City Council

Copy of the City of Ivins record for City Council, preserved by OwnUtah.com Ivins Meetings. Official source: City of Ivins Granicus archive.

CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
June 15, 2017

MAYOR AND COUNCIL: The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. and announced there was a quorum present.

All present included Council Member Mehr, Council Member McDonald, Council Member Johnson, Council Member Roberts, and Council Member Densley.
STAFF: City Manager/Attorney Dale Coulam, Director of Finance Wally Ritchie, and Deputy City Recorder Andrea Byers.
EXCUSED: None.

Audience: Leonard Correa, Kenneth Anderson, Nancy Weaver, Nathan Weaver, Becky & Chuck Warren, Lance Anderson and others who did not sign in.

Mayor Hart acknowledged there was a quorum present.

Council Member Roberts led the Flag Salute

Council Member Roberts gave the Invocation

Council Member Roberts referred to agenda item 5)D and disclosed that his son is the Office Manager for Jones & DeMille Engineering. There were no other disclosures or conflicts of interest with items on this meeting's agenda.

Mayor Hart indicated that the outcome of the filing for office in Ivins City ended up being sparse. Council Member McDonald, who is running for a third term, filed and there was one other candidate who filed for the other open City Council seat. That individual was Miriah Elliott and Mayor Hart requested that she introduce herself. Miriah Elliott introduced herself. She has lived in Ivins for almost two (2) years. She is an Attorney and moved from Salt Lake City where she worked for a large firm. She now works In-House for a small family business. Mayor Hart stated that there may not be an election this year. Dale Coulam clarified that if there are no write-in candidates, the City Council would consider a Resolution to cancel the election.

Mike Rodriguez reported that two (2) building permits have been issued in June, with approximately five (5) more in the process and solar permits are keeping pace with that. The City is getting ready for more inspection activity for Rocky Vista University and issuing Certificates of Occupancy for the student housing. Code Enforcement activity has been slow.

Chuck Gillette reported that he has been working on a FEMA map revision for the Tuacahn Wash. It looked like they were about to complete it but FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) put a hold on it because as they were reviewing the documents, they found that the flood plain had increased by 2.7 feet some place in Santa Clara and because the study is linked to Ivins and Santa Clara, the study is on hold. Santa Clara City is trying to figure out what happened. The Kayenta Debris Basin is under design and as part of that project, the City will be upsizing the culvert on Highway 91 by the animal corrals owned by the Frei family. If the City purchases the culvert, the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) will pay $75% of the installation costs. He attended a meeting yesterday with Bowen Collins & Associates regarding the Red Mountain Dams. They are making progress but are behind schedule. The plan was to start the rehabilitation this upcoming winter. The access road has been paved to the Cliffrose 2 million gallon tank. Everything else going forward for that project is clean up, fencing and landscaping. He would like to take the Mayor and City Council on a site visit to see that. He will coordinate that with Dale Coulam. He referred to the Western Corridor and acquiring right-of-way. The MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) has some planning grants and they are willing to fund those at 100% and work with Ivins to use those planning grants to assist the City with concept street plans for the Western Corridor. He reported that the Washington County Water Conservancy District is conducting a study of water use in Washington County. They have selected more than 90 homes in Ivins to measure water on an hourly basis and measure what the peak hours of use are. Council Member Mehr inquired if the home owners need to know that they're being studied and suggested that they should know. Chuck Gillette indicated that he didn't have a problem with sending letters out. Mayor Hart clarified that they are billed based on metered use and couldn't see a differentiation of that use and the use for the collection of data. Dale Coulam suggested it was a good idea to send letters to the homeowners because they may feel that they're being placed under a level of scrutiny that invades their rights. Whether the City is legally required to do that or not, he thought it would be a good practice. How much water a resident uses is public information but this situation is a little deeper where the City is investigating how and when they water and some may feel it is a violation of their privacy. As a courtesy, it would be good practice to send a letter. Mayor Hart inquired if Chuck Gillette would be coordinating that with the Washington County Water Conservancy District. Chuck Gillette clarified that he would let them know and let them decide if they want to make that recommendation to other communities.

Wally Ritchie reported that the May Budget report reflects Ivins year to complete Budget that the Mayor and City Council adopted at the last City Council meeting. There are a number of items on the agenda tonight that involve the expenditure of funds and he clarified that those are all included in the year to complete budget and are budgeted for. He referred to ambulance billing and reported that after reviewing the last six (6) months of billing and collections, the City is averaging just under $28,000 a month, which is approximately $10,000 more a month than what the City was previously billing and collecting. The City is pleased with the job the ambulance billing company is doing and they have been really good to work with.

