New Council Member is....

Congrats to Sallee Orr, Wayne Smith and to our new council member - Brent Strate!!!

The votes are in and he was the CLEAR winner in the 3rd seat.

Here are the totals:

9.7% voter turn out

• Sallee Orr - 569 votes
• Wayne Smith - 476
• Brent Strate - 415
• Kelly Zaugg - 306
• Rick Westmoreland - 255
• Mike Jacobazzi - 132

It is clear who the winners and I'm excited for the new council. Brent Strate ran amazing campaign and did it right. Make sure you continue to check out his blog and I expect great things!

South Ogden City Election Results

If you are looking for results! I have the link: http://www.co.weber.ut.us/2011primary/southogden.pdf
So far nothing, but soon...very soon we shall see who wins.

Election Day! Where to Vote?

South Ogden City Council Elections are today!  So your next questions should be: Where do you vote?

It is easy!

• Precinct 1 - 6 you will vote at City Hall. This is for everyone north of 4800/5100 South.
• Precinct 7-12 you will vote at the South Ogden Jr High Gym (Someone has to use it)

Polls open at 7 am and will stay open until 8 pm.

Once again I welcome you to read some of my posts about the election and wish everyone good luck

Who to vote for?

As always a lot of people ask my opinion on who to vote for. Unfortunately his year I have been out of the country a lot and not been able to be involved as much as I wanted to be.

A number of candidates made attempts to reach out to me and I was not able to talk to all of them. However I have been impressed with Brent Strate and his understanding on the issues and desire to serve. Therefore I am endorsing him for city council along with Wayne Smith and Sallee Orr.

I wish all the candidates well tomorrow and I hope you all go out and vote. My blog has plenty of info regarding each of the people I am endorsing.
Thanks for reading.

South Ogden City Council Elections

Sorry for the lack of posts!  I have been traveling all over the world lately.  But the Standard yesterday had a great article on the candidates  I thought you all should see:

http://www.standard.net/stories/2011/10/21/candidates-looking-revitalize-s-ogden

But I would like to point out some things that Brent Strate had to say:

 A veteran teacher of finance and financial literacy at Bonneville High School, Strate, 45, is wary about recently implemented utility rate increases and how they've affected entrepreneurship in the city. 

"I'm concerned about the impact on just a few businesses that I thought were a little too much as far as the utility rate increases," he said. "Of course, some of that was necessary, but I think the top rates are a little too progressive."

A few area businesses that use large amounts of water have been met with drastically increased rates -- especially when compared with other cities -- a fact Strate said could discourage certain owners from coming to South Ogden.

He cites his ability to evaluate situations from a cost- benefit analysis and to ask insightful questions as his strengths when it comes to sitting on the council. 

 This is the kind of person we need on the council!  I have been saying these things for years and I am excited to see someone coming with this kind of thinking. Please read this article and also check out Brent Strate's blog at http://brentstrate.blogspot.com/

South Ogden City Election Results

You can see the results here: http://t.co/k9UGqbX

My prediction of "Skip" being eliminated was correct.  I am surprised how close the race is between Strate and Zaugg.
Here is the breakdown:


Total Votes 1479 - 6.87% voted - Ouch!

• Michael Jacobazzi 83 5.61%
• Sallee Orr 383 25.90%
• Marvin (Skip) Sexton 52 3.52%
• Wayne M. Smith 326 22.04%
• Brent Strate 211 14.27%
• Rick T. Westmoreland 179 12.10%
• Kelly R. Zaugg 245 16.57%

In a nutshell here are the rankings:


1st - Salle Orr
2nd - Wayne Smith
3rd - Kelly R. Zaugg
4th - Brent Strate
5th - Rick Westmoreland
6th - Michael Jacobazzi 


If Michael has any chance he will have to do a lot of work, honestly I am almost counting him out.  So right now it is Kelly's to lose he will need to keep his nose clean and watch out for negative attacks. Strate is close and Westmoreland is behind him; however Rick will have the most ground to make up and will need to bridge the gap between his regular constituents and branch out to new ones.  His campaigning will have to go the next level and be more than asking for donations on facebook.  Strate really hit the streets, probably did the most door to door out of anyone.  If he keeps that up he will pass Zaugg. I think some key endorsements would help, just depends on how much he is willing to spend to get out there.   Primary voters are way different than general election voters, and even worse during a municipal election.


