South Ogden City Youth Council Position Open

South Ogden city is accepting applications for Youth City Council.

If you or child has an interest in city government and would like the opportunity to learn more, this may be the place to start. Applications will be available at the South Ogden Police Department and will need to be returned to the Police Department, 3950 S. Adams Ave., no later than 5 p.m. Feb. 28th.

There is a $10 refundable filing fee. Space is very limited.

Youths must be in 9th-12th grade at the beginning of the upcoming school year and a resident of South Ogden. For more information, contact Cindee Paulsen, 801-622-2804.

Secondary Water Meter - Weber Basin - City Council Meeting 2-15-2011

During the last city council meeting Jon Andersen, public works director, explained Weber Basin Water has recently received a grant to install water meters on all of it's lines for secondary water.  This grant was given to them to help them monitor and conserve secondary water.

However, I think we can all read between the lines on this one and see what the real purpose is.  Once the meters are in place, they will quickly be able to determine how much they could charge the individual user and make bigger profit than they are now.  Currently we pay for secondary water through our taxes, but we could be moving to a consumption based system very soon.

Realize not everyone one is on Weber Basin Water.  I personally am on Pine View Water.  But I promise Pine View will not be far behind when they realize what is happening.

So the real question is this, how do you want to pay for your water?  Do you want a consumption tax or a flat fee?  Consumption is coming...just watch.  I am sure we will be discussing this again.

Comments always welcome.

Wasatch Constables are coming to South Ogden - City Council Meeting 2-15-2011

Last night's city council meeting was one of the fastest meetings I have attended in a long time.  At the same time it was full of interesting nuggets.  I have decided to break last nights meeting into a few posts.  This first one will be regarding a new contract signed by South Ogden City with Wasatch Constables.

When South Ogden City Police issues a citation in our city and you fail to pay it, no one comes to your door asking for the money.  Often this money goes down as potentially lost revenue to the city.  In 2010 alone the city has missed out on potentially $500,000 in warrants that have gone unpaid.  This is where Wasatch Constables comes in.

Wasatch Constables is a fully empowered peace officer who has been given "Special Functions" as an officer.  They are not tasked with everyday police work but instead provides services such as process serving, bailiff duties, transport prisoners, seize property, enforce writs and effects service of arrest warrants.  South Ogden has entered into a contract with them to help enforce these warrants and help collect the more than $500,000 in uncollected revenue.  They will either collect the money or take the offender to jail.

Tony Alarid, Chief Deputy for Wasatch Constables, spoke with me about the services they provide and what this meant for the city.

"The numbers are there, this will be a success for South Ogden,"  Mr. Alarid said, "We serve Riverdale and Ogden and have seen lots of success.  Most people thought we weren't serious when we started.  They didn't think we would really knock on doors.  But once we started, people started coming in voluntarily to pay their fines.  People's parents even started coming for them to pay.  They didn't want their kids to get arrested. You are going to see these same results in South Ogden."

As you can see this is a WIN-WIN for South Ogden.  Wasatch Constables only gets paid when they collect a fine or make an arrest.  Their goal is to prioritize our list of offenders and go after of them, hitting repeat offenders first.  They can take payment on the spot or take you to jail.  Heck they can even take credit cards.  If you can't be found they can even do Skip Traces for those who have tried to hide.

Since these constables go through all the same training and certifications as the police, and fully insured and bonded, I don't see how we can lose with this.

All I can say is beware to criminals and those who have an unpaid warrants.  Wasatch Constables are coming for you.

City Council Meeting Tonight

Finally got a hold of an agenda for tonights meeting.  Family has been sick, so not sure if I will be attending.

But here is the agenda: http://goo.gl/ZWGnD

Down with KUED!

The other day my son was counting to 10 and I freaked! Where did you learn this liberal thinking? He told me KUED! How can this kind of programing exist! Just look at what they show in the morning on KUED: The Cat in the Hat, Curious George and Sesame Street.

I guess these shows are just too politically slanted for Rep Herrod, R-Provo too. Not to mention those late night showings of Celtic Women and British Comedies. They are warping the minds of Utahns! Thank you Big Brother Herrod for keeping us all safe and helping us from straying to far to the left because of NOVA's educational programing. If only we could all have home grown values as you do. To battle this horrible programing, he has introduced a bill that would give budgetary control over to the legislature and wants to audit their spending and programing. I hope he will come to my house and pick up my Dr. Seuss collection next.

