THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and For Said City
December 8, 2020
Minutes of the Richfield City Council meeting held on Tuesday, December 8, 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.
- OPENING REMARKS
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
- ROLL CALL
- MINUTES APPROVED
- EXPENDITURES APPROVED
- AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR JUNE 30, 2020 TABLED
- ESTIMATE TO REPAIR THE CANAL BANK APPROVED
- ANNEXATION ORDINANCE 2020-14 RATIFIED
- PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
- ORDINANCE 2020-18 ADOPTED
- ORDINANCE 2020-19 ADOPTED
- 500 EAST SIDEWALK PROJECT DISCUSSED
- ENGINEERING FIRM TO DESIGN THE NEW PARK DISCUSSED
- REMODEL THE OLD ELK’S LODGE BUILDING APPROVED
- ORDINANCE 2020-16 ADOPTED
- ORDINANCE 2020-17 ADOPTED
- WATER RATES DISCUSSED
- AMENDED POLICIES FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT APPROVED
- OTHER BUSINESS
- EXECUTIVE SESSION
- RECONVENE & ADJOURN
- OPENING REMARKS were given by Chief Lloyd.
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Connie Nielson.
- ROLL CALL. Present: Mayor David Ogden, Bryan Burrows Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Connie Nielson, Michele Jolley, Tyson Hansen. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- MINUTES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the minutes of the meeting held on September 1, 2020. Motion: Approve the minutes of the meeting held on September 1, 2020, Action: Approved. Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Todd Gleave. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- EXPENDITURES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the expenditures for November 2020. Councilmember Nielson noted that on page 7 there was the purchase of a puppet. Mr. Hansen stated that this is a supplier that we deal with for the inventory at the visitor’s center. Mayor Ogden found a puppet and because it had to be bought through the City, we purchased it and Mayor Ogden paid the City for it.
Councilmember Nielson asked about all the refunds at the pool and if that was because we had to close the pool. Mr. Hansen stated that the refunds went to people who paid for swimming lessons and the pool was closed from August 17 to October 19, so we refunded the money.
Motion: Approve the warrants for November 2020, Action: Approved. Moved by Connie Nielson, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR JUNE 30, 2020 TABLED. Mayor Ogden explained that the auditors were not quite ready to present the financial statement so the matter needed to be tabled until the next meeting. Motion: Table the audited financial statement ending June 30, 2020, Action: Tabled. Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Connie Nielson. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- ESTIMATE TO REPAIR THE CANAL BANK APPROVED. Brandon Jensen was present to discuss the cost of installing a 12-inch wall and rip-rapping for 70 feet down the bank. Right now, the box culvert comes out and pushes the current right into the canal bank. Councilmember Burrows met with Mr. Jensen and the canal is undermining the road in several places. We talked to the State and they said that we could dig the canal out further on the west side so we could open this up a little more. Mr. Jensen noted that the box culvert is full on the one side so everything is coming through the south side. Mayor Ogden will reach out to the State about getting this cleaned out.
The estimate from A&D Jensen Contractors was $19,370.
Motion: Approve the work on the 530 South Canal by A&D Jensen for $19,370, Action: Approved. Moved by Connie Nielson, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- ANNEXATION ORDINANCE 2020-14 RATIFIED. The Council reviewed annexation Ordinance 2020-14 for the property being purchased by CSS Composites. Motion: Ratify Ordinance 2020-14 annexing property being purchased by CSS Composites, Action: Adopted. Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Todd Gleave. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT. Rick Robinson reported on the Planning Commission meeting. The Planning Commission recommended the Council approve a zone change for property located at 341 N 600 E from commercial shopping to multi-family.
They also recommended that zoning for the property located on the east side of 100 West between 500 South and 600 South be changed from commercial shopping to multi-family residential.
A recommendation was made to include a definition for senior housing in the commercial shopping zone so that it could be approved as a conditional use in that zone.
The Planning Commission chair, Monte Turner, is resigning and we will need to appoint someone to fill his remaining term. The Council will be discussing this later on.
