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Ogden mayoral candidate Taylor Knuth speaks during an interview at the Standard-Examiner offices in Ogden on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

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Ogden mayoral candidate Taylor Knuth poses outside the Standard-Examiner offices in Ogden on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

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Editor’s note: The Standard-Examiner recently sat down with both Ogden mayoral contenders. This article offers some highlights of Taylor Knuth’s message and campaign. An earlier article focused on the Ben Nadolski campaign.

OGDEN — After years of grassroots public engagement and advocacy work in Ogden, mayoral hopeful Taylor Knuth wants to step up his involvement, bridge a gap he senses between the public and the city government apparatus.

He wants to “get back to the basics” of good government.

In pushing for development of a new Marshall White Center building, in combating COVID-19 as a volunteer during the height of the pandemic, he’s come to the determination that the city hasn’t done enough to connect with the community. That figures big in his run for mayor.

“When I say the basics of government are not being filled, it’s not a dig at any of our city employees. Actually, it’s a shifting of our philosophy as a city in putting people back at the center of local government, where they belong,” he said. Knuth has also served as chairperson of Ogden’s Diversity Commission, the advisory body to the city on issues related to Ogden’s “diverse communities.”

Knuth, deputy director of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, a division of the city’s Department of Economic Development, and Ben Nadolski are vying to replace Mayor Mike Caldwell, who’s not seeking reelection. Mail-in ballots are out and voting culminates Nov. 21.

In addition to bolstering community connections, Knuth would be a mayor of the people, as he describes it. “The mayor who knows the names of the barber and the bartender, the police officer, the postal worker, the school teacher and the crossing guard,” he said.

Indeed, he may not have prior elective experience, though he vied unsuccessfully for an Ogden City Council seat in 2017, but he sees that as a plus. He’s not entrenched in the system.

“I feel like I have an advantage in not being an elected official because I have not been in those closed sessions,” he said, alluding to occasional City Council meetings behind closed doors to discuss certain sensitive matters. “I have not engaged in the same cyclical thinking or echo chambers that would have been my reality, you know, had I won my election in 2017, for example.”

He’s held signs from the seats of the City Council chambers on the Marshall White Center issue and rallied the public to email city leaders on other issues, he said. Clamoring from Knuth and others in the public prodded the city to commit to rebuilding the Marshall White Center, the city-owned community center offering sports and other programming in a modest neighborhood near Ogden’s center.

“Anybody who works for me or anybody who knows me will classify me as a leader,” he said. “And not only that, but they will classify me as a leader who is inclusive, a leader who is forward thinking and a leader who isn’t afraid to work hard to accomplish what I want to see in my organization or whatever project that I’m working on.”

On the issues, Knuth singles out his support for Ogden taking part in the Community Renewable Energy Program, or CREP. Under its parameters, Ogden and a select number of communities across Utah would team with Rocky Mountain Power and the company would bolster wind, sun and other renewable energy production in its portfolio to meet the varied locales’ power needs.

Ogden’s “participation in providing solutions for renewable energy, not only for our city but for the entire state — that’s on the line,” Knuth said.

City leaders haven’t yet definitively signed on to participation in CREP. Nadolski wants more information, notably the likely cost to power customers of such change, before making a final determination. Knuth is all for it and sees participation as a step forward in tempering dependence on fossil fuels.

“I have been all in on this topic from the beginning because I understand the urgency that’s required of our leaders if we are to sustain our natural environment for future generations,” Knuth said.

The roots of Knuth’s community involvement date to his days growing up poor in Clearfield in a household led by his mom. A community center there offered him a place to build relationships, to gain solid footing, he said, and now he wants to return the favor.

“I don’t want to be the exception of a poor kid that made it in life, has a good job, a good family, a good home, a good career,” he said. “I want to be the rule, and I think Ogden City can lay the foundation for kids to succeed, for families to succeed.”

Knuth previously worked for United Way of Northern Utah and as a fundraiser for arts group Onstage Ogden and Weber State University.

HOMELESSNESS, UNION STATION, GROWTH

Here are Knuth’s thoughts on other issues:

Homelessness: To fight homelessness, he’d favor expanding homeless advocacy service offerings provided via the Ogden Police Department.

He favors reducing barriers to housing for the homeless, the “housing first” model, and bolstering teamwork with existing community agencies that work with the population.

He touts creation of a Housing Stability Division within the city government bureaucracy that would seek out state and federal funding to help address homelessness. The mayor, he went on, should be part of the fight to secure more funding and resources.

Home ownership, housing: Through the Housing Stability Division, he’d also push to expand the city’s Own in Ogden program, meant to aid in home ownership in Ogden.

More generally, he would encourage a mix of housing types in the city, from apartments to single-family homes.

“I’m a firm believer in broad spectrum, balanced neighborhoods,” he said. “I will not villainize renters or apartments in any way because they are a critical component to the overall success, health and well-being of our economy and of our housing market. We cannot have affordable single-family homes without affordable rental units.”

Downtown redevelopment: He favors the Make Ogden plan, crafted under the Caldwell administration to redevelop large swaths of the city center. Included in its vision are plans to upgrade Union Station and redevelop the land around it, the WonderBlock development proposal off the north side of 26th Street between Lincoln and Grant avenues and more.

“That Make Ogden plan is an incredible plan that has the potential to transform our downtown in ways that will sustain it for generations to come,” Knuth said. However, it puts a priority on augmenting housing in and around the city center, he said, and he’d adjust its focus to include bolstering assistance to small businesses in the zone.

The Union Station plans have been the focus of sharp discussion, particularly among defenders of the museums in the old train station who worry about their future. Knuth, for his part, lauded efforts under Caldwell to make sure the public has a say in the process.

“Now, whether or not those museums stay in the station, that’s to be determined,” he said, alluding to talk of putting the museums in a new structure adjacent to Union Station. “That’s what the community engagement process is for — to determine the highest and best use of the Union Station. But it should be a flagship for not only residents but for visitors to Ogden city.”

Future growth: He touts plans, already in the works, to update the city’s general plan to contend with expected population growth in the years to come. The general plan helps guide development, spelling out which sorts of development can go where.

A general plan in a Knuth administration, he said, “would be the most community-engaged and human-centered plan any municipal government in this state has ever seen.”

Other thoughts: He’d favor an expansion of community-oriented policing in the Ogden Police Department to build relations with the public.

He favors creation of a 411 city phone line, giving the public a means to report things like potholes, cracked sidewalks and burned out street lights.

He doesn’t want to rely on city funds to subsidize operations at the city-owned Ogden-Hinckley Airport. Even so, he sees plenty of potential for growth of the operation, perhaps through expansion of cargo services and engaging with Hill Air Force Base to bolster aerospace and defense operations at the facility.

He also sees a future in offering commercial air service out of the airport, halted last year when two carriers departed.