Ben Nadolski to seek Ogden mayor’s seat, aims to counter ‘trust deficit’
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- Ben Nadolski, a member of the Ogden City Council, speaks at his mayoral campaign kickoff event Friday, March 31, 2023, at Union Station.
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- Ben Nadolski, a member of the Ogden City Council, speaks at his mayoral campaign kickoff event Friday, March 31, 2023, at Union Station. His wife, Jaynee Nadolski, is on the left, facing the camera.
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- Ben Nadolski, a member of the Ogden City Council, announces his bid for mayor of the city on Friday, March 31, 2023, at Union Station.
OGDEN — Ben Nadolski, a two-term member of the Ogden City Council, wants to shift from the legislative side of city government to the executive branch.
“There’s a need for leadership and a need for service I think I can fill,” he said.
As such, he launched his bid for mayor on Friday, formally announcing his plans to supporters at Union Station. Nadolski becomes the fourth announced hopeful for the race, which could get intense as Mike Caldwell, the three-term mayoral incumbent, announced earlier Friday that he wouldn’t run again.
“This campaign is going to be all about people. We are going to put people first in all we do,” Nadolski said.
Among other things, he said a big focus for him as mayor, if elected, would be countering the “trust deficit” he maintains that some have in city government. Nadolski joins Chris Barragan, Angel Castillo and Taylor Knuth in the race for mayor.
As mayor — a full-time position — Nadolski said he would aim to build bridges with sectors of the community that may not feel connected to City Hall as well as bolster and expand relations with the business community. Ogden needs to better foster a sense of trust with the community in general, “anchor institutions” and the business sector, he said, “and we need to do so with integrity and transparency.”
In recent months, Nadolski and others have been raising questions at city meetings with the process Ogden follows in seeking out and selecting developers for projects involving city-owned property, perhaps explaining his calls to bolster community connections. During a 2021 meeting, Nadolski lamented the apparent sentiment some developers and businesses harbor that “they don’t feel they have a fair chance” in doing business in Ogden.
As he was weighing his political future, Nadolski had considered stepping away from city government. His City Council seat is up for election this cycle. But at the prodding of supporters and after doing his own reflection, he decided he wanted to keep at it in light of the continuing challenges the city faces, challenges he thinks he can help address.
He opted to vie for mayor instead of seeking a third City Council term in part because he thinks he has the necessary leadership skills, honed through his work over the past 21 years with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. He’s held a range of posts and now serves as regional supervisor in Northern Utah for the agency. Nadolski came to Ogden in 1997 from Phoenix, Arizona, to attend Weber State University and play football for the college and never went back.
His style as a leader, he said, is personable. “I am a very people-centric, people-focused person,” he said.
What’s more, he puts his focus on service he can do for others. He functions based on the principle “that we are here to serve people, help others thrive and succeed,” he said. “We build our community by building up our people.”
Fellow City Council member Luis Lopez, originally from Mexico, was on hand at Friday’s campaign kickoff to voice support for Nadolski.
“Ben has shown his affection for the Latino community by fighting for our political, social and cultural interests,” Lopez said, adding that if Nadolski wins, “the doors of the mayor’s office will be thrown wide open to strengthen the ties between our government and the Hispanic community of Ogden.”
Nadoloski was on the short end of a key City Council vote last January. He voted against a pair of measures to bond for up to $160 million to help cover the costs of the ambitious WonderBlock development in downtown Ogden, a project that has generated a lot of debate.
“I just couldn’t get on board with the scale at the end of the day, not without feeling like I was taking a little bit too much risk and too much gamble,” he said at the time. The two bond measures nevertheless passed in 4-3 and 5-2 votes.
Nadolski’s decision to run for mayor paves the way for a newcomer to his District 4 seat on the Ogden City Council, up for grabs this year. The District 2 City Council seat, now held by Richard Hyer, will also be on the ballot as well as the at-large seat C post held by Lopez.
Though four mayoral hopefuls have so far stepped forward, the formal filing period for mayoral and city council candidates, June 1-7, is still two months away. The mayoral spot in Hooper is also up for grabs this cycle as well as numerous city council spots across the county.