This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
OGDEN - Ski companies are flocking to Ogden, The Junction mall beckons residents to a downtown they had all but abandoned and historic 25th Street is livelier than it has been in years.
Real estate agent Rick Southwick says that for the first time in his 20-year career, customers are determined to buy in - rather than avoid - Ogden.
"To me, it's a simple question: Is Ogden a better place to live than it was eight years ago? The answer is unequivocally 'Yes,' '' says Southwick, who wants to see Mayor Matthew Godfrey re-elected.
And yet Godfrey, the youthful, aggressive mayor-cum-CEO who has presided over Ogden's emergence as an "outdoor recreation hub," finds his bid for a third term anything but smooth sailing.
Voters are so polarized that many see the election not between Godfrey and City Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser, but between Godfrey and anybody-but-Godfrey.
As physician David Pombo put it: "I don't know a lot about Van Hooser, but she's got to be better than Godfrey."
He evidently is not alone.
Van Hooser, a retired teacher and civic volunteer, and the three other candidates on September's primary ballot, together drew 60 percent of the vote. Godfrey pulled in 40 percent.
For a mayor whose two previous general elections were not close, the swell of opposition is sobering.
"That's what got everybody engaged," acknowledges a key backer, Bob Geiger, chief operations officer for Descente USA.
While Godfrey's supporters and detractors are divided on his record - they either love or scorn his business solutions to government problems - there is one overarching factor in this year's mayoral race:
After eight years, many voters don't like and/or don't trust Godfrey.
"With the mayor, it's personal," says psychologist Valerie Bentley, who believes Godfrey wrongly casts those who don't get behind him as naysayers.
"He refuses to hear what anyone else has to say, putting down people . . . minimizing and dismissing them," says Bentley. "He has had such a divisive influence on this city."
Prominent critic and former councilwoman Mary Hall says the mayor lost the trust of many residents through secrecy, insider deals and by twisting facts to suit his needs.
"People remember these things, and it doesn't feel right," says Hall.
Nothing new
Those are big charges, but nothing new, responds Godfrey.
"It's like personal hatred and I feel bad about that," says Godfrey. "People I don't know, that I don't work with, say these terrible things about me, but you don't hear that from the people I work with on a daily basis."
The criticism also comes with the territory, he says. "We've enacted a lot of change. We've done major projects, and with each of those you develop enemies."
One Godfrey admirer, restaurateur Kym Buttschardt, says that if some don't trust the mayor, it may be because of his "forward-motion" leadership style.
"It is part of the problem, but it is part of the success as well. He's a risk taker."
Of all the controversial issues during Godfrey's eight years as mayor, the one that most engaged and divided residents was his now-shelved dream to pay for a gondola by selling a swath of east-bench open space for a housing development. The debate raged for nearly two years before Godfrey abruptly withdrew his support in July.
While many in the business community saw it as a brilliant strategy to set Ogden apart, many residents rejected the notion.
Buttschardt says the proposed land sale was a "deal-breaker" for many of her friends, who did not then support Godfrey. "Now they've changed their minds."
For Hall and others, however, Godfrey's reversal was "too little, too late."
"I just don't believe that it's off the table," Halls says.
Clifford Goff, a former mayor, sees Godfrey's reversal as a sign of maturity.
The mayor was just 29 when he first took office, and at the time he had the attitude, " 'Don't confuse me with the facts; my mind is made up,' " says Goff. "He has learned. He has matured. He is now involving other people."
'Own woman'
If the race is Godfrey vs. anybody-but, where does that leave Van Hooser?
She would "be her own woman, listen, investigate and educate herself," says Goff, who has worked with her in civic affairs. "She wouldn't be jostled around by other people."
Van Hooser campaigns on the premise that she would unify residents. She scoffs at those who suggest her lack of business experience disqualifies her or that she lacks the energy the job demands.
While she contends she would pursue Godfrey's vision of Ogden as an outdoor-recreation destination, she intends to pay more attention to core government responsibilities, such as roads, sewer and water and fiscal discipline now that the city and its redevelopment agency have $96 million in long-term debt.
Godfrey has lowered the city property-tax rate three times, redeveloped 60 acres downtown, attracted 2,500 new downtown jobs, and added more open space and trails,
While fighting crime remains a priority, Godfrey boasts that Ogden's crime rates have dropped dramatically. (Statewide crime rates have dropped slightly more since the 1990s, and Ogden's violent crime rate remains double the statewide rate, according to FBI statistics.)
Geiger contends voters would be foolish to interfere with Ogden's economic momentum.
"My viewpoint is, you don't screw around with it right now. In a city that has a winner, you don't mess with it."
Buttschardt agrees, but she has another take on what's behind Ogden's polarization: passion.
"It is an engaged community like I have never seen. Everybody wants to do right by Ogden, and that's amazing."
Matthew Godfrey
* AGE: 37
* PROFESSION: Mayor; previously worked at Iomega and as landlord.
* EDUCATION: Bachelor's in finance and master's in professional accounting, Weber State University.
* POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Mayor for eight years.
* FAMILY: Wife, Monica, and five children.
* FUN FACT: Speaks Spanish as well as an unusal language known as Papiamiento.
Susie Van Hooser
* AGE: 64
* PROFESSION: Retired Ogden school teacher and library-media specialist.
* EDUCATION: Bachelor's in education from Southern Illinois University and certificate in library media from Utah State University.
* POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: 14 months on Ogden City Council.
* FAMILY: Husband, Dwane, and three children.
* FUN FACT: Has a passion for antiques.