CITY OF OREM
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
56 North State Street Orem, Utah
May 8, 2012
3:30 P.M. WORK SESSION
CONDUCTING Mayor James Evans
ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmembers Hans Andersen, Margaret Black, Karen A. McCandless, Mark E. Seastrand, Mary Street, and Brent Sumner
APPOINTED STAFF Bruce Chesnut, City Manager; Jamie Davidson, Assistant City Manager; Greg Stephens, City Attorney; Richard Manning, Administrative Services Director; Stanford Sainsbury, Development Services Director; Mike Larsen, Public Safety Director; Karl Hirst, Recreation Director; Chris Tschirki, Public Works Director; Donna Weaver, City Recorder; and Rachelle Conner, Deputy City Recorder
CARE Discussion
Charlene Mackay, CNS Manager, advised the purpose for this work session is for the City Council to discuss where they want to go with the allocations. Staff has tentatively scheduled May 22nd for the City Council to approve the allocations; however, that can change if the Council desires.
Mayor Evans said he has looked at the information, and he is interested to hear what the Council has to say about the applications.
Mrs. Black said her goal was to make it work. She reviewed her proposed allocations as follows:
Facilities
· Recreation Commitment - $500,000
· Center for Story Commitment - $300,000
· SCERA Shell Handrails - $33,500
Total Facilities - $833,500 Maximum Original Bucket - $875,000
Mini Grants
· Roots of Freedom - $4,999
· Chauntenettes - $4,999
· Orem Chorale - $4,999
· Utah Valley Civic Ballet - $4,799 (subtracted $200 for scholarship proposal)
· Colonial Heritage Foundation - $4,999
· Utah Film Center - $2,500 (partial funding)
· Utah Storytelling Guild Story Camp - $4,999
· Resonance Story Theater - $4,999
· Wasatch Ballet Conservatory - $0 (no funding of scholarships)
· Utah Lyric Opera Society - $4,999
· Latinos in Action - $4,999
· Utah Baroque Ensemble - $4,999
· The Provo Orem Word - $700 (live performance)
· Institute for Young Dramatic Voices - $2,500 (partial funding)
Total Mini Grants - $55,490 Maximum Original Bucket - $62,500
Major Grants
· Utah Regional Ballet - $40,000
· Clear Horizons Academy - $0
· Utah Valley Symphony - $9,800
· SCERA - $500,000
· Hale Center Foundation- $388,000
Total Major Grants - $937,800 Maximum Original Bucket - $750,000
Grand Totals
· Facilities - $833,500
· Mini Grants - $55,490
· Major Grants - $937,800
· Administrative Costs - $27,000
· Total - $1,853,790
2012 CARE Tax Funds - $1,630,000
CARE Reserves to Facilitate Funding - $223,790
Total Funding Sources - $1,853,790 Remaining Reserves - $21,753
Mr. Stephens indicated he was asked to research whether Clear Horizons qualified for CARE funds. He indicated State law requires the funding to go to cultural arts organizations. He then read the definition from State law. He expressed his opinion that Clear Horizons does not qualify as a cultural arts organization.
