The Times-Independent

2021 candidates for mayor

Moab City Election 2021


Seven candidates declared their candidacy to become the next mayor of Moab after the incumbent, Emily Niehaus, announced she would not run for re-election. The Times-Independent profiled each of the candidates in 100 words or less.

Candidates were asked to write briefly about who they are, focusing specifically on their current occupation, experience with public boards and offices, time spent in Moab, and roughly where they live in the city.

The newspaper combined past news coverage when available and each candidate’s self-description to create the following profiles, which have been ordered randomly:

Sherri Costanza

Sherri Costanza, a Moab resident since 2009, works in childcare and has organized various initiatives.

Sherri Costanza

Most recently, Costanza helped organize the taxidermy of Cole, the melanistic deer that died at the end of 2019, and Coffee with the King on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day earlier that year.

Costanza said Moab “is trying to find a balance between industry and living” and she is “willing to fight for that.”

Costanza has four children — two Grand County High School graduates, one Moab Charter School student, and one attending Margaret L. Hopkin Middle School. Her husband of 11 years is Clinton Costanza.

V. Kent Green

V. Kent Green is a lifelong resident of southeastern Utah and was a deputy sheriff for Grand County for 21 years. In that time, Green became the first Grand County Search and Rescue commander and later the county jail commander.

Kent Green

Green has been appointed president of the Utah Jail Commander Association; received a medal of commendation from the Utah Sheriff’s Association; and named Utah Search and Rescue member of the year, also by the sheriff’s association.

Green’s wife, Cricket Green, chairs the Grand County Republican Party. The two recently sold their tour company with the intent of retiring.

Norm Knapp

Norm Knapp, a Moab resident since 2007, is the general manager of Moab Auto Group, which operates Canyonland Auto Sales. He has owned and managed car businesses for 33 years.

Norm Knapp

In 2018, Knapp challenged incumbent Mary McGann for an at-large seat on the Grand County Council and lost by four points. The year prior, he ran for mayor of Moab and missed the general election by the same margin.

Knapp was the president of the Moab Chamber of Commerce for three years and has also sat on the Grand County Airport Board.

Knapp did not provide feedback on this profile.

Aaron Davies

Aaron Davies works in real estate sales, helping people buy and sell property. He previously sold advertising and marketing products to local businesses and organizations.

Aaron Davies

Davies moved to Grand County in 2004 and served on the Castle Valley Town Council from 2008 to 2012. He currently lives on Moab’s west side.

Davies left business school in 1980 to get a degree in political science after he “became fascinated in how to bring together people with different interests, values, abilities and goals to join in a society where everyone can prosper, whatever that means to them.”

Davies maintains that fascination today.

Joette Langianese

Joette Langianese is the executive director for Friends of Arches and Canyonlands Parks and has won two campaigns for Grand County Council. Her nonprofit is an official partner of the National Park Service.

Joette Langianese

As a county council member from 2001 to 2008, Langianese initiated the Moab Area Partnership for Seniors (MAPS), which was responsible for the development of Moab Regional Hospital, the Canyonlands Care Center, the Grand Center, and MAPS Senior Housing.

Langianese also currently serves as the chair of the Canyonlands Health Care Special Service District board, and she sits on the Moab Tailings Steering Committee.

Stephen J. Stocks

Stephen J. Stocks runs a local law firm as a general practitioner attorney, working with clients in English and Spanish. In 2019, he chaired the Grand County Change in Form of Government Study Committee.

Stephen Stocks

In 2020, Stocks ran as an independent for an at-large county commission seat. He lost the race by 144 votes to the chair of the Grand County Democratic Party. Stocks ran in 2018 for Grand County Attorney.

Stocks grew up in Moab. His grandfather Tom Stocks served on the city council for four years then as mayor of Moab for four terms, from 1982 to 1998.

Bill Winfield

Bill Winfield owns the Utah-based AW Construction, serves on the board of Seekhaven, consults voluntarily for the Moab Free Health Clinic, and advises the nonprofit Changing Lives Nepal.

Bill Winfield

Winfield said his priority is to “continue working with others to develop solutions for local housing to support small businesses and create efficiencies in management of Moab.” In 2019, he and a business partner completed Valley View, a 32-unit subdivision in Moab, and sold 28 units to the Southeast Utah Housing Authority.

Winfield was born in Grand Junction, Colorado; grew up in Moab; and graduated from Grand County High School in 1977.