THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and For Said City
May 11, 2021
Minutes of the Richfield City Council meeting held on Tuesday, May 11, 2021
at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Richfield City office building located at 75 East Center, Richfield, Utah. Mayor David C. Ogden presiding.
- OPENING REMARKS
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
- ROLL CALL
- MINUTES APPROVED
- EXPENDITURES APPROVED
- PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
- ANNEXATION PUBLIC HEARING
- ORDINANCE 2021-5 ADOPTED
- ORDINANCE 2021-10 ADOPTED
- MAYOR’S PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022 PRESENTED
- OTHER BUSINESS
- EXECUTIVE SESSION
- RECONVENE & ADJOURN
- OPENING REMARKS were offered by Councilmember Gleave.
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Councilmember Christensen.
- ROLL CALL. Present: Mayor Ogden, Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Connie Nielson, Michele Jolley, Tyson Hansen.
- MINUTES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the minutes of the meeting held on March 9, and March 17, 2021. Motion: Approve the minutes of the meetings held on March 9 and March 17, 2021, Action: Approved, Moved by Connie Nielson, Seconded by Todd Gleave. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
- EXPENDITURES APPROVED. The Council did not receive the expenditures. Motion: Table the expenditures until next meeting, Action: Tabled, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
- PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT. Rick Robinson reported on the Planning Commission meeting held May 5, 2021. They held a public hearing to receive comments concerning a request to rezone the property located at 1140 South Cove View Road, Lot 2 of the Royal Inn Subdivision from RM-11 to RM-24. The developer plans to build 4 apartment buildings on that property. Councilmember Burrows asked if they would access the property from Cove View Road. Mr. Robinson indicated that they would access the property from Cove View Road and 500 West. The Planning Commission recommended approval of a zone change.
The Planning Commission also held a public hearing to receive comments on a proposal to allow short-term rentals in all residential zones. They recommend the ordinance be changed to allow short-term rentals in all residential zones.
Dan Farley presented a proposal to develop storage units on the property located at 75 East 1300 South. They would like the curb and gutter along 100 East to be waived. Councilmember Christensen asked what the Planning Commission’s opinion was on this. They felt that there were no curb and gutter there it would not be a bad idea to waive these requirements. The other side of the street is being developed with a curb and gutter. Councilmember Nielson felt that we would be making a mistake if we did not require it.
A petition for annexation of property owned by Jared Jensen and located at 100 East between 500 South and 700 South was discussed. Mr. Robinson stated that the access off from the State Highway to this property would go through his existing business and that is not allowed. The access to the property would have to come off from 100 East. The Planning Commission recommended the Council approve the annexation.
They approved a conditional use permit for doggie daycare and training at 350 South 100 East.
- ANNEXATION PUBLIC HEARING. At 7:00 p.m. Mayor Ogden opened a public hearing to receive comments concerning the proposed annexation of real property owned by Derek and Sharlee Stokes and located at approximately 2200 South on the south side of the golf course. Mr. Stokes stated that they intend to build a single-family home on this property. Councilmember Nielson asked if he was annexing the whole parcel. Mr. Stokes indicated that he is only annexing a portion of it which is 1.5 acres. Hearing no other comments, Mayor Ogden closed the hearing at 7:06 p.m.
- ORDINANCE 2021-5 ADOPTED. The Council reviewed Ordinance 2021-5 to rezone the property located at approximately 1080 South between 900 West and 1000 West from single-family residential R1-8 to multi-family residential RM-11. Motion: Adopt Ordinance 2021-5 rezoning the property located at 1080 South between 900 West and 1000 West to RM-11, Action: Adopted, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
- ORDINANCE 2021-10 ADOPTED. The Council reviewed Ordinance 2021-10 to annex the property owned by Robert C. and Julie Ann Bleazard located at approximately 450 East Annabella Road. Motion: Adopt Ordinance 2021-10 annexing the property owned by Robert C. Bleazard and Julie Ann Bleazard located at 450 East Annabella Road, Action: Adopted, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
- MAYOR’S PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022 PRESENTED. Mr. Hansen explained that our revenue has stayed fairly consistent. He does anticipate that it will fall off and he is hoping that we can get through this next fiscal year. He is projecting that sales tax revenue will stay fairly level this next year. Gas prices are creeping up, but we are projecting a similar budget for fuel in all departments for this next budget year. Mr. Hansen encouraged the Council to adjust the property tax rate this year so that we will not be so heavily reliant on sales tax. He has increased the property tax line item by $300,000.
