12.01.20 Council Minutes

THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD

At the City Council
In and For Said City
December 1, 2020

Minutes of the Richfield City Council special meeting held on Tuesday, December 1, 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. RESOLUTION 2020-15 ADOPTED
6. PUBLIC HEARING ON REZONE REQUEST FO 341 N 600 E
7. PUBLIC HEARING ON REZONE REQUEST FOR 100 WEST STREET BETWEEN 500 SOUTH AND 600 SOUTH
8. DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH RANDY CHRISTENSEN APPROVED
9. MATCHING FUNDS FOR THE PROPOSED CDBG PROJECT APPROVED
10. RESOLUTION 2020-10 INCREASING SEWER RATES ADOPTED
11. ORDINANCE 2020-13 ADOPTED
12. ORDINANCE 2020-15 AMENDING THE ANNEXATION POLICY ADOPTED
13. CAPITAL PROJECT FUNDS DISCUSSED
14. MONTHLY FINANCIAL STATEMENT DISCUSSED
15. OTHER BUSINESS
16. MEETING ADJOURNED

1. OPENING REMARKS were offered by Mayor Ogden.
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Bryan Burrows.
3. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Ogden, Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Connie Nielson, Michele Jolley, Tyson Hansen.
4. MINUTES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the minutes of the meeting held on September 22, 2020. Motion: Approve the minutes of the meeting held September 22, 2020, Action: Approved, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Connie Nielson. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
5. RESOLUTION 2020-15 ADOPTED. The Council reviewed a resolution approving the financing of the acquisition, construction, equipping, and furnishing of a bicycle parts manufacturing facility to be located in Richfield City, Utah, and related improvements for CSS Composites LLC, in order to promote the general welfare of the residents of the State of Utah; authorizing the issuance by the Issuer of its not to exceed $10,0000,000 Industrial Development Revenue Bonds, Series 2020 (CSS Composites Project); and related matters. Motion: Adopt Resolution 2020-15 approving the financing of the acquisition, construction, equipping, and furnishing of a bicycle parts manufacturing facility to be located in Richfield City, Utah, and related improvements for CSS Composites LLC, in order to promote the general welfare of the residents of the State of Utah; authorizing the issuance by the Issuer of its not to exceed $10,0000,000 Industrial Development Revenue Bonds, Series 2020 (CSS Composites Project); and related matters, Action: Adopted, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
6. PUBLIC HEARING ON REZONE REQUEST FOR 341 N 600 E. At 7:09 p.m., Mayor Ogden opened a public hearing to receive comments concerning an amendment to the General Plan and zoning map for the property located at 341 N 600 E, Richfield, changing the zoning from CS (commercial shopping) the zoning of RM-11 (multi-family residential). Scott Memmott was present and indicated that he was wanting to have the property rezoned as multifamily (RM-11). He stated that there are apartments right next to this property. He has a party that is interested in purchasing the property but would like to develop it with a duplex based on the size of the property.

Councilmember Burrows does not see any reason why we would not want to do this given the fact that it is surrounded by apartments already. Councilmember Christensen felt that it was a good location for this use. Councilmember Burrows thought that it would probably be the best use for the property.

Councilmember Christensen stated that it is always nice to get property inside the City limits developed. Mayor closed the hearing at 7:13 p.m.

7. PUBLIC HEARING ON REZONE REQUEST FOR 100 WEST STREET BETWEEN 500 SOUTH AND 600 SOUTH. to receive comments concerning a proposed amendment to the General Plan and zoning map for the property located on the east side or 100 West Street between 500 South and 600 South changing from CS (commercial shopping) zone to RM-11 (multi-family residential) zone. Mayor Ogden opened a hearing at 7:14 p.m. Larry Pearson is in the process of acquiring this property and would like to see a townhouse condominium project on the property, noting that some of the units could be used for vacation rentals. Councilmember Christensen thought it would be nice to get it cleaned up. Councilmember Nielson asked how many units they would be looking at. Mr. Pearson indicated that it would depend on the amount of property they would have to use from the Quality Inn. Mayor Ogden closed the hearing at 7:18 p.m.
8. DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH RANDY CHRISTENSEN APPROVED. Randy Christensen discussed the development of the interior street for the subdivision which would run along the west side of Steve’s Steakhouse. He noted that what they would like to be able to just gravel this road for now. He stated that they have owned this property for 17 years and this is the first lot that has sold. If they would have developed roads 17 years ago, they would be rebuilding them now. He does not want to put a road in and not then have it be another 15 years before they sell another lot.

