City Council Meeting Post Mortem; Godfrey Again Blows His Top

Boss Godfrey adds the term "outlaw" to his already eye-popping public resume

In the wake of last night's lively and uplifting council session, Scott Schwebke provides a City Council meeting post-mortem this morning, focusing mainly on Boss Godfrey's reaction to the council's 5-2 veto override vote. Sadly, the citizens of Ogden City are once again presented with the disturbing spectacle of a surly and emotionally out of control mayor, who this time announces his intention to willfully disobey the law:  

• Ogden overrides budget vetoes / Mayor says he won't comply with policies, calls them illegal

Godfrey is so wrong on so many counts that we hardly know where to start. Suffice it to say however that the council's budget policy language now remains intact, and that the new budget ordinance at this juncture carries the full force of law and the legal presumption of validity.

If Godfrey chooses to challenge the policy provisions of the ordinance through acts of civil disobedience, the legal burden will fall upon Godfrey to overturn the ordinance. If he chooses to wilfully violate the law and invite possible criminal sanctions, he does so at his own risk. "If you can't do the time; don't do the crime," as the old jailhouse axiom goes.

Hopefully our child-like Emerald City mayor will soon recover from his post-council session petulance, and rejoin the Emerald City political mainstream. If he does choose to challenge the ordinance in court, we believe he should do it the grownup way, by filing a civil lawsuit seeking injunctive relief. Hopefully City Attorney Gary Williams will take Godfrey aside, cease playing the part of Godfrey's "yes man" for at least a few minutes, and explain the realities of the situation. Yes, Godfrey's planned course of action does have a possible downside, inasmuch as it could conceivably land him behind bars.

That's our take; and we're stickin' to it.

Before closing, we'd also like to offer a hearty Weber County From Tip O' the Hat to the five city council members, Garcia, Gochnour, Jeske, Stephens and Wicks, who fulfilled their civic duty and did what was "right." We've had a passive and semi-dysfunctional city council in Ogden City for far too long, and it's exciting to see our city legislature re-embracing its lawful policy-making function and finally emerging as a truly co-equal municipal government branch.

Take it away, O Gentle Ones. There's much to discuss again this morning. Yesterday's comments section is growing a mite long and unwieldy. Time to fire up a new discussion thread, we think.