Michael Roper Embley (born July 30, 1938) is an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served as the third mayor of

West Valley City West Valley City is a city in Salt Lake County and a suburb of Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 140,230 at the 2020 census, making it the second-largest city in Utah. The city incorporated in 1980 from a large, quic ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Career

Embley was city coordinator for

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

, Utah from 1970 to 1973. He then served as the

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a "Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief execu ...

Cedar City Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. It is located south of Salt Lake City, and north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Summer Gam ...

, Utah from 1973 to 1978. In 1983 he served a short appointed term as acting

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The coun ...

Treasurer, and later served as a board member of the Salt Lake Valley Water Conservancy District. Embley was general manager of the Kearns Improvement District when he decided to get involved in West Valley City politics.

West Valley City Politics

Embley was elected to represent District 1 on the

Council on November 3, 1981 over Ray White with a vote of 53% to 47%. Two years later, November 8, 1983, Embley was elected to a citywide at-large council seat over E. Reed Palmer with a vote of 58% to 42%. Two years later he ran again for office, this time against incumbent Mayor Gerald K. Maloney. Although Embley only had half the votes of Maloney in the October 8, 1985 primary election, he came back to defeat the sitting mayor on November 5, 1985, by a vote of 4,880 to 3,282 (60% to 40%). Embley was sworn in as mayor January 1986.

Resignation

On April 30, 1987 Mayor Embley was arrested for soliciting sex from a police officer posing as a prostitute in downtown

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge May 6 and was sentenced to five days in jail, but the term was waived in lieu of a $200 fine. On May 20, flanked by his family at a news conference, Embley resigned and told reporters and city employees that he felt the incident raised questions about his leadership and created undue hardship for other elected leaders. He maintained that he had only been joking with the Salt Lake City police decoy and considered himself the victim.West Valley Mayor Resigns After Police Decoy Incident
/ref> Embley later moved to

Holladay Holladay is a city in central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area and abuts the Wasatch National Forest. The population was 31,965 at the 2020 census, a significant increas ...

, Utah, where he lived with his late wife Phyllis.

Notes

External links

History of West Valley City
{{DEFAULTSORT:Embley, Michael 1938 births Mayors of West Valley City, Utah People from West Valley City, Utah Living people Utah city council members People from Holladay, Utah People from Cedar City, Utah