Taking Care of Business... Ex Post Facto

COUNCIL NOTES: 10.3.06

By Dian Woodhouse

Two extremely brief meetings tonight--Council and RDA. The first order of business was a Common Consent item, which passed unanimously, and dealt with committee appointments and reappointments. Here it is:

Kelly Farley and Max Ryujin were reappointed, and Stephen E. Jones, Dana Slaughter, and Donna Corby were newly appointed, all to the Community and Business Development Citizen Advisory Committee.

On the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Ginger Paxman was re-appointed, and Dale Campbell and Terri Smith were newly appointed.

Then there was the scheduled public hearing dealing with a budget amendment.

"Proposed Ordinance 2006-58 amending the budget for Ogden City for the fiscal year July 1. 2006 to June 30, 2007, by increasing the anticipated revenues and transfers for gross increases of $398,141 from sources as detailed in the body of this ordinance, and increasing the appropriations for a gross increase of $396,141 as detailed in the body of this ordinance."

There was a brief presentation on this. First, the city will receive $70,000 from the RDA. This will go to the Council's Technical and Professional Budget.

Secondly, there is an infusion of RAMP funds. These have been given to the city for improvements on the Centennial Trail, the Kayak Park, and Glasmann Park.

Finally, there is a reapportionment of funds for the transit tax.

No one from the public was present to comment on these matters at this public hearing, and therefore the ordinance passed unanimously.

Up to this point, the Council had whipped through these items in an efficient and expedient manner. Chairman Garcia, however, noticed a group of the aforementioned reappointees and new appointees at the rear of the room, and recognized them, apologizing for overlooking them. They were thanked for their service and willingness to serve Ogden City. "I'm thrilled--thank you," one said.

Then came New Business, Council Norms Modification & Resolution #2006-26, approving modifications to the City Council Norms. Specifically, this had to do with changing the process recently undergone to fill vacancies on the Council, and the major change proposed is that information submitted by applicants will be kept confidential by the city. Bill Cook gave the presentation.

The proposal is to change the Council Norms, Mr. Cook said, "to reflect what occurred," referring, of course, to the recent process of filling the council vacancy. Mr. Cook stated that "letters and resumes were written in the same nature as employment applications," and included such things as Social Security Numbers, religious preference, marital status, and college and high school transcripts.

Applicants were contacted, Mr. Cook said, and asked if they wished this information to be public. The applicants said no. "We felt it was important to maintain that information as confidential," he finished.

Chairman Garcia here spoke to the issue, stating first of all that he apologized because the decision to keep this information confidential had been made by Leadership, and not by the Council as a whole, which had been subjected to irate calls and letters because of it.

He then recognized Councilwoman Jeske, who began by stating that the Council had been "discussed and cussed" regarding this issue, and that she felt it was the responsibility of the Council to keep this information private, but also that applicants be able to do what they wish with their own information themselves.

Chairman Garcia here called a point of order, since discussion was taking place without a motion on the floor. Subsequently, Councilman Safsten made a motion to add a sentence to the newly proposed confidentiality statement, to the effect that, "Applicants are free to make available information about themselves to the press or any other interested parties." (Paraphrase.)

This was moved and passed, and then the original motion, to change the council norms so that information provided by applicants wishing to fill vacancies on the council will from now on be kept confidential, was moved and passed with a unanimous voice vote.

The meeting then adjourned.

The RDA meeting was then called to order for one brief bit of business, presented by John Arrington. This was in reference to the previous motion to open the budget just made in the Council meeting, and the subject was, again, the transfer to the city from RDA funds money to go to the Council "for professional and technical work." Here is the wording from the RDA agenda:

"Budget Transfer. Proposed Resolution 2006-14 amending the budget for the Fiscal Year July 1 2006 to June 30, 2007 by increasing the anticipated revenues and transfers for gross increases of $0.00 from sources as detailed in the body of this resolution, and increasing the appropriations for a gross increase of $0.00 as detailed in the body of this resolution."

Next was Public Comments and there were none. Staff comments consisted of a brief announcement from Mr. Cook that the RDA meeting for October 10th, 2006 is cancelled as there are no agenda items.

Next were Board Comments, and Boardmember Doug Stephens made a brief statement thanking Bill Glasmann for his service to the Council, the RDA board, and the city of Ogden. Mr Glasmann has "given us valuable knowledge," Boardmember Stephens said, and is a "good friend and colleague." Boardmember Stephens went on to say that it was "refreshing and encouraging" to have seen the number of people who applied for the vacancy, and also to see the process for filling the vacancy left by Boardmember Glasmann's resignation work,

As there were no more comments, and no more business, the meeting was adjourned.

Additional Comments: I would like someone to explain the transfer of RDA funds to the Council, since it has been my understanding that the City and the RDA are two separate entities, and therefore I would think that a loan might be made, perhaps, but not a transfer.

Since I have written at length about the instance of Leadership making the decision to keep applicants' info confidential without convening the entire Council, and acting upon that decision in the matter of the GRAMA request from the Standard Examiner, again without convening the entire body, which, as we have seen, only voted upon that policy change this evening, I shall just briefly state again that I think this is horrendously incorrect governing procedure, and heaven help us and the rest of the Council members if it is allowed to continue.

And finally, from watching the interaction of all seven councilmembers, both during and after the meeting, I think Councilwoman Van Hooser will do very well.