Chairperson Loris reported that the Planning Commission held a Public Hearing regarding a zone and density change on a piece of property located at approximately 400 West and 400 or 500 South. The Planning Commission recommend approval of a change to R-1-10 and Medium Density Residential. Council Member Roberts inquired if the Planning Commission has begun looking at densities and creating a Land Use Plan that is more consistent with what the land use would realistically be in the future. Chairperson Loris stated that they have not started that process. Dale Coulam clarified that he reported back in one of the City Council meetings that the feeling of the Planning Commission in looking at some of this was that they didn't feel comfortable as a City going in and changing people's land use and zoning, particularly zoning, without the owner consenting or applying. They felt that they would have to contact the owners and see what they want to do. The City know that a lot of the owners want to leave it as an RA-1 (Residential Agriculture 1 acre lots) zone. If the City Council would like the Planning Commission to consider just the land use, then that could be a future agenda item before the Planning Commission. Council Member Roberts indicated that it would be wise to do that. Otherwise people look at the Land Use Plan and see the land as low density and they don't understand that the low density was created as a holding use until someone came forward with an application. Mayor Hart stated that it will be a long complicated process to do that because there will be a lot of land owners who will want a say in how the Land Use Map turns out. Council Member Mehr thought that the Mayor and City Council discussed holding a combined meeting Planning Commission and City Council meeting to discuss this. He'd like some input on this as well. Mayor Hart indicated that it's unrealistic to project that the rest of the City is going to develop according to the Land Use Map that currently exists. Council Member Roberts stated that somebody came up with the current Land Use Plan already one has already. Chairperson Loris indicated that it's been awhile since the City has looked at it. Mayor Hart clarified that most of what has happened up to now, has been property owners who have requested a change in the Land Use. Council Member Roberts referred to the Commercial Residential areas on the map and stated that he was sure the residents didn't come forward and say they wanted that designation. Some planning had already gone into the development of the Land Use Plan. Dale Coulam clarified that the City hired consultants at different times and the Planning Commission and City Council has considered those recommendations. The City Council did not adopt all of the recommendations by the last consultant but did adopt some and Neighborhood Commercial is an example of that. Chairperson Loris indicated that along with the Public Hearing that the Planning Commission held, some of the residents that live on the west side of 400 West were concerned about traffic and people not stopping at the stop signs in that area. They also brought up their concerns about vehicles that park on the south side of the park when there's something going on at the park. They were concerned with development that parking would be diminished on 400 South. One of the recommendations from residents was if there is an open space requirement, some of that open space could be used for parking. Dale Coulam stated those were interesting points and would be heard in the public comment and available for the Mayor and City Council to read from the Planning Commission meeting. That is beyond the scope of a report and cannot be discussed tonight. Chairperson Loris reported that the Planning Commission approved a Final Plat for Taviawk Phase 9-R. They discussed the Arts Master plan and will continue to discuss that at their next meeting. They discussed townhouse parking requirements and those being consistent in the Ivins City Code. They discussed screening for parking, as well as renting casitas. The Planning Commission determined to not recommend renting out casitas. The primary reason was that it would changed the single family residential lot to a multi-family lot.

3)	CITIZEN COMMENT & REQUEST FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

4)	PUBLIC HEARING AND ACTION ITEMS

Wally Ritchie stated that every year the City receives the Certified Tax Rate from the County. They do all of the calculations and provides them to the municipalities. This is the process the City has to go through to adopt the calculated tax rate from Washington County. The City did not go through the Truth-in-Taxation process because there was no increase and no changes were made. Mayor Hart inquired if the County takes growth into consideration but not inflation. Wally Ritchie indicated that was correct. Council Member Densley referred to property values going down but taxes never go down and that in other states, taxes go down if the property values go down. Wally Ritchie stated that this has been discussed with the State Legislature about that. The way the law is written in Utah is each community is guaranteed a dollar figure and the tax rate is based on the City receiving that dollar figure so that a City has a certain amount of revenue that the City knows will come in every year. If values go down, the rate goes up and if values go up, the rate goes down. The dollar stays flat unless there's new growth and there's new growth right now so the City receives additional funds for that. There have been discussions with the State to change that to allow for inflation and a number of other things. So far, the State has indicated that they're keeping it the way that it is. Council Member Roberts inquired when municipalities are aware of any increased amounts they may be receiving. Wally Ritchie clarified that he received the final numbers last week but the proposed numbers are available on-line prior to the City adopting the budget. The number in Ivins budget matches what's on the Certified Tax Rate form. Council Member Roberts inquired if it came to a point where Ivins was seeing a large increase, that that would be something would want to look at and instead of budget that money, decrease the mill levy and go through the Truth in Taxation process. Wally Ritchie clarified that the City has to let the County know a couple of months in advance if the City is going to go through the Truth in Taxation process and he received the number from the County a week before the City Council adopted the budget. The County does not have to provide the tax rate number to the municipalities until June 15th.

