Vision and Goals

Seneca, a Roman philosopher once stated, "To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind." On the front page of the February 2014 city newsletter the city council shared, for the first time, its vision for South Ogden City. The vision states, "By 2025 South Ogden City will stand out as the friendliest, safest, and most inviting place to live, work and visit in Weber County; where engaged residents feel at home while enjoying the highest quality of life in a vibrant community defining itself through innovative development and excellent public services." This vision will be used to help drive important policy and administrative decisions as the city moves forward in continuing to make South Ogden a great place to live, work and visit.

Thomas Edison once said, "Vision without implementation is hallucination." From the city’s broad vision statement the council has established five key strategic directives and many specific goals and action plans. The five strategic directives are: 1. Promote fiscal responsibility of public funds. 2. Aggressively promote innovative, cohesive and vibrant development. 3. Provide professional and excellent public services. 4. Engage the community. 5. Establish a friendly, safe and inviting place to live, work and visit.

Under each of the broad strategic directives the city has established several important goals that will be their focus over the next twelve months including, among others: 1. Completion of a community-wide survey to learn more about what the residents want. 2. Formulation of a parks committee to look at ongoing funding and maintenance of the city’s parks. 3. Completion of a new city brand that will be incorporated into street designs, signage, etc. 4. Increase walking and bike paths within designated safe routes to schools. 5. Take advantage of important economic development opportunities. 6. Complete a new form-based code for commercial areas of the city.

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about how you can be more involved in helping your city realize these goals and the city’s vision, please contact the city offices and ask how you can help. There are many opportunities to get involved and help move South Ogden forward towards achieving its vision.

A Message from Councilmember Sallee Orr 

The vision statement of South Ogden City states, "By 2025 South Ogden City will stand out as the friendliest, safest, and most inviting place to live, work, and visit in Weber County; where engaged residents feel at home while enjoying the highest quality of life in a vibrant community defining itself through innovative development and excellent public services." Often phrases like: "City Beautiful," "City of Homes," "Home," are used to describe South Ogden City. South Ogden City needs your help! South Ogden is a beautiful, enjoyable and safe place to live and we need your help to keep it that way.

Over the past few years, the City has been focusing on enforcing our nuisance and yard maintenance ordinances more diligently, yet there continues to be more and more violators. We need the help of residents in identifying potential nuisances so our police department can inspect the properties, notify violators and work with the property owners to rectify the problems. The City is working on cost effective ways to improve our parks but we need your help to report suspicious activities, vandalism and graffiti. The repair and replacement of vandalized equipment is very costly.

Our South Ogden Police Department would like to know as soon as possible if there are potential problems in a park. You can call or text if you become suspicious of something you see going on. In this newsletter you’ll find contact information for the police department. Last year the city sent out free magnets with the police contact information. These magnets are still available at the Police Department. If the suspicious activity occurs after normal business hours please call 911, state that it is NOT an emergency and continue to tell the dispatch operator the problem or suspicious activity. They will then immediately notify the officers on duty.

As members of the city council we care very much about our city and we want it to stay the best city in which to live, work and play. Keep in touch with your elected officials. We are your voice in your local government and we work to serve each of you. We are available to listen and help. We are all in this together and working together we can continue to keep South Ogden a GREAT place to live!