They would still install curb and gutter along College Avenue and on the east side of the road along the side of the property of Steve’s Steakhouse.

The owners of the steakhouse were fine with this proposal. Councilmember Burrows asked if the steakhouse would be using the road for anything.

They will be using the road for delivery trucks to access the steakhouse. Mr. Mogan stated that we will have to take care of this road and a surface of just road base would be difficult to maintain with that kind of traffic on it. He suggested that we allow Mr. Christensen to use some of the roto mill that we have stockpiled for this road. If we provided the roto mill, they would be responsible to have someone haul and install the roto mill on that road. It would be much easier to maintain the road if it were surfaced with a roto mill.

Councilmember Burrows wanted to be clear that when other lots developed, the roto mill would be removed and asphalt installed.

Mr. Christensen stated that he talked with the contractor and the price would not be a lot different, so he would not be opposed to that.

Councilmember Nielson asked about the water and sewer lines. Mr. Christensen stated that it comes up to the steakhouse but does not go any further to the north. It will eventually go to the north.

It was also suggested that in the agreement, the installation of curb and gutter for the east side of Lot 5 which runs along College Avenue would not be required until that lot developed.
Councilmember Burrows asked if we were able to have fire hydrants and Mr. Mogan indicated that fire hydrants were installed.

Motion: Approve a development agreement with R&R Subdivision to allow the interior street, the extension of water and sewer lines, and improvements along College Avenue to be postponed until another lot in the subdivision is sold and that the east side of Lot 5 would not be developed until Lot 5 was developed and the interior street would be surfaced with roto mill at this time, Action: Approved, Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.

9. MATCHING FUNDS FOR THE PROPOSED CDBG PROJECT APPROVED. The City is applying to CDBG to remodel the Senior Citizen’s Center. Mayor Ogden explained that we have not done a lot to the senior citizens center for many years. The award of the project is based on points and one way the City can get more points is to put some money into the project. Mayor Ogden suggested that we could pay for the engineering and construction management which would be our share of the project. This would cost the City approximately $21,000 Motion: Approve funds to pay up to $21,493 for the CDBG project to repair the Senior Citizen’s Center, Action: Approved, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
10. RESOLUTION 2020-10 INCREASING SEWER RATES ADOPTED. Mr. Mogan stated that the sewer lagoons need repair. We are looking at an 11 million dollar project to rehab our existing lagoons. Motion: Adopt Resolution 2020-10 affecting sewer rates, Action: Adopted, Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Connie Nielson. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
11. ORDINANCE 2020-13 ADOPTED. This ordinance would allow campgrounds to be approved in the general commercial (CG) zone as a conditional use upon approval by the Planning Commission and the City Council. Motion: Adopt Ordinance 2020-13 allowing campgrounds in general commercial (CG) zone as a C-2 use, Action: Approve, Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Councilmember Christensen had a question about this and Councilmember Burrows clarified that it was just not one parcel of ground. This would apply to all of the areas that are zoned general commercial. That zone includes property on 1300 South and property to the north of the hospital. Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yes = 4, No = 1, Abstain = 0). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. No: Connie Nielson.
12. ORDINANCE 2020-15 AMENDING THE ANNEXATION POLICY ADOPTED. of the General Plan changing the requirement for the water required for future commercial developments on a case-by-case basis. Councilmember Burrows clarified that the consideration would only be for commercial developments. He noted the paragraph that would allow for additional water if the development is changed after the annexation is approved. That means that development agreements will be part of the annexation process and they will be filed against the property. Councilmember Hansen wanted the Council to consider adding the following verbiage just before section three. Where it talks about the cash option, he would like it to state that if the cash option is exercised, all proceeds must be used for the acquisition and development of water. Motion: Approve Ordinance 2020-15 amending the annexation policy plan to clarify the water requirement, Action: Adopted, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson, Kathy Christensen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave.
13. CAPITAL PROJECT FUNDS DISCUSSED. Before the end of the fiscal year 2010/2020 the funds that would have exceeded the allowed 25% of the fund balance of the overall budget was transferred to the capital improvement fund to unreserved.