Here we have another example of Utah County Republican legislators wanting to control everything in Utah. KUED gets around $2 million in funding but the rest (nearly $7 million) comes from donations.  Mr. Herrod hates this idea and wants to control it all.

Channel 4 has a nice little piece on HB 307 and how dumb it is! SEE HERE: EXCLUSIVE: Will Utah legislators censor KUED programming?

FAIL!

New South Ogden City Website

For those of you who have yet to see the new city website.  Take a moment and check it out.  It looks amazing. http://www.southogdencity.com/

I was able to get an advance look last week but was sworn to secrecy.  So I have been eagerly waiting for it this week.  The new website is much more visually appealing and has faster links.  Some of the content is still being worked on, but apparently we have moved the website development in-house to make it easier to customize.  As I have played around with the website I have found a number of broken links, but I am sure they are still working on it.

It is great to see South Ogden move it's website into 2010 and I know the citizens of this city will love the new resources that are available.  The website needs some work and fine tuning.  The opening images load and move too fast.  But it is a great start.

Savings Saturday - Using Video for your Business - Guest Blogger Mike Brice

Using video online to educate is a natural evolution considering how much we use television and movies to entertain.Video is one of the fastest growing forms of communication with thousands of hours uploaded daily.

You don't have to be a Hollywood director or have a Sundance film quality submission to post video on your website.

In fact, you want your video to be authentic, which means it should have all the polish of the blockbuster movies.

The tools are simple. A pocket video camera such as the Flip or Kodak Playtouch, basic video editing such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker (or even the software that came with camera), and a YouTube account and website.

You can always improve your video with better sound, better lighting, and using a script to reduce the awkward pauses, but the key is to get started.

See perfection isn't the measure of success. Doing is the measure of success. If you want until you have everything in place, you will never accomplish anything. And to that means, I am offering Ogden-area businesses a free video, and a free instructional course as part of that video making process. The video can be placed on your website to showcase something about your business, and you will have the skills to do future videos.

This is a limited time offer - based on my schedule - but I hope to get several businesses up and running. Of course, because I am not completely altruistic, I imagine that at some point in the future I may sell these same services to businesses, but for right now I am offering them for free.

You can see a couple of quick examples here:

• Video about an event: Model Railroad Show - http://vimeo.com/9967771
• Profile video: Railroad collector - http://vimeo.com/18521569

Other community videos:

• Ogden Marathon Expo: http://vimeo.com/11755240
• Ogden Marathon: http://vimeo.com/11767982

If you are interested in using video to tell your story, please contact me through my website at http://mikebrice.com.

Mike Brice is a local Ogden Blogger, Videographer, Social Media Guru and PR Specialist.  His expertise can help any business be successful.  I recommend you take him up on this free offer.

No Show For Urban Forestry Commission

Well,  only three members of the commission showed up tonight.  Therefore we did not have a quorum.  This is pretty disappointing, especially since this is an appointed position by the mayor of South Ogden.  In fact no one even knew those not attending would not be there except for me.  I only knew because I spoke to one of the members randomly this week.

This is pretty disappointing and I am sure the residents of South Ogden do not appreciate spending tax payer money on this commission only to have people not show up.

Those who attended discussed the tree inventory and what we need to do to move forward.  Also Arbor Day was discussed and I think we have some good ideas to get things moving.  I welcome your ideas on how to get people involved with Arbor Day.

More info to come.

Urban Forestry Commission Meeting Tonight

Tonight will be my second Urban Forestry Commission Meeting. The big items on our agenda are the tree inventory, website and Arbor Day.

I am very concerned about the tree inventory. According to the previous minutes, this item has been the commission's #1 benchmark since 2008. Yet it is not even completed yet. Why? Well we have some information from our chairman regarding contractor issues and money. But in the end it still doesn't make sense why it isn't done. I am hoping to get some information on that tonight.

A solid tree inventory would allow our city to more properly budget their money for tree replacement, pruning, watering, etc. We would know exactly what trees we have and why. In the end this could be a great budgetary tool. Yet deadlines have passed and been moved nearly every year for over 3 years.

More to come.

