bill through both chambers of the Legislature, to the governor3, and finally to a state wide referendum petition; all of which inevitably failed. Eventually losing our battle to preserve the township law, and with the growing threat of annexation4 by surrounding cities, Marriott and Slaterville discussed uniting together as a city to preserve our pioneer heritage and have local control of government. Because of a new incorporation law in 1997 (also sponsored by Mel Brown), the formation of new cities in Utah was made nearly impossible. Under this law, Marriott's tax base was too large to allow incorporation by itself, and the approximately 500 residents was shy of the 800 needed to form a city (and being a town would be up to the discretion of the Weber County Commission). The situation in Slaterville was opposite, with a tax base too small to incorporate separately, but with an adequate population of approximately 1000 (to give the registered voters the discretion to incorporate). The idea of the two communities working together appeared to have a lot of merit. Due to this dilemma, a meeting was called in May 1997 to place the discussion of this problem and the possibility of incorporation before the community. A straw poll was taken at this community meeting with those present voting 32 to 2 in favor of looking into joint incorporation. At the close of the meeting, H. Orvil Holley successfully nominated five sponsors to lead the incorporation effort, namely: Ronald R. Smout II (who became the contact sponsor), Keith H. Butler, Delbert F. Hodson, Steven Mecham, and Dennis Ilium. Attorney 3Governor Leavitt refused to sign the bill (H.B. 363), but he did not veto it, so it became law without his signature. 4Annexation threats came from Ogden, Farr West and West Haven. The annexation situation was so volatile that the incorporation sponsors for Marriott-Slaterville had to file a law suit to prevent the annexation of nearly 100 acres into Farr West. 3 321