Has the Old Dog Finally Learned a New Trick?

It appears that even Emerald City Emperor Boss Godfrey may be capable of learning from experience, during an election year at least, according to this morning's Kristen Moulton story. Last night, the Emerald City council approved the fiscal year 2007-08 employee pay plan, thanks to the intervention of federal mediation services:

OGDEN - City employees here will get $3,000 raises next year as part of a novel approach to compensation decisions that arose out of last summer's pay-raise debacle marked by "blue flu" and the Vangate controversy.

Rather than setting salaries the old way - by "wage-and-confer" negotiation between administrators and each of three employee groups - Ogden City has used interest-based problem solving to arrive at next year's pay raises for 364 employees.

Since last fall, a working group of 22 employees, administrators and council members have been meeting with a federal mediator to come up with the plan.

The City Council on Tuesday endorsed the group's recommended $3,000 pay hike - an idea first proposed by firefighters - by unanimously approving a joint resolution with Mayor Matthew Godfrey.

The "market adjustment" pay raises are designed to bring Ogden's wages more in line with those of comparable cities and will be built into the budget that begins
July 1.

Employees will not get merit or cost-of-living raises, but the city will pay all the expected 7.5 percent hike in health insurance costs.

John Valdez of the Utah Alliance of Government Employees contrasted what he termed this year's historic accomplishment to last year's negotiations, which resulted in impasses between the city and two employee groups, the Ogden Police Benefit Association and International Association of Firefighters Local 154.

"Where were we nine months ago? We were at each other's throats, there was a lot of mistrust and name calling," said Valdez.

"Mistrust and name calling" ain't the half of it we say, as we link for our readers a little trip down memory lane.

"This old dog has learned a new trick," Emerald City CAO John Patterson assures us.

"It will make us very, very competitive," adds Emerald City police chief Jon Greiner -- quite truthfully, we believe.

It looks like it could be construed as a win-win for all concerned, considering last year's salary negotiations debacle. We're unsure, however, whether Boss Godfrey will take it that way.

So what say our gentle readers? Has the formerly autocratic Boss Godfrey abruptly turned over a new leaf? Will this year's give-and-take salary mediation process usher in a whole new era of cooperation in BossGodfreyWorld? Has the "Little Lord" finally embraced the concept of mutual concession, and rejected the lame "Ogden is a Republic" theme? Has "Dear Leader" now been transformed suddenly from "Boss Godfrey,"into a beloved "The Man of the People?" Will the heretofore "Emperor of Emerald City" henceforth cease shoving his peculiar "vision" down the lumpencitizens' throats?

Frankly we don't know; but we think our ever-intelligent and outspoken readers can tell us all about it.

Time to start up a new discussion thread, we think.

And a special Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to Matt Jones, for getting the ball rolling on this.