Amid controversy, West Jordan councilman aims to realign local government

Amid controversy, West Jordan councilman aims to realign local government

(Mike DeBernardo/KSL-TV)


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WEST JORDAN — The City Council again has delayed a discussion on a proposal that could change the way things are done in West Jordan.

"I just want to conform our municipal code with state code," said Councilman Chad Nichols, who has pushed discussion on the issue to the Sept. 23 meeting to have time to comb through problems that have evolved with the current municipal code.

"I've already discovered several disagreements," Nichols said Wednesday. "Our municipal code has sections that are illegal. They may be minor in detail but could have significant impact."

Several residents scolded the West Jordan City Council on Tuesday for delaying the matter, but Nichols said many complaints are based on widespread misunderstanding.

In the council-management type of government, the mayor is the chief ceremonial officer — a title that doesn't have much meaning beyond a voting member of the council — and the city manager operates as the chief executive officer of the city.

"Our responsibility as a council, inclusive of the mayor, is to set policy so the city manager can carry it out," Nichols said.

Much of the consternation displayed during Tuesday's meeting, he said, was a result of "a misunderstanding that the mayor is in charge" of the city, which simply isn't the case.

Talk of reassigning Mayor Kim Rolfe's duties and potentially cutting his salary — a separate issue brought up by Councilman Ben Southworth — also had some residents fired up.

"We elected a mayor. Leave him alone. Give him his time. If you want him out, run against him when that time comes," Luella Thompson, a longtime West Jordan resident, told the council. "He deserves his position. He deserves his money. Leave him alone."

Southworth, who ran against Rolfe in the previous election, brought up a proposal earlier this month to essentially demote the mayor, returning his position to part time and cutting his salary from $97,000 to about $10,000, undoing a change approved by voters in 2013. The resulting tension led Rolfe to seek a restraining order against the entire council, which was denied by a judge hours before the council meeting Tuesday.

At the meeting, Southworth "indefinitely" tabled his proposal regarding Rolfe's position.

His issues with the mayor are not personal, he said, but stem from an ongoing process that has included "well-documented abuses of power and process and people."

"I want to fix what we have found to be problems in our form of government and clarify whose roles are what," Southworth said.

"It is frustrating beyond belief to think that the atmosphere has degenerated to the point where we have to speak to each other through attorneys and can't speak civilly to each other face to face," Councilman Chris McConnehey said Tuesday.

McConnehey suggested that the City Council immediately employ a mediator "to help resolve the rifts that exist so we can find a way to move beyond the issues that we have and get back to the business of maintaining the city for our residents."


I've already discovered several disagreements. Our municipal code has sections that are illegal. They may be minor in detail but could have significant impact.

–Councilman Chad Nichols


The City Council is involved in ongoing interviews to hire a new city manager. Former West Jordan city manager Richard Davis resigned in August, amid controversy, and was paid a large severance package. Bryce Haderlie, former assistant city manager, is acting as West Jordan's interim city manager.

Nichols called the upcoming appointment "one of the most important decisions I can make as a councilman. It is one of the most direct ways that will impact the city, for better or worse," he said.

Melissa Worthen, who has volunteered for the city for more than a decade, said she has stopped coming around the office because of the rising tension, as well as "declining employee morale."

"I don't want to be part of the toxic environment," she said. "I know employees who dread coming to work. They go about their work, keeping their heads down. … They don't want to get into the drama."

Worthen told the City Council she is "disgusted" by "golden parachutes" offered to employees who have left their posts due to harassment and a potentially destroyed reputation, as well as "backdoor deals" being conducted on taxpayers' backs. She referred to a recent comment by a council member pertaining to relocation of the state prison.

Nichols, who originally had to go to a library to hunt down code written in 1977 that defined West Jordan's government style, said he's not trying to change the mayor's position, but just comply with state law.

"I firmly believe that when we fix this, we'll be granting more authority back to the mayor," he said, adding that some of the mayoral duties may be changed, pertaining to the adopted code. "I want that verbatim in our code … as a reminder to us, and to future councils, that they don't amplify any of those powers and duties. I want the code the way it is supposed to be.

"The most important thing for me is to ensure that our public understands our form of government and responds to that government accordingly," Nichols said.

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