January 1 - December 31, 2005 Each year begins with clean, blank pages comprising days, weeks and months. We greet them with expectations, enthusiasm, some concerns and some worries. We watch them untold almost too quickly, as moments of history fill in each page. Suddenly the year is over, and it is time to look back on the year "that was." What an exciting year this has been for our city! Of course, the biggest news coming with the new year was the announcement by Mayor Keith Butler that we were going to have a new office building, combined with a senior center, and that it would be paid for at its completion! What an achievement for our young city-young because of the 1999 incorporation although built of the firm base of two much older pioneer settlements. Let's look back in our brief city history at what has led to this important occasion. It's been a long road for an important city project which has come to fruition--the building of our own city office building. The very beginning of governance for Marriott-Slaterville City took place at the Weber County Fire Station, at 1871 North 1350 West. The use of that facility for a few months was greatly appreciated. One of the first orders of business was to find rental property where our offices could be located. Steve Mecham and Keith Butler were able to secure Building 390, just inside the Business Depot Ogden west gate, 1195 West 400 North, which became our first "real" office. Meetings where government problems arose, were met, discussed and resolved, along with elections, and parties were held there. On June 17, 1999, an open house where citizens could sign the Articles of Incorporation was held. This was the first community activity, one which Interim Council President H. Orvil Holley called our "Independence Celebration." The building served us adequately until we were asked by Ogden City to vacate the site, which we did in May 2003. Soon after, that building was demolished by Ogden City to make way for their improvements. Ken Martin made arrangements with Steve Peterson for our second office. We moved a little east and north into the south end of Warehouse Building 15C, 1140 West 400 North, still on BDO, which gave us additional space and served our needs for some time. When Mr. Peterson did not renew his warehouse lease, Ogden City took back the property. They again requested that the current offices be vacated. This time it is to be as soon as practicable. The goal for our own facility was a recognized need from the beginning of incorporation. Money was set aside each year for this purpose. A committee consisting of H. Orvil Holley, Jim Ito, and Trudy Hill, was appointed in 2003 to look over the community for feasible building sites and to give a list of possibilities to the City Council. The preferred site listed by the committee was property owned by Ruth DeVries on 700 South. The city worked with the DeVries family on acquisition of this property for six months, but no agreement could be reached. Property on the Randy Marriott development, Spencer Farms, on 1900 West, was available. Only 30 lots could be developed without two access roads, which left a three lot area not included in the development. However, no utilities, gas, water, sewer or electricity, were currently available, making this less desirable. James C. Blair, Jr., who died in 2004, donated four and one-half acres located east of the golf course and the Keith Slater home, to the city. Jimmy Blair carried this wish out for his father and as a possible tax break for the estate. The City Council decided to build on this ground. In addition, the ground on the Randy Marriott development was also pursued as a potential park land adjacent to the open space planned on that development. An alternate use could be the erection of a maintenance building. Requests for bids for the design-builder of the new building, including a senior center, were announced in January 2005. Twenty-two requests were distributed and eleven responses received by the January 31, 2005, deadline. A committee consisting of Mayor Keith Butler, Council President Dennis Illum, and Shauna Meyerhoffer was designated, with the task of reviewing the bids and ranking them in order of suitability. Each committee member used a score sheet which ranked each proposal based upon defined criteria. The top three submissions were then interviewed by the committee. It was a difficult decision to make. The committee ranked them: (1) Kier Construction, (2) R & O, and (3) Assent Construction. The council unanimously approved the recommendation with Kier Corporation as the first choice for the contractor to erect the building.