Mixed Meeting

6.27.06 Council Notes -- Boss Godfrey announces he has the "highest integrity in the room"

By Dian Woodhouse

Sort of a mixed Council meeting tonight, with normal business being done and also a few surprises. All Council members were present except for Councilman Safsten, and Mayor Godfrey was also in attendance.

There was approval of Resolution 2006-20 "honoring Norman L. Ashton for 20 years of exemplary service as Ogden City Attorney and on his appointment to the Justice Court Bench." Councilwoman Wicks read the resolution, which tracked Mr. Ashton's career for 30 years, since 1986, and mentioned his service to the city as well as civic work. Mr. Ashton joked in his acceptance that "My children will have a smaller inheritance," since he envisioned the resolution on his tombstone. "I'll be still in the block, just in a new building," he said, and then went on to say that he probably shouldn't say he would see the Council in court. He ended by saying that Ogden City has a capable successor in Gary Williams.

Next Item was a report from Urban Forestry. Very active department that I hadn't known much about until now. What urban forestry does, among other things, is plant trees in Ogden City. The big statistics are: 32,000 street trees, 2,000 park trees, 132 different species in all. They have a partnership with Saint Joseph's Middle School for planting, and also a new one in 2006 with Dee Elementary. They have given away over 600 trees to the public free of charge. They have a pamphlet at the Standard Examiner Garden Show detailing their accomplishments of the last three years. They work with the media, trying for a story a week, and have a Master Gardener program, and study annexation issues very carefully to be sure that the annexed property meets their standards for Ogden City. Very impressive group indeed. Councilwoman Jeske thanked them "for making Ogden beautiful," and the Council moved to form a resolution approving their advisory committee, chaired by Barbara Bernstein, for the next three years.

Then were the reappointments to the Landmarks Commission, which passed by common consent. They were: Bernard Allen, Connie Cox, and Kathryn MacKay.

There was approval of the annexation by petition to Ogden City of 2.811 acres of of property located at the southeast corner of 750 North Washington Boulevard, and the petition will be sent to the City Recorder for certification.

Next, there was proposed Ordinance 2006-31 to amend the budget that was just accepted a few weeks ago. Evidently some property has been sold---the specific property was not mentioned in the discussion or the agenda--for the sum of $7,031,125. This proposed ordinance will add this sum to the budget, and it was adopted unanimously.

Then was adoption of proposed Resolution 2006-119 determining the general City Certified tax rate for fiscal Year 2006-2007.

Next, another budget amendment, moving $50,000 from the General Fund to technical support for the purpose of improving the sound equipment and recording facilities in the Council Chambers and work session room. In response to a question from Doug Stephens, it was stated that this change was actually a result of a legislative action requiring a certain standard.

Then there was a presentation by the Ogden City Fire Chief on proposed Ordinance 2006-41. This is the ordinance requiring that carbon monoxide detectors be installed in all residential occupancies by December 1, 2006. "My job is to put the Fire Department out of business," the fire chief said, going on to explain that he meant by this prevention of accidents and fatalities. There was discussion about how this, on one level, would be interpreted as too much governmental intrusion into people's lives, but it was smoothed over, sort of, by the fact that the ordinance would be enforced first by a warning. Installation of these in rented properties would be the responsibility of the landlord, and the fire department advocates battery powered ones instead of hard wired ones. Also, they will try to get a certain amount of them to give to low income people.

Oddly enough, two members of the Council had had first hand experience with carbon monoxide problems in their homes. Councilwoman Wicks said that she had had three friends die this spring, one of cancer, one in an avalanche, and one from carbon monoxide poisoning. Councilwoman Jeske has had a detector in her home, also having had someone she knew die from this, and it had alerted them to potentially dangerous situations. She asked how many people in the room already had them, and about three quarters of the room raised their hands. Jeske said she hoped that the passing of this ordinance would not be interpreted as a sign of intrusion by the local government, but as a sign that they care about the citizenry. The ordinance was tabled, and reschduled for an upcoming work session, for the purpose of discussing appropriate civil penalties.

Public comments were next. Troy Arrowsmith, from the Ogden Police Benefit Association addressed the council, bringing up many of the points addressed in his opinion piece in the June 27th edition of the Standard Examiner, that the Ogden City Police had been treated unfairly, and that he asked that employee negotiations be reopened.

Chris Peterson then spoke, stating that he was here tonight to attempt to "kick off" the development process. He stated that he was in the middle of a very detailed proposal, and needed a gesture of good faith from Ogden City in order to continue with the process. He would have to spend about $100,000, and getting the proposal together would take several more weeks, "maybe four or five, but I need good faith from you in order to take that next step."

Then came the Ogden City police men and women. They were articulate, eloquent, and sincere. The theme was the same--that they were not being treated fairly, and that they wished the city to re-open the negotiations. One policewoman stated that she was an eleven year veteran and took home $2,200 a month. She had always worked other jobs, pulled overtime, done whatever it took to be able to support herself and her family. She mentioned that most homes had two working adults, but hers did not, and that all the police wanted was to be able to pay their bills and support their families. She stated that the breakdown in negotiations was the city's fault, since it would not negotiate but kept repeating the same offer, and ended by saying, "Please reconsider. It's only fair."

A policeman mentioned what he termed "a disconnect," comparing the fact that the city had shown itself to be highly interested in Peterson's development proposal, and yet did not wish to pay public safety a decent wage.

During these comments, one policeman questioned the integrity of the administration. This led to a speech by Mayor Godfrey after the comments closed, in which he stated that he was an individual of the utmost integrity. "My integrity is... higher than anybody's in this room," he stated, and then went on to say that his staff is also honest and has "absolute integrity." He ended by inviting those present on the police force to discuss this issue with him after the meeting.

They did. The discussion took place in one area of the council chambers after the council had gone into closed executive session, "for the purpose of discussing pending or reasonably imminent litigation." The rest of us there gave them their privacy.

Before the meeting closed, Councilwoman Jeske stated that she hoped a negotiating system could be worked out "that would be satisfactory to all of us."

Brandon Stephenson also spoke to the police issue, stating that there had been long discussions over the course of the budget because they had limited resources. He also said that he thought it was important to state that although a Cost Of Living Allowance, (COLA) would have been preferable, in that contributions were made to the state retirement fund, etc., in order to do this, the Council would have had to have "ongoing funds" at its disposal. What it had were one time funds, and this is why it offered a bonus instead of a COLA.

Editorial comment: Something wrong with that picture. I have just finished stating that the city just amended the budget for this $7 million cash infusion from a property sale. It also amended the budget to take $50,000 out of the general fund to work on its sound system. This business about needing ongoing funds, if correct, is really not too reasonable, as it seems, from what I have just written, that it is possible to get money for things when needed, and it is possible to sell property and get money there, and furthermore, there are always ongoing funds from tax dollars and fees. I really don't understand that reasoning at all.

Update 6/28/06 8:14 a.m. MT: Standard-Examiner Ace Reporter Scott Schwebke's story on last night's council meeting is now available online, and can be viewed via this link.

Also, many of us who were in attendance were delighted to meet and greet Salt Lake Tribune reporter Cathy McKittrick (formerly of the Std-Ex,) as she appeared in the council chambers to cover last night's council event (filling in for Kristen Moulton who normally covers the "Ogden beat.") She was always a local favorite when she was covering Ogden politics for the Std-Ex. And judging from last night's "fond reunion," it's obvious that she still has a local fan club. So as an added bonus to Dian's report, we're linking to her article, which was printed in this morning's SLTrib edition.