The Springdale Town Council election has become a lot more personal. Springdale residents received their mail-in ballots for the election this past week, but they also received a surprise letter in their mail that might have an effect on the election depending on when residents received and cast their ballots.
Letters sealed in brightly colored envelopes with the hand-written note “Critical Candidate Info” on the outside were sent to all box holders in Springdale from “Springdale Citizens for Fair Elections.” Inside was a five-page letter primarily directed against one of the three Springdale Town Council candidates, Mike Alltucker.
The letter starts with these paragraphs:
“As you may know, the Springdale Municipal Elections are here. Unfortunately, things may not be as they appear. One of the candidates vying for a four year term council seat is Mike Alltucker.
We believe Springdale Citizens have the right to know that Mike Alltucker is involved in an ongoing litigation involving allegations dealing with character and credibility. We also believe that this situation has a negative impact on all the candidates, the election process as well as the entire Town Council.”
The letter describes details about an ongoing lawsuit against the Anasazi Plateau Homeowners Association and makes eight bulleted accusations against Alltucker, who is currently a board member of the governing board of directors of the homeowners association, as well as secretary and treasurer. All of the accusations involve the Anasazi Plateau Homeowners Association, and none involve the Town of Springdale. The letter identifies the other litigant in the lawsuit against the homeowners association board of directors only as “Teresa.”
The letter to the Springdale residents also included a copy of another letter from a person identified as “Nedra Barnes” to her realtor. According to the letter, Barnes was considering the purchase of a building lot in the development but backed out of the decision because of “the lawsuits.”
“I simply have absolutely no desire to live within such a litigious community,” the letter from Barnes stated. “Due to these unfortunate and rather disturbing revelations, I have opted to purchase my alternative land consideration located outside the State of Utah.”
Alltucker said he was very distressed by the personal attack in the letter and provided the following response:
“Normally I wouldn’t respond to an anonymous letter but it smears our mayor and town council as well as myself. When I was appointed to the Council a little over a year ago, I said I would make decisions in the best interests of the town. I said I have no personal or business conflicts that would interfere with the process. My track record is clear. I invite citizens to talk to any other council member or the mayor or any other citizens who have attended public meetings. Since the letter went out, I have had many calls of support from Springdale citizens. Many of the statements are not accurate and are misleading. The allegations are against an organization, not me. I am not being sued personally. The statements are an attempt to impugn my character and reputation and are defamatory and with malice towards me. I know there will always be mean, spiteful people who act out their personal unhappiness in strange ways. I believe hiding behind anonymous pieces like this speaks to someone’s values and character. Fair elections are important and shouldn’t be cheapened by this sort of nonsense. I remain true to my values and my convictions and will put the town first in my decisions and would consider it an honor to be elected by the good citizens of Springdale.”
The actual impact of the letter remains to be seen since Springdale residents generally received their mail-in ballots before they received the letter from “Springdale Citizens for Fair Elections.” Several Springdale residents contacted by The Independent indicated that they had already voted and turned in their ballots previous to receiving the letter.
Mayor Stan Smith said that he had spent most of his day on Friday, Oct. 9, dealing with the letter.
“I’m disgusted by it,” Smith said.
