Standard-Examiner: Our View: Neil Garner for Ogden City Council

Will Council challenger Stevens "pull a rabbit out of her hat" on Tuesday? We guess we'll soon find out

Mr. Mac Certified?

Following up on yesterday's WCF story, we'll make note of this morning's still "warm off the press" Standard-Examiner  second 2013 Ogden City Municipal Election city council pick. Yep. It's that clean-cut guy from the west side, who disdains campaign websites, social media and any activity which any activity which might might remotely smack of running a "modern" campaign... and as an added bonus... obviously buys his "conservative business attire" at Mr. Mac's:

• Our View: Neil Garner for Ogden City Council

Additional "qualifications" which the Standard didn't mention? Well, he did collect the obligatory $1500 campaign donation from the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the "Biggest and Baddest PAC in the Land,"  which renders him eminently suitable for a second council term in real estate development-driven Ogden City, we suppose:

Click to enlarge image

Furthermore, Councilman Garner also does have important West Side support, where it counts, of course:

"West Side" Garner Support

With the Standard's endorsement, and all of these other advantages, let's just say that Garner's Council challenger, Pamela Shupe Stevens, who's raised a grand total of zero campaign dollars during her own "quixotic" and "uphill" campaign, has her work cut out for her this week, as the clock for Municipal Ward 1 voting winds down to a little over four days, with the Standard, as a practical matter, very possibly having already "nailed" the prospective winner of this one.

Will Ms. Stevens "pull a rabbit out of her hat" on Tuesday?

We guess we'll soon find out.

Update 10/31/13 2:05 p.m.: Uh-oh!  Looks like Candidate Stevens has yet another "disadvantage" to overcome:

• Two Ogden city council candidates disqualified

Happy Halloween, everyone...

Kudos to Council Members Susie Van Hooser, Amy Wicks, Neil Garner and Bart Blair!

City Council Notes: Four City Council members demonstrate that they have the best interest of the City’s employees at heart and are not afraid to vote their conscience

By Dorrene Jeske

Kudos to Council members Susie Van Hooser, Amy Wicks, Neil Garner and Bart Blair for voting to retain the current negotiating process for Ogden City employees! Read the Standard-Examiner writeup here:

• City council rejects resolution to change wage negotiations

This council vote gives each group involved in the process as close to an equal voice as possible.

The first year that I was on the Council, negotiations were a nightmare with the Ogden Police Benefit Association and Ogden Fire Local 1654 Union going to impasse. The negotiating process in place then put the council in a very awkward position. We had only one source from which to gather negotiation information and that was the administration. The employees were unhappy because they felt that their views and concerns were not being fairly presented to the council. It was very clear that that form of negotiations did not work. The next year Council leadership and staff searched for a different method for negotiations – that method is known as “Interest Based Problem Solving” whereby each of the employee groups, the administration and council each had three representatives that provided each group’s views and concerns. These negotiations usually started in October or at least by the first of the year, and members were trained or received a refresher course so that it was a positive process for everyone. The first year that the“IBPS” system was used, it was unbelievably successful; and the walls of distrust started to come down.

Negotiations went well the next year, but the third year was fraught with problems because:

Problem 1) The Mayor had made up his mind that the city was going to adopt an “incentive” plan no matter what. He met with the council before negotiations started late March and told us his plans. He was told that what he was proposing did not follow the IBPS negotiation process in which he had refused to be trained.

Problem 2) Not enough time to discuss issues.

That year I was on the IBPS team representing the council along with Chair Wicks and Vice Chair Stephens, and I must say that the three employee groups demonstrated an open-minded and accepting attitude.

Problem 3) It was apparent right from the start that the group from the administration had one goal in mind and that was to see that the city adopted the incentive program.

Problem 4) The administration was so determined that they had included the moderator for the IBPS process who was supposed to be neutral throughout the negotiations. The administration had “reached” her and this made a bad situation worse. Their plan was that no one would receive any kind of rate/step increase that July when raises were traditionally given to employees following a performance evaluation – that would make it 18 months that employees would not receive an increase in pay. This was alright for the administration because they had received their “bonuses” the previous October, but created a hardship for many of the employees.

The administration wants to change the negotiation process from the Interest Based Problem Solving approach, which was very successful the first couple of years to one that he and his management team can better control.

THANK YOU, SUSIE, AMY, BART AND NEIL! Many of us are grateful that you have the best interest of the City’s employees at heart and that you not afraid to vote your conscience. On the other hand, I can’t find the words to express my disappointment in Chair Gochnour’s vote last night. I am also disappointed in Councilman Stephens's vote, but not surprised at his or Councilman Stephenson’s votes, inasmuch as these two council members are more interested in staying friends with the Mayor than in doing what's right for Ogden City employees.

2013 Ogden City Municipal Elections Special Voter Guide PARODY - Updated

Providing a voice to Ogden City government fat cats

Mark Who?

Hi there everybody!  I’m one of those people you’ve probably NEVER heard of.  Now, I’m NOT one of the little people who work hard, pay taxes, and basically struggle under the bloated weight of overweening, overpaid bureaucracy.

No, I AM one of those bloated, overweening, over-paid bureaucrats!  In fact, you might say I’m at the very top of the big, steaming pile!

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Not Mark Johnson or N. Mark Johnson for short.  I’m Ogden City’s Chief Administrative Officer or CAO. 

I’m not the mayor, the fire chief, the police chief, the city council, or any of those small fry.  I’m all those peoples’ BOSS!  Elections may come and go, but whoever wins, all the other birds sit underneath ME in the pigeon coop!  In fact, I just CANNED the airport manager in favor of MY long-time, triple-dipping CRONY!  That’s my idea of smooth operation: YES-MEN!  Now it’s YOUR TURN to keep smooth operation in Ogden.  If you vote for MY people, I won’t have to SPUR anybody into obedient compliance with my edicts!  The people I suggest below are ALREADY TRAINED to do what I want! 

