Council denies involvement
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Sunday, September 23, 2007
By Scott Schwebke
Standard-Examiner staff
sschwebke@standard.net
Godfrey, they say, signed UTA-gondola agreement on his own/
OGDEN -- The city council says it was left out of the loop when an agreement was inked last month by Mayor Matthew Godfrey and Utah Transit Authority to earmark $247,500 for gondola-related studies.
"Despite recent reports that Ogden city has signed an agreement with UTA to perform a $247,500 gondola study, members of the Ogden City Council desire for residents to know that the council was excluded from involvement in this contract," the council said in a news release.
The city council had asked UTA for an interlocal agreement that would have given it some control over how the funds would be spent.
Funding for gondola-related studies covered by the agreement would be provided in exchange for a $247,500 Federal Transit Administration appropriation awarded to UTA last year for a bus purchase to serve the Ogden area.
The agreement requires UTA to allocate $16,250 to pay Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham, a Salt Lake City consulting firm, for a gondola fiscal impact study completed last year at the city's request.
The urban leg of the gondola project remains in doubt because Godfrey has refused to sell city-owned Mount Ogden Golf Course to developer Chris Peterson, the driving force behind the proposal.
The city had initially planned to use proceeds from the golf course sale to help fund an urban leg of the gondola extending from downtown to Weber State University. It was estimated to cost about $20 million.
The city council had hoped that "partial funding" for an alternative transit analysis along the downtown to Weber State University corridor would come from the UTA funds earmarked for gondola studies, said city council Chairman Jesse Garcia.
Nevertheless, the city council remains committed to completing the analysis.
Councilman Doug Stephens said he would like to see the council and administration work together to enhance the city's opportunities for increased funding for a comprehensive transit program.
Godfrey, who is seeking re-election to a third term in November, said it's possible that funds earmarked in the UTA agreement could be used to address a variety of transit issues.
The agreement also won't affect the ability of the administration and city council to discuss transit alternatives, Godfrey said.
"We are working with the Council on a joint transit plan as we discussed in August," he said in an e-mail to the Standard-Examiner. "We are hoping to have the first meeting on this topic by the end of this month. We both agree that this UTA funding could be used for any transit option upon which we decide."
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