- ORDINANCE 2020-18 ADOPTED. The Council reviewed an ordinance to rezone the property located at 341 North 600 East from Commercial Shopping (CS) to Multi-family Residential (RM-11). The Planning Commission recommended this change. Motion: Adopt Ordinance 2020-18 rezoning the property located at 341 North 600 East from Commercial Shopping (CS) to Multi-family Residential (RM-11) as recommended by the Planning Commission, Action: Adopted. Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- ORDINANCE 2020-19 ADOPTED. The Council reviewed an ordinance to rezone the property located along the east side of 100 West between 500 South and 600 South from Commercial Shopping (CS) to Multi-family Residential (RM-11). Motion: Adopt Ordinance 2020-19 rezoning the property located along the east side of 100 West between 500 South and 600 South from Commercial Shopping (CS) to Multi-family Residential (RM-11) as recommended by the Planning Commission, Action: Adopted. Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- 500 EAST SIDEWALK PROJECT DISCUSSED. Micklane Farmer from Jones & DeMille explained that he had put together some updated cost estimates. The total cost estimated for the project was $194,000. Previously, he had this estimate at $174,000. A few more boxes had to be added and some of the costs increased as well. Mr. Farmer has worded this so that we can do either the north portion or the south portion or both depending on where the bids come in. Councilmember Burrows asked if there was going to be a planter strip in this project. Mr. Farmer noted that we have to put one in on the south portion because of the power poles. The cost estimate for the south portion was $105,682. The estimate for the north portion was $77,804.
Councilmember Burrows asked where the corrugated pipe would be installed. Mr. Farmer noted that there are some irrigation boxes and the pipe will run from the box across the road.
Mr. Farmer asked the Council how they wanted him to proceed. He noted that it would be good to wait until January to put this out for bid.
The Council’s next meeting is on January 12, 2021. Councilmember Burrows would like to look at it and think about it a little before we put it out for bid.
Motion: Table putting this bid out for the 500 East sidewalk project until the next meeting in January, Action: Tabled. Moved by Bryan Burrows, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- ENGINEERING FIRM TO DESIGN THE NEW PARK DISCUSSED. A request to give the City a cost estimate to design the new park was sent out and we received 3 proposals. There was some confusion as to what we were asking for, but all 3 gave cost estimates on the same things. Staff felt that Ensign Engineering was giving us more for the cost. Sunrise gave us a cost estimate of $12,000, Jones and DeMille $18,000 and Ensign was $11,500. The quotes from Sunrise and Jones and DeMille would not include any plans. They both included what they would charge for construction admin. Ensign’s quote did not. They just included a note that construction admin could be provided upon request and a separate contract. After Ensign is finished, we could do the construction administration ourselves and we would have a plan to construct the project, not just a concept design.
Councilmember Hansen noted that Sunrise was within $500 of the low bid and Mr. Brown was present. Councilmember Hansen asked Mr. Brown if he would like to speak to his bid.
Mr. Brown stated that they have a landscape architect that works closely with their group and they have done a lot of parks and have a lot of good ideas. If the City decides to do pickleball courts, a good court is more than just a slab of concrete. He just hoped that whoever the City selects, they make sure that they have had experience putting those together.
Carson at Jones & DeMille also put in a quote for the project and they too partner with an architectural firm for the development of the park.
There were a couple of questions on the low bid from Ensign Engineering. They were not aware they needed to be at the meeting, so they were not able to speak to their bid. Councilmember Nielson thought it would be good to clarify a couple of items on their bid before contracting with them to design the park.
Councilmember Nielson would like a little more time to review the information and make sure that they are apples to apples.
Councilmember Burrows would like to get everyone together before a decision is made. Councilmember Hansen suggested scheduling a meeting just for this specific purpose and get the three bidders together.
Motion: Table the matter, hold a special meeting and have the three bidders there to discuss their proposals, Action: Tabled. Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
The Council set a special meeting for Tuesday, December 15 at 4:00 p.m. to discuss this matter.