Mr. Hansen stated that we have over one million dollars that we need to appropriate or reserve. A big chunk of that came from commercial park land sales and we are going to need to put a road in and the best case scenario we are looking at approximately $800,000. It would make sense to put this in the fund for the business park.

We also talked a few months ago about the funds that were reserved for the pool. The Council said that there should be $450,000 set aside for the pool, so if we wanted that to be there, we would have to transfer in $101,000 from the unreserved to the pool.

The golf course has a pond on hole number 3 that holds less than 1-foot of water and they water the lawn out of it and they cannot do a full watering because the pond does not hold enough water. They would like to get some bids to drudge that out. Mr. Mullen understood that there was money in the capital projects fund for this. Mr. Hansen added $12,000 to the existing balance of $7,800 for golf course improvements so that this could be done.

The dump truck for public works is here and it will cost $42,000 which we currently have in the public works capital projects fund.

Then Mr. Hansen was going to put $21,000 in a reserve fund that the Council just approved for the senior citizens center.

That would leave a balance of approximately $127,000 unreserved.

Councilmember Burrows asked how much has been set aside for the new park? There is currently $50,000 reserved for that now. Councilmember Burrows wants to finish that park. Councilmember Hansen thought we should put another $70,000 toward the park. Councilmember Christensen thought it would be nice to have the project done completely instead of just something we are working on.

Chief Lloyd stated that the $90,000 shown for the police was $125,000, but somehow with losing Mike that has dropped down and he is missing $32,281.

Mr. Hansen stated that there is nothing reserved for the community center. The County only ended up giving us $45,000 toward the project. Councilmember Hansen noted that we have always known that we are not going to be able to finish this project.

Councilmember Hansen would rather over-allocate funds for the park and finish the project right. Councilmember Burrows stated that we have also talked about doing a facelift on the north side of the pool. There are some bad cracks and we need to do something.

Michelle Olsen stated that the engineer has looked at the one corner of the library building because it appears to be sinking. They put some tracers in to see how much movement there is. At some point, we will have to figure out what is happening and do something about it. She also indicated that they have 3 furnaces that usually have a life of 11 years and they at 20 years right now. Blake Electric recommended that we replace them within the next 2 years because they probably will not last more than that.

Councilmember Nielson stated that we do not have a lot of historic buildings left so we need to be able to maintain the library. Councilmember Burrows wondered if Atlas Piers would come down and do an estimate.

Councilmember Christensen stated that the library needs to be painted and the roof needs to be oiled. There was some question as to whether or not the insurance would help with the settling problems.

The Council determined to put money back into the fund to cover the police vehicles that have already been ordered. The balance will be left unreserved.

Carson DeMille indicated that they are planning to apply for another grant for the bike trails this spring and it will be a 50/50% match. He noted that this past year the City put $25,000 toward the project. They have been using an in-kind match of labor from the dozer operator for the BLM. However, he retired this year and they do not have anyone else to do this yet.

14. MONTHLY FINANCIAL STATEMENT DISCUSSED. Mr. Hansen discussed the recent figures for sales tax, highway tax, recreation tax, transient room tax, etc. He noted they were all up except for the transient room tax.

He compared this year’s revenue with the revenue that was collected last year for the same time. He noted that the golf course revenue is up, the airport revenue is up.

Mr. Hansen noted that there are a couple of items that are a little over where they should be at this time, but he is aware of them and he has talked to the department heads and will make sure that those things stay in line.

Our total revenue was up 32% excluding the CARES funds and the total expenditures are up 26% over last year. Mr. Hansen also pointed out that our building permit fees are up from $13,000 last year to $63,00 this year.

