05.12.20 Council Minutes

THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD

At the City Council
In and For Said City
May 12, 2020

Minutes of the Richfield City Council meeting held on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, 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.

1. OPENING REMARKS
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. ROLL CALL
4. MINUTES APPROVED
5. PLANS FOR 4TH OF JULY DISCUSSED
6. AIRPORT FUNDING FROM THE CARES ACT DISCUSSED
7. VARIABLE FREQUENCY DRIVE UNIT FOR CEMETERY WELL APPROVED
8. OTHER BUSINESS
9. EXPENDITURES
10. MEETING ADJOURNED

 

1. OPENING REMARKS were offered by Councilmember Nielson

2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Councilmember Christensen.

3. ROLL CALL. Present: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Connie Nielson, Mayor David Ogden, Michele Jolley.

4. MINUTES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the minutes of the meetings held March 10 and march 18, 2020. Motion: Approve the minutes of the meetings held March 10 and March 18, 2020, Action: Approved, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Connie Nielson.

5. PLANS FOR THE 4TH OF JULY DISCUSSED. Kevin Arrington was present to discuss the upcoming 4th of July celebration. Mayor Ogden was working on a puzzle earlier today and he was thinking how this whole situation is like trying to put together a puzzle of a picture that nobody knows. He has heard all sorts of comments from doctors and they are different. One will say one thing and another one will say another thing. It is reality that everyone has their own opinion. We have to know going into this that there are as many different opinions as there are people. Mayor Ogden’s opinions go one way and they go the other way and he does not know exactly what is right and he does not know who does.

Mr. Arrington said that the College cabinet met this morning and instructed the campuses both here and in Ephraim that the buildings would be closed and locked down until the 15 of June. Then this afternoon there was a conference call that included Wade Garrett from the Ute Stampede and he indicated that they are moving forward with their event and there was a State Senator who was pretty confident that sometime in the next 10 days we will be going to the low risk yellow category and that by June 15 we plan to be to the green or the new normal. What does the 4th of July celebration look like under the yellow category. Does it look like a couple of parades, have a Bar-B-Que you’re your family and then we will shoot some fireworks off the mountain and if we do get to the green category by the 15 of June, how quickly can we put together some of the other things that we might feel comfortable with. Unfortunately, the new normal is not back to business as usual. It is more disinfecting and more cleaning and that type of thing.

Mr. Arrington cannot speak for everyone, but from what he is hearing on the community, we want to have a celebration. We want to do something and we want our families to come back and enjoy the 4th of July like they have in the past.

We did get a couple of booth applications today and one of the concerns we have had from folks about the parade is that if they do not know until the 15 of June or later, will they have enough time to build their float. If they start building it no and then its cancelled, then they have put that money into it. A couple of the booth folks have said the same thing because by about the 1 of June they need to start ordering what they need.

His recommendation would be that we still have some time to kind of wait and see where things go with the State. It would be a really good sign if sometime in the next week or so we did move into that yellow category and we would be one step closer.

Mayor Ogden got a call from Brent Schmidt at the hospital and IHC will not be sponsoring anything for the next two months; not the diaper derby or a float in the parade. This came down from the headquarter. He also received a call from the Commissioners asking what the City is going to do for the 4th of July. They are not going to have Miss Sevier County so that float is out. Councilmember Nielson stated that we will not have a new Miss Richfield, but Macey Madsen who has been Miss Richfield this last year has gone over and above doing things in our community and she was asked if we don’t have a pageant would she be willing to ride on the float.

Councilmember Nielson concern has been for businesses is that it is expensive to build a float. She is wondering how many people have the funds or the time to put together a float where we will not decide until June. That is a big thing. Maybe we need to look at how many entries we need to have a parade. Mr. Arrington stated that we usually have 60 to 70 entries. Councilmember Hansen indicated that another thing to consider is that we will not have the marching bands. That does not mean that some of the kids could not get together and be on a truck and do a brass ensemble and play some patriotic music.

Ms. Jolley stated that there are a few things that we could decide now such as maybe candy will not be thrown at the parade because anything like that is going to draw people together and congregate, which is what we need to prevent. We could also decide that we are not going to do the fish grab, the races or the events at the pool as they do create people to gather in large numbers and close quarters. We could possibly still do the concert on the park on the night of the 3rd of July. We would not put chairs out and let people bring their own chairs and sit on the lawn. If there are not any booths on the park, there would be room for people to spread out.

Councilmember Burrows has thought a lot about this since our last meeting. He is most concerned about people coming here from another area. We have been quite protected down here, which is a good thing. He does not think we will have the drill teams or cheerleaders or ball teams. There are not any pageants and the High School Rodeo finals are cancelled.

Councilmember Nielson felt that we were really safe comparatively to larger cities, but now they are finding that the virus is affecting children, that becomes a concern because they are the ones running all over the park and playing. When we have people come home, but we are bringing people in from all over the country.

