Official blasts council members

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OGDEN -- A high-ranking city official Tuesday night lambasted City Council members Jesse Garcia, Amy Wicks and Doreen Jeske, accusing them of serious ethical violations designed to discredit the administration.

Business Development Manager Scott Brown said Jesse Garcia, who is the council's chairman, asked him to dig up dirt on the administration in hopes of unseating Mayor Matthew Godfrey in an election later this year.

"Council member Garcia would do anything to be elected mayor even if it means to sell the city's future and his friends for his political gain," he said in a prepared statement read to the City Council.

Brown also said Garcia promised to give him the job currently held by Chief Administrative Officer John Patterson if he helped Garcia become mayor.

Brown said he was compelled to speak out in defense of his boss Community and Economic Development Director Dave Harmer.

Harmer has taken flak from some members of the Ogden Redevelopment Agency, made up of the city council, for failing to disclose that would-be developer Chris Peterson, is the owner of Bootjack LLC., a company slated to buy RDA property on Wall Avenue.

Peterson has been in the public spotlight for more than a year due to a controversial development project that calls for his purchase of Mount Ogden Golf Course and the construction of a gondola system. Brown said Garcia has impugned Harmer's integrity over the Bootjack deal.

"Dave Harmer came to this position (as community and economic development director) with the hope of mending fences and starting a new partnership with this city council, and what he got in return was Jesse Garcia calling him a liar," he said.

Harmer said he was unaware beforehand that Brown planned to address the city council on his behalf, but declined to comment further.

Garcia denied all of Brown's accusations, adding he never asked Brown to torpedo the administration or promised him favors so he could become mayor.

"I have no idea of his motivation (for the accusations)," Garcia said. "I'll never speak to Scott Brown again personally or professionally."

Brown also said Jeske should be removed from her seat on the City Council for several ethical lapses, such as using information obtained in closed executive sessions and from confidential telephone conversations and memos for political gain.

He added Garcia has told him how upset the council and its staff is with Jeske because "she is not capable of doing her job."

Jeske said she had no comment on Brown's statements. "I don't know whether it's true or not," she said.

Brown also accused Wicks of making disparaging remarks about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its missionaries.

He said during an executive session Wick expressed her desire that the city refrain from selling land for an office building at the Junction to Property Reserve Inc., which is a holding company belonging to the LDS Church.

Wicks said she didn't want "a bunch of guys walking around the mall in black coats, ties and white shirts," in an apparent reference to LDS missionaries, Brown stated

Wicks said she had no comment on Brown's accusations, adding it was difficult to follow his statement.

Godfrey said he was "shocked" by Brown's comments and had no prior knowledge that he planned to deliver them to the city council.

"I never had any indication that he was going to use this forum," Godfrey said. "He certainly didn't ask my opinion."

He declined to comment on the accusations, but said he has heard "many allegations in general," but didn't elaborate.

The mayor also said Brown won't be fired for his remarks because he has free speech protection.

Brown, who said he suffers from terminal lymphoma which is a form of cancer, said he has nothing to lose and wouldn't blame Harmer and Godfrey if they decided to terminate him anyway.

"If these guys fire me, I totally understand," he said following the meeting. "But this is the right thing to do."

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