THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and For Said City
October 8, 2019
In and For Said City
October 8, 2019
Minutes of the Richfield City Council meeting held on Tuesday, October 8, 2019
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.
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. EXPENDITURES APPROVED
5. YOUTH CITY COUNCIL OATH OF OFFICE
6. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
7. REQUEST FOR CONSENT OF FUTURE IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT DENIED
8. GENERAL SERVICE AGREEMENT & ASSIGNMENT ORDER FOR THE WAL MART SEWER LIFT STATION WITH JONES & DEMILLE ENGINEERING APPROVED
9. GENERAL SERVICE AGREEMENT & ASSIGNMENT ORDER FOR THE WAL MART SEWER LIFT STATION WITH JONES & DEMILLE ENGINEERING APPROVED
10. PROPOSED SIGNAL STUDY DISCUSSED
11. THE INSTALLATION OF LIGHTS FOR BIKE PATH TABLED
12. QUARTERLY FINANCIAL STATEMENT REVIEWED AND DISCUSSED
13. OTHER BUSINESS
14. MEETING ADJOURNED
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. ROLL CALL
4. EXPENDITURES APPROVED
5. YOUTH CITY COUNCIL OATH OF OFFICE
6. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
7. REQUEST FOR CONSENT OF FUTURE IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT DENIED
8. GENERAL SERVICE AGREEMENT & ASSIGNMENT ORDER FOR THE WAL MART SEWER LIFT STATION WITH JONES & DEMILLE ENGINEERING APPROVED
9. GENERAL SERVICE AGREEMENT & ASSIGNMENT ORDER FOR THE WAL MART SEWER LIFT STATION WITH JONES & DEMILLE ENGINEERING APPROVED
10. PROPOSED SIGNAL STUDY DISCUSSED
11. THE INSTALLATION OF LIGHTS FOR BIKE PATH TABLED
12. QUARTERLY FINANCIAL STATEMENT REVIEWED AND DISCUSSED
13. OTHER BUSINESS
14. MEETING ADJOURNED
1. OPENING REMARKS were offered by Councilmember Burrows.
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Councilmember Christensen.
3. ROLL CALL. Present: Kevin Arrington, Bryan Burrows, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Connie Nielson, Mike Langston, and Michele Jolley. Excused: Mayor David Ogden, Matt Creamer.
4. EXPENDITURES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the warrants and cash disbursements for September 2019. Councilmember Christensen asked what we did on Upland Drive for $3,480. Mr. Langston stated that we replaced the sidewalk and the handicap ramp. We replaced quite a few handicap ramps around the City if they were falling apart because we needed to get it in before the road project started. Motion: Approve the Warrant Register and the Cash Disbursement Journal for September 2019, Action: Approved, Moved by Richard Barnett, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5).Yea: Kevin Arrington, Bryan Burrows, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Connie Nielson.
5. YOUTH CITY COUNCIL OATH OF OFFICE. Mayor Pro-tem Nielson stated that sometimes it is really hard to get people involved. She thanked the Youth City Council for being willing to be involved. Eliza Steele is serving as Youth City Mayor and introduced the other members of the Youth City County. They were as follows: Elizabeth Hair, Sunnie Leavitt, Christiana Keaton, and Hannah Steele. The Oath of Office was administered to the Youth City Council members.
6. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT. Rick Robinson reported on the Planning Commission meeting held October 2, 2019. He noted that the Commission discussed a conditional use for a daycare, but it was tabled because the applicant was not in attendance. They reviewed a business expansion for Jones and DeMille Engineering. They are planning an addition to their building, a new parking lot and they will be doing a lot line adjustment as well. U-Haul has applied for a new sign permit, but they wanted a higher sign which was not allowed. There are some conflicts with the sign ordinance, so the City Attorney is working on a resolution. Howard Hatch was in on the redevelopment of the old Topsfield Lodge at 1180 South Cove View Road. There is an issue with legal access to the property, so that will have to be addressed before anything else can be done. A grooming business was approved on 350 South 100 East, but without boarding because that is not allowed.
