South Ogden City Council Meeting 1-4-2011

Last nights city council meeting was filled with a few interesting points worth mentioning. Skipping over the Class A Beer License for the Mt. Ogden Grill, there were a few resolutions that brought a number of new faces to the meeting.

First was resolution 11-01.  There was a lot of tow truck drivers at the meeting for the Towing Services Agreement for South Ogden.  A new system is being put into place to allow South Ogden to choose who is used for towing in the city.  The current system puts all the eligible towing companies into a rotation system with all of Weber County.  This new system would allow South Ogden to set its on criteria and run its own rotation.  In addition this would allow South Ogden to decide who not to use for towing services.  Councilperson Porter asked if preferential treatment would be given to local towing companies. Which is a valid question. Chief Shupe responded by saying no preferential treatment would be given and all are encouraged to bid.  Hopefully this new system will open it up for more people.

The second resolution of note is the changes to traffic school.  Under the old system if you got a ticket and had not had one in the past six months you could go to traffic school.  Now South Ogden will change the month requirement to two months.  Chief Shupe explained this opens up more opportunities for people who have had moving violations.  At the same time, I think this opens up the door for more money.  I am glad to see the change but also realize this is now a potential revenue generator.  Not a bad idea.

A lot of discussion on where to put our focus for potential RAMP funds in 2011.  Jon Andersen laid out a number of projects South Ogden is in need of or is working on.  There was much debate on which should come first.  It came down to continued work on the nature park, new light posts at Club Heights Elementary and a new bathroom for the new gym facility and ball fields.  Unfortunately I felt South Ogden City Council was backed into a corner and not able to full research the problem.  Instead they were presented with the issues and asked to make a decision quickly on the spot.  I wished they could have taken some more time to make this decision.  In the end the nature park takes priority due to time and already allocated funds.  Sorry Club Heights.

Last but not least, I was appointed to the Urban Forestry Commission.  I am excited to participate more in the process and I hope to do some good with the commission and the city.