Lewis Billings | |
---|---|
Mayor of Provo, Utah | |
In office January 6, 1998 –January 5, 2010 | |
Preceded by | George Stewart |
Succeeded by | John Curtis |
Personal details | |
Born | Lewis Kevin Billings 1956 (age 67–68) |
Political party | Republican |
Alma mater | Brigham Young University |
Lewis Kevin Billings [1] (born 1956) is an American politician who served as mayor of Provo,Utah from 1988 to 2010.
Billings studied engineering,technology and business at Brigham Young University (BYU). [2]
He rose through the ranks and was eventually appointed General Manager at CalDisk,a manufacturer and world-wide distributor of rotating memory storage devices for computer systems. In 1983 he joined IDC,a leasing company for commercial facilities,where he served as president and managing partner. [3]
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church),Billings was a missionary in Japan as a young man. [4] Later in life,he was served as president of the Provo Utah Central Stake from 1991 to 2000. [1] [5]
From 1995 to 1998 Billings was the Chief Administrative Officer in Provo where he also directed community and government relations for the city. He was also active in civic and local community organizations,including the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce,the Utah Valley Manufacturers Council,the Boy Scouts of America Provo District,and Utah's Fourth District Judicial Nominating Commission. Active in the Utah Republican Party,Billings was a delegate at four Republican National Conventions and was one of five United States Presidential electors from Utah in 2000 and 2004. [3]
Billings campaign for mayor of Provo in 1998 was endorsed by the previous mayor,George Stewart. [6] During his mayoral term Billings pushed for the development of iProvo and the transformation of the old Brigham Young Academy campus into the library at Academy Square. [7] [8] Billings was also known for maintaining the city's policy of closing municipal facilities on Sunday. [9] Some of his other mayoral activity included work on the Utah Lake Commission,Provo Municipal Airport improvements,participation in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games,local economic development,and celebrating Provo's sesquicentennial in 1999. [6]
As mayor he worked on local boards and commissions,including the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games,the Utah Municipal Power Agency,the Utah County Clean Air Commission,the American Public Power Association,the United States Conference of Mayors Standing Committee on Energy and Environment,and as chairman of the Utah State Quality Growth Commission. [3]
Billings' final term as mayor ended in January 2010,and he was succeeded by John Curtis. [10]
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)Provo is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is 43 miles (69 km) south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south. With a population at the 2020 census of 115,162, Provo is the fourth-largest city in Utah and the principal city in the Provo-Orem metropolitan area, which had a population of 526,810 at the 2010 census. It is Utah's second-largest metropolitan area after Salt Lake City.
Payson is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 21,101 at the 2020 census.
William Harrison Folsom was an architect and contractor. He constructed many of the historic buildings in Utah, particularly in Salt Lake City. Many of his most prominent works were commissioned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For a time he was sustained as the Church Architect, a calling in the church.
Maeser Elementary was an elementary school in Provo, Utah. It was named after Karl G. Maeser. Built in 1898, it is the oldest school building in Provo, Utah. The school was designed by architect Richard C. Watkins, who also designed the Provo Third Ward Chapel and Amusement Hall, The Knight Block Building, and the Thomas N. Taylor Mansion.
Titus Billings was an early convert to the Latter Day Saint movement. He served in several positions in the church and was a contemporary of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Billings was a counselor in the first Bishopric of the Church to Edward Partridge. He participated in the Battle of Crooked River and was a colonel in the Nauvoo Legion. He participated in the Mormon migration as a Captain of Fifty in the second company and was a notable settler of Manti, Utah.
Abraham Owen Smoot was an American pioneer, businessman, religious leader, and politician. He spent his early life in the Southern United States and was one of seven children. After being baptized a member of the Church of Christ, predecessor to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smoot served as a missionary in Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and England. He received no formal education, but learned to read as a child and later attended the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. Like other early members of the LDS Church, Smoot practiced plural marriage, eventually marrying six women and having 24 children. After migrating west to Utah Territory, he was elected as the second mayor of Salt Lake City and maintained this position from 1857 to 1866. He was then assigned by Brigham Young to move to Provo, where he served as stake president and mayor from 1868 to 1881. He assisted financially in the construction of the Provo Tabernacle—today the Provo City Center Temple—as well as that of the Utah Southern Railroad. Smoot was the first president of the board of trustees of Brigham Young Academy (BYA)—which later developed into Brigham Young University (BYU). He was an early financial supporter of the institution and was nicknamed the "foster father" of the academy. His goal was to make education available to young Latter-day Saints. Today, the Smoot Administration Building at BYU is named after him.
Karl Gottfried Maeser was a prominent Utah educator and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served 16 years as principal of Brigham Young Academy. Although he was not the first principal of the Academy, he is considered its founder. The Academy later became Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1903.
Brigham Young College was a college and high school in Logan, Utah. It was founded by Brigham Young on 6 August 1877, 23 days before his death. He deeded several acres of land to a board of trustees for the development of a college. This was just two years after he founded Brigham Young Academy in Provo in 1875, which became Brigham Young University in 1903.
Joseph Don Carlos Young was an American architect and the Church Architect for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1887 until 1893. In 1893, the office of Church Architect was dissolved, Young thereafter practiced privately with the LDS Church as a frequent client. Young practiced as an architect, landscape architect and designer from 1879 to circa 1935. A preponderance of his work centered on church commissions, or commissions offered him by extended Young family members, or higher echelon church friends.
Willard Young was a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who served for many years in the United States military, and later held high positions within the LDS Church's administration. He also served as an educational leader.
Henry Dixon Taylor was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1958 until his death.
George Wendell Pace was an American professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was a popular writer and speaker on religion in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and part of a public criticism voiced by Apostle Bruce R. McConkie in 1982.
Fred Lewis Markham was an American architect in the early 20th century who designed movie theatres and many buildings on the campus of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.
Richard Olsen Cowan is a historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former professor in the Church History Department of Brigham Young University (BYU). He was one of the longest-serving BYU faculty and the longest-serving member of the Church History Department ever.
Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's public affairs department.
Paul Robert Cheesman was an American academic and a professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU).
Gilbert Woodrow Scharffs was a Latter-day Saint religious educator and author.
Ellis Theo Rasmussen was an American professor and dean of Religious Instruction at Brigham Young University (BYU). He helped produce the edition of the Bible published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1979.
The Thomas N. Taylor House is a historic house located at 342 North 500 West in Provo, Utah. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Brent Ferrin Ashworth is an American historical document dealer who specializes in Mormon history. He has assisted the Glenn Beck organization, the LDS Church History Library, Brigham Young University (BYU) Library Special Collections, the Utah Valley University (UVU) Library Special Collections, State History Division, including the Utah State Archives and other major institutions. He has recently assisted Beck with his first three history museums, starting with "Man in the Moon" at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, over the July 4th holiday in 2013, and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination in conjunction with the Mercury One Convention at the Omni Hotel in Dallas, Texas, in November 2013. Ashworth has donated many books and other items in his collection to the LDS Church and his items have been displayed at the Crandall Historical Printing Museum in Provo, Utah.