Mr. Sumner advised he forgot to add in the administration costs, and his proposal also uses the remaining reserves. He stated this is extremely difficult for him because all of the organizations had great presentations. He looked at the various applications and used the point system to determine his proposed allocations. He then reviewed his proposal as follows:
Organization / Request / Points Given / Amount /Roots of Freedom Foundation / $4,999 / 23 / $2,500
Chauntenette Women’s Chorus / $4,999 / 35 / $4,999
The Orem Chorale / $4,999 / 39 / $4,999
Utah Valley Civic Ballet Company / $4,999 / 25 / $3,000
Colonial Heritage Foundation / $4,999 / 40 / $4,999
Utah Film Center / $4,999 / 18 / $1,000
Utah Storytelling Guild / $4,999 / 37 / $4,999
Resonance Story Theatre / $4,999 / 38 / $4,999
Wasatch Ballet Conservatory / $4,999 / 32 / $4,000
Utah Lyric Opera / $4,999 / 38 / $4,999
Latinos in Action / $4,999 / Education / $4,999
Utah Baroque Ensemble / $4,999 / 31 / $4,000
The Provo Orem Word / $4,999 / 14 / $500
Institute for Young Dramatic Voices / $4,999 / 23 / $2,500
Total / $52,493
35-40 points - $4,999
30-34 points - $4,000
25-29 points - $3,000
20-24 points - $2,500
15-19 points - $1,000
Below 15 - $500
Organization / Request / Amount /Recreation and Leisure Property Acquisition / $500,000 / $500,000
Handrails – Scera Shell / $38,000 / $38,000
Center for Story / $300,000 / $300,000
Total / $838,000
Organization / Request / Points Given / Amount
Utah Regional Ballet / $75,000 / 33 / $30,000
Clear Horizons Academy / Legal???
Utah Valley Symphony / $9,800 / 27 / $8,000
SCERA / $660,970 / 43 / $628,000
Hale Center Foundation / $634,702 / 37 / $410,000
Total / $1,076,000
Available CARE With Reserves / $1,875,000
Total All Areas / $1,966,493
Need to Cut / $91,493
Mayor Evans indicated if they do not cover the administration costs from the CARE funds, they will have to take it out of the General Fund.
Mrs. McCandless expressed her opinion that the CARE Tax does not need to have a reserve fund for emergencies. This is more like the CDBG funding that they distribute the entire amount each year. It is important to show the tax payers that they are not just setting money aside. She said she is comfortable spending the money that is available each year.
Mrs. Street said she has been asked whether the CARE funds have to be spent during the time period they are given. Mr. Stephens replied State law is not really clear on that issue, and the City will have to determine what their interpretation is. He then read the language from State law. He noted he thinks they are fine saving the funds during the CARE Tax period. The difficulty comes after the eight-year tax is over.
Mr. Sumner noted he is not comfortable with having so many funds sitting in a savings account. He expressed concern with how the public would perceive it.
Mrs. McCandless advised the funds set aside for recreation have a purpose, but the reserves funds are just sitting there.
Mrs. Street agreed that they should go ahead and spend the reserves they have. She said she views the reserves differently than the money they set aside for recreation and the Center for Story. She said she wants to make sure as they field questions from the residents, she want to be able to say that they were able to save money for other projects while they were also improving and maintaining what they already have.
Mr. Andersen asked Mr. Stephens to obtain a better interpretation for what distribution means. He expressed concern that only forty percent of the people he polled said they would renew the CARE Tax. He said he thinks the support has gone down because the people feel it is not being spent the way they wanted it spent.
Mrs. McCandless questioned whether Mr. Andersen’s poll asked how the people wanted it spent. Mr. Andersen replied it was just a question that asked if they would vote for the CARE Tax again and sixty percent said no.
Mr. Stephens advised he would like to listen to the legislative session where the distribution period was discussed to see if he can glean their intent. He will then provide a written opinion to the City Council.
Mr. Seastrand said he is not interested in holding the funds out beyond the CARE Tax period.
Mr. Davidson explained the Legislature generally does not provide a lot of specificity when they pass bills in order to provide some flexibility.
Mayor Evans stated Mr. Sumner had a good point. When they go out and ask people to pass the tax again, they should have a good accounting of the money.
Mr. Sumner noted a lot of his comments were based on the fact that this question will be voted on next year and the residents will want to know how the funds had been spent.
Ms. Mackay stated staff is looking at providing more educational information for the residents to show them what this funding is and how it helps in the community.
Mayor Evans advised that is good. There is a group of successful businessmen in the community who were interested in raising the remaining funds for the Center for Story. When they approached some of the businesses, they were told that the facility is going to remove baseball fields, which is not true. It is so important to get the accurate information out to the residents.