More to come and comments welcome.

South Ogden Primary Elections Today!

Don't forget to vote today! - The South Ogden Facebook Page has a voting map: See Here

Polls are open until 8pm tonight!

One more time here are some candidate info from the Standard Examiner:

http://www.standard.net/stories/2011/08/31/s-ogden-council-candidates-tackle-crime-business

Also here is my blog post on the candidates:

http://www.fromwhereisitblog.com/2011/09/thougths-about-south-ogden-primary.html

Thoughts about South Ogden Primary Candidates

With at least one seat up for grabs, because two will most likely land with the incumbents.  I have begun thinking about who deserves this last seat.  So lets talk about each candidate.

Sallee Orr - Personally like Sallee Orr.  She has had lots of guts to stand up for what she believes on the council.  The number of meetings I have attended I have seen her time and time again go against the grain.  Not to mention she has stood behind many great causes including a cross walk on Highway 89.

Wayne Smith - He has been a strong presence on the council as well and has brought a much needed connection to the public safety side of things.  He and I have spoken many times about the community and he will continue to do well.

As for the open seat, well I know very little about the other candidates but here is what I do know.

Rick Westmoreland - Previously endorsed by me when he ran for mayor.  This time he appears to be very busy and hasn't had much time for campaigning.  He created a facebook and twitter page to start communicating but he isn't an active user.  Rick's biggest issues will be directed toward public safety.  His profession makes him very knowledgeable in this area and could be an asset to the council.  However he hasn't really attended any council meetings since he was defeated for mayor and he is still bugged about South Ogden's traffic school policies.

Kelly Zaugg - Veteren South Ogden Police Officer.  Rumor has it, and I mean rumor, he just has a bone to pick with Chief Shupe and wants to take it out by running four council.  Who knows?

Brent Strate - Brent is a local school teacher and has been very active on the campaign circuit.  Personally I have been very impressed with Mr. Strate and his desire to run.  His number one concern is to improve efficiences, save money and potentially lower the cost of government for South Ogden.  Also he has been attending a number of council meetings, planning commission meetings and Urban Forestry commission meetings.

Mike Jacobazzi - No Clue - Feel free to post info

Marvin Sexton - No Clue - Feel free to post info

What I have found most interesting has been the main issues of this years candidates are exactly what I have been talking about on this blog for months.  Good luck to all and look for my endorsements as we get closer to the final election.

Comments welcome.

South Ogden Primary Election Tuesday

Hopefully you know this Tuesday begins the South Ogden Primary elections.  To help with your decisions I have decided to post a link to the Standard Examiner's profile of the candidates.  See Here: http://www.standard.net/stories/2011/08/31/s-ogden-council-candidates-tackle-crime-business

Essentially there are 7 candidates running for three seats.  One will be eliminated on Tuesday's election.  The candidates are:

• Sallee Orr - Incumbent
• Wayne Smith - Incumbent
• Rick Westmoreland
• Kelly Zaugg
• Mike Jacobazzi
• Brent Strate
• Marvin "Skip" Sexton

Good luck to all. - Endorsements to come as we get closer.  My prediction is Marvin Sexton will be eliminated.

Comments welcome.

Urban Forestry Commission Meeting 8/11/2011

Last night was our long awaited Urban Forestry Commission meeting.  The first one we've had since April.  As frustrating as the wait has been, we have only had one item on our agenda to even have a meeting--the tree inventory.  Over and over we have discussed this and in reality it has been the top priority since 2008.  We re-emphasized the priority again with Jon Andersen and asked that all measures be made to get this finished ASAP.  We have tasked him to certain goals and we need to report back on September 9th.  Mainly it is about finding someone to do this.  Someone one with either the knowledge or experience to go out and inventory the trees.  It is 3/4 done, but we need just a little more.

