And the winners are...

Jim Minster wins with 1114 Votes

Also Bryan Benard and Russ Porter enter the council with a high number of votes.

Final Totals:

• Jim Minster 1114
• Vickie Mattson 810

• Russ Porter 1548
• Bryan Benard 1240
• Lamont Camp 763

Congrats to the winners!!!

Bryan and Russ getting a council orientation from Scott Darrington

Vickie talking to everyone after the announcement - she worked hard.

A blurry photo of Jim after his big win.

Election Results 2009

Just arrived at the City Offices to gather the results for tonights election stay posted to her or my twitter page for updates 

www.twitter.com/benjoem2

A few endorsements

I have decided to make a few personal endorsements of this years candidates. After much research and consideration the following would be my best choice for mayor and city council:

For mayor I am officially endorsing Jim Minster. Though I have enjoyed getting to know Vickie Mattson and wish her the best. Jim's campaigning has been impressive and I feel he has a deeper understanding of the local government; having worked directly for the police and fire departments. I wish him the best.

On the city council side I have decided to endorse Bryan Benard and Lamont Camp.

Bryan brings a great level of communication, listening skills and professionalism to the table. I love his passion and his desire to serve.

Deciding between Lamont and Russ was a tough decision; in the end I went with the person whom reached out to me best and connected with me on a personal level. As a matter of full disclosure, Lamont is my neighbor and I know him personally. I have made some attempts to connect with Russ, but in the end I was never able to finalize anything. Therefore I am going with the person I know best, that is Lamont Camp.

Who is donating to your candidate?

This past week the financials of your favorite candidates were released and some interesting information can be concluded from their reports.

1. There is a stark difference in the number of donors (and amount of money) from our top two candidates for mayor vs. our failed attempts by Mr. John Bradley and Mr. Rick Westmoreland. I found it interesting the number of donors and money spent. Over all the Mayoral Race has cost more than $10,000.
2. One fact that can't be ignored is the number of donors and whom has donated. Many of the candidates only have themselves and a few close associates donating to their campaigns. But Jim and Vickie have a number of local residents (and some not so local) who are donating to their campaigns. This is encouraging to me that people in the community feel strongly enough about their candidate they are willing to donating.
3. Jim Minster eats out a lot with his campaign staff. Every other expenditure was to a fast food joint. His fast food place of choice-McDonald's. Jim's campaign partook of the golden arches a number of 8 times out of 16 restaurant stops. Overall he spent $175 of his $3000 war chest on food.
4. Russ Porter and Rick Westmoreland are reporting negative numbers for their campaign. Why? Either they have spent more than they have or haven't reported everything. I have an email into Russ about this. It is not uncommon for candidates to end up in the red, but since the spending level is so low in these races it concerns me, it is not like this is a million dollar race.
5. Vickie wins the prize for most special interest groups with three donating to her campaign. Not sure if you can count Reagan Signs since they traditionally donate to everyone, but the Realtors Association and Northern Utah Realtors donated to her. No surprise with these donations, Vickie has worked as a Realtor and has many connections in the area.
6. Lamont Camp's financials do not make sense. He has spent $444 and has had no donations, yet he his campaign balance is at $0.

For a complete look at all the financials please use the links below:

• Jim Minster
• Vickie Mattson
• Bryan Benard
• Russ Porter
• Lamont Camp

Candidates whom lost in the primary:

• Rick Westmoreland
• John Bradley.

Standard Examiner – City Council Candidate Profiles

The Standard Examiner is doing their usual candidate profiles. I was excited to see them posted for us to enjoy. Each one is very interesting and well worth the read. I have highlighted a few key points I enjoyed from each candidate and have included links to the articles.

