The mayor (Mr. G) and his million-dollar "A-Team" have decided that the originally-contemplated four-story building will be too short, in comparison to some of the surrounding structures. It's giving them all a prospective inferiority complex. We suspect that are some amongst the mayor's "brain trust" who would know more than a little bit about that psychological dilemma; so maybe they have something of a point.
The Boyer Company, who was presumably ready to begin construction imminently, isn't crazy about the idea of adding an extra two stories at the eleventh hour. They don't believe the market will support a six-story structure. What do they know anyway, though? They're mere professional builders and developers. They get all balled up with facts and figures -- and obviously aren't privy to the "vision," and don't sit at the right hand of Gawd hisself.
They're willing to go along with the mayor's revised plan though, apparently, so long as the lumpen taxpayers can be dragged along at the tune of $400,000/ year until the end of time -- or until the bulding is 100% leased out -- whichever happens sooner.
And it's reported that some on the council are actually taking this proposal seriously.
We swear we couldn't make something like this up.
Two of our regular contributors will be in attendance at tonight's "can't miss" event. It's bound to be a real "hoot." We'll do our level best to have a full report for our gentle readers on tonight's council hijinks in time for tomorrow's morning coffee.
In the meantime, consider this an open thread.
Feel free to chime in with your gentle comments.
Update 5/30/06 8:20 p.m. MT: The vote is in. The motion to enter into lease agreement with Boyer Company, as a guarantee for the construction of the two additional floors, failed this evening by a 4-3 City Council vote. Voting in opposition to the motion were councilpersons Garcia, Wicks, Jeske and...
(Drumroll....)
Safsten.
That's right gentle readers... Safsten.
All-in-all, it was a very interesting council meeting. We'll provide a play-by-play narrative later.
Comments?
13 comments:
Where does the dream team plan to dig up 400k per year? They are screaming poverty when dealing with the employee groups, except for the department heads, and the dream team.
Mayor seams to take very good care of the chosen few. Hummers,nice salaries, exorbantant car allowances, beefy severance packages, one sweet deal after another, while holding the tax payers randsom, preparing them to hold the bag when shit hits the fan.
We cant afford any more brilliant ideas from the 9th floor.
Safsten? Safsten?
I am surprised. Going to be hard to treat the Council as a rubber-stamp body now.
Looking forward to fuller account of the meeting. Be interesting to know the arguments/justifications offered by the Council Members on both sides of the question.
So what happened to Glassman? Please tell....
Sounds like Bill Glassman has turned to the short side.
Glasmann is clueless
Always has been
Always will be
Glassman is a little man with a bruised ego looking for validation of his worth.
He needs to be pumped up and stroked.
Tonight he was almost wagging his tail in pure doggy happiness. He was asked and deferred to for his expertise on "real estate" matters.
Of course, he importantly cleared his throat before making his profound pronouncements.
He agreed with Harmer that Class A office space is desirable.....but didn't say why. But, being Class A, we can propably all guess and agree.
Hizzoner said that he has two probable tenants for the extra space on the Boyer Building...one some type of Gov't entity.....unidentified, of course. The other a 'ski company'. Both companies would utilize both floors!
Now, if that is true, why didn't he have their signatures on a contract and present that to the council? There would have been 7 yes votes fer shure.
Then Harmer continues that we need those two extra floors because 'Ogden needs a revenue source'.
How are those two floors of empty space going to be a revenue source?
They're only a revenue source when leased. "Build it and they will come"....good movie.
Then Glassman expounds that Old Navy and Gap could be enticed here with those two floors of office space. Really?? Aren't they RETAIL stores? Their headquarters utilizing large office spaces are somewhere else.
Thank goodness for Jeske who spoke up tonight more than I've ever seen a Council member doing! She's her own 'man'. Many kudos to her.
Also, Amy Wicks redeemed herself by not going along with Stephenson, and Glassman. She also spoke up and disagreed with Glassman that the Council was being negative. She said 'we're being friendly and positive.' Jeske also didn't let Glassman's remarks slide by. She corrected him that she isn't negative, but 'cautious.'
She reminded the Council that they have an obligation to the citizens to see that the infrastructure is sound. "where will the money come from if the water pipes break...or the sewer' needs repair. She mentioned the caved in road on Country Hills Dr last year and how long that took to fix. Glassman again, I think, said that long delay wasn't because of a lack of funds, but engineering problems.
Anyone recall that the Lord Mayor
wanted to use $43,000. of snow removal funds for that repair??
All in all...quite an evening.
