Mayor Godfrey Hammered by Both Citizens and the City Council

City Council Notes 9/16/08

By George K.

I haven’t seen such a lively Council Meeting for at least a year. There were only two items on the agenda, but there was a large crowd and the meeting went for more than two hours.

The Council was considering a rezone of 370-378 Goddard which is a vacant lot and an old house across the street from the Odyssey Elementary School. The owner of the properties, David Griffiths, has a used car lot that is just south of Sandy’s Restaurant. When he first approached the City Council, he said that he did not plan to use the Goddard street access to the properties because Washington Blvd. would be the main access to his car lot and he intended the vacant lot to store extra cars accessed from the used car lot and he had no immediate plans for the house. He emailed the Council yesterday, saying that Washington Blvd would soon be under reconstruction and he would need access from Goddard, but would limit use so that it did not interfere with the high volume of parents delivering and picking up their students. Rich Moore from the Ogden School District read a letter from Supt. Noel Zabrishie who was unable to attend. The letter cited several concerns of the School District and asked that the Council take the safety of the students into consideration when making their deliberation. After some discussion, Council member Brandon Stephenson moved that the rezone be adopted because he felt that Planning Commission would limit the Goddard St. access according to the minutes. The motion passed 6 to 1 with Council member Jeske voting “No.” She said that she was concerned for the safety of the students and referenced the email they had received asking for access via Goddard.

The other item on the agenda was the reconsideration of the temporary ordinance for C-1 and C-2 zones of neighborhood businesses located throughout the City that was adopted 5 to 2 September 2nd. It seems that several members of the Council had been contacted and asked to reconsider their vote. Council member Jeske moved to reconsider the ordinance and Council member Gochnour seconded it. Council member Garcia explained that an educational community center had been in the process between WSU, Ogden School District and the Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College for some time, and would be curtailed by the temporary ordinance that halted any new construction in the areas being considered for the zoning change. The developer indicated he was ready to go forward with the plans for the educational center and an office building within the next 30 to 60 days. During public input, several residents of the neighborhood spoke against reconsidering the ordinance stating that the Council should wait for public input through the community plan that is in the process of being redeveloped. They urged that the historic nature of the East Central neighborhood be retained. However, the ordinance that had been adopted allowed for continued work on the old Safeway grocery store, including the facade which had a Hispanic architectural design. Mayor Godfrey poured out a tirade against the developer would put up anything he wanted and added that he and his associates had contacted members of the Council and asked them to reconsider the ordinance. He then sarcastically asked Council member Jeske why she was shaking her head. With barbed arrows in her voice she replied that she had been contacted by a representative from WSU who had stated that WSU, the Ogden School District and the ATC had jointly been working on developing a community educational center. The Mayor replied that he had been in contact with WSU but hadn’t heard anything about it in an apparent effort to discredit Council memberJeske. But he apparently failed because Council member Jesse Garcia amended the motion made by Council member Stephenson that adopted the proposed temporary ordinance, but added that an educational center and business office be allowed in all the zones being considered. It passed unanimously.

Before opening the meeting to public comments, Chair Wicks read a prepared statement regarding excessively high utility bills. She told the audience that the Council had received a great deal of feedback on the new water rates and knew they were concerned. She said that packets were available to them on the table outside the Council Chambers that explained the rate structure. She said that the Council was working closely with the Administration and looking at options, and that they would be discussing the water rates at their Thursday work meeting. She invited the public but noted that they would not be allowed to comment.

The Mayor said that he could give recommendations right then and there. They were to eliminate the $7.00 surcharge per 1,000 gallons of water over the allotted amount, and go back to the $2.36 surcharge. He said that the City could provide rebates or credits as appropriate retroactive for the months of June, July, August and September.

During the public comments, several citizens of the Lorin Farr neighborhood expressed concern about the campground that the City recently constructed on Park Blvd. Their concerns ranged from fear of an increased presence of an undesirable element to their neighborhood, the cost, that they had not been informed and consulted about its construction to concern for the rodeo participants who used the area during the rodeo. Most of them stated that there would be a need for the campground to have some kind of security presence 24/7/365. The Mayor said that they had not decided what kind of security would be provided, but a steward may be on site at all times. He said that the $14,000 cost was greatly inflated, although he never did say how much the cost would be. During the Council’s comment time, Council member Gochnour asked if the Pioneer Heritage Foundation had been consulted. She said that she had heard that they were very upset with the location of the campground. Council member Jeske asked the Mayor if the campground was included in the Neighborhood Community Plan and the General Plan, and told the audience that the Council had not been informed either of the campground. Vice Chair Stephens read from a prepared statement two or three pages long, and said that he was concerned that the Council had not been involved in any discussion of the campground and ended with the statement that the Pioneer Heritage Foundation may pull its support of the Pioneer Day celebration. The Mayor then responded with, “Be fair, Doug. You never asked the questions about the campground or they would have been answered. Be fair, Doug.” He indicated that at a work meeting, CAO John Patterson had told the Council about the campground, and that it had been discussed several times. Chair Wicks said that the she recalled the campground being mentioned as part of the Mayor’s “wish list.” Points were made by most of the Council members that revealed that the Mayor had acted without Council input, and they were very unhappy about it.

Editor's Note: Scott Schwebke also provides his own writeup this morning, on the topic of the water bill rebates mentioned above.