Watchdog- October 2023
October Edition
Author- Berkley Barlow
I’m so excited to be bringing another Watchdog of 2023 to you. Please take a look at our calendar for updates on upcoming League events and new information. We have also added a photo gallery to our website. If you aren’t already following us on Instagram or Facebook make sure to click the links at the top or bottom of the website to stay updated!
VOTER REGISTRATION ACTIVITIES HAVE BEEN ON FIRE THIS YEAR!
Author- Karen Thurber, Voter Services Director
We have had a great year (so far!) registering and educating voters. To date, we’ve registered 444 voters at Weber County events and have helped the Salt Lake League register more than 1,500 voters at the Utah Pride Festival and Naturalization Ceremonies. We decided to move the Farmer’s Market booth to bi-weekly to improve results and give volunteers a better experience. We also assisted the Davis League at the county’s Pride Festival. Our biggest “haul” came at Weber State’s Block Party on September 1, with 82 registrations. Our second biggest day was at Ogden Pride with 61 registrations.
One of the reasons folks give for not registering or voting is that they don’t feel “informed” and don’t know where to get accurate, unbiased information. Now that we have Vote411, we have a great answer to this concern and have found that voters are responding to it enthusiastically. Approximately 40 volunteers have participated in activities this year.
Special thanks to Terri McCulloch and Dylan Zwick for managing the Farmer’s Market booth while I was out of town this summer. Our Events included:
March - Naturalization Ceremony in Ogden
April - Awesome, Autistic Ogden & Ogden Nature Center Earth Day
May - Davis Pride and the Ogden Farmer’s Market
June - Utah Pride, Washington Terrace Days, Juneteenth, and the Ogden Farmer’s Market
July - Ogden Farmer’s Market
August - National Night Out Against Crime, Ogden Farmer’s Market, Ogden Pride, and Back to School events at Ogden High and Ben Lomond.
September – Ogden Farmer’s Market, Harvest Moon Festival, Constitution Day Event, National Voter Registration Day Event, WSU Block Party, and the Ogden Hispanic Festival.
October (Upcoming) Dia de los Muertos (Ben Lomond) and Dia de los Muertos (Union Station)
We have also been attending non-LWV debate events, primarily to promote Vote411. Fall and Winter activities will include opportunities at major employers and faith communities.
We’re always on the lookout for new events, so please contact Karen at: 801-721-1926 or mensch1760@earthlink.net We use Signup.com to keep our volunteers organized and informed. Keep a look out for future events in LWV emails. It’s easy to sign up!
We are so excited to have now launched the League of Women Voters’s Vote411 platform in Utah! This “one-stop” website gives voters all the information they need to vote in upcoming elections including where, when, and how to vote. Voters only need to provide a residential address to identify pertinent races. Important to voters, the site does not capture any personal information.
What truly sets this site apart is the ability to research candidates – not just the typical biographical stuff – but the answers to substantive questions provided by local leagues particular to each race. For example, one question pertains to the ongoing strain in the relationship between the Mayor and City Council for the Ogden City Mayoral race. Answers can then be viewed side-by-side. This platform goes a long way toward our goal of creating a more informed electorate.
The Weber League is actively promoting Vote411 through a variety of initiatives ahead of the November 21 general election. Fourteen local coffee shops are participating in the “Coffee Shop Campaign”, which provides shops with Vote411 stickers (with QR codes) to adhere to all of their disposable cups through November 20th. Over 800 postcards have already been distributed at community events and over 1,700 more will be available at local businesses along with posters. All materials include a QR code.
More than 30 faith communities have agreed to post Vote411 information in their electronic and printed newsletters. Additional activities will include promotion at upcoming Dia de los Muertos events at the end of October, on business marquees (including at Ogden Regional Medical Center), and electronic distribution through local businesses. Vote411 also is featured on the front pages of the Weber League’s website, Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) sites. An article in the Standard-Examiner is coming soon.
This year is a “test” year to see what works and to establish marketing relationships. 2024 will be a banner year for Vote411, allowing us to reach out even further into the community prior to both the primaries and the general election. Plans are underway to launch a restaurant campaign with individualized QR codes placed on “table tents”, allowing customers to research local races while waiting for their meals. Awards will be given to restaurants with the most “hits” on the website. A separate coffee shop competition will also be launched. We are so grateful to the national and Utah State League for making Vote411 a reality!
School Voucher Issues in Utah
Author- Anne Freimuth
This past year school vouchers were a hot topic in Utah. This is nothing new. In 2007 lawmakers passed a voucher program. Residents rallied to put a referendum on the ballot to rescind the measure and 62% of Utah voters sided with the referendum.
In 2023 we saw Republican Rep Candice Petrucci pitch her school choice bill where she defines vouchers as money that can only be used for private school education, whereas Utah’s Scholarship Program can also go towards homeschooling and micro schooling costs. She further describes it as more of a health savings program rather than a voucher program. One of the hot buttons was the much-deserved raises for teachers that were tagged to this bill. The Utah Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the state, and most educators were not in favor of this legislation. Regardless, HB215 was passed 8 days into the session. Unlike the 2007 bill that was rescinded, HB215 passed both Utah House and Senate by a two-thirds majority so a referendum cannot be put on the ballot.
