Standard-Examiner Letter: Thanks to Many Who Made Mt. Ogden Course a 'Crown Jewel'

Dang.  Do we ever miss our ole buddy Bill C., especially at times like this

Notable letter to the editor in this morning's Standard-Examiner, thanking Ogden City mayor Mike Caldwell, golf division manager Todd Brenkman, superintendent Jeff McFarland and golf professional Jon Fister, Jr., for the "astounding year" experienced at Mt. Ogden Ogden Golf Course, which Ogden resident Jeff Campbell labels "our town’s greatest natural asset":

• Thanks to many who made Mt. Ogden course a 'crown jewel'

"Instead of publicly tearing Mt. Ogden down at every opportunity and threatening to sell our assets at pennies on the dollar to fund nonsensical, ego-driven schemes, the city chose to support the course and the positive returns are undeniable," Mr. Campbell sez.

Great innit, to have an Ogden City Mayor in a town which promotes recreation with a rah-rah "high adventure" lifestyle to actually support and promote the recreational assets Ogden already has? Looking back to Boss Godfrey, Caldwell's light-hand governance comes off as a neck-snappiing political segue, wethinks.

Nice tribute to dearly departed regular Weber County Forum contributor Bill Critchlow too, by the way.

Dang.  Do we ever miss our ole buddy Bill C., especially at times like this [sniffle].

Sodden Reminder: Only the good die young.

Standard-Examiner: Mt. Ogden Golf Course Has Much to Offer

A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to two Emerald City locals who are doing Boss Godfrey's job for him

Upbeat Jim Burton story in this morning's Standard-Examiner sports section, reporting on recent improvements at our often-maligned Mount Ogden Golf Course (MOGC):

• Mt. Ogden golf course now more forgiving

The above story follows closely on the heels of this SE 7/26/10 Letter to the Editor, written by MOGC employee Deanna Aquilar, who also strongly touts the course and its associated amenities:

• Mt. Ogden Golf Course has much to offer

We'll note in passing that its great to see individuals from our community praising our "crown jewel" golf course, in which connection we'd like to challenge our Emerald City Administration to follow suit, and launch its own public information campaign promoting the Mt. Ogden Golf Course. An administration-authorized Standard-Examiner guest editorial from golf pro Todd Brenkman would be nice, as would be something upbeat from Boss Godfrey himself. Promoting city attractions is supposed to be Boss Godfrey's job, isn't it?

Do we expect the Godfrey Administration to affirmatively act on this? Taking Godfrey's recent history into account, we won't hold our breath.

So in the meantime we'll express our appreciation to Mr. Burton and Ms. Aguilar for doing Boss Godfrey's job for him.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to each of them.

Standard-Examiner Editorial: Our View: Don't Waste $50,000

A good example of how a newspaper can editorially dissemble in the service of office-holders

By Curmudgeon

The Standard Examiner has up an editorial this morning morning that provides a good example of how, by carefully applied vagueness, a paper can editorially dissemble in the service of office-holders --- in this case, Mayor Matthew Godfrey:

• Our View: Don't Waste $50,000

The editorial opposes Ogden City spending $50K to study winter sports in Mt. Ogden Park. And whose idea was that foolish idea which the SE sensibly opposes? The Editorial Board doesn't want to tell us. From the editorial:

"Spending $50,000, or a similar sum, to study how to bring winter sports activities to the Ogden course is wasteful idea.
We don't blame brainstormers for wondering if winter activities there could bring in money but don't spend large amounts of money to determine what's already obvious after a little thought....

We appreciate the work the mayor, city council and others have done to try to find ways to make Mount Ogden Golf Course less disastrous to city finances.

We encourage officials to keep working on ideas that have a reasonable chance of success."

So, who came up with the idea? The editorial speaks only vaguely of "brainstormers" and "officials." True, once it lauds "the mayor, the city council and others" for work they've already done to improve the course's finances. But no hint for readers of where the $50K study nonsense came from.

Unless of course those readers happen to recall a story the SE did on this by Scott Schwebke which made no bones about whose idea it was. Here's the headline and lead on that story, which the SE ran on 16 June, only ten days ago:

Ogden mayor proposes $50,000 study of golf course ---OGDEN -- Mayor Matthew Godfrey is proposing to spend up to $50,000 to study the implementation of winter sports activities at financially troubled Mount Ogden Golf Course.

Not anonymous "brainstormers" or anonymous "officials." Not "the mayor and city council and others." The Mayor. Period.

Don't the members of the SE's editorial board read their own newspaper? And if they do, why the mincing editorial tip-toeing around what their own paper reported prominently just ten days ago: this turkey of an idea was the Mayor's.

Nor will readers learn from the editorial that the City Council cut the Mayor's suggestion from the City's budget just last week. How do I know? Why, I read it in the Standard Examiner one week ago:

Although Godfrey got what he wanted regarding the garages, his requests for $1 million in future capital improvement funds for construction of a velodrome and field house along with $50,000 in BDO lease revenues for a winter activities study at Mount Ogden Golf Course aren't included in the city council's proposed budget.