OK, working on relatively little information here [I was not at the meeting], but it seems to me this was a matter on which Council members could differ in good conscience. That some, like apparently Glassman, looked at the proposal and thought it was a reasonable risk for the City to take with a relatively high probability of a good profit in the end does not necessarily mean they have turned to the short [or dark] side. Similarly, that Mr. Safsten decided apparently it was not a good risk for the city to take does not necessarily indicate any long term deep shift of POV on his part.
[Note: I have no position on the issue. I don't know enough about it to say definitely whether it was a good idea or not. I admit I was concerned about the City ignoring the experience-based advice of Boyer who the city hired to give exactly that kind of advice, and I was concerned about the potential long term yearly liability for the City if the floors were built and not rented. But had I studied the matter --- and I didn't --- there may have been good arguments to ease those concerns.]
It would be wrong, I think, to interpret every issue that comes before the Council as referendum on Godfrey. Probably be wiser, and more accurate, on most matters, to treat individual councilperson's votes as indications of what they thought about the specific issue before them. Period. After all, Mayor Godfrey, like a stopped clock, is likely to be right about something every now and then. And when he is, he deserves the Council's support because, rare though such instances may be, when they happen, supporting him is in the best interests of the Councilmembers' constituents.
And I am still very curious to hear the reasons the members gave for their votes. On both sides of the issue.
A large stack of Gondola/Malan's Basin pamphlets was on the table in the foyer outside the chambers.
I asked several questions:..." I resent those Gondola/Malan's Basin pamphlets stacked on the table outside the chambers. Who paid for those pamphlets? The mayor told us that the taxpayers will not be burdened paying for the gondola scheme, so why is the city promoting a private developer's interests?"
Has the mayor and administration sealed a deal with West Liberty Foods? 625 families could be self-supporting and give an economic return to the city.
Is it true that a city truck driven by city employed drivers drove to Wy for the gondola car that is on display at the Newgate Mall? Who paid for the video there and who made it?
Who is paying the rental fees on the space for the gondola in the Newgate Mall?
I said I wanted those questions answered.
Mayor G said he didn't know the pamphlets were there. "The city is not paying for the space at the mall". (Period, end of discussion).
He DID NOT say WHO is paying...or answer any of the questions pertaining to the gondola. He did in his snide way say to me that "some people criticize us for helping a developer who will bring a half million (sic) dollars into the city, but also criticize us for being slow in bringing in another business"...(West Liberty)
He said they've been talking with WLF and trying to find land for them. Other cities are doing the same. Glassman was asked his opinion about the land, but Bill's parcel he had in mind "is too small".
Curt Geiger and my husband had quite a discussion afterward. Curt spouted all those assinine figures on the thousands of tourists who will drop in on their way to Jackson...to ride the gondola, ad nauseum. My husband said, "I don't believe you". ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR???" (shades of Ed Allen). Curt told my spouse that "I bought those pamphlets. I brought in the gondola. I'm paying it for it to be in the mall." Then, hold your hats, kids...."The mayor didn't know." Omigosh...THAT'S why the mayor couldn't answer my questions...he's been kept in the dark about the largesse of his traveling buddy, Curt. (Hey, I believe it, don't you??)
To be fair, Stephens, Glassman, and Stephenson made the argument that the office space would bring in revenue to the city. That one (city) sometimes needs to take a risk. They thought this would be a good investment, and 2 more floors would balance the corner with other buildings of 8 and 12 floors.
Jeske, especially, said that she thinks our economy (nationally) will tank sometime soon, and that would impact business ventures in Ogden. Also, she is concerned about having enough money for the needs of the citizens in a sound infrastructure as has been mentioned above. Safsten said he was torn, as did Garcia, " I won't sleep tonight", hoping that he's made the right decision. But, those who voted 'no' said they did so because the risks, at this time, outweighed the positives.
$400,000. a year for empty space is a lot of money to commit...without a gaurantee that that space will be leased quickly.
The 'nays' also cited Boyer Corp's reluctance to add those floors because they don't think there's a market to fill them.
They are the experts after all.
Sharon:
Thanks for the detail on the member's explanations of their votes.
You're welcome, Curm.
Dian will be giving us a thorough take on the meeting. She took copious notes, and will give us the play by play soon.
Ah! There's another Dave on this blog. The original Dave who has written many times on this blog, did not make the negative comments about Glasmann. In fact, it was easy to see where Glasmann was coming from, and he was quite convincing that the City would be able to lease the two floors in record time because right now there is no Class A office space in down town Ogden. Like Safsten said, there were more negatives than positives for this project.
Thanks, Sharon, for the anecdote about Geiger. Keep up the good work!
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