City Manager, Ron Chandler, summarized the existing State Retirement Program for the North Ogden City Council (NOCC). It has a “built in Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for nonpublic safety employees and the fire department employees there is approximately a 4% COLA…the retirement amount can be adjusted up to 4% based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI)… and retired police officers are also eligible for a COLA but it is only up to 2.5%.” Council Member (CM) Brent Taylor said “it comes down to fairness and they should absolutely increase it for their officers… the City (NOC) does not pay its officers as much as they should and a retirement benefit is one of the few things that is an incentive for receiving a lower salary.” CM Bailey asked “how surrounding cities have acted” on this issue, and Annette Spendlove, HR Director, responded that “the communities that did not adopt it (COLA equalization) were Harrisville, Ogden and Pleasant View.” Mayor Richard Harris emphasized that this was only 3 “out of 13 total communities in the County.” CM Justin Fawson confirmed with Ron Chandler, NOC City Manager, that “all other employees (NOC) have a 4% COLA except the police officers?” and responded that it was indeed “disappointing.” Consequently, the NOCC voted unanimously to equalize their COLA benefit.
Brent Taylor has continued to question the North Ogden City Council about the restrictive Media Policy passed earlier this year (while Brent was on military deployment to Afghanistan), and said, “it doesn’t make sense to him to apply regulation in the discussions with the media… and the end result [of the current policy] was to control what people were saying.” CM Bailey added “the media has the power to take whatever was said and broadcast it… and there is a responsibility… to ensure what is being reported is accurate.” CM Taylor responded with “the things you say to the media are not a secret… are for public consumption and used in that fashion.” Sentinel Reporter Helen Taylor reports Councilman Taylor, “… added ‘there is a good reason why two newspapers with different viewpoints have criticized this policy… and the problem with this policy is ensuring the right to express personal opinions and freedom of speech. CM Cheryl Stoker agreed and “believes it all stems from individual rights… and to protect everyone’s rights.” After a lengthy discussion the NOCC unanimously passed a less restrictive media policy.
Kerry Huffmaker, an Ogden City Employee, visited NOC and reported finding some “discrepancies, indicating they (Ogden) had not been billing NOC correctly” for the Silver Springs Subdivision, and informed the Council of cost increases that take effect in January, 2013. Kerry added that the inter-local agreement was established since it was “more cost effective for NOC to be tied into their (Ogden) station than to build a lift station to handle the sanitary sewer and storm sewer in that area.” NOC Finance Director, Bryan Steele, reported that “NOC residents pay $17.76” for sewer only, and the proposal was to charge Silver Spring citizens $2.04 more. The NOCC voted unanimously to equalize rates for the 58 homes in the Silver Springs Subdivision.
Since Dave Nordquist, Community Services Director, is retiring soon, Mayor Harris presented Tiffany Staheli as the new director, following the recommendation of the NOC Interviewing Committee “with the advice of the NOCC.” Tiffany has already jumped into action by “leading the team… looking into how to reach people” according to Ron Chandler. Tiffany proposes a new web page that prioritizes how citizens access NOC information, and also print administrative forms. One proposed section is a “Contact Us” page that would limit citizen input “to agree or disagree… with an option to allow residents to email the entire NOCC.” However, Ron added “they did not include a comment section because some of the comments are not good.”
Ron intends to provide an electronic “Ron’s Report” and promises it will be interesting to read, unlike “other City Manager blogs… that are fairly boring… text heavy… and no one reads.” The purpose is to “turn all 18,000 of our residents (NOC) into reporters.’ CM Fawson said he “loves the changes and is behind it 100%.” There was, however, no mention of how to contact, or involve, the vast number of NOC citizens who are not computer literate, and who will subsequently be left out of this electronic communication wave.
CM Cheryl Stoker summarized the general feeling by saying that she is “really excited with what was presented… appreciates all the work Dave Nordquist has done… is excited to be working with Tiffany Staheli… and a huge thanks to the Police Department… who deserve the raise.”
