OFFICIAL MINUTES
WOODS CROSS CITY COUNCIL MEETING
FEBRUARY 2, 2016
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WOODS CROSS CITY COUNCIL MEETING
FEBRUARY 2, 2016
The minutes of the Woods Cross City Council meeting held February 2, 2016 at 6:30 P.M. in the Woods Cross City Hall located at 1555 South 800 West, Woods Cross, Utah.
CONDUCTING: Rick Earnshaw
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:
Rick Earnshaw, Mayor Wally Larrabee
Tamra Dayley James Sheldon
Jessica Gertsch Ryan Westergard
STAFF PRESENT:
Gary Uresk, City Administrator
Jessica Sims, City Recorder
Tim Stephens, Community Development Director
VISITORS:
Kellie Jo Castleberry Becky Edwards Jeff Bassett
Becky Gino Rachael Bodell Mario Gonzales
Jason Gonzales Lois Schrader Don Schrader
Marc Evans Sathar Tabriz Ian Olson
Christian Olson John Thackeray Read Hellewell
John Sawyer John Hepworth
INVOCATION: Tamra Dayley
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Jessica Gertsch
The Council reviewed the minutes of the City Council meeting held January 19, 2016. After their review, Council Member Gertsch made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected with Council Member Sheldon seconding the motion and all voted for the motion through a roll call vote.
APPROVAL OF CASH DISBURSEMENTS
The City Council then reviewed the cash disbursements for the period of 1/10/16-1/22/16. After their review of the cash disbursements Council Member Westergard made a motion to ratify the cash disbursements as presented with Council Member Dayley seconding the motion and all voted for the motion through a roll call vote.
OPEN SESSION (BRIEF ITEMS)
The Mayor then opened the meeting to items from those present that they would like to bring before the Council that were brief in nature. This would be items that would take less than two or three minutes.
Mr. Mario Gonzales living at 1489 South 950 West came before the Council and thanked the Mayor and the City Council for helping him and his family and his neighbors with the subsidence issues they were facing. He said he appreciated them finding someone to come and do the testing to see what could be causing the problems and was grateful for the help they were receiving.
COMMUNITY OF PROMISE REPORT
Ms. Rachael Bodell, the chair person for the Community of Promise Committee, reported the following to the City Council regarding the activities of the Community of Promise:
ARTS IN THE PARKS—Mr. Mike Hepworth has resigned as chair for the Arts in the Park committee, therefore there is a need for a new chair as well as for committee members.
It was noted that the Arts in the Park meeting for January was cancelled. The Mayor did say they found 4 people who would be interested on being on the Arts in the Park committee.
CONTINUE MISSION—Continue Mission was contacted by the American Red Cross and were informed that they had been chosen for the Community Hero Award. Also, an anonymous Utah Politician for the State of Utah donated $10,000 to their cause.
This concluded her report and the Mayor and Council thanked her for her time.
YOUTH CITY COUNCIL REPORT
The Youth City Council Mayor reported on the activities of the Youth City Council:
He said the Youth City Council had gotten together and made Easter Eggs for the upcoming Easter “Egg-stravaganza” that will be held in the spring.
He said the Youth City Council had their annual Youth Conference Saturday, January 10 with the City Council making them breakfast and they also made quilts and had an improvisation team come and entertain them.
He also said the Youth Leadership had been invited to attend Leadership Day at the Capital and were able to discuss the police body cam issues which was very interesting.
This concluded his report and the Mayor and Council thanked him his report and for the service they offer the city.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The Mayor welcomed Representative Becky Edwards to the City Council meeting tonight. She was at tonight’s meeting to give the Council an update on the legislative session and to discuss any questions the Council might have for her.
Representative Edwards said they are going very strong in the legislature. She said she and Senator Weiler are working on the waste to energy bill that would impact Woods Cross City. She reported on bills that would be coming up for review including two bills concerning medical marijuana that could also impact the community of Woods Cross. One of the bills would deal with the whole marijuana plant and the other is an expansion of the cannabis oil bill but they are waiting to see how it plays out. She said she is very cautious on what she will consider regarding this bill. She also said there other large bills including discussion on early childhood education, specifically how children living in poverty could be helped by being spoken to more often and how that impacts a child’s ability to learn. She said they would also be talking about water and in investing in future water infrastructure so we do not have a water crisis in the future because of growth in the state.
Representative Edwards then took questions from the Council. Council Member Westergard asked about Equity in Education so every child has the same chance to take advantage in participating in immersion programs in schools. Representative Edwards said it is frustrating that some families cannot get their children into the immersion programs when they attend the same school as those that are enrolled in these immersion programs. She did say that kids will move forward faster in duel immersion programs. She said it only costs $100 a year for a child to be included in an immersion program and said there are funds available for schools to have these immersion programs to any school that would like to add them to their curriculum.
Council Member Gertsch asked about Education First and if there is a bill being proposed to increase property taxes for education for grades K-12 and wanted to know if property taxes would be raised this year. Representative Edwards said she did not see that taxes would be raised this year but people like Education First are having discussions on how revenue may be generated for schools in the future.
Council Member Dayley asked about charter schools and if they worked in creating a better educated group children. Representative Edwards said it is hard to compare because their funding stream is very different and their populations are not comparable. She said it is hard to get good data regarding charter schools. Council Member Dayley also wanted to know what the public safety challenges are with getting police officers to our city. Representative Edwards said they are looking into retirement for police officers, she said they are also looking into some other things that could benefit the police force at this time.