Mr. Seastrand voiced his opinion that the reserves have served its purpose by having the extra funds each year to help keep the organizations as whole as possible. He said the CARE funds seem to be on the upswing, so he is fine with using the remaining reserves this year. He said he is struggling with some of the organizations wanting to do an event in Orem just to receive funds, even when they are not an Orem organization. As he was looking through the list, he saw a few of the organizations that work with SCERA, such as the Roots of Freedom. They hold their event at the Scera Park, and they utilize the SCERA costumes. He questioned whether the ability to fund that event could be handled through the SCERA. It seems that there could be some collaboration with the SCERA. Another example would be the Utah Valley Symphony.
Mr. Andersen asked who determines the total percent of funds the organizations can ask for. Mrs. McCandless explained it was the City that set the thirty-five percent amount. The Council did not want the organizations to become dependent on the CARE Tax. They modeled this after Salt Lake County.
Mr. Andersen suggested the City give the SCERA $1 million of the reserves to help construct their fly system. Mrs. McCandless replied that State law does not allow the CARE funds to be used for privately-owned facilities.
Mr. Andersen then commented that he would bet they could figure out a way to do this. Mrs. McCandless responded that the only way they could is if the City owned the SCERA building. Only public buildings can receive the CARE funds.
Mr. Andersen asked why they could not just use $1 million from the reserves to try to accomplish this. Mrs. Black advised there is not $1 million in reserves. The amount is down to just over $200,000.
Mrs. McCandless expressed her opinion that the organization does not have to be based in Orem. Part of the benefit for the community is the opportunity to watch the performances and be uplifted by the presentations. She is comfortable with having the groups who want to perform in Orem apply for the funds.
Mr. Stephens clarified that the thirty-five percent requirement is a City requirement that the City Council approved by ordinance. He noted it would not be appropriate for them to change that for this granting round because the applicants made their requests based on the thirty-five percent. If they wanted it changed, they should change the ordinance to request it for the next round.
Mrs. Street voiced her hope that the CARE Tax will be renewed. Orem is a better community because of the cultural arts opportunities. She thanked Mrs. Black and Mr. Sumner for their efforts in putting together the lists of recommendations. Mrs. Street advised the SCERA has a broad reach and variety in what they do. She said she feels the need to try to fund the SCERA as close to their request as possible. There is no other organization in the community that does as much as they do. The economy has been hard for all of these organizations, but she would like to find a way to fully fund SCERA’s request. That might mean they set aside less money for land acquisition for recreation this year.
Mrs. Black stated the City has allowed the organizations to include the CARE funds in their totals two years ago, so they continue to ask for more funds each year. If they did not allow them to include the CARE funds, the SCERA could have asked for $485,970 this year and the Hale could have asked for $498,902. There is an inflation thing that has occurred for the last two years. She stated the intent was to allow the organizations to receive more money; however, she does not believe it was so the City would fully funds their requests each year.
Mrs. Street noted for the record that she supports building library additions with library bonds, and she feels they have already given a lot of money to the Center for Story from the CARE Tax. She would prioritize the nonprofit organizations over a City facility that has other funding sources.
Mrs. Black indicated the other funding sources would include taxes and bonding, while this uses the CARE funds. Mrs. Street stated she understands that.
Mr. Sumner said that is why they need a game plan with dates for purchases for recreation and the Center for Story to show people what is being done with the money. They are not moving forward with any plan.
Mr. Chesnut advised they have the final design for the Center for Story. They need to raise an additional $740,000 for the Center for Story, and there is a campaign with the library folks and the business community in raising those funds. There are businesses that are interested in setting up an endowment to pay for the ongoing operational costs of the facility, which would address Mrs. Street’s concerns. They are moving forward with the Center for Story in a positive way and recreation recently held open houses, which has helped them determine the direction they want to go. They had 175 people attend the open house and give their input. That is the best open house attendance they have had in a long time. That input will be put into action and they will see the money spent.