MOTION: Council Member Densley moved to approve Resolution No. 2017-13R, a Resolution of Ivins City, Utah, approving the Certified Property Tax Rate for Calendar Year 2017
SECOND: Council Member Roberts

VOTE: The motion carried unanimously.

Roll call vote. All Council Members were present and voted in favor.

Wally Ritchie indicated that the Utah Communications Authority periodically updates their system and the City then needs to periodically update radios. The City has planned to start purchasing some radios next year. The City moved that plan up a year because there was some revenue available to do that. In this purchase there are two (2) radios for the Fire Department and four (4) radios for the Police Department. The radios that the Police Department is using will be passed down to the Fire Department because the Police Department uses their radios on a daily basis, whereas the Fire Department does not use their radios quite as often. Mayor Hart inquired if the radios need to be replaced because of frequency issues or why they need to be replaced. Wally Ritchie clarified that there are a couple of different issues, including frequency and band width. Part of it is due to the system upgrades that the Utah Communication Authority is making and the City needs to keep up with it. The system is State wide. The City has not purchased radios for a long time and some of the radios are to the point that they cannot be repaired because they don't make the parts anymore. The City would like to have a plan to replace these on a regular basis. Mayor Hart inquired if there is a service and safety enhancement with the upgrade. Wally Ritchie clarified that there is a safety enhancement due to the quality of the radios and frequencies that can be used, as well as better communication. Council Member Johnson inquired if the radios that will be passed down from the Police Department to the Fire Department are compatible with the system that the Fire Department is currently using. Wally Ritchie stated that they were. Council Member McDonald inquired if the City of Santa Clara was going to share a portion of the costs to purchase the radios. Wally Ritchie clarified that they are because they share 45% of the costs that go to the Police Department. Mayor Hart inquired if the amount in the staff report is Ivins share of the purchase. Wally Ritchie clarified that is the total and that for law enforcement, Ivins City pays for everything and is then reimbursed from Santa Clara. Council Member Johnson referred to the two (2) radios that are being purchased for the Fire Department and inquired if those are Ivins costs. Wally Ritchie clarified those are Ivins costs. Council Member Mehr inquired if the radios could be purchased from Amazon. Mayor Hart inquired if this is a State contract. Wally Ritchie indicated that they could not be purchased from Amazon and clarified that they are State contract pricing.

MOTION: Council Member Densley moved to approve the expenditure for the radios
SECOND: Council Member McDonald

VOTE: The motion carried unanimously.

Chuck Gillette stated that Bowen Collins & Associates have been working on the Irrigation Master Plan and rate studies. One of their scope items was to evaluate whether the irrigation system makes sense. They realized that for them to understand if the irrigation system made sense, they needed to evaluate the culinary system to see what that system would look like if there was no irrigation system. It makes sense to do the Culinary Master Plan in conjunction with the Irrigation Master Plan.

MOTION: Council Member Johnson moved to approve an expenditure for engineering services to prepare Culinary Water Master Plan, Impact Fee Facilities Plan and Impact Fee Analysis
SECOND: Council Member McDonald

VOTE: The motion carried unanimously.