The City Administrator asked about lands use issues and what the feeling of the legislature is. He said he is frustrated with the Governor and the consideration of giving money to land use issues. Representative Edwards said there is a commission within the legislature that are leading out on this issue and are working with attorneys and they feel they are going to win and there are others that support the fact that it is the principal of this issue. The City Administrator said it is hard to balance budgets so he would like to see the money be used better.
The Mayor asked what the feeling was about the limits the city can put on traffic fines. Representative Edwards said she did not know much about that but she felt it is a fine line where sometimes the legislature has an over reach into municipalities.
Council Member Gertsch asked about concealed carry for weapons without a permit. Representative Edwards said there is almost always something that is passed regarding weapons issues and the Governor usually vetoes them but it should pass through the legislature.
The Mayor and Council thanked Representative Edwards for coming and reporting to the City Council and for answering their questions. She then expressed how much she appreciated what the Mayor and City Council does to make a difference in the city and in our state.
SILVER EAGLE UPDATE
The Mayor noted that Mr. Lockie was unable to attend tonight’s meeting so there would be no update on Silver Eagle.
PUBLIC HEARING—AMENDMENTS TO THE FY 2016 BUDGET FOR ALL CITY FUNDS
The City Administrator reviewed the following information regarding the amendments to the FY 2016 budget for all city funds. He addressed the major adjustments as follows:
General Fund
“In the Administration department, the City Administrator’s vehicle purchase was moved from the FY 15 budget to the FY 16 budget by the auditors because the invoice was actually dated in July 2015. The full cost of the vehicle, per the recommendation of the auditors, was allocated in the administration department with the costs being allocated to the various utility departments through the allocation to utilities line item in the City Hall budget.
“The salary and wages in administration was adjusted by $6,000 to bring the allocation of wages within the department into compliance with that which was budgeted.
“The Group Health Insurance line item in administration was increased by $10,000. In the FY 2015 an employee chose not to have health insurance, but FY 2016 they opted to take insurance. I did not include their costs in the FY 2016 budget.
“In the City Attorney department, there is an increase in the general legal services due to the work being done on the 2600 South project. There is also a small increase of $2,000 in the prosecuting attorney line item because when we contracted with Ryan we required him to do some of the paperwork that was previously done by the police department.
“In the City Hall budget the telephone line item is increased to cover the cost of upgrading to higher speed internet which the Police needed to download video conferencing for the detectives. There is also a $26,000 increase in the Improvements line item for the new reader board that was previously approved by the City Council.
“In the Police Department, the warrant service line item was increased by $9,000 due to an effort to reduce the number of outstanding warrants. There is also an increase in the overtime budget line item necessitated by the loss of two officers in the recent months. There is also a $3,000 increase in the Professional/Technical line item, to cover the cost of professional testing services for the lieutenant position. There is also a small increase in the uniform allowance line item since we made a small adjustment in the amount that we paid for uniform allowance to the police officers.
“In the Parks Department, there is a small adjustment between the salaries and wages of full time and part time wages.
“I increased the sales tax budget amount to $2,406,600, since the sales tax is coming in well above what we budgeted. I decreased court fine revenues by $50,000 since the revenues have come in considerably less than budgeted.
Community of Promise Fund
“I under budgeted the seniors’ and have added an additional $1,000 into their budget. The Arts in the Park line item is increased by $5,000 to cover the stage rental and the sound equipment for their activities. This is partially offset by the Holly donation of $5,000.
Capital Improvement Fund
“The Improvements line item is increased by $223,000 for the funding of the landscaping project on I-15 at the 2600 South interchange that was previously approved by the City Council.
Water Fund
“The allocation of City Hall expenses is increased by $6,000 to cover the purchase of the City Administrator’s vehicle. The Miscellaneous Services line item was increased by $8,000 to cover credit card fees and billing charges are higher than anticipated.
Storm Drain
“I have included a new Account 260, “allocation of City Hall expenses”, similar to what we have in the garbage fund and water fund. The storm water utility needs to pay its allocation to City Hall expenses as well and that amount also includes that portion that goes to the City Administrator’s vehicle.”
The Mayor then opened the public hearing for public comments.
There were no public comments regarding this agenda item and the Mayor closed the public hearing.
CONSIDERATION TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE FY 2016 BUDGET FOR ALL CITY FUNDS
After the above discussion, Council Member Dayley made a motion to adopt resolution 2016-609, a resolution amending the FY 2016 budget for all city funds as presented. Council Member Gertsch seconded the motion and all voted for the motion through a roll call vote.
CONSIDERATION TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE FY 2017 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
The City Administrator then went over the following information regarding the FY 2017 Capital Improvement Plan:
“Given to the Council is a copy of the proposed Capital Improvement Plan which is a guideline for the Council in budgeting for Capital Improvements in the FY 2017 budget. This is not a hard and fast list of improvements that need to be approved by the Council in the FY 2017 budget but gives some guidance as to what are priorities.
“Given to the Council are tables regarding the Capital Improvement Plan. Table 1 lists Capital Improvements submitted by the department heads for FY 2017-FY 2021. Table II shows the requested improvements for FY 2017 broken down into three categories, those recommended to be funded, those that may possibly be funded and those recommended to be funded, those that may possibly be funded and those that would not be funded by the Council.