- REMODEL THE OLD ELKS LODGE BUILDING APPROVED. Kendrick Harward was present to discuss the remodel of the old Elks Lodge building. Mr. Harward explained that most of the positions of the rooms stay the same. He explained how the different rooms could be utilized and how many people they would accommodate given the type of event. There was a conceptual design shown for the restrooms and kitchen. There would have to be a fire riser added because fire sprinklers would be required with today’s code. There would also be a dumb waiter.
Areas for office space on the upper level could also be included, as well as storage.
Mayor Ogden discussed the kitchen because he felt that the design of this kitchen is very important and he wondered about asking someone who works in these types of kitchens how things should be arranged. Mr. Thomas stated that when we get to that point we would engage a consultant.
The proposed layout for the bottom floor was also discussed. The existing stage would stay where it is for now. Since there is not a location for food preparation on the lower level, we would install a dumbwaiter to bring food down from the kitchen.
Councilmember Nielson asked about some office since there was some thought of having the recreation department out there so that there would be someone in the building. She also wondered about having some classrooms there where the stage is. She wondered if that could be divided up.
Mayor Ogden wondered if anything had been decided about the parking lot. There will be parking by the front entrance and probably some parking on the north by the kitchen area. There may also be some parking on the lower level.
- ORDINANCE 2020-16 ADOPTED. The Council reviewed an ordinance to amend the short-term rental ordinance to allow entrance from other entrances and not only from the main entrance of the residence. Motion: Adopt Ordinance 2020-16 amending the entrance requirements for short-term rentals. Action: Adopted. Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Todd Gleave. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- ORDINANCE 2020-17 ADOPTED. The Council reviewed an ordinance to allow campgrounds in the general commercial zones as a C-2 use. Councilmember Nielson was concerned about allowing campgrounds in all of the general commercial areas. Mayor Ogden wondered if there was a way of not having this apply to all general commercial areas. Councilmember Nielson wondered about changing the zoning on north Main Street up by the hospital because she felt that the area is professional looking and campgrounds there would not make sense.
Councilmember Burrows was not concerned about a campground going in on the north end of town because the property in this area is too expensive so he felt that it would be cost-prohibitive to do that.
Councilmember Nielson felt that it is important to have a good plan and not just allowing anything to be built where ever. She does not think that it would be wise to put a campground in this area.
Councilmember Hansen thought that this would be a good location because of the ease of access to the trails. Councilmember Nielson is concerned about the flavor and feel of our community. A unique quality we have is that when you enter the city it is clean and professional looking. She would hate to see a trailer park next to the hospital. This is a great entryway to our community and she wants to keep it inviting and she does not want to see a ghetto there.
Councilmember Gleave stated that there is a difference between a campground and a trailer park. There are a lot of people who put a lot of money into vehicles and trailers to travel around.
Councilmember Burrows pointed out that there are campgrounds by Primary Children’s Hospital and the Veteran’s Hospital.
Motion: Adopt Ordinance 2020-17 allowing campgrounds in commercial shopping zone as a conditional C-2 use. Action: Adopted. Moved by Todd Gleave, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- WATER RATES DISCUSSED. The Council discussed the water rates. Councilmember Burrows suggested that we raise the base rate to $20.50 and then a $.10 increase on each of the overages. After further discussion, it was thought that the base rate may need to be increased to $21.
Councilmember Christensen was hung up on charging each apartment a base rate that would more than double their bills. The apartments are all currently being billed a commercial rate so they are paying a higher base rate.
The Council agreed on increasing the base rate by $1.50 and each overage by $.10.
- AMENDED POLICIES FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT APPROVED. Chief Lloyd was present to discuss changes to the police department policies and procedures. Chief Lloyd stated that we cannot get federal funding unless we have certain policies in place. The main policy he discussed was the use of force policy because this is one policy that we will most likely get sued on.
Councilmember Nielson asked how Chief Lloyd get these changes out to his officers. Chief Lloyd explained that they all have an app on their phones. They have to go through it and they have to check that they have read it so that Chief Lloyd gets notifications as to who has read it.
