OGDEN — In her bid for a seat on the Ogden City Council, Alicia Washington is seeking changes that would give the council an additional oversight tool in its dealings with the city administration.

Washington said she feels there needs to be a restoration of the balance of power between the City Council and the administration.

“Right now, City Council could be stepping more within their legislative branch to have a more discerning eye about what is being put in front of them from city administration,” she said.

She said she doesn’t feel the council has everything necessary to keep up with checks and balances.

“If we need to fix something, we need to make sure we have all of the tools in front of us or that we’re able to have the access to the tools we need to fix what’s in front of us,” she said. “Right now, I feel like the City Council does not have all of the necessary tools in order to best serve the community. A way we could do that rapidly is by having our own attorney for City Council.”

Washington said a major point of concern for her has been the Marshall N. White Community Center and how its been operated since reopening in May.

“We have this gorgeous, gorgeous new facility that all of us — all of us — were behind and that we achieved as a city,” she said. “But now, we’re limiting access to our rec center because of our fee structure. People are finding it’s no longer something they can afford or even prioritize within their budget because it’s so out of the range of what people can put towards a gym membership.”

She said it may be up to the council to find creative solutions to the issue.

“A community gem is now inaccessible for a lot of our surrounding community members within downtown Ogden City and within the county,” she said. “I understand that we need to be able to pay that debt owed for that gorgeous facility that we have; however, who is able to use that facility now? Are there ways that we can go back and find (money) within the budget to pay that debt owed without the constituents having to foot that burden? I bring that up as an example because it’s something that we need to go back and look at what we’re prioritizing.”

Washington said that one of the greatest markers of success on the City Council would be to increase interactions between the council and constituents.

“We do have to get back to the basics of how we interact with our community members, because the rule is to always hear from them, whether that’s a phone call, a voice message, an email or people showing up to City Council to talk during the public comment section,” she said. “My measure of success is a very active, vocal community that is constantly reflecting back to City Council how we’re doing. I want more communication from City Council to the constituents and from constituents to City Council.”