Kick In, You Suckers!  HAHAHAHA!

But first, if you have any friends in surrounding cities, you know that Ogden City water bills have been jacked up so high, they SOAR above the rest!  Maybe you’ve wondered why?  Well, it turns out that for every $1 of water money that comes in, 17¢ comes straight to the general fund, i.e. to ME!  You know how hard it is to raise TAXES around here?  Well, who needs all that STRESS!  I just get the elected nitwits to raise the WATER BILLS and I get 17% of that extra money, and NOBODY complains!

A few years ago, we put in a new water tank at the top of 36th Street that is FIVE TIMES as big as the STATE ENGINEERING standards said we needed.  Why so big? Because I got, and continue to get, 17% of all that WASTEFUL SPENDING!

And take my LATEST SCHEME!  We got the city to BORROW $20 million we didn’t even NEED in the water fund!  Then, we put the money RIGHT BACK into the BANK, along with the $30 million that was ALREADY THERE!  Next, we raised water bills to pay the INTEREST!  Right off, I get 17% of those higher water bills!  Then, we paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees to the bankers and consultants who came up with this SCAM! 

And that’s not even the BEST PART!  Once the new city council gets seated, we’ll wait a little while, and go “HEY!  Guess WHAT!  We just DISCOVERED $50 million in the BANK that we must have SAVED due to our incredible EFFICIENCY!!  So how about we use that money for some NEW PUBLIC BUILDING we NEED!  It’ll be like getting the new public building for FREE!  You can tell all your VOTERS how GOOD of a job you are doing!” 

HAHAHAHAHA!!!  The city council will be bleeding you people dry and kissing both sides of my butt for making them look so good!  It’s easy as PIE I tell ya!  Easy as PIE!  HAHAHAHAHA!

Ok, I had to stop and take a pill.  My doctor told me not to get so hyperventilated at work.  Ok, take a breath, N. Mark.  Take a breath.  That’s better.  Well, here are my recommendations.

At Large Seat B

VOTE FOR! Bart Blair

Bart Blair

Bart Blair came to office four years ago from the oil industry.  Actually, he was a GAS STATION CLERK … at his DAD’S gas station!  You can still buy your beer and cigarettes from him most weekdays at Blair’s Chevron here in town.  It was this level of skill and experience that landed him the position he currently holds of Ogden City Council CHAIRMAN!

HAHAHAHA!  Yeah, RIGHT!  Actually, I got him that job MYSELF!  You see, Bart came to office a young, naïve little boy, and I turned him into the rapidly-aging, reflexive BUTT KISS that he is today!  This guy NEVER votes against the bureaucrats.  He’s been raising your water bills the whole time he’s been in office!!  Vote this guy back in!!!!

VOTE AGAINST! Courtney White

Courtney White

This candidate, Courtney White, is the most blatant case of FALSE ADVERTISING I’ve ever SEEN!  The guy’s name is WHITE, but he’s OBVIOUSLY a MEXICAN!

Taking a page from the former mayor’s playbook, do you really think more Mexican markets, gangs and graffiti is what this city needs!  Come on! Get serious!

But if that’s not bad enough, this guy is a free enterprise NUT! He DOESN’T LIKE the millions of dollars this city hands out to our FAVORED CRONIES each year!  Courtney believes in imaginary, non-existent things, like unicorns, elves, and the free market in Ogden!  He’s against all our corporate welfare and payoffs, and wants to CLEAN it all UP!  One of my golfing cronies said he doesn’t have a problem with having a Mexican CLEAN something UP, but NOT like THIS!!  Hey, this election, do ME a favor and make sure COURTNEY WHITE’S political career is ALL WASHED UP!

Wards 1 & 3

VOTE FOR!  Neil Garner and Doug Stephens

Garner & Stephens

These two fine men, Neil Garner and Doug Stephens, have been painstakingly trained to do what I want, and they ALWAYS do what I SAY!! 

These are your INCUMBENTS!  They’ve been raising your water bills reliably.  And you people on secondary water – they voted in a scheme to JACK your rates EVEN HIGHER than EVERYONE ELSE! 

Yeah!!! Both of these guys came into office as intellectual lightweights.  And now, if you’ve ever met them, you know that after years in office they are so addled they can hardly chew gum.  But they have enough function left to nod “yes” when the vote comes.  YES!!  YES!!!  Reward these men for jacking up your water bills and making me a happy man!!  Re-elect them!!! 

VOTE AGAINST!  Pamela Stevens and Turner Bitton

Stevens & Bitton

These people, Pamela Stevens and Turner Bitton, are new.  They are down to earth.  They listen.  They want to serve the public good.

For Pete’s sake DON’T vote for people who are THAT IRRESPONSIBLE!   I know what the city needs, not YOU!  Please, please, please DON’T vote for these people!

At Large Seat A

PICK ONE YOURSELF!  Marsha White or Stephen Thompson

White & Thompson

I haven’t had time for my city bureaucratic gnomes to find out about these people, Marsha White or Stephen Thompson, so I can’t say who will be the most dutifully servile to the needs of the CITY, and by that I mean servile to the needs of ME!!!!

But I do know that Marsha White has gotten a truckload of money from the REALTOR association, some of our most reliable CRONIES!  So judge THAT for yourself!

In conclusion, remember that I make at least 3 times the median income of the rest of you SUCKERS not counting all my PERKS!  So I’m smarter than you, and I KNOW what YOU NEED!  Remember, vote YES for ever-increasing rates and fees!  Vote YES for Ogden City, by voting for MY candidates on NOVEMBER 5th!

Update 10/25/13 8:00 a.m.: I cracked the whip at my gnomes and they FINALLY did a little research on those two nobodys running for At Large Seat A (soon to be vacated by that dimwit Susie who sounded kinda scary when she campaigned but has ended up being putty in my hands). What the gnomes discovered is this...

