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.

Traffic School in South Ogden

The Standard Examiner last Friday had an article regarding the traffic school changes from our past City Council meeting.  It gave the quick over view of the changes I mentioned in my blog post from the meeting on January 4th.  But what no one has really discussed is the potential controversy this traffic school change brings.

Is changing the law to allow people every two months to return to traffic school really just a money making system to bring more revenue into the city and justify the high costs of our current policy system?  Are we essentially allowing people to pay every two months to keep their records clean but really learn nothing from the system?

Personally I had to learn this the hard way.  Traffic school wasn't around when I got a ticket.  I eventually amounted enough points to grant my a license suspension and had to make a decision.  Learn to obey the speed limit or stop driving.  I am happy to say I have now gone 5 years with out a moving violation.  I paid the price in high fees and going through the process.  However I am beginning to feel we may be moving to a "Pay to Play" system.  Where no matter what you do wrong, every two months you can pay to clear your record.

Yes this will increase revenue but will this cause a bigger social problem in the future.  Drivers who never really learn to obey the law because they know in two months they can pay.

Something to ponder.  I welcome your comments.