Bills that shouldn't pass

House Bill 220 – by Rep Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork. – Civics Education Amendment.  Plenty of talk about this one.  See my blog post from yesterday. See Blog Post Here

House Bill 332 – by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman – Utility Payment Assistance.  He wants to eliminate the program utility companies have setup to help low income people pay for their gas and power.  Essentially they are charging us $.10 a bill to help our neighbor.  Mr. Wimmer hates this idea.  Everyone should send a check to Mr. Wimmer for $1.20 to cover his share of the program. See Blog Post Here

House Bill 219 – by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman – State Firearm Designation.  WASTE! MESSAGE BILL! WASTE!  Need I say more. See Blog Post Here

House Bill..Pretty much anything Rep. Wimmer.  So far I am seeing nothing he is proposing will help education or job creation in the state of Utah.  Okay he does have HB 191.  It is kind of cool .  It makes it so non-residents who go to high school in Utah for a certain number of years are able to get instate tuition. See Everything Here

Senate Bill 44 – by Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem.  She no longer likes people telling her what to do, so she will now tell them.  See Blog Post Here

House Bill 258 – by Rep Chris Herrod, R-Provo.  This is his second pathetic attempt and making booster seats optional for kids age 5-7.  Failed in Committee! Why it shouldn’t pass, because this is stupid!  According the Utah Dept. of Public Safety nearly half (41%) of unrestrained children in crashes were injured or killed compared to 13% of children in booster seats.  I am going with the seat.  That was an easy one, it didn’t pass. 

These are just a few!  I would love to hear your list or what you think about this.  If you disagree, give me your opinion.  I can be swayed if you can prove to me why these are good.

Enjoy

Message Bills and Waste

In today’s Standard Examiner you can find editorials and opinion pieces regarding message bills during the 2011 Utah State Legislature.  The Editorial Staff hits a homerun with their thoughts about these types of bills and how much of a waste they are. See Here) They bring up the example of HB220 by Rep Michael Morley’s, R-Spanish Fork, that would force Utah public schools to not tell students the U.S. is a democracy.  Not only do I find this bill an absolute waste of time and money but also completely contradictory to Republican values as a whole.  I am sorry, but Mr. Morley should not be reelected if this is how is going to spend his time and our money.

The editorial continued with:

"We have so many important issues to deal with on Capitol Hill this legislative session. Why do these dumb bills -- such as bullying schools or putting up our dukes with the "fedral gubbermint" -- waste our time

What's worse, however, is that Morley managed to get seven allies to continue his clutter through the Utah Legislature. The silly bill passed the House Education Committee by a 7-4 vote. Those seven members need to do their homework on what's important in education. We do applaud Top of Utah state Rep. Becky Edwards, R-North Salt Lake, for having the sense to vote against this time-waster."

I couldn’t agree more; however Rep Morley’s bill doesn’t just say our teacher’s can no longer say “democracy”.  It also says our teachers must give a thorough study of the following:

(a) the Declaration of Independence;
(b) the United States Constitution;
(c) the national motto;
(d) the pledge of allegiance;
(e) the national anthem;
(f) the Mayflower Compact;
(g) the writings, speeches, documents, and proclamations of the Founders and the Presidents of the United States;
(h) organic documents from the pre-Colonial, Colonial, Revolutionary, Federalist, and post Federalist eras;
(i) United States Supreme Court decisions;
(j) Acts of the United States Congress, including the published text of the Congressional Record; and
(k) United States treaties.
(4) To increase student understanding of, and familiarity with, American historical documents, public schools may display historically important excerpts from, or copies of, those documents in school classrooms and common areas as appropriate.
(5) There shall be no content-based censorship of American history and heritage documents referred to in this section due to their religious or cultural nature.



Don’t get me wrong all of the info above is important and should be read, but Rep Morley is going a bit far.  The folks over at OneUtah.org have a nice post on this and how HB220 will actually force teachers to bring up some of our country’s dark secrets.  Like how the Founding Fathers chose not to abolish slavery to maintain southern state support and how the writer of the Pledge of Allegiance was actually a well renowned socialist. (See Here) If Mr. Morely has his way, we all be watching our kid’s teachers like a hawk to make sure they don’t say “democracy” and we will be quizzing them on when “in God we trust” replaced “E Pluribus Unum” as the national motto. If the fail to do this we can then report them to Big Borther Morley and get them all in trouble.  (Or if Stuart Reid’s bill goes through the Governor)



From the Standard Examiner

But the waste doesn’t stop here.  Don’t forget Rep Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, is pushing for a State Gun to represent the values of our state.  The Wasatch Rambler makes some interesting points that not only is ta waste, but in reality Mr. Wimmer has the wrong gun.  (See Here) The Browning M1911 wasn’t even made in Utah.  But heck, we can’t expect Rep Wimmer to do his homework on everything. Right!   Maybe Rep Morley should add this to his list of criteria.  Mr. Wimmer himself told me this would take no time at all but in reality he has wasted hours of the legislatures time discussing this bill.  In committees alone I have timed the discussions and we are up to nearly three hours of waste. 