15. OTHER BUSINESS. Councilmember Nielson asked when we would be opening the next section and how many more we would have to sell before we open the next section. We will do the same thing that we did with the last section and only open a fourth of it at a time. Councilmember Nielson said that Christmas Tree Lane is open for 2 weeks this year. The trees can be viewed through the windows too. If you have a child that is performing you will probably get an invitation to go there. The performances will be on their Facebook page. Mayor Ogden stated that this is going forward is because the Sevier Valley Center is doing all that it can to comply with the restrictions.

Councilmember Burrows stated that the Reaper reported that he wanted to abandon the bike path and he does not care about that. The reason he is bringing this up is that while we are doing 500 North street we should put a bike lane along that road. If we could do this down to 300 West, it could turn up 300 West and connect back into the bike path. If we have to find another alternative, for the bike path along the canal, then this would be a good alternative. The one problem he has with the bike path along the canal is that this location has taken away a lot of people’s privacy. It does not matter where you walk, you are looking into peoples’ backyards. Putting this along 500 North would at least provide an additional route. Mayor Ogden indicated that there is not a lot of room on 300 West for a bike path to go along that street. The bike path can go in the travel lane or along the shoulder.

Councilmember Hansen stated that they started that mandated testing of the high school athletes and they did testing at Richfield High yesterday and it went well but he did not hear any numbers. He shared that South Sevier tested their swimmers, drill team, wrestlers, boys’ and girls’ basketball teams today and they did 110 rapid tests that all came back negative.

Mayor Ogden reported that Salina has a new slide for their pool and they are putting in a pump track. We need to consider this when we anticipate what we might do to make our pool friendlier or if we get a pump track. Councilmember Burrows was adamant that the new park be finished before anything else. Here again, we are starting another project and we are not finishing the ones that we have. Mayor Ogden just wanted the Council to have this on their minds. He thinks we need to know some options. He showed the Council an option of putting a 30-foot slide out on the patio at the pool or we could do something small with moms with little kids. When people come in and say that they are going elsewhere to do things and have fun then at least we could say that we have looked at some things and are considering doing something like that. He does not want anyone to be caught off guard like we are thinking about these types of things.

Councilmember Nielson stated that she knows a group of moms that go once a week up to Manti, so it is something that we need to look at, but she agrees that we need to finish the park first. This is something that we need to be aware of.

Councilmember Hansen stated that when we get with the designer for the new park, there are water features that can be incorporated into the park. He is not a huge fan of splash pads in general, but something along those lines could very easily be incorporated in the new park. He likes that this spreads the recreation footprint out over a larger part of our community. We ought to make this part of our discussion.

Mayor Ogden stated that one of the ladies that goes to the pool in the morning noted that there was a little puddle of water out in the parking lot. Mr. Mogan investigated and he reported that this problem goes back 20 years or more. There has been this spot that would seep up through the asphalt and create puddles. Approximately 20 years ago it was dug up and we found an old distribution line that runs through there and it is not in service anymore. They poured some concrete there and kind of capped it off. Over the years, the water just keeps seeping up through the asphalt, but it comes and goes. During the winter it causes ice and some issues out in the parking lot. Mayor Ogden asked Mr. Mogan to look into it because this time it was a little worse. They cut the asphalt and dug down to the old distribution line. They got a huge influx of water, groundwater or spring water, they were not sure. They set up some pumps and pumped the water up into the canal for about 14 hours and the water never went away. They figured they were pumping 700 gallons a minute out of there. The next morning the water was crystal clear and warm just like the water out of the spring.

The distribution line used to come from the spring, but Mr. Mogan is pretty sure it was capped off. They are going to have to do some more investigating to find out where this water is coming from. Carson DeMille felt that the water could be that we are losing it out of the spring.

Mr. Mogan indicated that they had filled the hole in and went back today to dress it up and the backhoe sunk. This is something that we are going to have to take care of. It will affect the parking lot of the swimming pool. We just do not know what we are dealing with; if it is water coming from the spring or another water source.

16. MEETING ADJOURNED. At 8:48 p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Action: Adjourned, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Connie Nielson. 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 9 day of February 2021.