Marcia White used to be on the board of a liberal terrorist organization called Equality Utah that wants EQUAL RIGHTS for all the LGBT folks. Now personally I don't care one way or the other about the queers but I get queasy when I think of council members who might have their own agenda -- any agenda!

Anyhow, I can probably live with White's agenda but NOT with Stephen Thompson's agenda which is WORKER'S RIGHTS!!! He's a former FIREFIGHTER, for cryin' out loud! That means he'll want more pay and decent working conditions for ALL the firefighters, and undoubtedly the cops too, and maybe even the garbage collectors and ditch diggers and office clerks. And MORE dough for all those dumb city slaves means LESS dough for me and my loyal bureaucrats! Not to mention the developers and construction contractors and real estate speculators who are always SO VERY NICE to me whenever they come up to my office and we close the door and share our mutual appreciation.

SO, kids: DON'T vote for Stephen Thompson! Hold your nose if necessary and just vote for Marcia White, whose last name stands for keeping the money where it belongs, in the hands of us WHITE COLLAR bureaucrats!

A Few Back-burner Items in Advance of Tomorrow's Municipal Election

The results of our online website ratings poll; and some belated info from Ward 3 candidate Stephens

OK folks. Now that we're on the threshold of tomorrow's critical municipal election, wherein the Emerald City Lumpencitizens are once again compelled to stand up for their conservative fiscal values and important institutions of our community, against an onslaught of greed-head real estate agents, developers, Godfrey Administration BIG SPENDERS and other filthy politico-corporatist trash, there are a few back-burner items that we need to bring to the forefront.

First, we're delighted to release the final result of that "Best Ogden Campaign Website Poll" which we put up in our WCF right sidebar a couple of weeks ago, Here we go:

Here are the final tallies, with 52 votes logged, in voter preference order:

Bart Blair 16 votes (overall vote percentage: 30%)
Jesse Garcia also 16 votes (overall vote percentage: 30%)
Susan Van Hooser 9 votes (overall vote percentage: 17%)
Patrick Dean 7 votes (overall vote percentage: 13%)
Doug Stephens 2 votes (overall vote percentage: 4%)
David Phipps (who's now disqualified) 2 votes (overall vote percentage: 4%)
Neil Garner 1 vote (overall vote percentage: 2%)
Mark "Stinky" Hains 1 vote (overall vote percentage: 2%)

It'll be interesting to correlate tomorrow's actual voter tallies with our readers' ratings of each candidate's website, we think.

And here's something equally interesting. Both Doug Stephens and Neil Garner each received at least one first place vote for their website, even though neither of then actually has a campaign site on the web. In that connection, we contacted Doug Stephens. He confirmed he has NO website, but he did send us this info, which we've incorporated into Doug's WCF Candidate Roster page:

• Information about Doug Stephens Candidate for Ogden City Ward #3

Pretty good informational stuff, we think, from our seasoned Ward 3 incumbent candidate, whom we're strongly endorsing for tomorrow's election.

One Standard-Examiner Editorial Page Our WCF Readers Won't Want to Miss

If we didn't know better, we'd swear the Standard-Examiner is finally in touch with the true sentiments of the lumpencitizens of Emerald City

Fantastic Standard-Examiner editorial page today. We'll award today's editorial page effort a solid "A" grade. On second thought... let's make it an A+:

First, the editorial board rebounds from yesterday's disappointing performance and issues glowing recommendations for the two hands-down best qualified candidates for the two open At-large council seats:

• OUR VIEW: Blair for Ogden council
• OUR VIEW: Van Hooser for Ogden council

Next, the Standard carries this smashingly on-point guest commentary from outgoing Council At-large seat incumbent Dorrene Jeske. Ms. Jeske pulls no punches this morning, lambastes the big spending tendencies of Boss Godfrey and lays blame for council/administration problems (overblown as they are) exactly where it belongs... squarely in the secretive and uncommunicative Godfrey administration's lap:

• Retiring councilwoman: Ogden needs a strong city council

Next in order, well shine the light on these two reader letters, which we'd swear (if we didn't know better) would demonstrate that the SE editorial board is truly in touch with the sentiments of the average Joes and Jills whose taxes pay Emerald City's bills:

Ogden resident Carolyn Becker capably expands upon Councilwoman Jeske's discussion of the bogus "lack of communication" issue, and then makes a strong pitch for the election of independent-minded council candidates:

• Vote for Garcia, Blair and Van Hooser

And WCF readers won't want to miss Ogden resident Harland L. Genta's letter, which draws a strong contrast between the responsiveness of council incumbent Jesse Garcia, and his missing-in-action opponent Neil Garner, with respect to one recent Ward 1 neighborhood incident. Once again Councilman Garcia demonstrates (as he's done so many times in the past) his commitment to dealing with Ward 1 problems directly and decisively, whereas challenger Garner couldn't even be bothered to respond:

• Garcia works to make neighborhood safe

We'd been wondering what kind of Ward 1 councilman Mr. Garner would make; and we do believe SE reader Harland Genta has helpfully provided us a most revealing forecast.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to the Standard-Examiner, for putting together this great editorial page, for publication on the biggest circulation day remaining before Tuesday's election.

That's it for now.

Who will be the first to comment?

2013 Ogden City Municipal Elections Council Candidates List

All four seats will be contested, and thus nobody will walk onto the Ogden City Council by default

Following up on yesterday's WCF article, we're happy to provide, via the Ogden City Election webpage, the full list of Ogden City Council hopefuls who've declared their candidacies for the 2013 Ogden City Municipal election races.  To our great delight, all four seats will be contested, and thus nobody will walk onto the Ogden City Council by default:

OGDEN CITY MUNICIPAL ELECTION CANDIDATES

As of June 7, 2013 @ 5:00 p.m.