So while we can all approve the good sense of the SE Editorial Board in recognizing the foolishness of spending $50K to study sledding in Mt. Ogden Park, I can't help wondering why the Editorial Board went to such lengths to conceal the facts reported in its own paper: (a) the proposal was the Mayor's, and (b) the City Council wanted nothing to do with it and sensibly excluded it from the budget it passed last week. The dissembling turned what could have been, should have been, a hard-hitting editorial about wasteful spending, targeting the elected official who proposed it, into mush wrapped in cotton wool criticizing only un-named "officials," "brainstormers" and "others."

Wimpy work, guys. Wimpy work.

Standard-Examiner: Ogden Mayor Proposes $50,000 Study of Golf Course Winter Sports

It's ironic that the mayor wants to pay a professional to study this extremely small idea, when he finds no need to pay professionals to evaluate his big ideas

By Dan S.

The Standard-Examiner finally has an article about Godfrey's winter sports study proposal:

• Ogden mayor proposes $50,000 study of golf course

Let's use a little common sense here. It's highly unlikely that winter activities at the golf course will ever make a profit. As soon as you try to collect fees, you've gotta pay staff to be there whenever the facility is open. Charge for towing kids up a sledding hill? Most of them would probably just walk. Charge for admitting them to a hill covered with artificial snow? Then you'd have to fence it off--another hassle and expense.

The snowmaking idea has some merit, but why pay $50,000 to study it when the same price would buy the snowmaking equipment itself? How do I know? Because Ogden submitted a RAMP grant application a few months ago, asking for $56,000 to buy portable snowmaking equipment. For that matter, $100,000 is apparently enough to create a whole winter sports park, including a rope tow, because Ogden submitted another RAMP application for just that. (The winter sports park was to be down by the Ogden River, across from the stadium.) So $50,000 for a mere study is way out of proportion.

It's ironic that the mayor wants to pay a professional to study this extremely small idea, when he finds no need to pay professionals to evaluate his big ideas. Where is the feasibility study for the Junction? For the velodrome? For the ice climbing tower? For the River Project? For the Malan's Basin resort? Or, for that matter, for the golf course?

Standard-Examiner: Man gets $366,661 After His Golf Cart Flips

Nice job, Boss Godfrey!

Another not-so-gentle reminder of why Boss Godfrey's cheapskate approach to golf course maintenance ain't such a great idea:

• Man gets $366,661 after his golf cart flips

Just add it to the Greiner defense bill, we guess.

The money Ogden City wastes on unnecessary lawsuits due to Godfrey's mindless and petulant stubbornness truly boggles the mind, dunnit?

Nice job, Boss Godfrey!

Standard-Examiner: Goals Set to Make Mt. Ogden Course More Playable, Profitable

Will it be necessary for the council to invoke its statutory "policy making power" once again this year, with respect to the Mount Ogden Golf Course budget?

There's semi-encouraging news from the Standard-Examiner this morning, with the following Scott Schwebke story, which reports that our City Council has reached some kind of consensus with respect to improvements and debt paydown for the Mt. Ogden Golf Course (MOGC):

• Goals set to make Mt. Ogden course more playable, profitable

(The headline in today's SE print edition is slightly more tentative however, and ends with a question mark: "Pay-as-you-go flaw fixes ahead?")

If it is true that a majority of the council has at least informally agreed to avoid massive borrowing, fix up the course and pay down current golf course debt, that's good news indeed for the taxpayers of Ogden City, we believe. Yet today's story does contain a statement from Ogden City CAO John "Pureheart" Patterson which does cause us some heartburn (justifiably, we believe):

Patterson said he appreciates the city council's desire to make needed improvements at the course without borrowing more money. However, the city has only a limited amount of funds for a variety of pressing projects, he said."
There are many priorities for available financial resources," he said. "Many (of those projects) stand in front of the golf course."

Reading between the lines, we'll take Patterson's comment as an early indication that the administration may be preparing to drag its feet, or stonewall a council-backed "pay-as-you-go" plan altogether.

Thus we'll be watching closely as the Council and Administration move forward on the FY2011 "budget setting" process over the next 3 months, in wary anticipation of another possible Council-Administration battle royal over MOGC funding, reminiscent of the knock-down, drag-out Marshall White budget slug-out of last spring and summer.

Will it be necessary for the council to invoke its statutory "policy making power" once again this year, and instruct Boss Godfrey to get onboard the Council's percipient "pay-as-you go" plan, by way of another budget ordinance "policy statement?"

One thing we do know about Boss Godfrey: He's stubborn as hell. So we do hope the Council is ready for battle this year.

There are also two other items we've found this morning which relate to the pending 2011 fiscal year MOGC budget setting process and plans for the MOGC in general, so we'll throw them out to expand the discussion:

1) Ogden City activist David Smith provides a letter to the editor on the SE website which ought to remind everyone, that despite any MOGC consensus which the Council "thinks" it may have reached, the ever-conniving Boss Godfrey still has a whole set of plans all his own:

• Godfrey to turn virgin east bench in mini-mansion-ville

2) And please don't neglect to check out the savvy SE reader comment linked below, wherein SE board regular "Ole" urges a full accounting of the MOGC books, as a preliminary prerequisite to ANY further Council action:

• Is this another Godfrey scam?

