Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Cameo Reprise for Ex-mayor Goff

Council nanny hiring hits the Std-Ex front page

The Standard-Examiner reports this morning on the development we discussed on Saturday. Boss Godfrey has hired former mayor and councilman Cliff Goff "to improve communications between his administration and the city council."

Among the new information provided in this morning's Scott Schwebke story is the news that Mr. Goff's hiring probably won't bust the city treasury. Goff will be paid a stipend not to exceed $500 a month to cover his expenses.

At least on city council member isn't thrilled about being blind-sided by Mr. Goff's sudden appointment:
City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske said she isn’t pleased with how Goff was appointed, adding she first learned about it in a Friday e-mail from Godfrey.
“The mayor’s intentions are good, I think, but it would have been much better if he had approached the council and asked if we were willing to participate instead of arranging this behind our backs,” she wrote Monday in an e-mail to the Standard-Examiner.
“He does not have the right to infringe upon our precious time without our approval.
“He should have had council approval to create another position, that of the assistant to the mayor. The manner in which he did this is really demeaning to the council.”
We think Jeske's points are well taken.

The mayor's retort is of course typically Godfreyesque:
Godfrey told the Standard-Examiner that, in the e-mail to the council announcing Goff’s selection, he requested feedback regarding the appointment, but Jeske didn’t reply.
As our readers will recall, Godfrey dropped the news of Goff's hiring late on Friday afternoon. From the tone of Godfrey's email, the decision was a fait accompli. Under the circumstances, it's unlikely that Jeske, or any other member of the council would have had the time or inclination to register objections or suggestions.

Looking at the big picture however, we're keeping our fingers crossed this will all work well. Communication from the mayor's office to the council could stand much improvement. What a delicious irony it would be, we think, if Mr. Goff were to succeed in educating our mayor about the necessity of improving his communications style relative to council business. Having said that, we confess that we're feeling a mite Pollyannaish today.

We had a fairly robust discussion on this topic in the earlier thread; but we'll once again open up the floor for further discussion, now that the Std-Ex has put the story into the print domain.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once again, for the benefit of us gentiles, can someone state definitively what Mr. Goff's position is within the LDS Church and whether this position might give him any ecclesiastical authority over some of the council members?

Anonymous said...

Remember that Cliff Goff is the stake president who wrote the letter telling his members to cool it, that the Lift Ogden vs Smart Growth debate was getting to the point of blows, in his opinion.

In other words, he was horrified that there was an actual debate going in his stake on a political subject, especially since he and his ilk feel that Godfrey is the Lord's mayor.

Curm has the best idea of all: The council should tell Godfrey that if he wants his people (Goff) to contact the council, then he can have Goff contact the council staff.

In other words, "Tell Godfrey his people can contact our people."

Really, Goff is intended to waste more council time and further exhaust them, so they won't have time to research issues independently as Gochnour recently did. It's a pretty standard tactic Godfrey is using here.

Anonymous said...

Wow. The sheer irony of this is hilarious. In order to better foster cooperation and communication, the Mayor has gone behind the Council's back.

I wonder exactly what this person's role is, and more importantly, how much the council HAS to cooperate (if at all)? They'd be foolish to let this guy in on ANY pre-council meeting information, strategy etc.

But then, that may be the whole plan, to show the Council as uncooperative when they don't let this new spy in on everything.

It sure seems to me like an awful lot of the effort lately from the admin (and from the stilted SE reporting) is laying the groundwork for getting some of the City Council beaten in the next election. Building up a bunch of "evidence" to use against them, such as not fostering development and going against the "will of the people" (Windsor), and then being uncooperative when they reject this silly mediator idea. Shrewd.

Anonymous said...

It reaks of Stuart Reid

Anonymous said...

Just what difference will it make when it's Goff misleading, and lying to the Council as opposed to lying little matty? Any position, and argument he makes on behalf of lying little matty's administration will be exactly, and only what the administration wants to present. No difference other than some Council members won't feel nauseated as they have in the past, having to look at the little liar while he's fabricating whatever he believe sounds convincing of the top of his precious oversized forehead.
Just what lends Goff any real credibility? In the instance cited by Danny, Goff could have been very helpfull by recalling that there was an attatchment to the Mt. Ogden Park property stating it must be held for only public recreation. He knows this, as well as Madsen, Dirks, Sneddon and Meacham. George Handy challenged them all to come out and put the record straight. Why would five previous mayors fall dead silent, allowing the attempted theft of one of the City's most prized public holdings? Off the record all have commented that the attatchment exists. The fact that Goff only tried to stiffle the debate with no no insight into his personal feelings is also quite telling because at the time lift ogden was sucking their last breath due to their inability to document one of their bogus claims.
Take the next step! Was Goff really endorsing the the bogus land grab? It sure seems like that.

Anonymous said...

Council/Mayor relations are poor. The Mayor complains the Council won't communicate with him. We have documented cases of the Mayor refusing to keep the Council informed... Bootjack, tasking the lobbyist to work to eliminate the Council's ability to remove the mayor as head of the RDA behind the Council's back, and so on.

And so the Mayor's solution to the problem of failed communication between him and the Council is to insert yet another layer of bureaucracy between the Council and him. Seems, on its face, to be a dubious idea.

Anonymous said...

curm:

I absolutely agree. The more layers, the more opportunities for miscommunication. If the mayor wants to say something to the city council he should say it himself, preferably in an open meeting.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if we are going to have a train wreck in Ogden now that the Goof an goofy are running the city.
I will sell and get the h--- out opf this town now

Anonymous said...

Bullet Sponge, I think you have pegged Godfrey exactly right. And Schwebke and the SE are helping him to achieve his plans. Scott Schwebke left out completely my statement that I thought an impartial person should do the mediating. Must be that was the most logical of my statements that I sent to him after he called and asked how I felt about the mayor getting Goff to work with the Council. I think it is truly amazing that there was only one council that the mayor seemed to like (because 5 of the 7 members were his rubber stamps) of all the many councils that he has worked with during his nine years as mayor, but it is the council who doesn't cooperate or communicate well. I wonder how he would take it if the council hired a psychiatrist to work with him.

Danny, my husband said exactly
the same as you and Curm have stated (he doesn't read the blog so he isn't aware of what you've said here)when you posted: "Curm has the best idea of all: The council should tell Godfrey that if he wants his people (Goff) to contact the council, then he can have Goff contact the council staff.

"In other words, 'Tell Godfrey his people can contact our people.'"

I am willing to spend the hours that are needed to fulfill my responsibilities as a council member, but I also have a respponsibility to my family who are not very happy with the time I spend away from them. I had one little seven-year-old grandson who asked me, "Grandma, why did you take a job?" They grow so fast, that I'm not willing to take any more time away from them.

Anonymous said...

Councilwoman Jeske, you are exactly right! It is Godfrey who needs someone to teach him how to communicate, how to work with people who think independently and differently than him and how to behave. President Goff has his work cut out for him trying to make a compassionate human being out of Matt Godfrey.

Anonymous said...

I would say President Goff has a huge job ahead of him trying to make a human being out of Godfrey! Good luck on trying to make him considerate and compassionate!! That is one task that is impossible.

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