Douglas Harris, an economics professor at Tulane University and director of the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice, disagrees. He said education accounts and vouchers both shift public money to education organizations based on decisions made by individual families. The differing vocabulary could come down to political reasons, the term “voucher” does not poll well, whereas calling it a savings plan does.
Regardless of what they’re calling data on the effectiveness of these types of programs is murky, since private schools do not have the same report requirements as public schools.
What are some of the Pros and Cons of school Voucher programs? Here are four examples according to ProCon.org.
Pro 1: Vouchers allow parents to choose their child’s education. Parents pay taxes and should be allowed to use those dollars to educate their children however and at whichever school they want.
Con 1: Tax dollars are intended for the better secular education of all children, not the private religious education of a few.
Pro 2: School vouchers improve education in general by making public schools compete with private schools for students in a free market.
Con 2: Vouchers funnel money away from already struggling public schools and children and redistribute tax dollars to private schools and middle-class children.
Pro 3: School vouchers allow school districts to overcome racial and other segregation.
Con 3: School vouchers fail to accommodate and support disabled and special-needs students.
Pro 4: School vouchers offer students in failing schools access to a better education.
Con 4: School vouchers do not improve students’ academic performance.
Regardless of your stand, on school vouchers, you should investigate this issue yourself.
Mayor-Council Form of Government
Author-Terri McCulloch
Recently, there have been questions concerning the effectiveness of the mayor-city council form of government. The mayor and council are both elected by the voters. The mayor is the executive branch of government, and the council is the legislative branch. This form of governing a community separates the executive and legislative branches and both are elected by the citizens.
The mayor is typically granted total administrative authority and purchase decisions. This causes other members who have been elected (council) to lose some of their policy-making power and influence. This loss often has a great deal of effect on the voices of the citizens. By increasing this power of decision-making for the mayor, special interest groups can have a significant impact on decisions made regarding day-to-day operations, hiring, purchases, and veto power. Often people are elected on popularity or their stand on an issue. This does not mean they have the operational skills that are necessary to effectively run the government.
This form of government has a specific separation of powers, but it does not preclude the mayor and council working together. The problem comes when they do not act as checks on each other and one of the branches becomes dominant. Either entity becoming dominant waters down the power of the citizens.
Some pros of this form of government include increasing communication and debate on topics, leadership is established by the citizens, therefore, represents the majority of the opinions, and it is patterned after the typical state and federal government systems.
The cons, though, can have a very dramatic effect on a city. Many believe that it gives far too much power to one person, allows the mayor to continue to pursue political issues that are separate from the council, some mayors that are elected do not possess the necessary management training and/or experience, and if a mayor is deemed incompetent or ineffective it is difficult to remove them from office.
An example of a problem that can become a bigger issue includes a transaction that occurred in 2008, under the mayoral term of Matthew Godfrey. Following environmental cleanup by the EPA, the 21st Street Pond was deeded by the Utah Department of Transportation to Ogden City. The Goode Ski Technologies Company had a temporary arrangement in place with UDOT to test water ski equipment in the pond. Without involvement or the knowledge of the city council and void of any kind of public input, the mayor leased the pond to the Goode Ski Company for 50 years without any financial compensation to the city. To this day, Goode Ski Company maintains exclusive use of the pond and is making money from citizens, which is ironic as the citizens owned it in the first place and aren’t benefiting from it at all.
There are two choices that are obvious to curtail this problem. Facilitate and mandate a method where citizen input and council collaboration take place to reach a consensus or remove the power of the mayor to make this type of decision.
Utah Inland Ports
Author- Marcia Thomas
Inland ports receive cargo from coastal seaports and then store or distribute the cargo. In 2018, the Utah Legislature created the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) and established the first inland port project area in Utah, the Northwest Quadrant in Salt Lake City. According to the UIPA website, “The Utah Inland Port Authority was created to pioneer and implement strategic and sustainable logistics-backed economic solutions that enhance the lives of Utahns, and establish Utah as a global industry connector.” The creation of the UIPA and the Northwest Quadrant Project Area sparked concern over issues of local control, land use decision authority, taxation, environmental issues such as noise and air pollution, and potential adverse impacts to the Great Salt Lake and wetlands.
Since 2018, several other inland port project areas in Utah have been approved. Of particular interest to northern Utahns is the Golden Spike Project Area, which was approved by the city councils of Tremonton, Brigham City and Garland, and the Box Elder County Commission. The UIPA gave approval to the Golden Spike Project Area on August 21, 2023. You can view the project area plan at Golden-Spike-County-Project-Area-Plan-FINAL.pdf (utah.gov). A unique environmental concern for the Golden Spike Project Area stems from its proximity to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
You can learn more about the UIPA and Utah inland port projects at https://inlandportauthority.utah.gov.
