Felony and misdemeanor charges have been filed against South Ogden City Engineer N. Scott Nelson in the forging of a city ordinance.
Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria charged Nelson Thursday with fraudulent handling of a recordable writing, a third-degree felony, and falsifying a government document, a misdemeanor.Nelson, 43, has admitted he created the ordinance in November 1994, dating it to May 1987, and forging the signatures of then-Mayor Lew Wangsgard and City Recorder Kathy Van Drimmelen.
He said he did so because he thought an ordinance creating a special impact fee for a new subdivision had been passed by the City Council in 1987 but had been lost.
The ordinance was proposed in 1987, a public hearing held and the matter was then tabled until the next council meeting. However, the minutes of the next council meeting do not show any discussion or vote taking place on the ordinance.
South Ogden has collected about $250,000 in impact fees since 1987 on the basis of the nonexistent ordinance.