Ogden's mayor hit the ground running and hasn't stopped

Paper: Deseret News, The (Salt Lake City, UT)
Title: Ogden's mayor hit the ground running and hasn't stopped
Author: Donna M. Kemp Deseret News staff writer
Date: April 9, 2000
Section: Local
Page: B01

OGDEN -- It's not like he's playing heavy metal on the City Hall sound system, but in his first three months on the job, Ogden's youngest mayor ever has definitely picked up the tempo.

Mayor Matthew Godfrey, a 29-year-old who has never held elected office before now, works 12- to 14-hour days. He uses the late night and early morning hours to answer the 50 e-mails he receives each day.A former Weber State track star, Godfrey runs up stairs rather than taking elevators. He would prefer to eat a McDonald's cheeseburger at his desk than attend the obligatory rubber chicken luncheons.

"He's real energetic," said Christy Shaw, executive assistant to the mayor. He takes a fast approach to getting the job done, she added.

In his first 100 days, Godfrey has set out to honor his campaign promise of cutting taxes and reducing government.

And that has some heads spinning.

"He's a ready, aim, fire kind of guy," said Glenn Mecham, a 63-year-old former mayor who nonetheless looks at his successor with some caution. Making rash decisions could backfire, he warned.

Godfrey is unfazed. He has submitted a reorganization plan to the City Council. He proposes to slash $250,000 out of the budget by eliminating six top management positions. He also has submitted a preliminary budget that calls for a 20 percent property tax cut, and he wants to hire 16 more police officers.

"He's calling for some rather significant changes," Council Chairman John Wolfe said.

But Wolfe is reserving judgment. "It's way too early," he said. "After we get through the reorganization and the end of the budget in June, it will paint a pretty good picture of what the mayor will be like."

Work ethic

Godfrey, the father of three young children, is winning converts because of his enthusiasm. He is an LDS Church bishop who looks more like a missionary tracting in an Ogden neighborhood. He started his first business while in college, where he may have been Ogden's first pizza delivery boy who also was a landlord.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in four years and built up an apartment rental business from scratch, buying rental properties with down payments he borrowed from credit cards. Today, he's got 45 rental units.

"We started with no money and built it up," said his wife, Monica. The same work ethic is evident in her husband's political life.

"He's working hard, changes are beginning to happen," she said. "It makes the long days and long evenings worth it to me."

Political involvement wasn't something his friends and family expected.

"It was out of the blue," said John Jarnagin, a longtime friend. "He never said, 'When I grow up I want to be mayor.' "

But Jarnagin, who recently moved to Boise to take a job as a geographic information analyst for Power Engineers, wasn't surprised his friend won.

"He's superman," said Jarnagin. "He gives 110 percent."

In high school and college, Godfrey set all kinds of records in track. After he came back from serving a mission in Venezuela for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Godfrey became ill but didn't stop running college track. "I never heard him complain," Jarnagin said.

Godfrey, a native of nearby Harrisville, spends long hours responding to local concerns, like why does the city not have animal control services on the weekends.

It is a work ethic rooted in his experiences as a teenager. When he was 15, Godfrey got up at 1 a.m. to pick cherries at Liston Farms in Pleasant View. After breakfast, he would pack and deliver eggs for Rogers Eggs in Harrisville. After supper, he would referee Little League games in addition to running four or five miles a day.

Godfrey brings the same frenetic energy to the mayor's office.

In his reorganization plan, he proposes combining economic and community development into one office with one administrator. Instead of having two administrative assistants for the mayor and chief administrative office, only one is needed, he said.

Justin R. Eccles, a retired businessman, likes the way Godfrey is running the city.

"He's not a politician but a businessman," Eccles said. "I think the city needs an outstanding young businessman."

Godfrey has surrounded himself with a close-knit group of advisers. One of the first things Godfrey did was hire Stuart Reid as his business and community development director. Reid, the former community and economic development director of Salt Lake City, ran for Salt Lake mayor but lost to Rocky Anderson.

"I chose Ogden because of Godfrey," Reid said. "It's because of his enthusiasm to make changes and be progressive."

Critics say Godfrey's advisers are, for the most part, book smart but short on experience.

"He's rearranging the chairs on the ship deck," Mecham said. Many of the things he's trying to do are "illusionary," he added. "His promise of a tax cut may not be achievable."

Dictating the future

It's too early to tell which, if any, of Godfrey's ideas will take root.

But he has won the respect of other elected officials like Anderson who understands what it's like being the new guy pushing old ideas with new fervor.

The challenge for any newcomer is to get up to speed on the issues, said Anderson, who co-hosted a commuter rail workshop with Godfrey. And one person can't do it alone, he added.

"I think (Godfrey) understands the importance of working with elected leaders throughout the entire region," Anderson said.

Godfrey is working with local officials to change Ogden's image from a haven for crime and gangs to one of hiking trails, kayak parks and a marathon that will attract runners from throughout the West.

And Reid likes Godfrey's spunk.

"I think he has the vision of what he sees can be done and doesn't allow the past to dictate the future," Reid said. Ogden has been in a development slump, but Godfrey hopes to change that.

Godfrey wants to revitalize Ogden's downtown, which in its heyday was once a thriving commercial center. He also wants to see a farmer's market, more downtown housing, a better municipal park and a successful Ogden City Mall.

He is a backer of commuter rail, a high-speed mass transit train connecting communities from Provo to Ogden. He's organized a coalition of mayors and a non-profit group to make it happen within four to six years.

It's an aggressive, some might say naive, agenda. More-experienced politicians might even snicker at Godfrey's youthful enthusiasm. How could this young man not even 30 years old run a city of 67,000 people?

"Youth can be a real advantage," Anderson said. "Certainly experience counts for a lot, but energy, both physical and mental, count for a lot, too."

Godfrey has turned heads.

"There's been a time of probation," said Godfrey. "People were very nervous that I would be out of control. People now are at a real comfort level."

After all, Godfrey said, "I've done nothing radical."