It saddens me that every year we waste countless hours for message bills that do nothing.  What waste!

What goals should South Ogden City Council set in 2011?

This weekend is the annual city council retreat.  This is where the City Council, Mayor and other Department Heads really hash out a strategic plan for the year.  This year’s agenda can be found via the South Ogden City Facebook page: http://fb.me/QSo4q2Qh

You can see from the agenda a lot of time will be spent on revising South Ogden’s mission and values, then setting goals based on these items.  I have been impressed with City Manager Matt Dixon’s efforts to focus the council on real specifics of how to improve our city.   Will the retreat produce the kind of goals and energy we need?  Who knows, but I feel we are headed in a good direction.

Do you have things you would like to see the city focus on?  What kind of strategic goals should they set?

Now a lot of us can jump and say…I want a swimming pool!  But a swimming pool isn’t what is going to make South Ogden truly better.  (But it would be nice)

Here are three topics I would recommend to the council:

·  Economic Development:  We have tons of retail and potential retail space available to some real great companies.  It just needs to be sold.  I have written a number of blog posts about this and it will be crucial to our success.

·   Increase Fiscal Responsibility:  It appears there has been a lot of freedom when it comes to spending and poor planning when it comes to budgets.    Our current deficit spending is unacceptable and in some case I feel could have been avoidable.

·   Curb the increase in Rental Properties: I am deeply concerned at the growing trend for South Ogden homes to turn into rentals.  As housing prices continue to drop, investors will begin purchasing homes and turning them into rental properties.  Many of our current landlords are absentee landlords and the properties often go un kept and decline even more in ascetics and value.   In my six years in South Ogden I have seen this happen a lot.  Something needs to happen immediately to stop this trend.  Better economic development, good landlord programs and enforcement of ordinances can make a difference here.

I am eager to hear your thoughts.

Savings Saturday - Coupons

Each Saturday I bring another way you can save money.  Today I want to talk about coupons.  There are a lot of people out there using coupons.  Some use them wisely, others...well...  It is easy to get frustrated with coupons and I want to give you a couple of tips.

1. Don't sit and read and clip every coupon.  Just print them and put them in a pile.  Also just take the ones you get from the newspaper, date them and put them in you closet.
2. You can constantly check websites like Coupons.com and also Sunday Coupon Preview for the best deals.  Follow the Coupons.com link and bookmark the site.  Check back, put in your zip code and print away.  Trust me you will save a ton.
3. Use websites like GrocerySmarts.com.  Instead of just going to the store and trying to figure out what you have coupons for.  Go to GrocerySmarts.com and pick your favorite store.  Once there, it will have a customizable shopping list of the items that are ON SALE!  Plus it will tell you what coupons are available.  Go to your box of dated newspaper coupons and printed coupons and start saving.
4. Only buy what is on your list.  If you go the store and get five awesome coupon deals don't blow your savings by buying five things that are not on sale.  Save the money!  Those things you wanted will go on sale next week and you will get coupons for them.  This is where most people mess up.  Stay focused and only buy what is on sale!
5. Buy in bulk!  If you can print more than one coupon or get more than one from the paper (try getting more than one Sunday paper if possible) DO IT!  You can put that in food storage and stock up.  Imagine having 20 box of cereal in your pantry that you only paid $4 for.  It can happen, but you need to stay focused.
6. Your first few weeks at this will drive you nuts, but after a month or so you will have a ton of food in your pantry.  You can start building recipes just off of what is in the pantry and not what is at the store.  You are going to the store simply to restock.

Finally, share with others.  Work with other people to have success with this.  Make sure your companion knows what you are doing and why.  Maybe you have them print the coupons or go with you.  But be a team on this.

Again, check out coupons.com for great deals and coupon codes.

Would love to hear your coupon success tips!

Mr. Wimmer is upset over a $1.20

That’s right, Mr. Wimmer is at it again.  Instead of wasting our time with state gun laws, he is now wasting our time because of a $1.20 fee.   You see Questar gas charges us a $.10 a month fee to help other low income citizens pay for their utilities.  Rocky Mountain power has a similar fee.  But Mr. Wimmer hates this idea.  He hates that Questar would force us all to pay $1.20 a year to help out our neighbors.  Instead he wants to eliminate the fee and force them to ask permission to charge the $.10 fee. 

