Saturday evening, Ogden’s City Council candidates in contested districts were given the opportunity to share their own vision of transparency and how to boost it during a forum hosted by the Ogden Community Collaborative and emceed by radio host Bill Allred at the Two-Bit Street Cafe.

Each candidate was given five minutes to answer the question “How can Ogden City improve communication and transparency with its citizens and community?” They could fill the remainder of the time as they pleased.

District 4 candidates

The forum started off with candidates from District 4. The district is currently represented by Ben Nadolski, who is running for mayor.

Alexander Castagno said the key to transparency is availability to the citizens.

“Personally, I would do town halls,” he said. “I would want to do one at least once every month to allow the community from District 4 to come and talk about what they need, what vision they have or any problems that are occurring at the time.”

He added that it would also be pertinent to build trust between the City Council and the mayor’s office among other entities.

Steven Van Wagoner talked about establishing a District 4 exclusive web presence for the people living there.

“In order for me to be your representative, we have to have the ability to listen,” he said. “It’s already in the process of being built — it’s a District 4 dashboard, a new site and a new platform: ogden4.org. You’re going to see it launched during the general (election), and the entire purpose of this site is so that way I can represent you, District 4.”

He said that he intends to be “the best District 4 representative Ogden has ever seen.”

Dave Graf said transparency starts with the candidates themselves and how more ought to be done to show who they are to their constituents.

“I’ve asked the citizens of District 4 to accept who I am at face value,” he said. “If I were seeking employment at Ogden City, a background check would be part of the employment process, and a background check is done to ensure the citizens of Ogden City know it protects us. I want everybody here to know where I lived, where I was educated, where I got my degree at, that I do the same things I say that I have done, and also I want you to know my criminal history, which is a zero. I have here a full background report on me. I would invite everybody that’s running for City Council and mayor to join me in submitting a full background check so the citizens of Ogden know who they’re putting in office.”

At the conclusion of his time speaking about transparency, Graf gave the results of his background check to the Standard-Examiner. He also spoke out against candidates paying others to put up their yard signs and the discrepancy between when ballots are mailed out and candidates must report financial donations.

Sebastian Benitez said a big part of transparency is getting citizens to speak before the council as he has countless times.

“I participated in Ogden City meetings so many times,” he said. “I don’t remember how many times I participated. I’ve raised my voice there talking about what I think was not right and what was right. Sometimes they get angry with me, but they did it.”

He said that he’s seen this help bring changes including sidewalks and new amenities to certain parks.

Austin Raymond said transparency depends on direct communications.

“You know what Clearfield does? The mayor makes a little newspaper that he mails to (constituents) every single week so they can know what they’re doing,” he said. “We need to reach out and engage people. You can’t just say, like the city does, ‘Hey, I’ve got this Facebook page you can go and check out and you can see how this is going or that is going,’ because people don’t care. They’ve got other things to do on their evenings and days with their families. They’re not going to take the time to read up on city issues or go to some website or Facebook page. Sure, setting those things up is important, but you need to reach out to people and say, ‘Here is what’s actually going on and here is why you should care.'”

He added that he has been self-funding his campaign throughout the process.

At Large Seat C candidates

Candidates in the At Large Seat C race also made an appearance Saturday. This seat is currently filled by Luis Lopez, who did not seek reelection this year.

Levi Anderson said transparency in local government means doing exactly what you promised.

“I believe it’s being there for people and following through with what you’re going to say,” he said. “I’m not ever going to make a promise that I’m going to do this or do this without following through on it. I’m not going to promise you things I’m not going to be able to do.”

He said that he’d like to see more teen-oriented spaces added to Ogden and getting commitments from businesses to stay around the city long term.

John Thompson said he feels the city is already putting in the work to be open to the public in many facets.

“Every citizen, based on our American democracy, should take their part in keeping an eye on government,” he said. “I think, generally, the city does do a good job with talking about things that have peoples’ attention. … I still get my utility bill in the mail and in that comes public notices along with the city bulletin. You also get notices in the (newspaper). So if you’re interested and it’s a big topic, that is going on. Do we all really want to know everything that the City Council votes for, all the proclamations and hoorahs they give out? I’m not sure we want to do that.”

He said that this shouldn’t override citizens’ responsibility of looking after their government.

Shaun Myers said transparency relies on outreach to those who may not have the most representation.

“As a member of the City Council, what I would propose to do is just to continue what I’ve done my entire life — to continue to meet with people from various different ethnic backgrounds because, to me, those are the people that are less represented in government than the rest of our community,” he said. “It’s very sad for me to say that District 4 carries probably about 50% of the voters that will vote in this next election, and for me, I wish it were a bit more representing of the entire community.”

He said he ran for the at large position because he’d like to represent voters of all districts.

Lara Gale said there’s a lot of concern among current council members and community leaders that their interests aren’t being heard.

“There’s a lot of momentum that exists in this community in addition to the obvious assets that we have like our history and our recreation” she said. “We have amazing community leaders doing amazing things not able to get the kind of traction they need because we don’t have a coherent city narrative that’s supported by the government, by our tax dollars, by our systems.”

She said part of the City Council’s job is to figure out why these issues exist and correct them.

District 4 candidates Julez Garcia and Katie Matheson had previously withdrawn from the race and did not participate in Saturday’s forum. Incumbent council member Richard Hyer, who is running uncontested in District 2, also did not participate Saturday.