(All seats are Four-Year Term)

Municipal Ward 1

Neil K. Garner neil.garner@imail.org

3184 Madison

Ogden, UT 84401

Pamela Shupe Stevens

987 Patterson

Ogden, UT 84403

Municipal Ward 3

Turner C. Bitton bitton.politico@gmail.com

960 East 21st Street

Ogden, UT 84401

Doug Stephens dougstephensone@hotmail.com

1131 16th Street

Ogden, UT 84404

At-Large Seat “A”

Sheri Morreale troubletrying@aol.com

1352 29th Street

Ogden, UT 84403

Stephen D. Thompson steve4ogden@gmail.com

729 25th Street

Ogden, UT 84401

Marcia L. White mwhite@reaching4solutions.com

1575 29th Street

Ogden, UT 84403

Michelle Williams michelle4ogdencity@gmail.com

1453 28th Street

Ogden, UT 84403

At-Large Seat “B”

Bart Blair bartblair@ogdencity.com

4225 College Drive

Ogden, UT 84403

Courtney Jon White wkcutah@gmail.com

702 Polk Avenue

Ogden, UT 84404

Primary Election to be held August 13, 2013

General Election to be held November 5, 2013

Keep your eyes on Weber County Forum as the campaign season has now been launched. As per usual, we're militantly resolved to provide the most robust 2013 Municipal Election coverage in the whole danged webosphere.

Update 7/19/13 9:00 a.m.: For more detailed information on these candidates, check out our 2013 Ogden Municipal election module, which is embedded in our right blog sidebar.

Standard-Examiner: Ogden City Votes to Eliminate Private (Secret) Straw Polls

Added bonus: Final 2013 Ogden City Municipal Election campaign finance disclosure tallies

According to this morning's Standard-Examiner story, and as a followup to our earlier Weber County Forum writeup, "[s]ecret votes will no longer be a part of the Ogden City Council's officer election process. In a special meeting held Monday afternoon, the council voted unanimously to do away with a "straw poll" voting system it had been using when selecting the chair and vice chair positions on the council. The council put the new election process to use on Monday, nominating and electing council members Richard Hyer for chair and Caitlin Gochnour for vice chair:

•  Ogden city votes to eliminate private straw polls

A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to the Ogden City Council for finally getting around to doing what they ought to have done years ago.

"Also at the meeting, Blair, Neil Garner, Doug Stephens and Marcia White were sworn in after winning their council races in November," Mitch Shaw further reports.

Here are the official results, gleaned from the Ogden City website:

• City Council Special Meeting Agenda Results

Now that our 2014-16 Ogden City Council is sworn in, and Council "leadership" has been chosen, we think the timing is right to post the final 2013 campaign finance tallies, to wrap up our WCF  2013 Ogden Municipal Election coverage.  Here is a table, incorporating the Fourth Set of Campaign Finance Disclosure Statements, submitted by each Council candidate on or about December 5, 2013: 

Office	12/5/2013	12/5/2013	Cumulative	Cumulative
Candidate	Contributions	Expenses	Contributions	Expenses
Municipal Ward 1
Neil K. Garner	$0	$1,229	$2,550	$2,575
Pamela Stevens*	$0	$0	$0	$25
Municipal Ward 3
Turner C. Bitton	$550	$0	$10,355	$9,696
Doug Stephens	$0	$1,708	$6,150	$5,744
At-Large "A"
Stephen D. Thompson	$39	$183	$2,445	$2,442
Marcia L. White	$850	$6,307	$18,339	$16,003
At-Large "B"
Bart Blair	$0	$1,209	$1,875	$1,338
Courtney Jon White*	$0	$0	$320	$290

* Disqualified

Best wishes to our new Ogden City Council, which appears to be firing on all cylinders (at this point, at least).

Ogden City City City Council Filings Update

OK, Folks.  One more dunning reminder about Ogden City's 2013 election "Declaration of Candidacy" Ogden City council filing expiry, which happens a short under five four three two hours hence.

Here's the list of candidates who have declared for city council seats as of 9:45 a.m.today, which info we've gleaned from the Ogden City website:

Municipal Ward 1
Neil K. Garner neil.garner@imail.org
3184 Madison
Ogden, UT 84401

Municipal Ward 3
Turner C. Bitton bitton.politico@gmail.com
960 East 21st Street
Ogden, UT 84401

Doug Stephens dougstephensone@hotmail.com
1131 16th Street
Ogden, UT 84404

At-Large Seat “A”

Sheri Morreale troubletrying@aol.com
1352 29th Street
Ogden, UT 84403

Stephen D. Thompson steve4ogden@gmail.com
729 25th Street
Ogden, UT 84401

At-Large Seat “B”
Bart Blair bartblair@ogdencity.com
4225 College Drive
Ogden, UT 84403

Courtney Jon White wkcutah@gmail.com
702 Polk Avenue
Ogden, UT 84404

Time's running short, people:

Howbout one or more of our gentle readers steppin' up and declaring within the next four two remaining hours at the last minute for municipal Ward 1, we ask?

Update 7/19/13 9:00 a.m.: For more detailed information on these candidates, check out our 2013 Ogden Municipal election module, which is embedded in our right blog sidebar.

Special Notice to the Voters of Ogden's Ward 1

Two days remain to validate twelve Ward 1 provisional ballots

This morning we have a quick heads-up for the voters in Ogden City Ward 1. As everyone knows, council incumbent Jesse Garcia was narrowly edged out by Godfreyite challenger Neil Garner by a preliminary vote tally of 381-363, with 12 provisional ballots still remaining uncounted. With the slim existing margin of 18 votes, Councilman Garcia could force a mandatory full vote recount, if he can pick up at least 10 of the provisionals. In view of the comedy of errors reportedly occurring in the election counting room during the wee hours of Wednesday morning, common sense would demand a courtesy recount; but unfortunately The Law demands neither common sense nor courtesy.

