My View on Ogden

Ogden City government as perceived by an insider

By Chad Phares
Former Ogden City Council Communications Specialist

May 16 was my last day of employment with Ogden City. I was offered a writing/editing position in SLC that I considered to be a better for for myself so I decided to take it. The pay is essentially the same. The career move was not about money. During the year-and-a-half that I was employed with Ogden City, I would check the blog from time to time to keep an eye on the pulse of those who contributed to the blog. I appreciate the nice things that were said about me from time to time.

However, it should be understood that while I worked hard and did my best, the increased transparency with the Council was certainly not my idea. I was just hired to implement it. There have been a lot of spiteful and untrue things said about some Council staff members and I think if people on the outside truly understood the kind of work that people on the Council staff do, I believe it would not have been said.

I'd like to say that Bill Cook is as good of a boss as I have ever worked for. He is open, honest, detail-oriented and hard-working. Seeing posts on here over the months I was employed by the City that claimed that Bill and the Mayor were somehow in cahoots was laughable. Bill is constantly pushing for more transparency and he is a big reason why the Council's communications effort was ever launched in the first place.

Council Policy Analysts Alan Franke and Sue Zampedri work just as hard and put in long hours. They care about the work they do and they do a great job. In fact, they are constantly having to go above and beyond the call of duty when they receive information from the Administration that is either incomplete or incorrect.

As far as the my dealings with the mayor go, I can't really say much. I think he never spoke more than five words to me. I have my opinions, some good, some bad. But he, like most people, has some good attributes and some flaws. So do I. I'd venture to say that you probably do, too.

As far as the Council goes, I will not name names. In general, I think there are some dynamic Council members who put a lot of work into their duties on the Council. By the same token, I think there are other Council members who probably could be more effective if they spent some more time delving into the issues.

Having said that, these are part-time Council members. They are being asked to keep up with all of the knowledge that the Mayor has, but this is a difficult thing to do. Being the Mayor is Godfrey's full-time job. Council members have other jobs that they often need to tend to. I think even those Council members who truly try to stay on top of things have difficulties doing so, because the workload is so hefty. The Council staff does all they can to help, but you can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, you know?

I believe this Council has still not quite figured out who they are. There are different levels of experience, understanding and commitment. Each feels obligated to certain things. I think they are still searching for common ground.

In general, my experience in Ogden was nice. It is obvious that people are passionate about the city. I truly hope everything works out well with all of the projects going on.

By the way, here are my opinions about some of those things:

Gondola -- I think it would be a fun attraction that I would probably ride on once.
Mt. Ogden Golf Course -- Subsidizing it by $200,000 a year is not that big of a deal. There is plenty of money being wasted in other places. At least the golf course has some use.
Water Horizons -- This was kind of my baby. I think it will be good for the city, just remember all the good things that are happening when you start to get your summer water bills.