It is frustrating to see this not get done.  Especially when the Urban Forestry budget for tree maintenance currently is just a good guess.  If the inventory was done we could more actively manage and plan a successful budget to maintain South Ogden's trees.

For the first time we had someone from the public attend the meeting.  Immediately I assumed it was someone running for city council.  I was correct.  I will hold the name until the 14th, when campaigning can officially begin.  But we had a great discussion afterwards about the city.  Apparently he has been a reader of my blog and had lots of great ideas.

Elections are coming soon.

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.

Meet the Candidate Night – City Council Edition

It is now time to see how the City Council candidates did. On September 3^rd we had our annual meet the candidate night. I quickly posted the next day a summary of the Mayoral debate questions and ranked each answer. The city council candidate also debated this same night and gave some great answers. I have held my post regarding the city council answers until today. This allowed us to focus on the Mayoral Primary. So for your weekend listening and reading pleasure here is my analysis.

The Candidates are as follows:

• Russ Porter
  
• Bryan Benard
  
• Lamont Camp
  

For your listening pleasure, I recorded the debate and I have divided it into sound bites that you can download and listen to. I have chosen my favorite and my least favorite answer for each question. I will give each candidate who has the best answer "1 Point" and the second place candidate will get "1/2 Point". The person with most points wins the night.

1. Introduction: All three candidates gave a two minute introduction. You can listen to it here: (cityintroduction)

• Bryan Benard wins the best intro category. He was clear and concise with his message. He gave a great summary of who his and then made it clear w why he was running. His statement, "Listen first & then Act" impressed me and became a Bryan's theme of the night. Bryan really appealed to the people of South Ogden. Great Job Bryan. -- 1 point
  
• Russ Porter gave a good intro and appealed to long time residents. However I felt little isolated since I wasn't in the age group of people he said he was concerned about. Also I was confused when he said things are going well, but yet things need to be changed. What needs to be changed? -- ½ point.
  
• Lamont Camp's greatest strength is his passion for the city. You can hear it in his comments. He gave a brief and simple summary of who he is but nothing really about why he is running. He had two minutes and only took about 50 seconds, take all the time you got man, make us believe!

1. How will you enforce ordinances and zoning laws? You can listen to it here: (cityzoning)

• Russ Porter is my winner on this topic. He appeared to have a better knowledge on how we can improve enforcement. I liked his analysis of the process in place and that it is too slow or broken. Let's focus on fixing it. -- 1 point
  
• Bryan Benard pushed for community members policing each other; in turn having them communicate with council members about problem areas. This idea is good in theory, but I have stopped reporting people because nothing gets done, I am sure others have as well. Plus I personally have attended city council meetings and talked about problem areas or damaged parts of town. Did anything happen, no? So his idea is good in theory but real change needs to be made before residents will take it serious. -- ½ point.
  
• Lamont Camp was a caught off guard being the first to answer; however his goal would be to encourage pride in the community. Pride would encourage people to not let their properties become dilapidated. However, the problem is also with rental units, absentee landlords etc. Pride in the city isn't going to fix that. The see us a cash cow.

1. What do you want your legacy to be? You can listen to it here: (citylegacy)

• Russ Porter wins the question. Honestly this was a tough one. I liked Russ's and Bryan's answers a lot and went back and forth about 10 times. In the end I decided to ask myself the following question: If I were to tell my children about Russ or Bryan and their time on the council what would I say? Bryan was a guy who listened or Russ was a guy who made this place safe so we can live here. Putting it like that, Russ wins. -- 1 point
  
• Bryan gave a great answer and I am sure many of you could go either way. His presentation style is perfect and he really hit it home. In the end he came up a little short to Russ's answers. -- ½ point.
  
• Lamont really spent most of the time talking about his early firefighter days and then reiterated what everyone else said.

1. Traffic – Are you willing to negotiate with UDOT? You can listen to it here: (citytraffic)

• The prize goes to Bryan Benard! Bryan really outshined the group on this answer. Not only does he have the experience with negotiating speed limit and street changes. He negotiates for a living! Who better to help us then someone who does this everyday? Great answer Bryan. I loved it when he said, "I will get to the bottom of this, and I will get it done." You know what, I believe him. -- 1 point.
  