We haven't talked about the MOGC situation in quite a long while here at Weber County Forum; although we all knew a new discussion would be coming up soon.

So who will be the first to comment about these latest new developments, now that the MOGC topic is finally back on the Emerald City news front-burner?

Consolidated City Council Meeting Reports

Mssrs. Schroeder and Schwebke report the full range of business conducted during last night's two council sessions

As a supplement to the excellent material provided by Dan S. through last night's council meeting live blogging (see Dan's comment #3 et. seq.), Scott Schwebke provides his own Standard-Examiner story this morning, reporting on the Mt. Ogden Golf Course discussion which occurred during last night's work meeting:

• Mt. Ogden Golf Course / Ogden council greenlights goals to fix design, financial difficulties (Live! Edition) 
• Mt. Ogden Golf Course / Ogden council greenlights goals to fix design, financial difficulties (Digital Edition)

According to Mr. Schwebke, the council has thus wisely given council staff the "green light" to cherry pick elements from the earlier council presentations by Kris Abegglen and Jon Garner, and to cobble together "hybrid" "goal statements" which would incorporate the best ideas from each, rather than to adopt either the Abegglen or Garner proposals in their entirety. A few of these "elements" are enumerated within Mr. Schwebke's morning story; but here's one which particularly caught our eye:

City Council Chairwoman Caitlin K. Gochnour said she would like to see Mt. Ogden Golf Course at least break even financially and described financial subsidy from the municipality for the course as a worthy investment.

If we're interpreting this language accurately, we believe Councilwoman Gochnour is on the right track. Yes, we believe it would be great if the Mt. Ogden Golf Course could at some point be operated at at least a "break even." And we should certainly strive for that. Realistically however, it also seems to us that the prospect of further "municipal subsidies" ought not be ruled out. The Mount Ogden Golf Course is an important and highly unique Ogden City recreational amenity; and we believe it's no more reasonable to expect the MOGC to fully carry its own "financial water" than to expect the same for any other Ogden City park or other recreational amenity. We'd be interested, however, in hearing our WCF readers' opinions on this aspect.

In closing, we'll offer our thanks to Mr. Schroeder and Mr. Schwebke for their excellent and detailed reporting. Due to the efforts of these two reporters, we're confident that Emerald City residents have the complete picture this morning of the full range of business which was conducted during last night's two council sessions.

Who will be the first to comment?

Heads-up on Tomorrow Night's Council Work Session - UPDATED

Introducing a revolutionary new concept: Don't buy stuff you cannot afford!
UPDATE: Check out the supplementary council packet docs below

Just for the sake of caution, we'll highlight a couple of important items which are apparently coming up on tomorrow's (Tuesday, 1/19/10) City Council Work Session calender. Although the Council's online agenda doesn't show it, we spotted these items on the Standard-Examiner's "Council Agendas" section on Sunday; and we therefore believe we need to bring these prospective matters to everyone's attention:

Ogden City Council
5:30 p.m. study session, 2549 Washington Boulevard.
6 p.m., regular meeting
Amend zoning map to reclassify zones at 3701 Harrision Blvd.
Adjourn to work session to discuss Mount Ogden Golf Course,
36th/46th Street water and transmission line CIP amendment,
and council business [Emphasis added.]

We unsuccessfully attempted this morning to obtain an electronic copy of the council packet for the tomorrow's meeting; but unfortunately we've far come up dry, since today is the Martin Luther King Holiday; and both the Council and Recorder's offices are evidently closed for the day. We'll keep trying of course. Maybe we'll have greater luck obtaining these documents tomorrow. If we do succeed in this in advance of the meetings, we'll post the documents here as an update, of course.

In the meantime we'll suggest that interested readers circle tomorrow's council sessions on their calenders, in the hope that we'll have at least a few lumpencitizen eyes and ears at the work session.

And to our new council, which hasn't yet met as a body to endure what we expect to be another classic Boss Godfrey "Blue Sky" sales pitch, we'll offer this bit of free advice: Don't buy stuff you cannot afford!

For those Council Members who may be unclear about this concept, we're also delighted to present the following highly-instructive video:

Readers who attend tomorrow night's work session are strongly encouraged, of course, to report back here with their comments and observations. We'll leave the lights on, for sure. Pre-meeting comments are also invited, of course. Knock yourselves out, O Gentle Ones. Update 1/19/10 12:00 p.m.: For the benefit of those readers who are planning to attend tonight's council work session, we're pleased to provide these supplementary council packet documents, which frame the issues which will be discussed at tonight's work meeting:

• Continued Discussion of Council and Mayor Regarding the Mount Ogden Golf Course • CIP Amendment for 5-Million Gallon Water Tank

Once again, we'll keep the lower comments section open for any possible post-meeting discussion.

Standard-Examiner Letter: Golf Course Can Be Modified Inexpensively

An elegantly straightforward application of the philosophical guiding principle of Occam's Razor

Incremental improvements have not provided the expected turnaround to the course's financial difficulty.
"Our belief has been for a long time that there were changes we could make that were fairly inexpensive that could fix the problem. Our experience has been that it hasn't changed it."