7. REQUEST FOR CONSENT OF FUTURE IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT DENIED. Kendrick Thomas addressed the Council and asked if they would consider granting him consent for a future improvement district on 600 South along the south side of his development. Kendrick Thomas and Tyler Olsen are developing that property with 3 townhomes. This waiver would allow him to not install asphalt on 600 South which is a side street to the property. They would just leave the shoulder gravel.
He explained that with all the fees and the infrastructure, the cost for that lot would be $48,000. They would still install the curb and gutter and sidewalk and asphalt in front of the buildings on 200 West. As the developer, he felt that it was an unfair burden to put on a developer of such a small project. The financial challenge they run in to is that because of the appraised value of the buildings, the bank will only loan 75% of the values of the property. So they are simply short on loan funds. He also stated that there is precedence around town to allow gravel as he is requesting.
Councilmember Christensen drove down there after last Council meeting and she thinks that the asphalt needs to be installed. There is curb and gutter and asphalt all along that block to the east of this property. She is concerned about it being a hardship, but she thinks it would look horrible if it was not paved on that south side.
Keith Mogan stated that from a public works standpoint, they would like to see this paved. It makes sense from a maintenance standpoint, especially where there is asphalt along the other two-thirds of the block.
Mr. Thomas thought that if the City wants to see the inner streets of the City developed that the City should be willing to have some type of a cost sharing plan. Councilmember Burrows asked Mr. Thomas what the cost of the asphalt shoulder would be and Mr. Thomas estimated it to be about $6,000 to $7,000. Councilmember Burrows stated that the property where the Council has granted this type of waiver have been areas where there are not improvements on the street.
Councilmember Barnett indicated that he agreed with Mr. Thomas’ position it is a lot easier to go into the areas were the developers have already done the infrastructure and buy a lot. Councilmember Barnett felt that this should be addressed by the Council because in situations like these a public private partnership would be advantageous to both. He suggested that he be given a deferral on the asphalt until such time as the Council has time to address the possibility moving forward of a private public partnership that perhaps Mr. Thomas could participate in.
Kip Hansen stated that because of the scale of this project it is not a good fit for a special improvement district and wondered if that is what Councilmember Barnett was referring to. Councilmember Barnett stated that he is not speaking about a special improvement district, but more along the lines of what they are doing in major cities along the Wasatch front. A city may want to develop the downtown area and so the city is willing to say that if a developer would come in and develop some of the inner city lots that are unattractive and undevelopable otherwise, the city would help participate either by waiving fees or by helping with the infrastructure to incentivize developers.
Mr. Langston stated that if the City made a policy that we would participate at 50%, then we would have to come up with this out of our road budget because there is not any other funding available. He also pointed out that there would not be any other properties on 600 South would ever want a special improvement district for road improvements because they already have them. In essence, we would be waiving the paving in perpetuity in a way, unless people across the street wanted to develop and put curb and gutter in. Motion: Consent for future improvement district denied, Action: Approved, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Bryan Burrows, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Connie Nielson.
8. GENERAL SERVICE AGREEMENT & ASSIGNMENT ORDER FOR THE WAL MART SEWER LIFT STATION WITH JONES & DEMILLE ENGINEERING APPROVED. Carson DeMille explained that we have a general services agreement with the City already. This is just a legal contract for Jones and DeMille to do work for the City and then on a case by case basis they use an assignment order for each project. Mr. DeMille also had an assignment order for the sewer lift station. Mr. Langston stated that we do not necessarily know the size it needs to be at this time because it would be based on what goes into the commercial park. Mr. DeMille stated that he has all of the data from the other groups, which is worse case scenario in his opinion. He thought was should be fine to use those numbers as a conservative start. Councilmember Burrows asked what the advantage would be if 3-phase power was installed and if it would prolong the life of the pumps.