• Lamont takes second place for me. The main reason is because he answered the question. He said yes, he would negotiate with UDOT and came up with some additional ideas to help things along. Lamont suggests we partner more with the surrounding cities, the county and others to help push this through. Good job Lamont. -- ½ point.
  
• Russ Porter – He appeared to be knowledgeable regarding the issue and appears to be passionate as well. However he didn't demonstrate any real solution to solve the problem, he just stated what we already knew.

1. How are you in Personnel Management and Financial Planning? You can listen to it here: (citymanagement)

• Bryan once again wins. His personnel management strength comes from what he does for a living. Not only is recognized as one of the top employment lawyers in the state, but he counsel people on how to manage employment issues. With all of this and his business ownership he rises to the top. – 1 point.
  
• Russ Porter takes second, but it was close. I gave this Russ, because I know he has more management skills then he explained. As a coach I am sure it he has learned some management skills; in addition to him teaching 210 high school kids. I liked his desire to relate to the people and work with them. -- ½ point.
  
• Lamont Camp has had a lot of jobs and responsibilities. However none of them are in actual management positions. Though he may have directed some teams, I didn't feel his management style came forward.

1. What are your top Priorities for the City? You can listen to it here: (citypriorities)

• First place goes to Bryan Benard. Mr. Benard added an important addition to the regular list priorities; he reminded us of the need for smart growth. We truly are limited on our land and ability to expand in South Ogden. He wants to insure our resources are guarded and growth is done in a smart way. In addition he had ideas of increase programs for our senior citizens and youth. – 1 point.
  
• Russ almost won this one for me. Most of his answers were the same as everyone else's of the night: safety, enforce codes, etc. But he struck a chord with a solution to increase property values. He is right; if we do the things he suggests, people will move to the area. However that isn't everything that goes into property value increases. Also he mentioned the rec. center, but I have to correct him and let Russ know it is a $2 million dollar gym facility not a rec. center. -- ½ point.
  
• Lamont Camp had a good list of priorities similar to everyone else's. He made a good sound bite attempt with pushing us to have pride in our country. In the end, it didn't push me over the edge.

1. How would you revitalize 40^th Street north and rental properties? You can listen to it here: (city40th)

• Bryan Benard takes this round. Bryan suggests we take all of the ideas along with the current strategic plan, put them on paper and then make them happen. Find community leaders in every area that can help spear head projects and goals, and then push the ideas into action. The time for planning is really over, now is the time to act. Bryan really hit it on the head for me. Everyone has ideas on how to make this happen, but has it really been focused? Has it really been put into action? Finally he stressed code enforcement to push landlords into compliance. – 1 Point
  
• Russ Porter didn't sell me on his answer. Russ suggests we need city leaders to be more approachable and to give more resources to law enforcement to get the "bad people" out. He also mentioned neighborhood watch programs for the city. Interestingly enough I have a neighborhood watch sign in my area, but I don't know who is watching. His ideas have real potential, but they need some more refinement. – ½ Point
  
• Lamont Camp says this is the main reason he is running since he lives north of 40^th (For the record he lives about 4 blocks north, so not quite to the areas we are talking about). I found it interesting that he took a jab at the Police and Fire departments; especially since they were hosting the event. However in the end he had no real solution for the problem. For this being his main reason for running, I would have expected some real solutions to the problem.

1. Is our Sewer system adequate and what can we do to improve it? You can listen to it here: (citysewer)

• Lamont Camp wins this one for me. He seems to have a more in depth understanding of what is going on with our systems. He has seen the work done, helped in the cleanup of floods and knows areas that need to be improved next. – 1 point
  
• Bryan Benard took second, he explained a few good ideas of being cautious and to start making sure our infrastructure and sewer system is working properly. This makes good sense, however this is already happening. The city government has been doing this already by using a snake video camera system to see which pipes need to be updated. – ½ point
  
• Russ, well, gotta give it to him for being honest. He didn't know anything and didn't have an answer; however he was honest about it. Style points earned!

