Tuesday, September 13, 2005

The Plot Sickens

Kristen Moulton adds still more information to yesterday's Stuart Reid re-hiring story in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune:

OGDEN - A month after leaving Ogden with a $43,561 severance, Stuart Reid has signed a $77,828 annual contract to oversee a city-owned business park.

Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he feels lucky to have Reid, Ogden's former director of community development, at the helm of Business Depot Ogden (BDO). "I'm surprised he would want to do something like this."

But City Council members Rick Safsten and Jesse Garcia are not happy about how they found out about Reid's new business relationship with the city - from the rumor mill and not from the mayor's office.

"It doesn't say much about the communications to the council from the mayor's office," said Safsten, who is chairman of the council. "It raises questions. Why are you hiring someone that just left the city?"

The council has a host of questions for Godfrey about Reid's departure and his contract to oversee Business Depot Ogden. That is the huge business park on the city's northwest side that was given to the city by the federal government when it closed Defense Depot Ogden in the late 1990s.

The article adds detail about the nature of Mr. Reid's recent severance package:

Godfrey gave Reid a severance as if he were being terminated, but the mayor said Monday that Reid resigned.

A 1999 ordinance allows a severance of one month's pay for every year of service for department directors or members of the mayoral or council staff who are terminated or who refuse a job at lower pay, said Michael Goodwin, city treasurer.

Godfrey said that ordinance does not bar him from treating "good" employees the same way, if he chooses.

"We can do what we want with people who are good," he said.

Because Reid was with Ogden City for five years, he was paid the equivalent of five months of his annual salary of $104,547, as well as for more than 322 hours of accumulated vacation pay, or $16,217, when he left July 15, said Goodwin.

Am I wrong about this, or did out Ogden City Mayor just say that Mr. Reid, who authored the downtown mall, Union square and Wal-Mart fiascos, received a $43,561 severance bonus solely at Mayor Godfrey's discretion?

It seems the Mayor's office is being rather cavalier in it's treatment of the taxpayers' money in this instance to me. If Stuart Reid's prior performance is deemed "good" in the Mayor's eyes, I'd love to see a performance he labels bad.

Please consider this an update to yesterday's WCF article, and feel free to offer your observations and comments on this, gentle readers.

You have to know that something's rotten in the land of Oz when even people like Mayor Godfrey's right-hand man, Comrade Safsten, start asking detailed and probing questions.

I suppose that it would be fair to say that Mr. Reid really is pretty good, in one sense of the word, at least, if he succeeds in pulling this deal off.

Comments?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

At this point I would consider it a bargain to pay Salt Lake $43,561 to rehire Bishop Reid and get him away from us.

Lancer said...

I know this may come as a shock that I might actually be in agreement with many of you on this, but this is not right. I can't believe that Mayor Godfrey finds no problem bailing Reid out of the sticky situations he's gotten into with Wal-Mart, etc. just to help usher him into BDO. That "severance" package could have gone to a lot greater causes than filling Reids pockets. It's not like he was headed for St. Anne's.

Anonymous said...

I wrote on the other thread that there are many things wrong with this as I see it. Will try to check them through further, but there is one part of this that is a great concern.

That is the hiring of Reid's Company, instead of Reid the individual as an employee.

I am 99.99% sure that when a government entity, such as Ogden City, contracts with a Company, there is a mandated specific process. The government entity has to announce that it is looking for a Company and invite bids.

I believe the bids then have to be gone through, not by one person only, but by both sides of our equally powered government, and a consensus reached.

Was this done? Insofar as I know, that position was an employee position. Kevin Ireland did not have a company to do this job, to my knowledge.

This, in my opinion, is a transparent and clumsy attempt to get Stuart Reid a job and let him keep his severance in spite of existing laws and procedures. It smacks of the Old Boy Network way of doing things, which should be unacceptable to us all.

It is the same disregard for procedure, ethics, and the Council arm of our city government on the part of the Administrative one which led to the replacing of the Golden Spike with whatever that is we have now as the city symbol, and of the ordering and paying for bleachers for the ampitheater, both of these things done without informing the Council.

You know, when other Council members were in office and questioned these things, I just sat back and thought thank heavens they were in there doing that. But I never called them, or made it known to them that I really appreciated them. I should have. It's pretty dispiriting to sit in there like Jesse and Amy do solidly voicing the minority opinion, which is always outnumbered. Thank you, Amy and Jesse.

But we've seen a change in this as of late. Burdett voted against the changing of the polling places, and Jorgensen, who originally voted for it, put forth the motion to reconsider. Safsten is questioning this current issue. This is good.