If you are a Ward 1 voter who was issued a provisional ballot on election day, we'd like to remind each of you to get down to the City Recorder's office within the next two days, to furnish the recorder with proper proof of residency, in order to validate your provisional ballot. If you know another voter in Ward 1 who was issued a provisional ballot, please pass this information and reminder on to them.

These ballots will be tossed out uncounted on November 12, if the they're not properly validated prior to the November 12 deadline.

As one gentle reader remarked in one eye opening down-page article comment, "If Garner's lead holds, it's a sad day for the people of Ward 1 and for Ogden."

Yeah, we know its a long shot, with an 18 vote gap, and only 12 provisionals remaining uncounted. On the bright side, however, we'll note that there remain twelve Ward 1 voters who pack a heck of a lot of political clout at this juncture. These folks already made the effort to travel to their polling places to cast their votes; and we hope they'll also exert whatever extra effort is necessary to ensure that the ballots they cast are actually counted.

Standard-Examiner: Stephens Officially Wins Ogden City Council Race, Bitton Concedes

Reluctant "kudos" to the "Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors", the overall "Big Winners"

The Standard-Examiner reports that Ogden City election officials have pressed out the last remaining wrinkle in the 2013 Ogden City Municipal Election races, as Mitch Shaw reports that the remaining 471 provisional and absentee ballots have been counted, and that two-term Ogden Ward 3 incumbent Doug Stephens has prevailed by a vote of 603 to 487, while challenger Turner C. Bitton has gracefully conceded defeat:

• Stephens officially wins Ogden city council race, Bitton concedes

Congrats to our old pal Doug for his election to a third council term, and a giant Weber County Forum Hat Tip to Mr. Bitton, who ran a thoroughly energetic and well-fought campaign.

Further kudos (albeit reluctant ones) to the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors, which donated the usual 1500 bucks to Stephens, along with the other three prevailing council candidates Bart Blair, Neil Garner, and Marcia White, proving once again, now that latest Ogden Municipal election season draws to a close, that election-wise, "Realtor Cash is King" in Junction City, just as always, making this greedy real estate development lobbying group, once again...

Standard-Examiner: Ogden City Ordinance Ruffles Feathers; Election Could Decide Fate of Backyard Birds

Or... Backyard Birds Could Decide Fate of  Council Incumbents

Weirdly enough, it looks like we're seeing the first murmurings of a genuinely devisive campaign issue in the 2013 Ogden Municipal election race, as the Standard this morning reports that "Results from the upcoming Ogden City Council elections could determine the fate of backyard chickens in Ogden for the next four years."

We look at it the other way around of course, and wonder: "Could backyard birds decide the fate of council incumbents?" we ask.

 According to this morning's Randi Weston report, the battle lines are being drawn, with incumbents Doug Stephens and Bart Blair standing historically opposed to the raising of backyard poultry by Ogden lumpencitizens, whilst their council challengers Turner C. Bitton and Courtney White, in the Ward 3 and At-large "B" races, respectively, cry foul over the council's current anti-backyard chicken stance:

• Ogden City ordinance ruffles feathers; election could decide fate of backyard birds

There's no word on the positions of any of the other council candidates, although Ward 1 incumbent Neil Garner appears to be anti-chicken too.

"Although not directly noticeable by looking through the city ordinances online, chickens are not allowed within Ogden city limits," Ms. Weston's morning story reports. And Ms. Weston says a real mouthful,  in light of  woefully "muddy" condition of the existing Ogden City "chicken ordinance":

• 12-7-8: KEEPING FOWL IF ALLOWED; ENCLOSURES REQUIRED; PROHIBITED WHERE:

Thankfully, the very trendy BackyardChickens.com website provides a "plain English" summary of the current Ogden ordinance, framed in language unladen with the usual Ogden City legalistic gobbledygook:

• Ogden Utah Chicken Ordinance

For a little background reading concerning the circumstances precipitating this highly polarizing issue, here are a couple of recent articles on that topic:

• Pair on Ogden council revive backyard chicken debate
• Salt Lake Tribune: Ogden Couple Fighting City to Keep Backyard Chickens

And for those who'd like to examine the plethora of material which the council considered the last time the Ogden Council considered the Ogden backyard chickens issue, check out the November 27, 2012 Council work session packet which includes the draft of a proposed (but ultimately rejected) ordinance, pro and con citizen correspondence and a marvelous collection of local news articles addressing the "urban chickens" issue:

• CHICKENS IN RESIDENTIAL ZONES

Added bonus:  As cited in this morning's S-E story, navigate via this link for a glimpse of the chatter occurring within in the "backyard chicken underground":

• Facebook - Ogden Urban Chicken Fans

Nope.  The issues forming up as we approach the November Municipal election don't have the quite the pre-election gravitas of Gondolas, Downtown Money Pits, Velodromes, Giant Downtown Icicles or creepy Money-laundering Scandals, but in an election season which has been so far a mite ho-hum, we'll take what we can get, so long as it will motivate Ogden voters, and drive them to the polls, we guess.

Ogden City Council: Council Sponsoring Candidate Forum, To Be Aired On Channel 17 and Available Online

Late in September we posted an article announcing that two write-in candidates had been certified as "valid" by Cindi Mansell's Ogden City Recorder's Office within the 2011 Ogden City Municipal Mayoral and Council At-Large "C" races, respectively. During the course of a fairly robust reader discussion, one gentle reader broached this thorny issue: "It'll be very interesting to see if either or both of the write-in candidates is invited to participate in the upcoming city-sponsored debates. Just one more ethical pitfall that would be avoided if the city would quit sponsoring debates."

