Standard-Examiner: Ogden to Decide on Donation of Land for Shelter

A pattern of back room decision-making with our current council which resembles that of the infamous Gang of Six Council of 2005?

The Standard-Examiner reports this morning on the latest development in the St.Anne's Shelter standoff. Here's the story lede:

OGDEN -- The city council may decide Tuesday night whether it's in the public's best interest to donate about five acres of municipal property to St. Anne's Center for construction of a multimillion-dollar homeless shelter.
Last week Mayor Matthew Godfrey agreed to convey land at 33rd Street and Pacific Avenue to St. Anne's, contingent on the city council determination that the donation serves the public.

Read the full story here:

• Ogden to decide on donation of land for shelter

Interesting case of mission creep here. Whereas St. Anne's and the Administration were talking about a "land swap" a little more than a year ago, this project has now morphed into a "land grant," whereby the five acre 33rd Street and Pacific Avenue target property would be transferred free and clear by the Ogden City taxpayers to St. Anne's via a charitable donation. Under terms of the agreement spelled out in this morning's Scott Schwebke story, St. Anne's will hold onto the old Wall Avenue property, and lease it out to provide further St. Anne's revenue.

Gotta hand it to the St. Anne's Board of Directors, who've apparently cut a sweet deal which even puts Friend of Matt Gadi Leshem to shame. Looks like its a done deal with the city council too, if we are to believe council spokesman Janene Eller-Smith:

The City council supports the donation to St. Annes's, said Janene Eller-Smith, a council analyst.

We don't know whether this arrangement is a good idea or not; but we will express our displeasure with the city council, which appears to have signed onto this plan without any public comment or deliberation. Maybe its just us, but we'd like to register our concern that we may be seeing a pattern of back room decision-making with our current council which resembles that of the infamous Gang of Six Council of 2005. That council operated with limited transparency and thus produced results that didn't work out well. We thus hope we're not seeing a true recurrence of that pattern here.