Mayor Matthew Godfrey
Standard-Examiner
Upgrading Mt. Ogden Golf Course to take money
November 22, 2009

The ploy now seems to be to dump this on the city council with two choices: Bond for massive improvements or sell the property to developers, while hiding behind the lame excuse that "inexpensive modifications have not worked." The only reason they have not worked is because they were never tried!

Frank McFarland
Standard-Examiner
Golf course can be modified inexpensively
December 9, 2009

Fantastic letter to the editor in this morning's Standard-Examiner, wherein Ogden resident Frank McFarland calls Boss Godfrey out on his November 22, 2009 misrepresentation of the facts regarding purported past incremental Mt. Ogden Golf Course improvements, and offers a simple three point plan to "modify this course so that an average high-handicap golfer can break 100":

1) Bond for $400,000 and do the mods that will improve the playability and make it a fun course.
2) Forget for now, the new sprinkler system and the new clubhouse. Concentrate on what will increase play and enjoyment of the beautiful site.
3) Advertise what we are going to do and get support from local groups and organizations, plus get the Standard-Examiner to run some feature articles during the modifications.

Mr. McFarland's suggested strategy is an elegantly straightforward application of the philosophical guiding principle of Occam's Razor, which consistently illustrates that the simplest strategies tends to be the best.

We thus join with Mr. McFarland in urging the new City Council to address the Mt. Ogden Golf Course situation at its earliest opportunity, to adopt a "minimalist solution" such as Mr. McFarland suggests... and to kill off, once and for all, Boss Godfrey's harebrained scheme to transform Ogden's precious undeveloped parklands into a gargantuan $143 million condo/hotel/golf course boondoggle.

The world-wide blogosphere awaits our readers' ever-savvy comments.

Tuesday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

Open topic thread: Dwell on any of the topics suggested below... or start up a discussion all your own

Three Weber County Forum-topical items on this morning's Standard-Examiner Live! Website, which we'll briefly reel off one-by-one, as a prelude to a WCF open topic thread:

1) Scott Schwebke reports this morning that Ogden whistle blower Dean Martinez, who's fought a quite valiant uphill court fight, learns the hard way that the average Joe Blow lumpencitizen gets just as much "justice" as he can afford:

• Suit against Ogden officials dismissed

2) Ogden resident Troy Lincoln weighs the evidence, and offers a well-reasoned conclusion:

• Evidence points to development of Ogden foothills

3) For the Weber State Wildcats and Wildcats fans, the reality of Saturday's FCS playoff game sinks in:

• 'Cats prepare to go East, young man

With back-to-back playoff trips, will WSU fans start feeling "a little spoiled" and start expecting a similar playoff run every year?

"That's what you want," sez Da Coach!

That's it for now WCF readers. Dwell on any of the above suggested topics... or start up a discussion all your own.

Standard-Examiner: "Mt. Ogden Golf Course Losing Money! Really!"

Mayor Godfrey again presents the golf course "problem" as one with only two possible solutions

By Monotreme

The Standard-Examiner has seen fit to repeat the "Mt. Ogden Golf Course Losing Money! Really!" meme one more time:

• Upgrading Mt. Ogden Golf Course to take money

Mayor Godfrey is once again presenting the golf course "problem" as one with only two possible solutions: float a bond, or sell to developers. You can see where this is going, because he has commissioned a push poll that shows that people don't want to vote for a bond issue (or so he says, at least not a bond issue framed the way he chose to frame it).

Of course, the fact that even more people don't want to sell off open space to developers bothers him not one whit.

It would be interesting to know what a real poll, instead of a b.s. push poll, would find as far as public opinion regarding Mt. Ogden PARK.

Standard-Examiner Guest Commentary: Golf Course Plan Should Preserve Intrinsic Value

Time for our new city council, we think, to grab the bull by its horns

The Mt. Ogden Golf Course story is back on the discussion front-burner, with this morning's most-excellent Hoyle Sorenson Guest Commentary:

• Golf course plan should preserve intrinsic value

Mr. Sorensen refers to the four Golf Course options floated by Boss Godfrey back in the spring of 2008, which ranged in extremes from busting the city treasury with a massive multi-million dollar east bench overhaul, to letting the course go back to "seed."

Mr. Sorenson notes that the Godfrey Admistration has ignored any intermediate suggestions which might adhere to a minimilist golf course plan, and deftly observes that the Mayor's option of simply shutting down the course is plainly a half-baked non-starter.

As we prepare to swear in a new City Council in January, we believe Mr. Sorenson's guest commentary is both wise and timely; and we congratulate Mr. Sorenson and the Standard-Examiner for once again bringing this issue to the forefront.

In that connection we'll also join with Mr. Sorenson in urging the City Council to promptly address the Mount Ogden Golf Course issue once and for all, and to follow the financially prudent principles of small businesses all across America, in adopting a First Things First approach. With a hare-brained multi-million dollar golf course remodeling scheme simmering away as the continuing obsession of our borrow-and-spend, one-trick-pony City mayor, the golf course debate simply won't be going away on its own. With a new council set to take over in January, it's time for our city legislature to grab the bull by the horns, we think.