Mr. DeMille stated that there are several advantages with 3-phase power. The motors last a lot long and you can purchase explosion proof motors. The new design would include 3-phase power. He has already gotten a quote from Rocky Mountain Power for 3-phase. Councilmember Burrows asked if there was a way that we could standardize our motors so they could be interchanged. Mr. DeMille stated that the one at the sewer plan are big and these will be smaller, so they would not be interchangeable. The pump in the lift station now is designed to pump 190 gallons per minute and it is only pushing 90 gallons. Motion: Table the General Service Agreement with Jones and DeMille Engineering until the City Attorney has looked at it, Action: Tabled, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Kevin Arrington.
Motion: Approve the Assignment Order for the Wal-Mart sewer lift station, Action: Approved, Moved by Richard Barnett, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Bryan Burrows, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Connie Nielson.
9. GENERAL SERVICE AGREEMENT & ASSIGNMENT ORDER FOR THE WAL MART SEWER LIFT STATION WITH JONES & DEMILLE ENGINEERING APPROVED. Carson DeMille explained that the canal bank is eroding about 2 or 3 feet into the bike path. Councilmember Barnett asked what it is going to take to fix it. Mr. DeMille stated that it will have to be done early spring or during the winter when there is no stock water in there. The bank will have to be sloped and then lined with some small riprap to keep it from eroding. Councilmember Nielson asked where the funds would come from. Mr. Langston stated that it would be paid for with the recreation funds and we would have the money to do that. Motion: Approve the project to repair the bike path along the canal bank not to exceed to $67,000 without returning to the Council for further approval, Action: Approved, Moved by Richard Barnett, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Bryan Burrows, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Connie Nielson.
10. PROPOSED SIGNAL STUDY DISCUSSED. Robert Dowell stated that this is something the State has been working on for some time. The City has been involved with a signal study with UDOT and Sevier County to determine where future traffic signals would be. There are four scenarios and in each of those scenarios there are different alternatives. Any of the alternatives could be selected and combined in any order. Future stop lights were proposed at 100 North, 300 South or 400 South and 900 North. The engineers have proposed a raised intersection at Center Street and Main, which is a concept that can be used to enhance the intersection and make it look pedestrian friendly. You can also use stamped concrete crosswalks. Mr. Dowell discussed one option that would eliminate parking on Main Street and the sidewalks would be wider and could accommodate benches and tables. He understood that the City does not want to eliminate parking on Main Street, but that would be something UDOT would consider.
Mr. Dowell stated that what the City has done in creating the parking areas is an example for many, many towns. Moab is dying to have something like this and they do not have the space do anything like this.
Councilmember Barnett asked what the time-frame for this project and what the cost would be. Mr. Dowell stated that there is no money available at this time. The signals come as they are warranted, but what we want to do is develop a plan. Signals are something that UDOT pays for and installs. The other enhancements would be something that the City would have to look at.
Councilmember Arrington was not sure that any mid-block would be something he would want to see and he felt that anything down the middle of the road would be problematic too. He thought that making it safer at the intersections is important and he loved the incorporation of bikes.
Mayor Ogden arrived at 8:46 p.m.
11. THE INSTALLATION OF LIGHTS FOR BIKE PATH TABLED. The Council discussed the installation of lights on the bike path. Councilmember Christensen wondered if we could afford to do this where we have to fix the bike path. Councilmember Barnett stated that we have had the funds for the lights set aside for years. Mr. Langston stated that we do have the money, but given the money we need for repairs we would not be able to go any further with the lighting than this. Motion: Table the installation of the lights until we have bids for the installation of the lights, Action: Tabled, Moved by Kevin Arrington, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Bryan Burrows, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Connie Nielson.
12. QUARTERLY FINANCIAL STATEMENT REVIEWED AND DISCUSSED. Mike Langston explained that we are up 4.75% up in sales tax collections over last year. Most of that is probably just growth in the economy in Utah in general. The highways tax is up about 4.71%/ Transportation is up 21% and Mr. Langston has no idea why. The rec tax is actually down. Overall, our finances seem to be in pretty good shape so far this year. He pointed out the parks expenditures and the fact that the salaries for temporary employees are at 44% after 25% of the year, but we will be laying off people shortly. Mr. Langston thought that we would have more part-time help in the parks department and he anticipated that we would probably go over than budget for the year. It is the same way in the golf course and since we transferred Ryan Draper to the golf course which will increase the salaries and benefits in this budget. The temporary wages are at almost 35% after 25% of the year, but winter is coming and we will not have much labor during the winter.