The Mayor/Council system is designed to have equal power. Equal power Necessitates one side being informed of what the other is doing, for heaven's sake!
If the Administrative side of this government is just going around doing what it wants when it feels like it and spending public money to do it without even running it by the other side, we do not have a democratic government, or even a republic. We have a dictatorship.

I think the present Council should use whatever means available to evaluate this hiring of Reid Ltd. thoroughly, and if improprieties about the severence or hiring process are found, it should take the next steps and correct them. Or throw it all out because it was done illegally, if it was. The Administrative side of the government is not above established law and procedure. The Council simply cannot continue to allow this end-running around itself and then helplessly throw up its collective hands because whatever was done is now a done deal.

There are things the Council can do, in its formal meeting sessions, to provide us with the checks and balances our government exists to provide. This is one of those times it should do it, no matter how unpleasant it might be.

Anonymous said...

It is now being reported on KSL's website that the Salt Lake City Council is calling for an audit of Mayor Rocky Andersen's spending. That's one way.

Anonymous said...

So what's new? What's the big shock? What's the surprise? Godfrey runs his own ship without a care in the world. He treats the budget like it's his own huge stash of play money, to throw around any way he chooses.

This guy has no shame. He's a freaking weasel and the sooner we get him out of office the better. To date he's only cost the city $76,000,000 and the amount grows daily as his fool hearty projects wallow in failure and he continues to spend, spend, spend.

Par for the course, this is. And what can be done about it?....not one damn thing. We voted him in and this is what we got. And don't forget the Council Members, Safsten, Jorgenson, and that bunch that simply mandate his every move.

The reason Ogden is not growing, not progressing, is right there in front of our eyes....the leadership.

Anonymous said...

Pretty good meeting tonight. Glassman was bumbling verbage like the dude with a ponytail. Jorgenson was a frickin moron. He needs to go. like Gieger said, its here it is happening. Curt Geiger sure made Glassman and the fence sitters out to be a couple of morons. The quote of the night"I need more information" good job Glassman,ponytail, Jorgenson and cowboy Bill. You sure don't have my vote.

RudiZink said...

I dunno, einstein.

I attended last night's Lift Ogden meeting, and my impression was somewhat different from yours. Frankly, I was troubled by the creepy groupthink atmosphere.

The crowd dynamic was akin to an old-fashioned religious revival meeting, I thought -- crowd psychology at its very worst. The only thing lacking, it seemed to me, was the talking in tongues and the handling of snakes. ("Golden plates" were however actually mentioned. I am not making this up.)

It never ceases to amaze me how normally-rational people can allow themselves to get whipped into a mindkess emotional frenzy, through the skillful manipulation of a few "inspirational leaders." That's what happened last night, whether you want to recognize it or not.

The Geiger and Allen boys worked the crowd like Amway tag-team pros.

Granted this was a "Lift Ogden" committee meeting, where many attendees were already of the same mindset. Still there were numerous first-time attendees like me, who were plainly shocked by our sudden immersion into last night's crowd psychology spectacle.

Facts were in short supply, I thought. Nobody had any detail about how the damn lower leg would be paid for, except for some vague references to a "private investment group," and a "public-private partnership." Nobody really seemed to want to talk about the "nuts and bolts" of how lower gondola scheme will actually be put together.

There was lots of dreaming and scheming though, and plenty of adrenaline pumping. I now know what you people are talking about when you mention catching "the buzz."

People who like to get the facts before they make decisions were on the definite "outs" with your crowd last night.

I went into last night's meeting hoping to hear something convincing. I left shaking my head and rolling my eyes instead. I don't think I was alone in this.

You need a reality check on this, I think, einstein.

I'll probably blog on this later on, once I've had the time to let the whole experience sink in.

Anonymous said...

Am unclear as to whether you are talking about a Lift Ogden meeting or an Ogden City Council meeting, Rudi, unless they have morphed into the same thing.

Thank you for writing that post, although it is one of the more depressing things I have read recently. I am looking forward to an in-depth blog entry, should you have the fortitude to write one. The comparison to the Amway mentality is especially troubling.

I too have no idea how or why some people seem to prefer becoming enmeshed in a fantasy/frenzy state when what is actually required is a logical analysis of things, with attention paid to ethics and responsibility.

Best wishes foir a speedy recovery.

Anonymous said...

