Editor:

I have known Mayor Joe Johnson and John Marcus Knight for years and like them, but I cannot condone their actions in city leadership. It is difficult to point out problems when well-thought of people get responsible positions. It is called mud-slinging, and yet, how can people be aware of the problems if no one says anything? My observation is that we have needed a change in leadership in this city for some time.

I and others supported John Marc Knight for city council because he said he would support our efforts to keep restaurants that were close to schools, libraries, etc. out of Bountiful. In January, however, dealing with the alcohol problem, he spoke publicly in favor of the beer variance at El Matador. He told me it was a political decision. He said he would give me a report about the change of the ordinance to protect children, yet I have never seen one.

The mayor told me he would support passing a child-appropriate resolution in Bountiful. When I went to present it to the city council I found that, he, City Manager Tom Hardy and the City Attorney enthusiastically spoke against it. That was a surprise.

The resolution passed anyway, thanks to the balance of the city council. Bountiful has received a lot of positive publicity because it was the first city in Utah to step up and pass a resolution such as that.

Kathryn Balmforth, a member of the State Alcohol Commission, when the State Alcohol Commission gave El Matador a beer license considered what happened prosecutable. That’s pretty straightforward. This happened over a year after our mayor and city council made an agreement with El Matador to move to the present location.

They had promised the owner a beer license. When they belatedly discovered that giving him a license broke the ordinance to protect children (which had existed in Bountiful for years) because El Matador was going to be too close to the library, did they openly admit the problem and solve it? No!

Without putting it on an agenda and without a public hearing, at the end of a city council meeting, they hurriedly changed the ordinance so they could allow a variance and therefore give El Matador a beer license.

Instead of being honest with the public and admitting their mistake, they were not forthcoming time after time for over a year about the issue. They were trying to cover up their mistake.

Several of us asked for a copy of the minutes of the meeting where the ordinance was changed. Three months later we still did not have a copy of those minutes even though we made many requests. We never have received that copy. How transparent is that?

At times when I called to see what was on the city council agenda, it was not ready just hours before the meeting. This is not “being open.” I think that this group wants to make their own decisions if the public would please get out of the way. When I asked several times to be on the agenda, I was told there was no time. We were promised a hearing by the mayor on the issue about changing the ordinance and have never had it. It is now over a year and a half later.

I sat in Bountiful City Council meetings where the mayor verbally chastised those who presented statistics about why we shouldn’t have beer served near libraries, schools, etc. Hearings that in any way involved the beer issue were not placed first on the agenda like other public issues at other city council meetings for the convenience of the public but an hour or so later as lots of people with their families or their Scout troops patiently waited.

The mayor used profanity when he talked about me. By the way, the ordinance has never even yet been reverted back to giving the protection to children. Hopefully a new mayor and new city council members will take care of this.

Months passed, and finally there was going to be a meeting regarding the State Alcohol Commission. I sent a letter to only the city council members, the mayor, the city manager and the owner of the El Matador. After a day for the mail to arrive, I found beer cans all over my front lawn. I did not report it to the police.

I could see the issue going nationwide with me, a lady in a wheelchair, sitting on her front lawn surrounded by beer cans, and I had given up hope of ever seeing all that openness and integrity that the mayor claims this city has. I had better things to do with my day. My grandchildren picked up the cans.

I have watched all this happen, and it makes me sick. Then at the State Alcohol Commission meeting the truth finally came out—not by our mayor or city council — but by the owner of El Matador. A deal had indeed been made by our mayor and city council members to give out the beer license, and all of the nastiness, manipulative behavior and the change in the ordinance finally made sense.

These are only a few of the problems I am aware of. Jeff Novak, if he becomes a mayor, would have feedback and open meetings. He would admit mistakes and try again. He would listen to the public. I think we need this man.

JoAnn Hamilton

Bountiful