Guest Post by Kimbal Wheatley
(Continued)
...Back to the story – Act III (August) is where the commissioners select the first town council members to run the town. The infamous HB466 created law which was immediately repealed by the next legislature because of unintended consequences…a.k.a. Powderville (but not retroactively to affect PERP scheming). Under the law, the PERPS get to send a list of people they approve of to the Commissioners and the Commissioners must approve people from the list. So they submitted their list of six to the Commission and told them, under the law they had to approve the list, which didn’t go over so well. The Commissioners thought the list was too short (given a town council only has five members), with blatant conflict of interest and not at all representative of what town citizens wanted (55% opposed to turning Eden into a high density resort; 15% for it; the rest undecided or neutral or not available).
I wrote this note to town citizens to describe the way I saw it: it was time to fish or cut bait.
“Yesterday the commissioners invited, if not begged, capable residents to apply for town council positions. They find it unconscionable to approve a town council they know is riddled with conflict of interest and obviously selected because of publically stated support for turning your town into a high density resort. The commissioners hate the position they were put in and this is where they are drawing the line. Importantly, they think the law and lieutenant governor will back them up.
Now is the time to put forward your very best. The commissioners think their selections are the only way they can have any influence on the train wreck caused by HB466 and they will take selection VERY seriously…and they will fight for their selections. If this town is going to be formed, they are going to do their best to give it a legitimate government at its beginning. Make no mistake about it; this town will be formed if the PERPS think they have the votes on the council to quickly approve 4000 or so housing units within the town boundaries. If they can’t count the votes, there is still a chance they will back out.
PERP tactics are pretty clear at this point. As soon as the town council grants the density rights, the PERPS could care less about the town and will probably try to discontinue funding it. If it collapses and reverts to the county, the PERPS can claim they have legally granted rights the county cannot take away. However, if they can’t count the pro-density votes…
The commissioners will be looking for people who will be fair and represent the interests of town residents. They will try to avoid obvious conflict of interest (for example, Dr. Cobabe may not be acceptable because he has a piece of the resort action; his two grandchildren are in the resort revenue stream as well; employees may lose their jobs, etc). They will look for balance…some who support a high density resort town and some who don’t. And they will look for capability and personal strength. This last one is key. As commissioner Bischoff said, just a few days after the council names are selected, the town is formed and a ton of legal obligations and responsibilities, everything currently done by and provided by Weber County, immediately become the responsibility of the town council. And you are not ready!!! The insane HB466 also did away the requirement for a feasibility study process where most of the issues and steps are worked out, ranging from tax rates and town budgets to who is going to plow the streets and where legal advice will come from. The PERPS are counting on this and will step in with their own attorneys to “help you” take care of things.
Anyone stepping into the role of council member will be in a tough situation. The PERPS will be pushing their density agenda as ruthlessly as they did with the county and they are pretty sure they can beat just about anybody into submission. The five courageous people who make up the town council will become the main players as we enter ACT IV with the PERPS. Their decisions could change all of Ogden Valley for generations to come…or their decisions could continue the values expressed in the Ogden Valley general plan, whether called Eden or Powder Mountain.
I hesitated sending this note to our front-line troopers for fear of scaring people off. Instead, the people put forward 15 names and the Commissioners carefully interviewed every one of them, with PERPS in the room to listen in (or maybe even to ask their own questions …I don’t know). Wow! To put this into perspective, 15 names is something like a quarter of the entire adult population and the candidates were strong. To get an idea of the caliber of some of the people, let me describe one: a developer who owns property in Cache County already zoned to be part of the resort and openly supports the development of Powder Mountain Resort; 3rd generation Eden, lived in the town his whole life and about to build his final home for himself and family on the site of his grandmother’s home; his immediate family accounts for at least 12 of the town residents; he is incredibly business savvy, a person of impeccable integrity and among the biggest philanthropists in the valley, probably at the top; for neighbors he has a Cobabe daughter on one side and a Cobabe granddaughter on the other.
All in all, the Commissioners identified 19 people they thought would fairly represent the people and the resort. But rather than submit a list of people to form a broader pool to choose from, the PERPS instead submitted 11 names, essentially blowing off the Commissioner’s list but “making the list longer” by adding spouses of people on their first list (3 spouses), and another conflict of interest or two. People like the one I just described didn’t make the PERP cut. The Commissioners asked for an explanation for the elimination of their candidates and the PERPS stonewalled them, saying the law didn’t require them to do so. The Commissioners responded with a clearly drawn line, they simply won’t forward a town council to the Lieutenant Governor that already has its mind made up, is full of conflict of interest, and will not represent the interests of the citizens of the town. They told the PERPS to either bring them a list of people who will fairly represent the town citizens or let a judge decide which interpretation of the law is appropriate. The PERPS have the ball now, so let’s see how they frame up Act IV.
