There were a few in the meeting who had been sent by Stronger Together to speak in favor of the rezoning, including Doyle Mortimer, one of the Stronger Together candidates for city council. Doyle, who claims to be a candidate who will listen to Orem city residents’ concerns, spoke against all the citizens gathered in the meeting-that is what Stronger Together sent him to do. Doyle’s daughter also spoke in the meeting; she was also against the citizens. She is one of the four “leaders” of Stronger Together, so she sent herself to the meeting. Interestingly, even though Doyle is a candidate for city council, that was the first city council meeting he had attended, and he hasn’t been to another one since, other than one he gave the prayer.

After the public comments, the city council went into action. Immediately, Mayor Dave Young and city council members LaNae Millett and David Spencer sided with the residents against the rezoning. However, the four Stronger Together council members, Jenn Gale, Chris Killpack, Jeff Lambson, and Tom MacDonald, all ignored the residents’ input and sided with the developer. They each spoke about the property owner’s rights and how those rights outweighed the desires of the neighbors or the citizens. They all voted for the rezoning, and unfortunately it passed, dealing a crushing blow to all the citizens who voiced their opinions to the contrary.

Fast forward several months to the September 23rd city council meeting. Once again, a property owner petitioned for a zoning change through an ordinance change, but this time on a much smaller, less than 2-acre parcel of land in North Orem (near where Jeff Lambson and Jenn Gale live). Once again, the neighbors voiced their opinions against the zoning change. But this time, Doyle wasn’t there to speak on the landowner’s behalf.

There were two other Stronger Together candidates at the meeting, Angela and Quinn, but neither of them said anything to support the developer’s property rights either. There was one additional candidate for city council in attendance, conservative Crystal Muhlestein. She courageously spoke in favor of the neighbors and urged the council to vote against the ordinance rezoning.

The issue then went to the council. Once again, Mayor Young and Council Members Millett and Spencer voiced their opinion against the proposed action. I fully expected the four Stronger Together council members to speak about the landowner’s property rights and how that outweighed the neighbors’ concerns, just as they did a few months ago. But, flippity-flop, they did not. Not one of them said anything about the property owner’s rights. This time, they surprisingly sided with the neighbors. Could it be because the property was much closer to their own homes? The city council then voted unanimously against the rezoning.

So what made the difference? Only one thing that I could see. A few months ago, a prominent developer with lots of money, who donates to Stronger Together’s cause by allowing their candidates’ campaign signs on all of his State Street properties, also asked for a zoning change, and it was granted. This week, a small developer, who doesn’t donate money to their cause, asked for a zoning change, and it was denied.

Stronger Together doesn’t care about property owners’ rights. They don’t care about what the citizens of Orem have to say. Stronger Together appears to only care about big developers with lots of money and how they want to dictate Orem’s future growth so they can get more money.

If we, as Orem citizens, want our voices to be heard. If we want to have a say in the future growth in Orem. If we want Orem’s future to be shaped by its citizens, not big developers, we must vote against Stronger Together’s candidates.

We must vote for Mayor Dave Young, LaNae Millett, David Spencer, and Crystal Muhlestein, the only candidates who have proven that they will truly listen to citizens.

Orimi Ackroyd is an Orem resident.