Mr. Hansen pointed out that the employees did not receive a raise last year and staff is recommending that we give each full-time employee a $2,000 increase.
He also reported that the health insurance premiums are projected to decrease slightly this year, but they are still out for bid and we will not know until that process is complete.
The proposed budget does include the hiring of a new officer for the police department and the other salary increases previously discussed.
We are going to go away from the vehicle leases and purchasing vehicles with the government discount and then selling it in a year for basically what we paid for it. We are doing that with public works this year with one truck. The police department will still lease two of its jeeps this next year.
The fire department building is getting old enough that some things are needing more than just routine maintenance. Chief Worley has expressed concern about the air conditioning units so we have budgeted an extra $5,000 in building in grounds for this and have budgeted $50,000 in capital projects to help with the purchase of the new brush truck. He noted that there is money in the capital improvement fund to pay for the brush truck if we cannot find a grant. We are still confident that we will be able to.
In the streets budget, we are going to have Straight Stripe stripe the streets this year.
The golf course needs some major maintenance. There are large areas of the golf course that are dead and are lacking water because of the old system. We had an irrigation specialist out there recently and he is going to send us some information on what it will take to get our course back in shape. We also need to do some improvements to the snack shop. They sell quite a bit of prepared food and it needs some cooking equipment. This budget has about $84,000 to cover those costs.
We have talked about the library in previous meetings and the need to oil the roof and paint the exterior. We have also discussed replacing the heating and cooling units, so we have increased the budget for the library by $40,000.
The budget has $250,000 for the new park and we can always use PAR tax and REC tax monies to help finish that. We received a grant from the Office of Outdoor Recreation to continue the construction of another 14 miles of mountain bike trails including a kid’s loop at the bottom. We have budgeted $27,995 for matching grants.
- OTHER BUSINESS. Mayor Ogden and Chief Lloyd discussed the seatbelt campaign.
Councilmember Nielson reported that there are a lot of stop signs and street signs that are crooked. Mr. Mogan stated that they would look into that and explained that part of the problem is that people hit them with their trailers.
Councilmember Gleave reported that he came across some kids that were throwing the rocks people have painted into the canal. He knows that there is not anything we can do, but he thought the Council should be aware of it.
Councilmember Nielson updated the Council about the Miss Richfield pageant. The new director and her committee are getting things together and it seems to be going well.
Water and drought conditions were discussed. Mr. Mogan felt that the City should enforce some type of water restriction. We need to encourage residents not to water during the day. Mr. Hansen stated that Spanish Fork is encouraging their residents to get rid of their curb strips because they say that the curb strips will take 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of water a year. They are telling the property owners that if they will take out the grass then the City will bring in landscape fabric and rock and the property owner will be responsible to put it in. As the owner of a curb strip, he would be happy to get rid of it.
Councilmember Burrows discussed the water the City is trying to purchase. He asked if we had heard anything.
Mr. Hansen discussed a program that would allow the City to send texts out to the resident. He asked how the Council felt about this. It would cost approximately $2,000 to $2,500 per year. The program he is looking at is interactive and depending upon a keyword, they would get a text back. Some of the responses could give them a link to our website for additional information. The one program he has looked into would not charge us a set-up fee because we are currently using one of their programs.
Councilmember Christensen stated that we need to make sure that the cemetery looks good for Memorial Day. She said the grass was dead where her spaces are. The pump is out and should be back in the next 2 or 3 days. We are trying to water some of the areas with the hose.
Councilmember Nielson said that the sign on the old laundromat is just hanging there and if it fell, it could hurt someone. She wondered if Mr. Billingsley could look into that. There are a few old signs around town that need to be taken down.
- MEETING ADJOURNED. At * p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Action: Adjourned, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
PASSED and APPROVED this 13th day of July 2021.