Chuck Gillette indicated that the City entered into a contract with the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) to build the Debris Basins. As part of their contract, the NRCS provides two (2) different types of funds to Ivins City. One are TA or Technical Assistance funds and FA funds which are Financial Assistance funds. The TA funds are 100% and there is no match required. FA funds are paid 75% and there's a 25% match, although there are soft matches that are allowed on top of that. When Jones & DeMille proposed on this, the City knew FA funds would need to be expended to help fund the design work. There have been a lot of design complications and a lot of that has to do with NRCS. The City was moving forward with one type of dam structure and then the NRCS said that wasn't going to work and told the City that a different type of design structure had to be done. That required some redesign work and there was quite a bit of surveying and resurveying. There were some retaining structures, culvert crossing and head walls were not part of the original design bid. Kayde Roberts with Jones & DeMille stated that the original scope for NRCS projects are earthen dams. The TA funds cover that portion. They do a lot of NRCS projects and typically in those projects the property is owned by the City. This project is unique because of its location and in a development where another party has a say on how the project will be done. Moving dams and changing dams is costly and NRCS recognizes that and that is why they provide the FA funding. That funding is provided for anything that is non-typical. The dam itself changed from an earthen dam to a hybrid concrete earthen dam. Mayor Hart inquired who required that. Kayde Roberts clarified that NRCS required that for the location, to obtain the required water storage. The original contract was for an earthen dam. The changes include the redesign of the non-typical dam, zoning the dam, providing the structures and surveys. Mayor Hart indicated that what's frustrating to him is why there isn't some kind of communication before the dam is designed and presented to be rejected, that does not seem like something that ought to happen. Kayde Roberts stated that is exactly right and is done in the pre-stages of DSR (Damage Summary Report). That DSR wasn't done by Chuck and his group but by the NRCS. Chuck made the complaint to the NRCS that the City needed help because of flooding issues. The NRCS looked at it and based their estimates from construction costs. They put out a flat rate and do not do a detailed concept plan. They have to design the basins to the storm events that the NRCS requires and that wasn't going to be accomplished in the original location. Aesthetics also is a part of it because of the location. Council Member Roberts referred to aesthetics and inquired why one development has more pull for aesthetics over the rest of the citizens in Ivins when he had an ugly, non-performing, meandering sidewalk. He didn't have any say in that. it's aesthetically ugly and yet the City has to bend over backwards for a developer in Kayenta just because of aesthetics, when the City could have dug a hole and saved the City money. He thought that Kayenta should pay the $18,000 and they get a road on top. Kayde Roberts clarified that the City doesn't own the land. Council Member Roberts indicated that the City needs to go through the eminent domain process and pay $18,000 as due compensation because it's a public interest. Kayde Roberts clarified that eminent domain will be a lot more expensive. Dale Coulam agreed. He stated that the sidewalk vs the dam or two completely different issues. The sidewalk design was passed by the City Council before Council Member Roberts was on the City Council. Council Member Densley was concerned with continually going to the NRCS for help, especially with the number of water projects that are coming up that the City could use funding assistance with. Mayor Hart understood that the funds from the NRCS come to the City as a state grant and that is disseminated among the communities that have needs. Chuck Gillette clarified that the NRCS has to prepare the Damage Survey Reports and the grants are based on the DSR's that have been submitted.
a should pay for the debris basins. He clarified that the City will not run out of the FA funds. The City has been told that the FA funds are good. The limit is on the TA funds because those are paid at 100%. Council Member Mehr referred to agenda item 5)F and inquired if that was part of this original plan and expenditure for the Kayenta Debris Basin. Chuck Gillette clarified that it was part of the original DSR but not part of Jones & DeMille's scope in the design work and needed to be added to the scope of their design. Mayor Hart inquired if those are separate projects. Chuck Gillette indicated that they are on the same wash but in separate locations. There can be multiple sites on one DSR. Mayor Hart inquired if Chuck's opinion is that this is a reasonable and fair expense, given what's occurred. Chuck Gillette stated that it was. Council Member Densley inquired how Wally Ritchie budgeted for this when there's a Change Order and something that wasn't included in the original scope of work. Wally Ritchie clarified that the City had already planned for these projects and budgeted for a contingency. With Enterprise Funds such as storm water events, the City accounts for that a little differently because tax money isn't paying for it. It's through user fees and impact fees. Council Member Densley inquired if the funds were taken out of another departments budget to fund this. Wally Ritchie indicated "no". The City keeps Water, Sewer and Storm Drain funds completely separate from the other funds and they have to pay for themselves, which is what this does. Mayor Hart clarified that it's a huge improvement in Ivins overall system. This is property that is being provided by the developer. Chuck Gillette clarified that the City needed the fire access road and the developer worked with the City to get that agreement in place and cleared the fire access road outside of what the City or NRCS has paid for. They've also done their own survey work to make sure they're getting a design that they're comfortable with. They're an important partner. Dale Coulam stated that this is a sweet deal for the City. The City is fortunate to have a partner that's concerned about the flooding that went through their overall development, through their commercial area and he didn't recall seeing a larger river from a flood event than the one that the City and the developer is trying to protect against by putting these debris basins in and to protect the highway that the City is now responsible to maintain, by putting the box culvert in down below. The process that has to be followed can be frustrating but ultimately, when you consider the relatively small amount of money that the City is expending for the product that the City gets, it's a great benefit to Ivins City and great protection that Kayenta residents have been wanting for a long time. Mayor Hart agreed.