The Salt Lake Tribune has a nice little article on his bill here: (See Here)

My favorite quote is this: 

"They [residents] don’t give the utility permission to take their money and just give it to someone else," Wimmer said. If the companies want to raise the money, customers should sign up and agree to the extra charge.”

Man…so what he is saying is:  How dare that company come up with a cost effective way to help people who can’t afford it?  They should have asked permission first!  What does he want, Tiny Tim to come to his house and beg for more porridge to see this is a great program. I mean if this was $20 bucks I would be worried, but it is a freakin’ $1.20! 

Not sure what the Rocky Mountain Power fee is, but I tell you I am glad to pay it.  In fact, I am willing to pay Mr. Wimmer’s because he obviously hates charity or dealing with real issues.

Please tell me I am not crazy on this.

Economic Development in South Ogden

In today's Standard Examiner's Business section you will find an article by Scott Schwebke regarding CSN Stores coming to Ogden (See Here).  This is a big deal for Weber County.  CSN Stores is the 3rd largest online retailer surpassing $375 million in sales last year alone.  They will be leasing over 80,000 square feet in in the Business Depot and creating over 260 jobs.  The reason I have brought this article to your attention, is because some of the things Ogden City did to bring CSN here and how South Ogden can learn from this.

First we know work was done with the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) to issue tax incentives to the company.  South Ogden may not be able to do this for every company they want to recruit, but some big companies maybe able to take advantage of this.  But one thing Scott reported on struck me as interesting:

"The city isn't providing any cash incentives to CSN but will offer infrastructure improvements and allowances for office furniture and fixtures, valued at between $50,000 to $100,000.

CSN will be investing $1.5 million in its Ogden facility and will pay more than $2.7 million in state taxes over the next decade, according to GOED. Tax incentives from GOED will be paid as jobs are created."

In exchange for a $50,000 to $100,000 in allowances for furniture CSN is going to invest over $1.5 Million into their Ogden location.  Just that is a 6.6% return on Ogden's investment.  Not to mention the projected $47 million in payroll that will be generated in the first year alone.

This is one idea South Ogden should begin implementing for it's new economic development plans.  As they bring new businesses into the city offer them some allowances and start making some connections with the GOED to see what more we can do.  I would surprised if they Governor's office doesn't have people to even educate our city on how to do this.

It is time to move South Ogden.

Comments always welcome! Who will be the first to chime in with their economic development suggestions?

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday I had a blog post that garnered a lot of attention.  I wrote about a South Ogden man who has been arrested and is being accused of transporting nearly 30+ kilos of cocaine into Rhode Island.  I posted my blog post at 12:28 pm yesterday.  (See Post Here)  My fellow tweeters then tweeted the message to others (Thanks Mike Brice) and before I knew it everyone in the state was covering the story.  Now I do not know if I scooped everyone or if I was just the fastest to get it posted.  But 2 1/2 hours later the story broke on the Standard Website and then it continued to pop up all over the net and into the papers today.

It was a fun experience to be involved with the news and my goal has always been to help gather information and share it with residents of South Ogden and the state of Utah.  Yesterday this little blog did just that. I hope to can continue and I am thankful for the friends and reporters that have encouraged me in this process and especially yesterday.

Here are some more news articles related to yesterdays post:

• Standard Examiner
• KSL.com
• Deseret News
• Salt Lake Tribune

South Ogden Man Arrested in $8 Million Dollar Drug Bust

Rhode Island newspapers are now reporting the state's largest drug bust in history.  $6.6 Million in cocaine and $1.2 Million in cash was seized and a number of drug dealers are now behind bars.  But how did they catch these evil villains?  All thanks to a drug dealer in our own city!

Rhode Island State Police apparently learned a drug dealer was living in South Ogden and was transporting drugs to their state.  The following is from their press release:

“During the month of September 2010, a Rhode Island State Police Detective assigned to the DEA Task Force received information concerning a narcotics organization transporting large shipments of narcotics from the west coast into Rhode Island. Members of the Task Force developed further information that the narcotics organization utilized a tractor-trailer to facilitate the shipments of narcotics. Members of the investigative team developed information on a suspect in the organization identified as Adilson Antonio Reyes, age 29, of 3841 Adams Avenue, South Ogden, Utah. Investigators learned that Reyes had registered as a guest at a hotel in Rhode Island during the months of June, August, and September 2010. Information was developed indicating that Reyes was the registered owner of a 2000 Peterbilt tractor trailer truck from the State of Utah."

