws, "in a way I was letting people on the council know that even though I like them and work well with them, I would not look the other way and would not be an accomplice if they break the law," Lifferth said. "I wanted everyone to know I would be a watchdog."

Since the new council was elected in January, "I am not aware of anything that is being hidden from the public, and that has not always been the case in the past," he said. "That has been a huge breath of fresh air."

Lifferth made public announcements last year of internal city investigations into allegations that at least two council members accepted gifts.

Asked to comment on the city's move to clean up its reputation, Mayor Heather Jackson focused on the positive.

"In a 2007 statistical survey, more than 85 percent of Eagle Mountain residents rated their quality of life as good or excellent. We want the greater public perception to match what our residents already know," she said in a statement.

City spokeswoman Linda Peterson said the city is changing, with more commercial development than at any other time in the city's history and citizen advisory boards for economic development and parks and recreation, expanding trails and building a skate park.