Ogden Council picks ex-teacher

OGDEN — After narrowing the candidate field from 39 to five over the past two weeks, the Ogden City Council selected one of the finalists to fill a vacant at-large seat.

Susan Van Hooser, a retired Ogden schoolteacher, was sworn in Wednesday, taking the place of Bill Glasmann, who resigned in August to take a job with the city's economic-development office. The council interviewed all five finalists for two hours and then recessed for 30 minutes before returning to the council chambers with a unanimous decision.

The other finalists were collection agent John H. Thompson, general contractor J. Brad Florence, former Ogden-Hinckley Airport manager Jeremy Taylor and Weber State University professor Therese Grijalva.

Van Hooser will serve until Jan. 1, 2008. Over the next few months, she said, she will gauge whether to run for re-election in 2007.

"Thank you for your confidence," she told the council. "I have a lot to learn."

Of the 39 applicants, there was no shortage of notable Ogden names, including Robert Hunter, president and chief executive officer of United Way of Northern Utah; and Robert Geiger, COO for a ski-apparel company and a key supporter of plans to build a resort in Malan's Basin and connect it to Ogden with a gondola.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com