Mayor Ogden suggested that it would be difficult to tell people not to come home for the 4th of July and the economic boost that comes from people coming in. He realizes that we need to be cautious having that anywhere near our citizens for their safety.

One of the ladies with the horse races pointed out that if you look at the parking lots around town there are license plates from New York, New Jersey, Colorado, California, so we have people from everywhere here right now. Her opinion is that we can live in fear or we can live. Shutting everything down is living in fear and that is not any better than dying from the pandemic.

Duane Utley stated that he thought we need to use some common sense. He talked to Commissioner Ogden the other night and told him that we need to get things opened up and use some common sense. We are going to kill more people from trashing the economy than from the virus. If you are immune compromised or have underlying problems, then you definitely need to be cautious as you should be with anything. Commissioner Ogden told Dr. Utley to go ahead and have the horse races. He just felt that we all need to be on the same page.

Councilmember Hansen asked how the horse races were handled in Weber County last weekend. They had races and spectators. Dr. Utley stated that they are running horse races in Salt Lake this weekend.

Councilmember Burrows agreed with Dr. Utley in that we need to use common sense. He falls into the high-risk category, so he will not be attending, but we have never really shut down and he has not seen that much of a difference in our community as far as movement.

Councilmember Hansen thought we should see if KTTA would broadcast the parade for people who cannot go.

Councilmember Christensen noted that we might have this virus for two or three years and we cannot shut everything down for all that time, so we need to start learning how to live with this. She felt that we need to do the 4th of July and figure out how we can do it.

Dr. Utley agreed that everyone has their own opinions, but he thinks is comes down to common sense and we cannot just shut everything down and keep it shut down. He believed that there is a lot of dirty politics and that we are not always getting the truth.

Councilmember Hansen pointed out that we are trying to do some things to preserve people’s physical health and at some point, if we diminish their economic and their mental well-being we are also diminishing their physical health. He felt that we are beyond that point.

We are not going to stop people from coming here. Even if we do not have an event there will still be people who will be coming here to see family and relatives. Councilmember Nielson noted that this is part of the tradition. She wondered if we do go forward, would it be expensive to put sanitizing stations on each corner of the park. Councilmember Burrows said that Whites have been bring sanitizing stations to the park for the past couple of years. The bounce houses might be something else that we would have to do without.

Mr. Arrington stated that he and Councilmember Gleave, Ms. Jolley and Chief Lloyd could meet and come up with some ideas of what the celebration would look like and what events we would have if we are in the yellow or low risk category. We could suggest what events we would hold and what the what precautions we would take. We would use the Governor’s recommendations and the Central Utah Public Health recommendations and decide what events we would be comfortable holding based on the criteria. We could put together what the celebrations would look like if we are in the green category.

Councilmember Hansen stated that maybe the horse races happen, but without concessions.

Mr. Arrington stated that the Governor’s recommendations do include a concessions section under the yellow or low risk guidelines. Dr. Utley felt that we should plan for the best and then if we have to modify things due to a flare up then we could modify things.

Councilmember Hansen stated that there are ways to move forward with this using reason. Dr. Utley felt that there were enough things opened back up now that we will have a chance to monitor things.

Mayor Ogden has heard of people being worried that if we have a parade and it is so diminished, how people will accept that. He thought that when that flag comes out and starts marching down the street that it will be a real important time. That means something to people. He hopes that people will recognize that we did what we could with the time that we had with the conditions that we are in.

Councilmember Christensen had someone tell her that we should not to the children’s parade.

Mayor Ogden thought that the majority of people who are going to do what it takes to be on the parade route on a hot July day perhaps, are going to be there for another purpose and that is to celebrate what it is all about. No way is it going to be the same parade that we have always had and given the circumstances it’s okay. As for as telling people what to do about their reunions, it is just going to have to be up to them. People just really need to have good judgement, but we know there will be some people who will not have good judgement.

There is nothing to stop us from holding the fireworks.

Kip Hansen left at 7:40 p.m.

If people ask us tomorrow if we are still going to have a parade, Mayor Ogden felt that we should say yes with some adjustments. Mr. Arrington stated that we should say that we anticipate being in the low risk category by then, so we are making adjustments to the parade so that we can hold it under those criteria.

Mayor Ogden stated that the very easiest thing to do would be to just put everything off, but it is not the right thing to do. This might be harder because of the situation than it is in a normal year, so it is going to take a lot of effort from all of us and encouragement of other people to do what is right and be careful.

Councilmember Gleave expressed his opinion that he agrees with what has been said. We still have a little bit of time and we need to be smart about it. There is a Town Hall on Thursday with the Utah League of Cities and Towns that is going to talk about this very subject and they are going to give advice. He felt that we needed to pay attention to that and see what they say. We have a couple of weeks until our next meeting and we will be able to make a decision at that time.

This will be discussed again at the next Council meeting.