Mr. Langston discussed the capital improvement fund and the 2019 street improvement project, noting that we have spent almost 2 million dollars on that project. We had over 4 million dollars in the form of loan and grant that we received from CIB. This is an item that will have to be amended because the majority of this money will be spent in this fiscal year.
We had a final today on the stop light project on 1300 South and we are going to be a little over budget on this project and we knew we would be. It ended up at $10,000 over and it will just come out of road funds that we have set aside for new construction. The 100 East project is on budget, but there have been a lot of change orders and a lot of soft spots. If we end up going over on this project, we would have to use the money set aside for new construction. We have almost $600,000 of unused class C road money and highway tax money so we are in good shape in the road budget. We could probably do another road project next year like a $300,000 or $400,000 chip seal project, but we will see where we are next spring.
13. OTHER BUSINESS. Mayor Ogden reported on a meeting held at Monroe City Council to discuss the Community Development Center. He indicated that it went well and did not morph into anything too ugly. He reminded the Council that last year Mayor Parsons and the Council gave a letter of support for this project and for whatever reasons, they decided to rescind the letter of support and also sent a letter to other mayors around the County, other cities and to their own people that said they were opposed to the project. Commissioner Brown made the presentation tonight and he hit the high points quite well. Mayor Ogden thought that they made some headway, but the sticking point is that if the project does not succeed and instead of the planned O & M, it gets out of control, who is going to stand that increase. Commissioner made it very clear that the County was only in for $125,000 and the College had said something similar. Any time you do something big or small you have to have a little bit of faith in the planning and execution. We really do have the benefit of having an architect who has built over 20 of these and has a pretty good sense of what it will cost. His projection of what we would gather in to take care of the shortfall was higher than what he projected. We have been more conservative about that. He thinks there will be a lot of support around the area for this and it will be well used; better than we imagine now, much like the Sevier Valley Center has been. At the end of the meeting, there was some back and forth and the Council was not opposed to the project. They were just opposed to some of the loose ends and how it would benefit Monroe. Mayor Ogden was prepared to talk about 13 ways to kill a community, but he did not. He will, however, talk about that tomorrow when he talks to the Chamber.
Councilmember Burrows heard Kay McIff talk to people about this project and he told people that this is a college project. Councilmember Burrows asked if this was a college project. Mayor Ogden stated that it is a joint project with the City, County and the College. Councilmember Burrows was also concerned about it being called a community development center because he heard that we were calling it this so that we could sell it to the legislature. Mayor Ogden explained that it is a community development center because it will give the community the opportunity to grow.
Councilmember Burrows just wanted to be sure that we do not misrepresent what we are doing.
Councilmember Barnett heard from a worker at the UDOT shop and on more than one occasion someone has come out of the bathroom and told others not to use the bathroom because the City had turned the water off again. That happened 3 for 4 days this summer. Mr. Mogan stated that there were three main breaks on the water line and each time it had to be shut off. Usually it was off for about 2 hours. There was one time when the contractors were working and the notified the guys in the shop, but the receptionist were not told. Councilmember Barnett said that they were just tired of this happening.
Councilmember Barnett also had a complaint about the smell from the sewer lagoons. Mr. Mogan stated that we had a line failure a couple of months ago that was feeding the primary cell. We had to transfer it to the cell to the south and that lagoon is slowly filling. The lagoon takes about 3 feet to be active and right now we do not even have a foot over 70 acres. He is hoping that it will fill this winter.
Councilmember Burrows asked about an expenditure for $2,500 for a Cody Pearson grant. Mr. Langston said he would find out and report back. Councilmember Burrows also asked about the payment for the street lights for Ideal Acres and if the City gets reimbursed for that. The City pays for the lights and then the developer reimburses the City.
14. ADJOURNMENT. At 9:46 p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Action: Approved, Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Richard Barnett. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 5). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Bryan Burrows, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Connie Nielson.
PASSED and APPROVED this 10 day of December, 2019.