Preserving Utah’s Wildlife
Author- Berkley Barlow
Utah's stunning landscapes, diverse ecosystems, and wildlife have made it world-renowned. However, in the face of climate change, urbanization, and resource extraction, these cornerstones of Utah’s beauty are increasingly at risk.
Our state's tourism industry heavily relies on its natural attractions, contributing significantly to job creation and revenue. Events, like the decline in visitation to Utah's national parks during the government shutdown in 2018-2019, emphasized the economic importance of these areas. The shutdown resulted in losses estimated at $10 million per day in park-related spending, causing severe economic repercussions for local communities and the state at large.
Climate change poses a serious threat to Utah's natural heritage. Rising temperatures, reduced snowpack, and extended droughts impact the state's water resources and fragile ecosystems. Organizations such as the Utah Nature Conservancy, the Division of Wildlife Resources, and the Bureau of Land Management work to protect and restore ecosystems. Real-world success stories, such as the recovery of the California condor in southern Utah, demonstrate the effectiveness of concerted conservation efforts.
Preserving nature and wildlife in Utah is not a luxury but an imperative for a sustainable future. As climate change and human actions continue to threaten Utah's natural heritage, it is imperative to prioritize and invest in preserving these ecosystems. By doing so, we can ensure that our future generations can continue to be inspired by the beauty of Utah's nature and wildlife.
Community Renewable Energy Act – (CREA)
Rumor around Ogden is that the Community Renewable Energy Plan will be dismantled by the end of December. When about 73% said they would support this endeavor, why in the world would Ogden not begin a small step-by-step plan to make Ogden (and Weber County) a better place to live? The money has been paid for implementation – the basic skeleton of the plan designed – partnerships are present. It only makes sense to see what steps we could implement together to improve our environment and improve living in our city.
Utah Legislature adopted HB 411 – Community Renewable Energy Act – (CREA). This act was an answer to the growing population of Utah and the continued need for energy that will be present with the projected growth. HB 411 allows municipalities to contract with utilities to offer cleaner energy options like wind and solar. The Act provided programs to meet the goal of having 100% of electric energy come from renewable sources by the year 2030. This Act allows the city to partner with Rocky Mountain and work together to move towards this goal.
This bill was done in collaboration with Rocky Mountain and citizen advocates. It is remarkable that Rocky Mountain was on board to help make 37% of the state be at 100% alternative energy sources for electricity by 2030. Utah currently gets 80% of its fuel from fossil fuels (coal) and Rocky Mountain Power realizes that the growth level will cause major problems if alternate sources are not designed.
Back in 2010, the legislature questioned whether climate science was necessary in our school curriculum and the energy activists were nothing more than alarmists. In 2016, Utah began changing gears and many cities joined in environmental concerns and alternatives to sustain the growth in Utah. Rocky Mountain got on board, which was essential to the passage of HB 411.
Utah had 23 cities and counties join this movement by the 2019 deadline. Ogden is one of them, which is a progressive act. Individuals can opt out if they do not want to participate and it is still state-mandated that the procurement of renewables must be cost-effective. The cost is affected by the marketplace, so it is imperative that renewables become the go- to for power.
The Ogden City Council authorized an Interlocal Agreement with the Community Renewable Energy Agency to participate in the design of the Community Renewable Energy Plan with Rocky Mountain Power. The first payment of $35,738 was made by the deadline of July 2021 and the second matching payment has also been paid. A survey conducted by Weber State University found that 72.8% of residents are willing to pay some increase to use renewable energy. Once the cost crosses $20 a month, though, some people will not support it and will opt out. This underlines the fact that this must be cost-effective. Five cities have since backed out due to concerns about cost and the fact that there are still unknowns as each community will work together with Rocky Mountain to determine their own plan. This allows for innovation and control over how much is spent, so it is much more of a plus than a detriment. Because of this freedom to design your own plan, small steps can be taken. Ogden should take it one step at a time and support a much cleaner environment!
New Member Highlight- Katherine Colburn
When I first moved to Utah from South Carolina, it was in the middle of the Great Recession and I had just graduated with a degree in English. A series of coincidences led me to working part-time to adapt course material for blind and visually impaired students at the University of Utah, in addition to serving as a tutor and writing teacher. My experiences helping diverse people learn in the ways that worked best for them led me to an unexpected place: what careers might I have pursued if I weren’t deathly terrified of math? Today, I am a licensed Professional Civil Engineer working at the Utah Department of Transportation, as well as the State Government Relations Committee Chair for the Utah Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). It’s my great privilege to be a part of envisioning, designing, and then building the future world I want to live in. Beyond my personal journey as an advocate, it’s just as important to me to help others realize the impact they can have on policy, government, and leading positive change in their communities. Joining the Utah League of Women Voters and helping to promote voting and civic engagement was a natural fit!