In that connection, we've just now received a City Council news update from Council Communications Specialist Amy Mabey, and the Council's position on allowing late-arriving write-in candidate Safsten to participate in the 10/12/11 debate now becomes crystal clear. We'll cut to the chase with the relevant text:

The purpose of this forum is to provide citizens an opportunity to become familiar with those who have been certified through the primary election as City Council candidates. In order to encourage full participation in the entire election process, Council leadership determined that write-in candidates will not be invited to participate in candidate forums sponsored by the City Council.

Council Vice Chair Neil Garner said, “The Council wants to honor all of the time, energy andexpense of those who went through the primary process. Full participation in both the primaryand general election processes shows that candidates are fully committed to running for office.”

We'll go on record right now to say Weber County Forum is in complete agreement with the City Council's highly rational approach to this problem. Looking back a few years to the time (not that long ago) when write-in votes were cast on election day via paper ballots, we'll make the observation that, historically speaking, the American-style write-in ballot process never contemplated allowing johnny-come lately candidates to participate in the full campaign process against other candidates who played by the rules. It would be a critical mistake to allow these sloppy write-in candidates to participate in any way in the formal campaign process until election day, wethinks.

So in closing we'll just say that we'll doff our WCF hat to the Ogden City Council, for their extremely wise decision in this matter.

That doesn't mean, of course, that the invitation for "off the cuff reader commentary" isn't at all closed to that ideologically wide array of WCF Readers of all political stripes who may (imagine this) wish to express their contrarian opinions.

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Thursday Morning Open Topic Thread

A couple of non-red meat items to kick off the day's discussion

There's not much in the way of "red meat" news in Emerald City this morning, so we thought it might be a good idea to set up an open topic thread. But first, here are a couple of "white meat" items worthy of note, hopefully to get some reader discussion going:

1) Gentle reader OgdenLover helpfully shines the spotlight on Kevin Baumgartner's online letter to the Standard-Examiner editors in a comment section down below, wherein Mr. Baumgartner calls upon Boss Godfrey "to make room for new volunteers, fresh ideas, and give everyone an opportunity to serve our community..." and to tender his resignation... as Godfrey enters his tenth year of "service" to our community:

• Mayor Godfrey has been here a long time

What's good for the goose is good for the gander... right? Still... we guess that we're not going to hold our breath for a man like Godfrey -- a man of highly questionable public morals and ethics -- to abide by his own self-professed principles, such as they are.

2) For those who aren't thoroughly burned out on discussion of our 2009 Emerald City election, this morning's Standard-Examiner focuses of one remaining loose end, the Ward 1 Council race. With 18 votes separating incumbent councilman Garcia and the interim top vote getter Neil Garner, this item was the headline story in the top of the "Top of Utah Section" this morning:

• Garcia not ready to concede

We can't say we blame Garcia for his unwillingness to summarily throw in the towel. With 12 ballots still uncounted, a mere 8 more votes would force a complete recount in that Ward. And judging from the comedy of errors reportedly occurring in the Weber County election office counting room on Wednesday morning, a full recount, both on general principles, and under the particular circumstances, looks like a complete "no-brainer" to us.

In this connection a couple of tangential practical questions leap out at us:

For instance, how long would it take and how much would it cost to employ, say three human beings, to do a manual recount of 741 Ward 1 votes?

And here's something to ponder, we think: Have we as a society become over-reliant on machines? With a reported $60 thousand fee to machine-count 6,000 or so ballots for the full election, did the citizens of Ogden even come close to getting their money's worth? We're betting we could have hired May Smith's fourth grade class to have done the whole job for as little as a dime per ballot.

The obvious answers to our queries also leap out at us.

Discuss the above suggested topics, or bring up a subject all your own. It matters not what we discuss here on Weber County Forum for the rest of the day, but for heck's sake, let's get on-board and discuss something.

The near dead silence on this morning's board is getting on our nerves, dang it!

Ogden Municipal Election Special: 2013 Ogden City Municpal Election Game On!

Exercise your voting rights, O Gentle Ones... "Use 'em or lose 'em!"

Unless you're an Ogden City resident who's been living under a rock, you're "wise" to the fact that Ogden City Municipal Election Day rolled around just a few minutes ago, coincidentally with the final down-tick of our "snazzy" right sidebar election count-down clock. Yep, the polls opened at 7:00 a.m. this morning, and will remain in business until 8:00 this evening at all Ogden City voter precinct polling places.

Here's hoping you'll all make it over to your local polling location to cast your ever-important votes. Although the "killjoys" of the Ogden City Administration have summarily removed some of the excitement from the faithful exercise of you "civic duty," by enforcing those nit-picky Utah campaign financial disclosure rules, and thus disqualifying two candidates from two of the four prevously "contested" races, we still have four fine candidates running in two still-fiercely contested races, namely, second-time candidate Stephen D. Thompson and first-timer Marcia L. White in the At Large "A" contest, along with two-term council incumbent Doug Stephens and challenger  Turner C. Bitton, who are fighting it out tooth and nail in the council Ward 3 race.

And try to look at it philosophically, Ogden City lumpencitizens.  Unlike some some other Utah folks in some other Utah communities who won't have the opportunity at all to choose their own municipal elected officials for the 2014-16 term this morning, you at least have some choice in the matter, however pared-down those choices may be.

Oh yes.  As an added bonus, we'll incorporate this image of the flyer we received just this morning by mail, from the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors, (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the "Biggest  and Baddest PAC in the Land"), which donated the usual 1500 bucks to candidates Bart Blair, Neil Garner, Doug Stephens and Marcia White, just to give you a little something extra to think about as you enter the voting booth today, and to add to the overall mirth and merriment of your voting experience

Click to enlarge image

This verbiage reads like a press release straight out of de facto Mayor  Mark Johnson's Economic Development Department, dunnit?