 

6. AIRPORT FUNDING FROM THE CARES ACT DISCUSSED. Adam Robinson that COVID-19 the FAA gave every federally funded airport some money. We were eligible for $20,000. There are several ways it can be used. If we wanted to do the project we could use the money that way. We do need to do a slurry seal, but if we use these funds to do the project, then we have to go through all of the engineering, etc., which in the long run would cost more than the $20,000. For us to get the biggest bang for our buck, we chose to take these funds to cover payroll. This was actually the advice of FAA. He explained that we can take this as payroll and then we can use the money they City was going to pay out in payroll and spend it to do a slurry seal on the parking lot on the east side.

Councilmember Nielson asked how the equipment is at the airport. Mr. Robinson stated that in his 5-year plan he needs a new 4-wheeler. He uses it to move the planes and the one he has now does not move the bigger planes. Right now, he would like to get the slurry seal done.

Mr. Robinson is hopeful that the engineers will start a design for more ramp that we are in desperate need of this summer. This was in the initial plans for our airport. With all the stuff that happened, we lost our ramp. They are maybe going to design the ramp this year and do it in the next year.

 

7. VARIABLE FREQUENCY DRIVE UNIT FOR CEMETERY WELL APPROVED. Keith Mogan explained that the VFD would allow us to have a soft start, which allows the motor to start easily and ramp up; but it would also allow us to change the gallons per minute that we pump. We are still having a sand issue that is being pulled upon start up, so as that enters into the system and goes through the meters, it jams them and we have to replace them.

The reason for looking at this now is that Rocky Mountain Power has some really good incentives and rebates. Mr. Mogan met with a gentleman from Rocky Mountain Power last week and he looked at our flow rates and our past utility bills. Right now, we are at $13,000 to buy a drive and install it. According to Rocky Mountain Power, if we put a drive in our annual saving would be about $989 a year that we would save in energy costs and they would give $3,800 in rebates and incentives on this unit.

Councilmember Nielson noted that it would take us 10 years to pay this back.

Mayor Ogden asked if the big start up in contributing to the sand in the system. Mr. Mogan confirmed that it is. They do not issue the incentives or rebates until the drive unit is installed. Mr. Mogan thought this would be a huge benefit for the City to put this in. He also explained that they are going to do a work up on what a drive unit would cost us, what rebates there are and how long it would take to pay for itself for the deep well next to the shop. The deep well is like a $5,000 demand charge when we turn it on and it causes problems in our water system, do we try not to use it unless we absolutely have to.

Councilmember Nielson asked how our budget is looking. The sales tax numbers came in close to where they were last year at this time. Mr. Mogan stated that it takes about three weeks to order the drive and wire it in. Once that happens, Rocky Mountain Power will send their people back down to verify the work. Mayor Ogden asked how the new well is contributing. Mr. Mogan stated that it is helping the system tremendously. The old well at the airport was 330 gallons a minute and this one is putting out right at 1,200 gallons permit. He indicated that it was always difficult to fill what is called the lower south tank, but this well is taking care of the lower system now. Last year, this well was running so we only had to use the deep shop well for about 3 weeks in July and all of August. Councilmember Burrows asked if it has a soft start on it. Mr. Mogan confirmed that it did. Councilmember Burrows asked how the sand is in this well. Mr. Mogan stated that it is pretty clear and that it already has one of these drives on it.

Motion: Approve the purchase and installation of a variable frequency drive for the cemetery well, Action: Approved, Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Connie Nielson.

 

8. OTHER BUSINESS. Councilmember Nielson stated with the Better Days 2020. They wanted to recognize and honor Marge Fullenbach and Monnie Olsen as women of the year. She would like to have plaques made for them. Hopefully they will be in the paper for that.

Councilmember Burrows has heard comments about the new addition to the U-Haul. They have blocked off the view and all of the roadways. There is no way now for buses to get into McDonalds. Councilmember Nielson pointed out that they had promised us that they would not block of the flow of traffic through the parking lot. Councilmember Christensen thought they would be closer to the building.

Councilmember Nielson would like Mayor Ogden to go and visit them. The building looks nothing like the plans that they presented.

The Council was reminded of the Arbor Day Celebration that the Youth City Council was holding on Friday on the bike path by the Lion’s Park. They will be planting three trees to replace some that died. One of the trees will be planted in the memory of Mike Langston.

 

9. EXPENDITURES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the warrants and cash disbursements for December 2019, January, February, March and April 2020. Councilmember Burrows and Councilmember Christensen were concerned about the things that were being purchased from Amazon. The Council felt that these items could and should be purchased locally especially the items that are being purchased. Councilmember Nielson stated that we are spending these merchants’ money and we need to buy from them, so everything that we can we should buy from them if it is close. Councilmember Christensen asked about the tree trimming that cost $1,500. This was paid for the trimming Motion: Approve warrants and cash disbursements for December 2019, January, February, March and April 2020, Action: Approved, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Connie Nielson. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Connie Nielson.

 

10. ADJOURNMENT At 8:28 p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Action: Adjourned, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Connie Nielson.

 

PASSED and APPROVED this 28 day of July, 2020.