Like I said in my post right after yours, Before you erased it.
Your post was ridiculous.
The lift Ogden meeting last night was a good meeting. You made it sound like a religious revival.
Well you don't know what your talking about. Many there have had the facts for months. There are things that have been talked about in previous meetings, more details than were discused in the meeting last night. There are viable options for funding etc.
So before you go and make it sound like the supporters of the Gondola are a bunch of blind sheep, caught up in their own emotions you had better get your own facts straight first. There are a lot of well educated supporters interested and excited about the possibility of a gondola. Sure there are details to be ironed out, and we don't have all the answers yet, but we have a real good plans and some awesome options to make this thing happen. So before you start in with your offending ignorance, consider the possibility that many there had more details than you do.

Anonymous said...

Rudi, I think your absolutely ridiculous to start deleting posts if people don't agree with you. If you blame on ad hominems, and the tone or rhetoris then call it on both sided pal. You seem to let it stand if it agrees with you style. I can't help but wonder if you guys are starting to get worried about what is going on ya it is called success. I you old timers are getting worried if Ogden turns up this successful bid you guys won't have anything to bitch about. The meeting last night kicked f---- ass.

RudiZink said...

Ah, there's a bright side to all this Dian. I'm now resolved to get to the heart of the matter, and will start doing some digging myself, rather than waiting to be spoon-fed.

I just got off the phone with Bob Geiger a few minutes ago, after about an hour's very useful conversation. He filled in some of the blanks and gave the names of a few others to contact -- people who can provide some of the detail that's heretofore been lacking. I think it's safe to say that the Lift Ogden folks are well-aware of the public perception problems resulting from the lack of detailed information. I'll also add that Mr. Geiger explained some of the nuances of the situation, and set forth what I consider to be legitimate reasons (confidential negotiations among them) why all the details have not been publically forthcoming. Mr. Geiger was quite candid with me, and has agreed to be an available contact point for further information on this topic.

I'll definitely be posting more on this, although I'm not sure about my timeline, as I have some appointments this afternoon that are going to keep me tied up for a while.

Anonymous said...

I anxiously awaited this morning's newspaper so I could read up on last night's LOC meeting. Unfortunately, the only thing I was able to read about was Safsten worried that he's spending too much money for a person to vote. With that and his former statements, I think Garcia was right on target with his thoughts about Godfrey and his gang doing a political tweak to influence the vote.

The blog gives me some info on the LOC meeting. Aparently there are those who feel it was an Amyway Soap kind of revival meeting, cheers, chants, all that. Then there are those who feel it was gosple, and the gondola should be built immediately, damn the cost or the fact that it does not do what public transportation systems are intended to do, and that is to serve the public, ALL OF THE PUBLIC, not just an elite few who ski and go to school.

Then there were the candidates, all of whom, I guess, wanted "more information." Nothing wrong there, as many issues are on their plates, and before they take a stand, they should be comfortable that they are well informed. The fact that this Stein guy calls them "fence sitters" and "morons" probably doesn't do a thing to advance the cause of the gondola frenzied or the gondola realists, the Geiger and Hardman guys who understand decorum and dignity as being the way to garner support, not insults and immature posture.

Aw, Ogden. Ain't it just great?

Anonymous said...

Took a second or two and scanned over the postings herein. I was completely taken with this Stein guy and his writing> Is this a serious person, or has some kid gotten ahold of his daddy's computer?

He slaughters the King's English, he has absolutely no sense of composition, punctuation has gone the way of the dinosaurs, and his grammer is horrid.

I think if sensorship has a play, you might start with this guy. Make him pass a written test or something. I've read some of his other rants and raves. He's vulgar, he's rude, he makes no sense whatsoever, and all he does is take up valuable space while offending anyone who might read this garbage. As faulty news and advertising costs a newspaper subscriptions, this incompetence must surely cost the WDForum readers.

I'm glad to read your Banner Story of today, wherein you plan on exercising a little restraint on some of these name-calling loud mouths who offer nothing but biased abuse. I too love the Constitution and Free Speech, but there does come a time when sanctions are necessary. The time, obviously, has arrived.

Anonymous said...

Rudi, why don't you clean this place up and toss out the garbage mouths. You already sh--canned the "president," but it's obvious by these posts that he's back using the name of "stein." Still the same classless act. Dump the chump. Censor the kid, Utmo, he's acting just like those other fools. Wonder who they think they are? Just tearing down any chance at a gondola, but then they probably aren't a critical cog in that wheel anyway.

Bunch of pretend artists who offer nothing but shame. They need to be posting on thegoodinogden, the blog that nobody reads very much. Censor them 2 nobodies!

RudiZink said...

Whatever you say, Steve.