On Tuesday, the city’s first mayor and three City Council members were sworn in before a large crowd at the Hearthside Events Center.

Anne Ladd, one of over 200 volunteers that helped petition and lead the area’s residents to incorporate Ogden Valley, led the short ceremony, which she said was part of a “momentous day.”

“It’s an inflection point in our history that represents the end of the incorporation effort and the beginning of building a brand new city,” she said. “After years of effort to collect enough signatures for a feasibility study, educate the public on what that feasibility study said, then a second round of signature gathering to get incorporation on the ballot, the overwhelming vote in favor of incorporation that the city had and followed by a community-wide effort to help us transition from thinking about it to actually doing it.”

From there, the program was turned over to Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch to swear in each candidate individually. Mayor Janet Wampler and City Council members Tia Shaw (District 1), Peggy Dooling-Baker (District 2) and Chad Booth (District 4) were all sworn in.

While standard practice is to seat newly elected municipal leaders in January, Hatch told the Standard-Examiner via email that the state provides for a quicker turnaround after election day for elected officials of a new city.

“Setting up a new city is a gargantuan, complex task,” he said. “If the newly elected officials couldn’t enter contracts and adopt policies and ordinances early, there would essentially be no governance when the city becomes officially incorporated.

“The law wisely allows for newly elected officials of a new city to get a jump start on the mechanics of establishing ordinances and entering into contracts so that they can start serving the citizens on day one.”

He said the officials were able to take their oath of office today in accordance with Utah Code §10-2a-215(8)(a), which allows officers elected in a final election of a brand new city to take office after taking the oath.

“Per Utah Code §10-2a-215(8)(b) and §20A-4-304(6)(b), they are eligible to assume office at noon on the first Monday following the day the election officer transmits the certificate of election,” he said. “With the certificates now issued, they will officially take office at noon this coming Monday, at which point they will be a fully functioning City Council for the first time.”

Wampler told the audience that that they were all deeply humbled by the citizens placing their trust in them.

“To the people of Ogden Valley — thank you,” she said. “Thank you for your belief in this place, and your belief in one another and your belief that we can shape our future while honoring the land and traditions that brought us all here.”

She said in spite of the change in city status, some things aren’t going to change about the area.

“While we are incorporating, what makes Ogden Valley special is not changing,” she said. “Our rural spirit, our open spaces, our agricultural roots and our commitment to being good neighbors — these are the foundations that we will protect and carry forward with us. We are honored to serve as your first City Council.”

Following the ceremony, Wampler told the Standard-Examiner some of the real work of the effort is already underway.

“We are creating something new — starting a brand new city that hopefully will reflect the voices of all the people of Ogden Valley,” she said. “Our City Council’s been meeting already. We meet three times per week, sometimes more as well as getting all of our service contracts negotiated and put in place, our financing put in place. We’re writing out and having our laws reviewed by legal counsel, so we are quite busy already.”

Booth told the Standard-Examiner that he hadn’t quite expected so many to turn out just for the swearing in.

“I just thought it would be very simple and informal, but it was amazing,” he said. “It was very touching of the community to come out and support it the way that they did. It just shows what Valley residents are. They’re very passionate about our Ogden Valley and excited about moving forward with the way it’s going.”

Shaw told the Standard-Examiner that Tuesday was an historic day.

“I’m just excited our little valley has gone through this process where we’re incorporated and we’re a new city,” she said. “I’m just blown away that I am in that group that can kind of shepherd this city.”

Dooling-Baker told the Standard-Examiner Tuesday was an exciting day and that the elected officials are working to have things in place soon.

“The energy of getting off the ground and starting a new city is fun,” she said. “We started at 9 a.m. the day after the election and we have been working on this and trying to get ideas and things in place. We’re not a city yet so we can’t officially engage in anything in contracts, but we’re doing our research and our background and trying to get things set up.”

However, not all of the Ogden Valley City Council has been sworn in as of Tuesday afternoon.

Due to a pre-scheduled trip, Council member-elect Kay Hoogland (District 3) will be sworn in next week. Council member-elect Don Hickman (District 5) opted to also be sworn in along with Hoogland next week.

Hickman, who witnessed Tuesday’s ceremony, told the Standard-Examiner he’s excited to move forward.

“I’m humbled by the fact that the people of District 5 chose me to represent them,” he said. “We literally are birthing a city today and we get to decide our future, which is really what local representative democracy is all about.”

Hickman and Hoogland will be sworn in Monday at a time and venue that have yet to be announced.