Still unsure about the location of your Ogden polling place, despite our placement of a link above (which you probably neglected to "click")?  Let that be no obstacle to the exercise of your civic responsibilities, as you can almost effortlessly obtain the location of your designated polling place (among other tidbits of important information) right here:

• Vote.Utah.Gov Voter Information Page

Try it; you'll like it

Exercise your voting rights, O Gentle Ones.  "Use it or lose it," as the old saying goes.

The polls are now open, people! Get on down and...

VOTE!

Added Bonus: We've also set up a separate thread for later this evening, by the way, (we've pre-set it to automatically post @ 7:30 p.m.), with a link to the Ogden City Recorder's Office "boffo" live online vote tally software, so you can follow tonight's vote count in real-time. Therefore, be sure to check back here later.

And in the meantime... the floor is open for your intra-day election related comments.

City Council Notes: Ogden Considers Water Bonds for More Than $18 million - Updated

With three Ogden Council incumbents running for re-election in the 2013 Municipal Election, it'll be fascinating to observe where the Council goes from here, won't it?

A cool $18 28 mil in the bank

As a followup to last night's Ogden City Council work session, wherein the Ogden City Council discussed the prospect of issuing a total of as much as $21 Million in new bonding to fund a proposed Ogden water treatment plant and various storm water projects, the Standard's Mitch Shaw breaks the bad news to its print readership that the Council has set a hearing on July 30, 2013 to consider going even further into hock, even though Ogden City already has a total of at least $18 28 million (in "emergency money," so-called) currently sitting idly in its water and sewer funds:

• Ogden considers water bonds for more than $18 million

Ogden City water utilities watchdog Dan Schroeder hits the nail squarely on the head, wethinks:

The elephant in the room here is that the water and sewer funds have approximately the same amount of cash, just sitting there, probably earning only about 1 percent interest,” Schroeder said. “According to the projections that (Ogden water rate consultant Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham) made last year, the cash as of now should be over $18 million. For the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone would borrow money at over 4 percent interest when they have the same amount sitting there in the bank earning only 1 percent.

Apparently at least some math-capable Ogden Councilmembers are also on the same page as Schroeder: "Council members Amy Wicks, Susie Van Hooser and Doug Stephens asked Laura Lewis, with LYRB, the same question," Mr. Shaw reports.

“I’m not proposing that we suck the fund dry. But if we have a lot of cash on hand, it might make sense to come to some sort of compromise where we aren’t bonding for so much,” adds the ever level-headed Councilwoman Wicks.

With three Ogden Council incumbents Bart Blair, Neil Garner and Doug Stephens running for re-election in the 2013 Municipal Election, it'll be fascinating to observe where the Council goes from here, won't it?

"Do the Math," LOL!

Update 7/10/13 12:03 p.m.:  Via the ever-diligent Ogden political watchdog Dan Schroeder, we now learn that the cash balances are actually "$11 million in the water fund and $17 million in the sewer fund," so it's a cool $28 million total which Ogden City has "parked" (nearly interest-free) in these respective City "emergency slush funds." Moreover, inasmuch as the new prospective bond is expected to be for $18.4 million, our ever-wise City Council "critters" could actually "forego the bond [entirely] and still have about $10 million left as a cash cushion against future emergencies."

Go figure, heheheh....

Time for Candidates to Declare in Utah Municipal Elections

Still plenty of time for Ogden City Lumpencitizens to carefully think it over and then get your council candidacy papers on file

Click to enlarge image

We'll let this morning's Davis County-oriented Salt Lake Tribune story serve as a reminder to the citizens of Ogden concerning one of the most important biennial events once again coming up on the Utah political calender in 2013. "If you’re interested in running for a city office, it’s almost time to throw your hat in the ring. The candidate filing period for potential [Utah] mayors and council members is June 1-7. Because city halls are closed on weekends, candidate have just five days — June 3-7 during business hours — to submit a declaration of candidacy in person," reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

As per normal, we've heard a fair amount of grousing about Ogden City politics over the course of the two years since the last Ogden Municipal election of course. So if you're a civic-minded citizen who'd like to roll up your sleeves and step up to "set things right," from the vantage-point of an Ogden City Council seat, now's the time to file your Declaration of Candidacy papers.

For the particulars concerning Ogden City candidate filings, we'll helpfully include this informational section, gleaned straight from the Ogden City Municipal Elections page, which we've slightly modified to include the names and linked profiles of those sitting Ogden City Council incumbents whose seats are "up for grabs" this year:

Positions to be voted upon in 2013 Municipal Elections:

• Council member Ward 1 (Neil Garner)
• Council member Ward 3 (Doug Stephens)
• Council member At-Large “A” (Susan Van Hooser)
• Council member At-Large “B” (Bart Blair)

All positions are for a four-year term.

Candidate Filing period begins June 3, 2013 and ends June 7, 2013.  Declaration of Candidacy must be filed in person at the Ogden City Recorder’s Office located at 2549 Washington Boulevard, Suite 210 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Now? Or later never?

Whatever you may think about Utah's weirdly-shortened Declaration of Candidacy filing "opportunity window," with a full week remaining before next Friday's filing deadline, there's still plenty of time for conscientious, civically-dedicated (and possibly disgruntled) Ogden City lumpencitizens to carefully think it over and then get your candidacy papers on file.

That's it for now folks; but we will inquire of our gentle readers:  Is there anyone in particular whom any of you would like to see throw their hat into the ring? Professor Schroeder perhaps [grin]? Howbout WCF "leading lights" Bob Becker, Blackrulon, Danny or Smaatguy?