As a special note to the investors behind the PERPS, I think you should soon begin to consider the risk the PERPS piled onto your investment while playing out Act III:
• The PERPS have broken trust with the County Commissioners three times now, while the Commissioners attempted to act in good faith. The first was to sneak through loophole law to avoid county law and ordinances without even talking to them. The second was to present a one-sided Development Agreement and then attempt to coerce them with the threat of forming Powderville if they didn’t accept every provision in it. And third, they now insist on the Commissioners putting their name on a town council that won’t represent the interests of either the town or its citizens. Unless they give the Commissioners a better list, their next step is to let the courts decide.
• The Lieutenant Governor and at least a bunch of attorneys are putting their money on the County, but who knows? In any case, the PERPS may soon be arguing in court why the commissioners must install their puppets. Obviously, the PERPS have no interest in an unbiased city council weighing the pros and cons of their resort scheme. This difference of opinion about whether the town council should represent the people or just the developers will have to be resolved…I am thinking lots of bad press. Already the Salt Lake newspapers and TV stations have picked up the story; after all, how can they resist a story of a battle between good and evil in a town called Eden. Even assuming the best case for the PERPS (that Powderville gets legally formed with a puppet government), the PERPS are going to have to figure out a way for town council members to avoid personal conflict-of-interest and assumption-of-liability issues. There are enough juicy human interest stories here (with criminal possibilities) to lure investigative reporters to put a spotlight on it.
• The PERPS think their best case, hand-picked council will adopt zoning and planning laws exactly as the PERPS tell them to and disregard the health, safety and welfare issues raised by UDOT, DWR, Huntsville Town, Eden Planning Committee, Ogden Valley Planning Commission, Weber County Commission, the Lieutenant Governor of Utah, and the intent of the Utah legislature…not to mention overwhelming public sentiment. Their best case is not very good since the town residents say they are morally obligated to invoke the referendum process to stop irresponsible law from taking place. To quote the local newspaper, everyone in the county should “make their lives a living hell.” This will be a local affair where only a few people are needed to slow down or even stop the direction the PERPS want to take the town in at the expense of the health, safety and welfare of its residents.
• Who knows? The PERPS may have the time and financial means to ride all this out, and they have certainly shown their prowess at distorting both the law and good reason to pursue their folly. Even so, by the time all this shakes out, their town will be run by a legitimate town council who can make laws in the best interests of their voting residents, and which are probably not in the best interests of the PERPS.
• And finally, everyone seems to know the PERPS will never develop Powder Mountain as they say they will. Their intention all along is to buy low, load on density via zoning changes and sell high to someone naïve enough to think you can put a town the size of Brigham City on the flats of Powder Mountain. But anyone thinking about buying Powder Mountain Resort from the PERPS is going to be asking about local support for the project. After all, a legitimately elected town council will eventually have control of everything from building permits to liquor laws. And every potential buyer, investor and customer will have to interact with the natives…and we are restless as our wonderful home, freedom and way of life is being assaulted.
I admit that was something of another digression, and mostly repetitive of other pieces I have written, but I feel a need to let potential buyers, customers and current investors know what is happening since I doubt they get the straight scoop from the PERPS.
This means Act III will take some time to play out. Either the PERPS will deliver a reasonable list for town council or they will sue the county to force them to take their unreasonable one.
If the PERPS end up getting their puppet government installed, the citizens are ready to challenge the law on constitutional grounds. Simultaneously they will challenge conflict of interest at every occurrence and invoke a citizen’s referendum processes when needed to stop any bad law from being carried out. In as little as four years, the voters will have selected a legitimate town council and will have learned the ropes of running the town.
As I look into the future a little ways I see some interesting possibilities.
• Maybe the town should begin annexation and restore Eden to a single entity (now with the ability to tax the resort for revenue). Maybe it even ought to expand to include the entire Valley so we people who actually live in the coming traffic and pollution and tourist economy have control over our destiny
So stay tuned for the completion of Act III and I personally look forward to Act IV, where the town people either have a legitimate government or they don’t. Here is the teaser: Act IV will be interesting either way. If the people perceive a corrupt government taxing them and not representing them, they will stand up in ways I am only beginning to appreciate…and the whole valley will be backing them. We own ALL the moral high ground now, are backed by the media, and all elected officials are distancing themselves from a bad, loophole law.
On the other hand, if the town government does end up fairly representing the people of the town, the PERPS will have to try some new approaches to work with them. Everyone is now hip to PERP favorite tactics of coercion and legal maneuvering, of distorting data and the planning process, of sending inexperienced youngsters in to do their dirty work while they lurk in the background…of amazing ruthlessness motivated only by greed. I don’t think the PERPS can change their stripes; I simply can’t imagine them working in good faith for the good of their community.
Perhaps the people of Eden will teach the Powdervillans a much-needed lesson. What was it Commissioner Bischoff used as his thought of the day? Oh yah, “Nothing is more time consuming than an enemy.”
Amen brother.
Kimbal Wheatley, Ogden Valley