Chief Lloyd stated that Alan DeMille is retiring and we have advertised for another officer. The first question he gets asked is how far outside of the city can an officer live. Our ordinance currently allows 5 miles. He would like to increase it to 8 miles. The other issue we have is how much we pay. Councilmember Burrows stated that this has been hashed out several times and at the time 5 miles was approved, the Council did not want to pay for the mileage of the vehicles going all over the County. Chief Lloyd stated that he tracks mileage for all of his vehicles. The vehicles in the City have more miles on than the ones that live in the County. This is because of a policy that if they live in town they can take their cars to run errands when they are off, but if they live outside the City, they cannot.
Councilmember Hansen stated that there is a lot of value in having police vehicles parked in neighborhoods because it is a deterrent. He does not have a problem with them living outside the City limits.
Councilmember Burrows asked if we have a contract for individuals that we pay to put through POST. Chief Lloyd stated that he created a contract with a scale that requires someone to work for the City for two years or they would have to pay something back.
Chief Lloyd understands where the Council is coming from because he sees that the further an officer lives outside of Richfield, the costlier it becomes. Councilmember Hansen stated that there is another justification in that we need those officers to respond in a reasonable amount of time. Chief Lloyd noted that we are one of the last police departments in the State of Utah that has a mileage restriction on vehicle use.
The policy would change from living 5 miles from the City limits for officers to 8 miles from the City limits. Councilmember Burrows would agree.
Chief Lloyd also discussed the need for another officer. He stated that we are beyond that point. We are now on track to break the record again for the number of cases. Chief Lloyd reported that we are on track to surpass 5,000 cases this year. This year we are ahead of the Sheriff’s office. Right now, they have had 4,164 cases and we have had $4,700. We are doing that with 15 officers versus the County’s 23 officers.
Councilmember Hansen wondered if we would be talking about hiring two officers with the retirement of Alan DeMille. Chief Lloyd stated that he is not planning to replace Alan until February so that he can catch up on the budget because we will be paying him his vacation. Councilmember Burrows wondered if this would free up any funds. Chief Lloyd states that it depends on the officer we hire. If we hire an officer with 5 to 8 years it would not free up as much.
We have two detectives, and the Sheriff’s office has five. The kind of cases we dealing with are requiring more time. He has been having the school resource officers help too. His goal is to have them be detectives at the schools. They have cut a lot of things out, but we are still on the increase and a lot of that is because our population has grown. Some of that populations uses our services way more than others.
Chief Lloyd is not expecting another officer right now because we do not have the money, but he needs the Council to be thinking about how we come up with that.
Motion: Approve changes to the police department policy and procedures including the 8-mile radius from the City limits. Action: Approved. Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Connie Nielson. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- OTHER BUSINESS. Councilmember Nielson reported that there is one more week with Christmas Tree Lane. They have been doing a good job in distancing all of the groups that have been performing. We have had Macey Madsen acting as Miss Richfield and doing a lot of things. She is going to be helping with the Children’s Justice Center, Shop with a Cop and she has done this for two years. She has really appreciated her and she has done an excellent job.
We have contacted Lewis and Young about creating a north and south project areas for the Community Reinvestment Agency (CRA). If we do both, it will cost us an additional $11,650. The Council needs to decide if we want to designate a project area on the south or the north. We created the CRA to help CSS with its development. There was some question as to whether or not they would still need that given the fact that they are not going on the north end of town. However, their development to the south is still going to require a lot of funds to run the sewer line and the road. The south end would be the area where we should focus since that is where the interest is now.
- EXECUTIVE SESSION. At 9:29 pm, Motion: Adjourn regular session and convene an executive session to discuss the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual(s) to serve on the Planning Commission and the purchase of property. Action: Adjourned. Moved by Connie Nielson, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
- ADJOURNMENT. At 10:20 pm, Motion: Reconvene and adjourn, Action: Adjourned. Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Bryan Burrows. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielsen, Kip Hansen, Todd Gleave. Excused: Kathy Christensen.
PASSED and APPROVED this 23 day of March 2021.