1. Closing Remarks. You can listen to it here: (cityclosing)

• Russ gave the best closing for me, but once again it was close between him and Bryan. I really liked how he stated, "I will never take my vote lightly." That was important to me. I want someone who really research the issues before they vote and then vote for the items that will affect the majority. He made some great statements and I was impressed. – 1 point
  
• Bryan is a great speaker. He did a great job through the whole debate and he had a great closing. I can tell he loves South Ogden and wants it to be successful. In the end you could sum up everything he said with on word—listen. Bryan wants to be the kind of person who listens. I am not a fan of leaders who make a point to say, I won't promise anything. Bryan said those words and so I dropped him down in this round. Nothing wrong with making some promises and standing up for it, it can be done. – ½ point
  
• Lamont truly loves this city. You can hear it in his voice, but I didn't get anything new from him. It was a simple closing and he summed up his thoughts. I didn't see it as a successful closing.
  

Final Score:

• Bryan Benard WINS with 7 points.
  
• Russ Porter did great and comes in second with 5 points.
  
• Lamont made a great effort getting 1 ½ points.
  

I think we have some great candidates for city council and I encourage all to study their platforms closely.

This post is open for you all to debate on my interpretation of the night, please feel free to comment.

Remembering Golf City and the fallout.

Today in the Standard Examiner there was a small letter to the editor stirring the Golf City pot once again. (See Letter Here). Connie Ott (who is a neighbor to Lamont Camp running for council) reminds many of us of the debate and how the majority at the meeting wanted Golf City to remain open space. She demands we think long and hard on who we vote for council and remember Golf City. This letter pushed me to think about Golf City and what this vote really means.

I only played Golf City five or six times, I wasn't a resident of South Ogden when this all happened. However before living in here, I remember hearing rumblings of Golf City and its eventual demise. Since moving to South Ogden many people have been kind enough to explain their versions of the great Golf City debacle. Though I am not fully clear on all the details, one thing I do know for certain: A large group of people (some may say a majority) was against the idea and the council voted the other way.

There are a lot of people still bitter about this decision made by our city council. The last two elections have been marred with Golf City comments and we have seen council members come and go because of it. My blog gets about 30 hits a week with people typing into google: "Golf City, Voting, City Council" and other variations. People want to know who voted, who didn't, what was the closed door meeting about, why were we not listened to, etc.

I don't blame them for feeling this way, this is in part of why I write this blog; to express my feelings about such issues. Interestingly enough, the two people who advanced in the primary were supporters of the change to the Golf City zoning, meaning Jim Minster and Vicki Mattson voted for the zoning change. The one person to vote against it, John Bradley, missed passing Vicki Mattson by 14 votes.

So either the fallout is beginning to dwindle or people don't care anymore. Either way the most important thing to remember is when the people stood up for something they believed in, the council didn't listen. Many of the candidates running are promising you they will listen to your problems and if the majority wants something they will support it. Look deeper into their eyes and see of this is really true. Don't be afraid to ask them about Golf City and where they stand.

Hasn't the Golf City fallout been amazing to watch? Please feel free to comment on your feelings; I think many still need to discuss this issue.

And the winners are...

I spent the night at the South Ogden city office awaiting the results with many of the candidates. It was a tense evening as we waited nearly two hours for the final results. Many of the council members joked about the old way of doing it. Writing it up on a chalk board and manually tabulating the paper ballots. Sometimes they were there until midnight. It was a fun evening of jokes and laughter but underneath it all laid the tension of who would win.

The final votes came in about 10:30 and the winners are:

Jim Minster - 370 votes
Vicki Mattson - 275
John Bradley - 261
Rick Westmoreland - 194

There are over 100 provisional ballots left and they will be tabulated by the 22nd.

I am amazed at these numbers. The political clout and connections that Vicki and Jim have is impressive. I really expected John and Rick to be up at the top. In the end this has been an amazing primary campaign and will continue to be an even crazier general election.

Congrats to all who ran, it takes a lot of guts to get out there and run for office.

P.S. Vicki did talk to me about being nice to her on my blog and she cleared up any miscommunication. Thanks Vicki for that and great job.

Also, I think we beat the standard with our results and tweets, thanks to everyone who followed the updates.