While the new council's at it by the way... as we've suggested before... the commissioning of a full independent accounting of long term golf course finances, as a crucuial first step, might not be a half bad idea either. We don't trust Godfrey's numbers; and we don't believe Council should trust them either. We know it sounds old-fashioned, but we're standing by our time-worn philosophical core axiom: Obtain and study the facts first -- then undertake action, if necessary.

That's it for now, WCF readers.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

More Information Regarding Last Night's Ogden City Council Sessions

The Council agrees to put a discussion of Mt. Ogden Golf Course operations back on the table

Scott Schwebke chimes in this morning with more information on last night's council sessions, reporting that the council has agreed to put issues related to Mt. Ogden Golf Course back on the discussion table in one or more future council work sessions. What seems clear from this story is that Boss Godfrey hasn't budged an iota on his crackpot scheme to bulldoze the golf course and construct his $146 million hotel/condo project at the top of Ogden's 36th street location. What also seems clear, at least to us, is that Godfrey's newly released "poll" is a mere pretext to open up another full-blown debate about Godfrey's massive golf course makeover, under the transparently mendacious guise of improving the course's financial viability.

While we see no real harm in opening up this can of worms again, we do believe there are two preliminary matters to which the council ought to devote close scrutiny:

First, we believe it's incumbent upon the council to make a determination about the validity of the underlying assumption that's the foundation of Godfrey's latest policy sales job, i.e., that the golf course is actually losing $250 thousand per year. In that connection, we suggest that the council should commission an independent audit of golf course operations, to determine once and for all whether the numbers that Godfrey has been rattling around -- numbers which indeed actually furnish the foundational assumptions for Godfrey's polling results -- are truly based in reality. We've had much discussion on this blog about the questionable methods of accounting which Godfrey has used to support his argument for his golf course/hotel/condo boondoggle; and there's good reason to believe Godfrey's figures are rigged. It's thus high time we believe, for the council to find out for themselves the true condition of the golf course balance sheet.

Secondly, we believe the council should retain an outside polling expert to carefully examine the methodology of the Godfrey poll. Although Mr. Schwebke offers a bare bones opinion of one WSU math professor that the poll's 200 person sample might be sufficient to support valid results, there are enough other apparently glaring methodological problems inherent in the poll (including the phrasing of loaded questions) that we believe this poll ought not be taken at face value, until it's been fully vetted by a polling expert who can be trusted.

And since the council has expressed its willingness to once again put a MOGC discussion back on the table, we believe the council should thoroughly examine all options. Although we have no doubt that Godfrey regards a full golf course makeover to be the only option, we believe the council should also carefully weigh those options which will be the least burdensome to the taxpayers, such as the "minimalist Plan 'B' option" presented in Frank Mcfarlane's 4/13/09 letter to the Standard-Examiner editor.

And while we're talking about less financially burdensome alternatives, we'll highlight this simple and elegant plan, lodged in one of our down-thread comments sections by gentle reader Dan S.:

Solution for golf course:
1. Write off the debt. Then annual debt service goes away, saving about $100k.
2. Start promoting the golf course instead of spending taxpayer funds to tell everyone how bad it is. Listen to the golfers for ideas on small changes that can bring in more customers. This could raise another $100k.
3. Be prepared to "subsidize" the golf course by $100k per year over the long term, since it does provide additional value to the city besides golf.
4. Fund one-time improvements to the course through RAMP grants when possible. Any city funds freed up should then be set aside for major maintenance such as repairing the sprinkler system.

And here's a question the council should consider to be even more fundamental. Ogden City already has two taxpayer burdensome and woefully incomplete Godfrey schemes languishing away in downtown Ogden, The Junction, and the River project. Do the taxpayers really need another of these half-baked projects fizzling out after great fanfare in our precious Ogden Foothills area? There's plenty of other evidence of Godfrey's ineptitude in beginning and completing ambitious projects too. Whatever the council does in the future with respect to the golf course, we believe the council needs to take Godfrey's miserable track record into account.

And here's a crucial question which ought to be considered by our Ogden City Council: Shouldn't Godfrey defer the initiation of any new projects, until he's finished what he's already started?

That's it for now gentle readers.

Who will be the first to comment?

Mysterious Golf Course "Pollster" Is Unmasked

The serially mendacious Boss Godfrey presents the results of his secret independent study group "survey" to the council on Tuesday

Interesting development on the Mount Ogden Golf Course front, where it's now revealed that the ever-indefatigable Mayor Godfrey still feverishly pursues his crackpot obsession to bulldozed the golf course and build his "gargantuan hotel/condo project" at the top of Ogden's 36th Street.

Regular WCF readers will recall the article we published 0n 9/12/09, wherein gentle reader Becky McShane tipped us off to a then-ongoing "telephone survey," which was polling Ogden residents with the laughably "loaded question," of whether they'd be willing to accept an increase in city taxes, to fund a pre-supposed $250 thousand MOGC annual revenue shortfall.

At the time of the publication of this earlier article, the identity of the person or persons who'd commissioned this suspicious "survey" remained a mystery. Although our alert reader did inquire at the time as to the true identity of the pollster, the only information which she received was "an independent research group."

Well... nine days hence, the identity of the independent research group no longer remains a mystery. According to a well-placed and reliable source at City Hall with whom we spoke a few moments ago, the "mystery person" who commissioned this poll is none other than... (drumroll)... Boss Godfrey hisself.

