"This block was a mess," he says. "There was a dump and a salvage yard and barbed wire fence."

Then the mayor convinced the IRS to move into a historical building; now the IRS, in an ironic twist, is paying taxes to Ogden to work there.

And so it goes. The Ogden City Mall was leveled and replaced with a new, updated mall called The Junction, with retail stores on the bottom floor that are adjacent to Wave Rider — an indoor surfing pool — and "I Fly," a wind tunnel that holds patrons aloft, as if they were skydiving.

The plans call for a hotel to be built upstairs, where a gondola could take skiers from the heart of the downtown area directly to a ski resort they hope will be built on the city-side of Ogden Peak.

The Ogden River and the adjacent land were cleaned up, some 60 acres so far, with dumps and other rundown areas being replaced by kayak parks, cafes, stores, trails, parks, housing, fly-fishing parks, and more is on the way, including a one-of-a-kind man-made ice-climbing tower of real ice. Godfrey plans to complete another 120 acres of redevelopment before he is finished.

This is all in keeping with the mayor's vision of turning Ogden into the outdoor adventure capital of the West, and so far it seems to be working. Eleven ski-related companies have moved to Ogden — among them, Salomon, Atomic, Descente, Goode, Scott, Rossignol, Nidecker (all but two of them have established headquarters here).

Godfrey is trying to capitalize on Ogden's natural assets — two rivers and hundreds of miles of trails and world-class ski resorts and popular rock-climbing sites. Ogden's rise in the outdoor recreation market has been written up by the New York Times and by several national outdoor and ski magazines. Godfrey was invited to speak to a group of resort owners last month in Switzerland to discuss the rise of Ogden as a resort community (he declined because of the election campaign).

According to Godfrey, the overhaul that Ogden has undergone will cost taxpayers nothing in the end. Revenue streams from property and sales taxes far outstrip the debt payments, he says, and after 10 years the debt will be paid and all that money will go to city coffers.

Meanwhile, he likes to note that he has reduced property taxes three times.

"We're tight; I'm a miser," says Godfrey. "These are great investments."

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