1. Bryan Benard (See Profile Here)

Bryan has some well thought out ideas on South Ogden. Personally I keep wondering, why he is just now running! I think he would be a great addition to the council. One of things that struck me was the following:

"We need to resist the urge to continue making South Ogden a place for strip malls/single offices and focus on attracting a wider retail and business presence that will both serve our citizens' physical needs as well as strengthening our tax base, thereby reducing the tax burden on individuals"

Note: Bryan on his twitter page said, "Kinda upset with the Standard's 2nd major typo on me in the election. Today misquotes me as saying "SMALL" instead of "SMART" growth is top issue, makes me sound anti-development, which I am not. I'm for smart development. Big difference and affects context of rest of article."

Make sure you make that correction when you read it.

2. Russ Porter (See Profile Here)

Russ highlighted a key concern I have, that is ordinance enforcement. I hope, if elected, he really takes this head on. Recent council decision have only masked the problem, not fixed it. I have heard from many that they feel confident in Russ and see him as a real people person. One statement he made about his decision making process should real promise:

Consensus comes when an issue has been researched well, the desires of the community have been ascertained, and then effective communication is achieved within the group."

We often here politicians say this same thing. I feel he is sincere in his desire to make this happen.

Personal note: Russ emailed me recently calling me out on my connection to him and Vicky Mattson. Yes it was a stretch, but also how I viewed things from where I sit (name of blog). Thanks for the email Russ, I am sure it won't be the last time I stretch something. Keep up the good work.

3. Lamont Camp (See Profile Here)

Lamont spends most of his time talking about the property taxes that we pay here in South Ogden. I can't agree with him more that I am frustrated with the increase of property taxes for a gym facility that admittedly know one is going to use.

Lamont said,

"That is Taxation as it is all over our Country. Ours is a bit different in that our property taxes are being increased for the enlargement of South Ogden Jr. High School Gymnasium. There needs to be more emphasis on our Children's Programs, Police Presents and Fire Protection and other items that involve the Citizens (All Ages) and their money."

I am frustrated and hope if elected he pushes for a better solution to this problem. The fact the council moved forward with a property tax increase during a recession and after scores of people complained in council meeting is beyond understanding. I see a trend that goes back to the Golf City issues of our council not listening to the people.

Hopefully these are tools for your to help make a decision. The election is coming up quick and early voting has already begun. Good Luck to all the candidates!

The blog is now open for your comments and feelings on the candidates. I ask, where do you want to see this city go and how can these new council members make it happen. Two of these three gentlemen will be elected, who will it be?

Early Voting Begins

Early voting officially begins today. Personally I am a "vote on election day" kind of guy. However many of you will be making up your mind starting today. So to help, I thought I would share a number of resources to help you make a decision.

Bryan Benard, who is running for City Council, has created a number of ways to get to know him:

• http://www.votebenard.com/ - Great Website, very clean and easy to read!
• http://twitter.com/bkbenard - Twitter Account, he has periodic tweets, more than Jim Minster's twitter account.
• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=649764435&ref=ts - Facebook Profile

Lamont Camp, also running for council, is also on facebook:

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1302215216&ref=ts

The only one of the council members I have yet to see embrace social media is Russ Porter, this maybe in connection with Vicki Mattson. She has not embraced the web fully either and I tend to see Russ Porter Signs every where I see Vicki Mattson signs.

Hopefully these links give you some ideas on whom to vote for. I will be posting some more detailed candidate info soon.

Good Luck all.

Ordinance changes in response to debate?

During the mayoral and council debate we had on September 3rd. The topic of city cleanup ordinances and how slow they are was discussed. A number of sitting council members and potentials were debating the issue of what to do. You can see full coverage of the debates on the following two posts: (Mayoral, City Council). The main point derived from the debate was the ordinance was to slow and was hard to enforce. Interestingly most of the current council recognized this and appeared to have known it was the problem all a long. My question is, if they knew it was a problem, why hasn't it been fixed?

No worries, the council has now acted. Today's Standard Examiner reports on the topic (See Here). The old ordinance, stating residents have 60 days to comply with cleanup ordinances, has been updated to say they now have 10 days to comply.

What a change! I applaud the council for making such a change. Now lets hope for strong enforcement.

The door is open to discuss how this ordinance came to be and is it a good thing.