We invite our readers to check out the published public notice in Sunday's Standard-Examiner, where you'll find this interesting council agenda item:

Receive golf course survey results.

This plainly bogus "poll" must have worked out well for Boss Godfrey, we guess. What other reason could possibly explain why he's now put it on the council agenda?

We'll set up a separate Ogden City Council meeting thread tomorrow afternoon; and we hereby invite any WCF reader who sits in on Tuesday's council meeting and work session (our reliable sorce informs us the survey matter will be discussed in the study session) to report back... and give us the lowdown on this so-called poll.

Lots of interesting business before the council on Tuesday actually, according to Sunday's public notice. Wethinks this will likely be one very interesting series of council meetings to attend.

In the meantime we'll also invite immediate reader discussion.

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

One Gentle Reader Tips Us Off to a Suspicious Ongoing Telephone "Poll"

Is someone currently in the process of conducting an election-related "push poll?"

Interesting email which has been sitting on the back-burner for the past couple of days, concerning a purported Mount Ogden Golf Course-related telephone survey, which is reportedly being conducted in the Ogden area. Our reader's missive contains a query which we'll pass on to our gentle readers:

Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 4:58 PM

Has anyone gotten a phone call from an independent research group asking questions about raising taxes to cover the $250,000 deficit that the Mt. Ogden Golf Course costs the city? The 1st question was about the million dollar revamp that's needed to improve the course. I asked the questioner who was conducting this survey and said that I had an issue with the assumption behind the 1st question--mainly that it assumed that millions were needed to revamp it. Some of the other questions involved re-zoning the areas adjacent to the course.
Argh!

Becky McShane

Given the timing, we believe it's reasonable to infer that this "poll" may be related to the pending Ogden municipal election, and that one or more council candidates may be interested in accomplishing something other than collecting and analyzing response data.

So to fine tune our reader's query we'll ask this: Is someone currently in the process of conducting an election-related "push poll?"

Broadly defined, a push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. The Center for Media and Democracy provides a slightly narrower definition: "A push poll is where, using the guise of opinion polling, disinformation about a candidate or issue is planted in the minds of those being 'surveyed'. Push-polls are designed to shape, rather than measure, public opinion." Notably, legitimate pollsters regard push polling as "unethical," at least in its more aggressive manifestations.

Notably, the pollster in the instant case evidently attempted to predicate the line of questioning on the assumption that the Mt. Ogden Golf Course in fact actually suffers a $250,000 annual deficit. Encouragingly, our alert reader didn't take the bait.

Ogden Voters are of course no strangers to political telemarketing abuse. As our readers will remember, the Godfrey administration was accused of using this same deceptive telemarketing technique in 2006, when gondolas were the "hot" item on the "visionary" Godfrey agenda. Are we seeing a re-run of this unethical tactic yet again?

Our readers will of course also recall another abuse of the infernal telephone autodialer in October of 2007, at the tail end of the 2007 mayoral election runup. Who can forget the completely bogus Jon Huntsman endorsement, which Boss Godfrey ultimately "pulled" at the then-Utah governor's "request?"

Perhaps might be helpful to get more reader input on this. Are there other WCF readers who've been contacted regarding this purported poll? Can a few of our gentle readers fill in the nature of some of the other "survey" questions, such as those involving re-zoning issues? Can anyone provide more information on this issue at all?

We believe that Ms. McShane presents a fine topic for discussion on this otherwise slow-news Saturday morning; and we'll therefore offer her a hearty Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat, for bringing this issue to the forefront.

Who will be the first to comment?

Important Ogden City Council Work Session Tonight

A heads-up on an ideal opportunity for the lumpencitizens to help nip another hare-brained multi-million dollar Godfrey scheme in the bud

Here's a quick reminder of tonight's council work session, wherein the council will discuss a proposed amendment to the City’s Capital Improvement Plan regarding water tanks proposed on the Southeast Bench around the 36th Street area. For more information, please refer to our August 15, 2009 article, where we examine the matter in more detail. Additional information is also available within the council's August 15, 2009 press release. Here are tonight's time/location coordinates:

Date: Tonight, August 20, 2009
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Ogden City Council Chambers

In a morning comment under an earlier article, Dan S. admonishes that the ultimate outcome regarding the water tank installation will likely have broad implications, including possible increased impact on our open space. Dan's not just whistling Dixie here, by the way. It's not just our trails system which is in jeopardy here. What's clear at this point is that Mayor Godfrey's proposed 36th street tank installation is geared toward providing the foundational infrastructure for his harebrained $146 million top of 36th street Mount Ogden Golf Course Redevelopment Proposal, which would include condos, hotels, a possible gondola station, along with numerous other high impact bells and whistles.

The city council is bending over backwards to obtain robust citizen input on this issue. Citizens have been invited to express their ideas and views with comments being limited to five minutes. Comment cards will also be available at the meeting and any comments may also be e-mailed to citycouncil@ogdencity.com.