From that point they setup surveillance and followed Mr. Reyes until last week were the finally arrested him and two other drug dealers. They found nearly 66 kilos of cocaine in the trailer!

The crazy thing about this story is Mr.Reyes is from South Ogden.  In fact his home is two blocks from the police station.  Did Rhode Island Police figure this out or did our police?  I am shocked to learn there was such a large amount of drugs sitting in our city nearly two blocks from the police.

3841 Adams Ave, South Ogden, Utah
2 blocks from the police station

I called Officer Marcie Edwards from South Ogden Police to get more information but was unable to reach her.  I hope to post more as I get more info from the city.

You can read more about the arrest on these three websites:

http://newsblog.projo.com/2011/02/state-police-reports-biggest-d.html
http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/140958.html
http://www.abc6.com/Global/story.asp?S=13956252

Comments Welcome!

Handguns and Immigration Reform - Grondahl Cartoon - Standard Examiner

In case you missed this...

City Council Meeting February 1st 2011 - Rezoning, Strategies and No Plan.

Last night's city council meeting had a number of items of interest.  However before we begin, we must note nearly half the council was absent from the meeting.  Council-members Orr, Smith and Mayor Minster were all out for personal reasons.  That left us Council-members Bradley, Benard and Porter. Which is all you need for a quorum.

Map Courtesy of Google Maps

The only real item on the agenda was the rezoning of 3760 Riverdale and 3790 Riverdale to a C-3 from a C-2.  Well to be specific we are moving them to the newly created C-3zc(A).  The C-3zc(A) is code for a C-3 Zone with certain restrictions, for example: they can't have a bar or a sex shop in that location.  The reason for all the fuss is because 3790's landlord wants to rent to a pawn shop.  A pawn shop needs a C-3 zoned area and so the landlord pushed to make this happen.  This could be good for South Ogden in the direction of redevelopment, attracting different types of business now to the area.  But for now we are stuck with a pawn shop.

The second half of the meeting was spent discussing strategic goals, mission statements, values and SWOT for the city of South Ogden.  The discussion is incredibly interesting.  Also it is very interesting to see the council members different point of views.  It is obvious Council-member Benard has a very fresh and realistic view of the city and it is issues.  Where Council-member Bradley seems a little more reserved and set in his views based on his years of experience.  Both are good views to have, if we can meet in the middle.  The problem I have with these discussions is for the past two council meetings we have been discussing the future of South Ogden and how we are going to get there.  They have brought in a consultant to facilitate the discussion, but in both meetings the Mayor and some of the council-members have been absent.   How is this affective?  I really feel the Mayor should be more involved with these discussions.  Yet he isn't.  Will this have an adverse affect when he actually sees what the council has been planning?

One other thought.  The discussion of economic development keeps coming up in these meetings.  A number of council-members have stressed concern that our fair city has no plan (I mean NO PLAN) to bring new businesses to South Ogden.  Council-member Bradley said at the last meeting, "In the past we have felt people should want to come to South Ogden just because we are great place to be."  If that has been our strategy, no wonder we have a sales tax revenue shortage.  The problem is, how will we get this done?

I see two strategies:

1. Hire someone to recruit businesses to come to South Ogden, either to build or to rent.  The biggest issue here will be cost.  This person will not be cheap.

2. Use the Mayor!  This is part of the reason we elected him.  He needs to get out there and start talking to franchise owners, business owners and politicos to get things moving.

My recommended solution is the Mayor and his City Manager.  Together they need to come up with a serious plan.  Target 20 potential properties for economic development and 50 potential companies and go after them.  Sell it to them!  We need an economic incentive package that makes South Ogden stand out.   Developers will bend over backwards to help us make these connections because this is way better than just putting a sign on the road saying, "Wanted - Big Restaurant Franchise."

Take aways from the meeting:

• New Pawn Shop.
• The Mayor has been left out of most of the strategic planning heading into their yearly retreat (He did have surgery, but we could have rescheduled).
• South Ogden has NO economic development plan.

Comments always welcome.

Thanks Mr. Wimmer for the waste

I would like to thank Mr. Wimmer for another 45 minutes of wasted time on his hand gun bill that wasn’t going to take any time.