OGDEN — Two entities that have an adversarial relationship with each other is a tale as old as the idea of government itself.

However, with Ben Nadolski taking on the position of Ogden mayor in 2024, Ogden City Council At Large Seat B Council member Bart Blair told the Standard-Examiner that he’s seen a huge improvement in the relationship between the City Council and the city administration.

“I can’t say anything but praise for Mayor Nadolski and everything he’s done with the City Council,” Blair said. “Ben has always wanted dialogue and he’s always been very, very accessible. Ben doesn’t mind dialogue. Ben doesn’t mind disagreements, as long as those disagreements lead to common ground or lead to a better product.”

He said he’s had experience with councils that had more adversarial relationships with the administration.

“I’ve been on councils where either the council wants something and the administration doesn’t or the administration wants something and the council doesn’t,” he said. “It’s just, ‘I don’t care how great that is, we’re not doing it,’ and both sides dig their heels in.”

Blair said that hasn’t been the case with the city lately.

“It’s wonderful all of the little steps we’ve taken over the last four, six, eight years are coming into play right now and things are able to happen much faster because there is no digging in of heels or just being difficult or just disagreeing to disagree,” he said.

He added that it’s also been helpful that the City Council has made more of its work available to viewers in the past few years.

“I think it’s wonderful that we’ve started broadcasting and making our work sessions available,” he said. “That was always the complaint. We come to City Council, they put something before us, we’d vote and they’d say, ‘Well you just rubber stamped it.’ The work session is where you have your dialogue, back-and-forth, the disagreements, the, ‘I need more information. Get me this.'”

Blair said one of the things that Nadolski has that’s helped build a bridge between the board and the administration is his own experience being on the City Council.

“Ben has made a very concerted effort to make sure that when he has something to present, he makes sure that he brings it forward in a timely manner,” Blair said. “Everybody wants to feel like they have enough information to make an informed decision. Nobody wants to feel like they’re forced into a decision, and when you present an idea under time restraints, like, ‘Hey, this needs to be done next week,’ it paints one side into a corner. Ben has been wonderful to understand that part of it. Let’s get the council information as soon as we have it.”

He added that when City Council members and the reigning administration don’t have a cordial relationship, the city ultimately loses.

“I’ve been on councils where there’s either a lack of trust or a lack of willingness to cooperate or willingness to find common ground,” he said. “Truly, what happens in those cases is the city suffers. The administration will present something and if there’s a lack of trust, the council takes three or four times longer than it ever would because they want to go through every little detail because they feel like, ‘You’re not telling me everything.’ And they’re trying to catch them and those meetings are very combative.”

Blair said that this is not the case, at present.

“This council and this administration is working wonderfully together and there’s not one ounce of that,” he said.