Hopefully tonight's meeting will generate a robust turnout by Ogden City residents who'll be willing to offer their uninhibited input. A 36th street water tank installation would constitute an irreversible step toward another multimillion dollar taxpayer-borne Godfrey boondoggle; and tonight's council work session presents an ideal opportunity for the lumpencitizens to nip this hare-brained Godfrey scheme in the bud.

We'll now open this topic for immediate discussion. Later reports from those WCF readers who attend tonight's meeting are also warmly invited, of course.

Take it away O Gentle Ones.

Update 8/20/09 1:13 p.m. MT: We just got this seemingly good news in our email about tonight's work session from somebody who posts under the psuedonym "Film At Eleven":

This just in in. Standard-Ex will be tweeting tonight live from city city council work session:

Poor ole Scott Schwebke. For some reason he can't bring hmself to post with his own name on Weber County Forum. How sad it is that even now he refuses to come off his "high horse," and to directly relate to the the Emerald City Lumpencitizens.

Sad, very sad indeed!

Update 8/20/09 5:21 p.m. MT: For what it's worth, it's our understanding that Scott Schwebke will be tweeting live from tonight's work meeting. Here's the Std-Ex Twitter link:

• Ace Reporter Schwebke's live Twitter tweets

What the hell, we'll take whatever we can get.

Hello, Mr. Schwebke. are you there? Over!

Update 8/20/09 5:38 p.m. MT: We now learn that Dan S. is also inside the council chambers, and will be doing his own live blogging tonight, on behalf of Weber County Forum:

I'm here at the council work session, ready to live-blog what I can! All council members are present except Mr. Johnson. Mr. Franke is giving the council an overview of the process, -Dan S.

Check out Dan's live posts, by opening, viewing and periodically refreshing our lower comments page.

Update 8/21/09 7:53 a.m. MT: The Std-Ex provides a post-work session writeup on its Live! website this morning. Read Scott Schwebke's online story here:

• Ogden residents don’t want water tank atop 36th

Std-Ex Letter: Boss Godfrey Should Focus On His Incomplete Projects

Attempts to resurrect old, rejected plans may leave Godfrey's constituents feeling deceived

Thanks to an email tip from another alert reader, we'll kick off the discussion this otherwise slow news Monday morning, by featuring an exceedingly well-crafted letter to the editor, which popped up on the Standard-Examiner website late last week. We believe it's right up Weber County Forum's alley, topic-wise; and we're sure you'll all agree:

Godfrey should focus on incomplete projects
About 18 months ago, in the midst of a hotly contested mayoral race, Mr. Godfrey shocked the city by reversing his stance on the sale and development of Mt. Ogden Park and golf course indicating that he had heard the voice of the people.
Not only would he abandon his efforts to build a gondola and engage in massive development of that property, including the undeveloped foothills above the golf course, but he further promised to do all in his power to protect it in perpetuity. His victory, by merely 400 votes, casts serious doubt on the likelihood that he could have been re-elected without this change of heart.
Recently, a "redesign" committee appointed by Godfrey (without the knowledge or approval of our city council) submitted suggestions for multi-million dollar changes to Mt. Ogden Golf course and surrounding properties. Parts of those changes include selling portions of the land, building a lodge, a winter sport park and 350 condominiums.
This plan differs in form, but not substance from the plans the mayor tried to push through during his prior term and sharply contrasts with the, "I've heard the voice of the people", speeches that barely allowed him to retain office. While the unpopular word "gondola" hasn't yet appeared openly, there are hints it has not gone away either.
Perhaps Godfrey could focus on his incomplete projects (e.g. the River Parkway development) as opposed to trying to resurrect old, rejected plans which may leave his constituents feeling deceived.
Valerie Bentley
Ogden

Ms. Bentley provides ideal fodder for discussion, as our readers launch into another new work week, wethinks.

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

RJ Svengali Chimes in on Boss Godfrey's $146 Million Golf Course Makeover

"When we meditate, we see trees and dirt, birds and insects, snow and old bones"

By RJ Svengali

Note: we do not golf.

Our child weekly slides and climbs at the small playground under the trees at Mount Ogden Park, and sometimes toddles over to observe the big kids, active 6 year olds, playing soccer in the shadow of Malans.

We walk, climb and bike in the dead of night, through the foothills and up Taylors Canyon - down Strongs, lurking and prowling, searching for adventure and fortune.

We occasionally play frisbee up in the Marquardt section of the parkland.
And yes, teenagers still duck up there to smoke rope and make out, from time to time.

We actually lived far up the mountainside just north of Weber State for nearly nine months, fasting and studying, once a long time ago, during one of our early journeys through the mountain west.

Point?

When some oomans turn their thoughts toward this geographic area, they perceive quite a few billion dollars and, as a matter of rational self interest, they attempt to free some of that up, loosen it right on up so that as much artha flows within their control; one would also prefer to expend as little effort as possible.

Silly oomans.

When we meditate on the same yajna , we see trees and dirt, birds and insects, snow and old bones.

Priceless.

