Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria has ordered an investigation into the origins of a South Ogden city ordinance that purportedly established a $700 impact fee.
South Ogden Police Chief Alma Richins turned the city's copy of the ordinance over to the county attorney's office last week, asking for a full investigation of possible document fraud.For nearly eight years, the statute's impact fees have been assessed mostly for Burch Creek parkway development.
The ordinance in question was dated April 28, 1987, and bears the purported signatures of former mayor Lew Wangsgard and former city recorder Kathy Van-Drim-melen.
But city records show no ordinance was adopted on that date, and both Wangsgard and Van-Drim-melen say the signatures are not theirs.
"If in fact, we find there is a person or persons who have committed a crime that is covered in the (state's criminal) code, this office will prosecute it without reservation," DeCaria said.
"But we also don't want to be premature," he added. "With a situation of this importance to the people of South Ogden, we want to get all the facts together, and then we will look at it."
There are no city records that show the ordinance was ever adopted, and the secretary for City Attorney Richard Stine, who would have prepared the document, said she never has seen the ordinance and did not prepare it.
Meantime, city officials are looking into the legal ramifications of having collected more than $230,000 in impact fees based on what appears to be a fraudulent ordinance.
Mayor George Goodell has indicated the city could be financially devastated if a court were to order South Ogden to return the parkway impact fees. The money already has been spent.