Friday Morning News Northern Utah News Roundup - Updated

Four local news items, plus a "treasure" hunt

In our never ending effort to keep our readers abreast of danged near everything of importance in our Northern Utah journalistic bailiwick, we once again present a few more local news items to provoke  a little typically-spirited lumpenicitizen dialogue. These folks, are a few choice selected stories which we stumbled upon this morning whilst Googling:

Ogden "Hood" Infill Project

1) Central City Infill Project. We learn from the Standard-Examiner this morning that the Ogden City Residential Development Company, formerly know as the Ogden City Council, on Tuesday embarked on another ambitious real estate development project, i.e., the construction 23 new $170,00 single-family homes in the central part of Ogden City, affectionately know around these parts as "the hood"

• Ogden OKs CDBG funds for new homes, new hopes

Although the subject no-man's land "target area" is "currently populated with homes around its perimeter but is virtually vacant through the center," City Council real estate development expert "Neil Garner said similar council-approved housing projects in Ogden have done well." So this economically suspect project is now "off and running," we guess, in which connection we'll invite any WCF readers who might question the wisdom of plopping down a couple of dozen $170,000 "Arts and Crafts style spec homes" in the heart of Ogden's Central City to helpfully utilize our handy lower comments section to "chime in" with their own views on this subject.

2) Wall Avenue Crosswalk. In an notable exception to the usual bureaucratic dawdling, and in the wake of at least one tragic Wall Avenue auto-pedestrian fatality, "tear-jerking public protests, together with a plaintive plea from the Ogden City Council, it seems that Utah's vaunted state-level Utah Roads Bureaucracy has quickly arrived at a "no-brainer" decision which, frankly, ought to have been made long ago:

• UDOT says Wall Ave. needs crossing system near St. Anne's

We won't be holding our breaths however to see this much-need project to reach early fruition however, as it'll no doubt take a few more months for UDOT to requisition the paint and schedule the crews to "paint" a couple of crosswalk stripes. Moreover, this project will at least be temporarily put on further hold, while UDOT bureaucrats confer with Ogden City bureaucrats to decide, as Fox 13 News reports, 1) exactly where the crosswalk will be painted, and 2) which of these government entities will pick up the tab. But what's whats the hurry? UDOT's immune from road defect related legal liabilty, in any event, right?

3) Ogden Community Pools. Big decisions are looming for Ogdenites, as the Standard announces that "the Ogden School Board on Thursday voted unanimously to stop subsidizing the maintenance and operation of pools at Ogden and Ben Lomond high schools"

"A June 25 election will let Ogden voters decide if they’ll approve a property tax increase, amounting to $24 annually on an average home valued at $120,200, that would fund repairs and maintenance to save the pools," the Standard further reports:

• Fate of community pools now rests with Ogden voters

Cooling off the old-fashioned way

So what about it folks?  If faced with a $24 annual property tax increase what would you choose?

• Cough up the dough to provide Ogden City's High School swimmers proper training facilities and Ogden lumpencitizens convenient local swimming venues, or:
• Go along with the School Board decision, send the high school swimmers packing and cool off in the summer the old fashioned way.

What would be your choices, people?
 
4) Star Noodle Dragon Treasure Hunt. Long time Ogdenites will of course fondly remember the old Star Noodle "Dragon," the iconic Ogden architectural sign which adorned Ogden's 25th Street landmark Star Noodle Parlor, until a political "Friend of Matt Godfrey",  Thaine Fischer, acquired that property and thereafter unsuccessfully attempted to develop it. We won't go into a long historical narrative on this subject, but we do believe that those Ogden residents who do still fondly remember this eye-popping downtown steel/porcelain,neon work of art sorely missed it, once Mr. Fischer removed it from the building, and "disposed" of it in a manner that's still a mystery to many.  Having said that, we're pleased to announce an effort by a group of devoted Ogden citizens to locate and "save" this remarkable downtown Ogden icon.  Check out their "headquarters," which are lodged on Facebook, (of all places):

• Save the Dragon

In that connection, these nice folks of the SOD Facebook Community have enlisted WCF's support.  So we'll accordingly start with first things first, and pose this question to our relatively broad WCF reading audience:

Click to enlarge

Is there anybody out there in Weber County Forum-land who's recently seen, or otherwise knows the present whereabouts of the sign displayed to the immediate right side of this page? 

The "Save the Dragon Group" references various "sightings" in recent years; and the differing theories of its present location and condition abound. In the final analysis however, nobody seems to know where the sign is at the present time; so were asking our Gentle Readers to give us the word publicly in our lower comments section or privately via our WCF blog email. And if you don't know where the Star Noodle Dragon is right now, we hope you'll all take a vow to keep your "eyes peeled" and blow the whistle if you do stumble upon it.

It'd be great to see this wonderful Ogden sign-art piece back onto the road to full restoration, don'tcha think?

Thanks in advance, folks.

5) WNIT Championship Tournament. Attention Utah Utes basketball fans and hard-core college basketball fans in general. Looks like WSU's not the only B-ball squad who will have had a crack at a national tournament championship this year, as the Standard provides the news that the University of Utah Women's Basketball Team has risen to the top of a field of 64 teams and qualified to play in the 2013 Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), the single-elimination tournament of 64 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2013 Women's NCAA Tournament:

• Utes top Kansas State, reach finals of WNIT

The Utes will square off against the Drexel University Dragons in a game scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET, tomorrow (Saturday, April 6).  You can catch live audio and video broadcasts at ESPN 700 and the CBS Sports Network, so we're sure you'll all want to join us in cheering on our Utah Utes.

That's it for today, folks, barring any late-breaking red meat news.

The world-wide webosphere eagerly awaits your ever-savvy utterances, of course.

Update 4/5/13 1:15 pm.: Looks like we can already call off the dogs on the "Dragon treasure hunt," in view of this item, just now received via the "Save the Dragon Group":

from Thaine Fischer:
Bryan J. Smith with Only In Ogden notified me people were inquiring about the Star Noodle neon dragon sign. The sign is safe and in storage. Upon the restoration of the Star Noodle builiding the sign will be reinstalled. Thank you for your interest.

That, folks, is what we call results!