MOTION: Council Member Mehr moved to approve the expenditure for revised design fees for Kayenta Debris Basins for engineering services to construct Kayenta Debris Basins, not to exceed $74,041 with the intention that the NRCS is going to reimburse 75% of that cost.
SECOND: Council Member McDonald

VOTE: The motion carried.

Chuck Gillette indicated that the Mayor has been interested in placing banners on Ivins street lights. The street light company told the City that City could place a one foot by two foot banner on them, which is small and hard to read. If the City were to install decorative bases and a use thicker pole, the City could place larger banners on the poles. Every year the City budgets for signage and street light replacement. He would like to replace the existing poles identified on the map that he provided, with the decorative bases, the thicker pole and place the banner arms on them. A copy of the map is available by request through Ivins City Hall. As part of this project, the City would like to remove all existing cobra head lights, all existing old style black lantern lights, install new 18' streetlights at all public road intersections that don't have one and move a 14" light from Snow Canyon Parkway to 400 South/Puerto Drive. The whole corridor from Snow Canyon Parkway to 200 East would meet Ivins future standard. Council Member Densley inquired as to the color of the lights. Chuck Gillette clarified that the pole lights would be high pressure sodium. The City has not switched to LED because the only style of LED that is available does not hide the bright spot and the colors are off. Mayor Hart referred to the poles that would be placed on Highway 91 and inquired if those would support banners. Chuck Gillette clarified that they would. Council Member Mehr inquired if this would fall within Ivins Night Sky Ordinance and if the City would be going through the expense of replacing poles for the purpose of hanging banners. Chuck Gillette clarified that was correct. The Mayor and City Council discussed reducing the scope of the poles that would accommodate banners and determined to proceeding with what Chuck Gillette presented and reuse the smaller poles in the areas that are not on Center Street.

MOTION: Council Member Densley moved to approve an expenditure for the pre-purchase of streetlight materials for Snow Canyon Parkway/Center Street Streetlight upgrade project
SECOND: Council Member Johnson

VOTE: The motion carried unanimously.

Chuck Gillette stated that if the City purchases the material, NRCS pays for 75% of the installation.

MOTION: Council Member Johnson moved to approve an expenditure for box culvert for Kayenta Debris Basins project
SECOND: Council Member McDonald

VOTE: The motion carried unanimously.

MOTION: Council Member McDonald moved to approve the Consent Agenda
SECOND: Council Member Mehr

VOTE: The motion carried unanimously.

7)	CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Council Member Mehr - no report
Council Member McDonald - no report
Council Member Johnson reported that the Heritage Days Committee selected Emma Fife as the Grand Marshal for the parade
Council Member Roberts reported that the Southwest Mosquito Abatement and Control District are collecting twice as many mosquitos this time of the year than they did last year.
Council Member Densley - no report

Mayor Hart reported that Water Conservancy District Board is focusing on the new impact fee plan that will be coming forward and they're making some adjustments for multi-family housing that will reduce the impact fee for those kinds of buildings.

Council Member Roberts would like to discuss acquiring the Kayenta Water system. Dale Coulam stated that would be a timely subject to discuss in a Closed Meeting, along with other property issues that involve either the sale or acquisition of property, which is one of the expressed grounds to go to a closed meeting. In those situations, those need to be addressed in a closed meeting but it affects the sale or purchase price of the property. Council Member Densley would like to discuss RV Parking.

9)	CLOSED MEETING

10)

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION: Council Member McDonald moved to adjourn
SECOND: Council Member Johnson

VOTE: The motion carried unanimously.

The meeting adjourned at 7:16 p.m.

*Kari D. Jimenez, MMC
City Recorder
*Deputy City Recorder Andrea Byers was in attendance at this meeting. City Recorder Kari D. Jimenez prepared these Minutes.

Council Member Mehr	AYE
Council Member McDonald	AYE
Council Member Johnson	AYE
Council Member Roberts	AYE
Council Member Densley	AYE