THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and For Said City
March 22, 2022
Minutes of the Richfield City Council special meeting held on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at 6:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers of the Richfield City office building located at 75 East Center, Richfield, Utah. Mayor Bryan L. Burrows presiding.
- ROLL CALL
- OPEN & PUBLIC MEETINGS TRAINING
- MEETING ADJOURNED
- ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Burrows, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Elaine Street, Tanner Thompson, Michele Jolley, Tyson Hansen, Brayden Gardner.
Planning Commission members Susan Jensen, Josh Peterson, Kendrick Thomas, and Blaine Brienholt.
Attorneys Eric Johnson and Joel Yellowhorse.
- OPEN & PUBLIC MEETINGS TRAINING. City Attorney Eric Johnson gave a little background on him and his firm. He brought Joel Yellowhorse with him who is one of his associates. Rob Patterson who was not in attendance, is another associate who works in the firm. With the open and public meetings Act, the premise is that everything you do for Richfield City as an elected or appointed official is for the public. Any time the City has a meeting where the action will be taken, an agenda must be posted within 24 hours before the meeting. That is even true for an Ad hoc committee.
The City Council has 5 voting members which mean that any time 3 of those individuals want to get together, it needs to be noticed as a meeting. It is okay to go to social events, etc.
If someone from the public brings up something that is not on the agenda, it is okay to listen to them, but you cannot take action on it. if it is something that requires action, the most you can do is put it on an agenda.
Mr. Johnson addressed emails. If you are holding a meeting, you do not get to email each other and you do not get to text each other about anything that is discussed in the meeting. You need to take care of it in public. His advice was to implement the best practice.
Mr. Johnson noted that the Open and Public Meetings Act addresses a site visit. A site visit should be scheduled and an agenda posted to notify the public when the site visit will be held and where it will be.
There was a discussion about the council members attending the Planning Commission meeting as individuals. Mr. Johnson stated that because the Council reviews the work of the Planning Commission he would recommend that the Council not attend their meetings. That is a general rule, but it does not mean that there are not sometimes the Council could attend Planning Commission meetings. He indicated that the Council should rely on staff to keep them informed.
Mr. Johnson was asked about texting. He stated that the Council is allowed to group text outside of the public meeting, but if they are in the public meeting, the business needs to be conducted in front of the public. He felt that it is rude for the Council to do this when they should be listening to those who are participating in the meeting.
Mr. Johnson also told the Council that their emails and texts that deal with City business are open to the public.
- MEETING ADJOURNED. At 6:47 p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Approved: Adjourned. Moved by: Kip Hansen. Seconded by: Todd Gleave. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.
PASSED and APPROVED this 26th day of April 2022.