We will have it underdeveloped for the duration of our Northern Utah visit. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Standard-Examiner: Team of WSU Professors To Explore Godfrey's $146 Million Golf Course Makeover Scheme

Notably, Dean Gale doesn't seem to be exactly champing at the bit to get moving on this

Interesting Ace Reporter Schwebke article this morning concerning Boss Godfrey's $146 million Mt. Ogden Golf Course makeover scheme, from which we'll carve out a few excerpts. At this early juncture, WSU appears to be playing right along:

OGDEN -- A team of professors will explore whether a hospitality and tourism management degree should be offered at Weber State University that may complement a proposed $119 million Mount Ogden Golf Course hotel.
Several faculty members are interested in evaluating the hotel proposal being floated by the Mount Ogden Golf Course Committee, said Lewis R. Gale, dean of Weber State's John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics.
"An opportunity has been presented," Gale said. "We want to know if we can help."

Lest our readers grow alarmed, and leap to the conclusion that there are those of influence at the WSU campus who have already bought into this project, we'll just say that we believe WSU's current posture is exactly right:

The formation of the Weber State faculty team to review the hotel component doesn't mean the school has formed an opinion about the committee's proposal, Gale said. [...]
"What we are doing is not signaling support or lack of support. It's an opportunity that has come up. We want to be involved early on."

As an owner of a property adjacent to the Mt. Ogden Golf Course, and a public university which might reasonably expand its degree offerings to include a program in "hospitality and tourism management," University officials have an obligation, we believe, to weigh all the options and return a well reasoned decision on the merits, which is exactly what we believe University officials will do.

Moreover, WSU officials have been the undeserving target of blistering criticism from the Godfrey Slime Machine in the past, for not playing along with Godfrey and his fellow big spending schemers. WSU officials thus have every reason to at least "go through the motions" on this.

Notably, Dean Gale isn't exactly champing at the bit to get moving on this. "It hasn't been determined when Weber State faculty will begin evaluating whether the university should offer a degree to complement the proposed hotel," Dean Gale says.

And on a slightly different note, here's an interesting Kent Petersen quote from further down today's story, referring to "prospective" financing for this latest Godfrey boondoggle:

The complex, which would include 150 time-share units and 200 condo/hotel units, could be built without taxpayer money by a private developer or a major resort company like Marriott, Petersen said.

This raises some interesting questions, we believe. Does Boss Godfrey actually have a private developer/hotelier already lined up; or is this just another Godfrey/Petersen pipe dream? Hopefully Mr. Schwebke will find the time to start digging on this.

So what say our gentle readers about this latest development?

Std-Ex Letter: Adopt Minimalist Plan and Consider Plan B Later

Good economy or bad, Boss Godfrey's $146 million golf course makeover proposal is a non-starter

Thoughtful letter in this morning's Standard-Examiner by Ogden resident Frank McFarland, arguing in favor of a "minimalist" solution to the Mt. Ogden Golf Course's deferred maintenance problems, and suggesting an application to the Obama administration for federal stimulus funds. We incorporate Mr. McFarland's essential paragraphs below:

This is the perfect opportunity to fall back to the proposal of Hoyle Sorenson in which he proposed doing a minimum amount of repair and upgrading to make the course more playable for the average golfer, thereby increasing income from the facility. His careful estimate was less that $400,000, as I recall.
With the Obama administration begging for anyone to take money, I would think that $400,000 to $500,000 could be obtained from the stimulus plan if the appropriate people took action now. This would certainly be a "shovel ready" project and would provide some immediate employment for a fair number of people. Half a million dollars, at this point in the recovery plan, would be peanuts! This would prove, once and for all, whether this course can be made profitable without destroying it.
It will be years before the economy recovers sufficiently to consider Godfrey's $70 million scheme, or even any plan as presently proposed. By then, we will know if the "minimalist" plan worked and if not, proceed to plan B, whatever that might be.
The half-million dollars spent, will be long forgotten and Ogden can press forward on whatever the city council considers best for the course.

Unfortunately, as to the prospect of obtaining federal stimulus money, Ogden City is probably out of luck. In January, congress reportedly inserted language in the stimulus package bill "to prevent federal stimulus money from being used for zoos, aquariums, golf courses, swimming pools and casinos."

Notwithstanding the probable unavailability of federal financing however, one thing is clear. Boss Godfrey has sadly neglected the golf course throughout his nine years of governance. If the city council is to do anything at all about bringing the course back up to par, it should at least carefully consider the minimalist solution proposed my Mr. Sorenson, even in the absence of prospective federal funding.

As for Boss Godfrey's 4/9/09 Mt. Ogden Golf Course makeover boondoggle, we'll go on record in urging the council to send it back to Boss Godfrey right now, even before he makes his formal proposal, with a paste-it note attached, suggesting that hizzoner put it where the sun doesn't shine. The sheer lunacy of spending $146 million, as a highly speculative cure to a relative chump-change $200 thousand revenue shortfall, ought to be painfully obvious, even to hopelessly obsessive big-spending visionaries like Boss Godfrey. At three times the cost of The Junction project, which has been a $750 thousand/year taxpayer albatross since 2005, (despite Godfrey's earlier promises that it would never put the taxpayers "on the hook,") this plan is plainly a non-starter, good economy or bad.

As an added bonus, we'll also spotlight another reader letter appearing on the Std-Ex live website, which focuses on Godfrey's general public recreation deferred maintenance "blind spot," which is definitely not confined to the Mt. Ogden Golf Course.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?