City Council Minutes 3-15-22

TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MARCH 15, 2022

Members Present:
Connie Archibald
Wes Estep
Bret Rohde
Rick Seamons
Lyle Vance—excused
Roger Fridal, Mayor
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Marc Christensen, Assistant City Manager
Linsey Nessen, City Recorder

CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP

Mayor Holmgren called the March 15, 2022 City Council Workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was held in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Mayor Holmgren, Councilmembers Archibald, Estep, Rohde, and Seamons (arrived at 6:10 p.m.), City Manager Warnke, Assistant City Manager Christensen, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Fire Chief Robert LaCroix (arrived at 6:09 p.m.), Police Chief Nick Nessen, and Public Works Director Paul Fulgham. Councilmember Vance was excused.

1. Discussion on parking in downtown Tremonton

Mayor Holmgren said some merchants are concerned with parking on downtown Main Street. People are parking then going to work and staying there for several hours. Assistant City Manager Christensen said a citizen previously mentioned having two-hour parking. A few days later I got a call from Leda Smith at Cover Up, who asked why the City took away enforcement of the two-hour parking. I was not aware it was an ordinance so I looked it up and there is a section of downtown that falls under this ordinance of two-hour parking. We discussed this with Chief Nessen, who said they would first give out warnings because all the signs have been taken down. I called UDOT to make sure we are still in compliance with them and they wanted to do a traffic engineering order before we put up signs. Legally we could give warnings or let people know this is the ordinance before the signs go up and get rid of the regular offenders.

Chief Nessen said I pulled the numbers today and our officers had 26 cases during the day shift. Our biggest struggle would be managing the parking violations. As we get busier and busier the officers are focused on the calls coming in and parking violations would take a back seat. It would be a learning curve. I know this is an important issue because there is not a lot of parking, I am just not sure how the enforcement would go besides people reporting it. We would start with warnings to let them know it will be enforced. Councilmember Archibald said there is parking by Midland Square. We want people to stay home and shop, but we have to have a place to park. It is not right in front of your store, but there is parking just barely off Main. Councilmember Rohde said it would be good PR for a police officer to go in and visit with the businesses and mention the problem. That could be a proactive way to keep an eye on this. Manager Warnke said it sounds like Chief Nessen and his officers could reach out to the businesses on Main Street and let them know there is an ordinance. Assistant City Manager Christensen is working on getting UDOT’s authorization to get the signs up. He has also submitted a TAB grant for wayfinding that will direct people to parking. Those are the steps we can take immediately. Councilmember Rohde suggested a camera system to monitor the parking and other issues along Main Street. Councilmember Archibald suggested putting this information in the water bill. Manager Warnke said years ago UDOT permitted us to put up the pedestrian activated lights, which I think helped with parking off of Main Street. We have those installed in the locations they need to be. I am not sure if others would be necessary to help people get across the road. If something comes up we could see if UDOT would permit that.

Councilmember Rohde said another issue that has come up a couple times is the diagonal parking along Tremont Street. When a big truck parks on Tremont Street next to the light it is down to one or two lanes and is really hard to get around. I am wondering if we should just go to parallel parking all along Tremont Street. Manager Warnke said it is hard to get through there, but many central business districts have diagonal parking. There is a little bit of friction that occurs on the side of the road and they are supposed to travel at different speeds. It is a little different in that central business district. We should continue to watch and if there is a hazard that needs to be dealt with then we do need to look into it. Our engineer could take a look and give us his thoughts on ways to make it safer. Councilmember Rohde suggested size limits for the parking stalls nearest to the intersection. Manager Warnke said Chief Nessen, Director Fulgham and City Engineer Chris Breinholt constitute the Traffic Advisory Committee and are empowered to install traffic control devices. We could have them take a look at it and sign accordingly. The Council all agreed.

2. Review of items listed on the 7:00 p.m. agenda

Mayor Holmgren said Director Fulgham has been here for 25 years. We were talking about this today and how fortunate we are to have our employees and the great work they do. I would put our people up against anybody.

The Council discussed a resolution amending Compensation Planning. Manager Warnke said we have talked about several issues that appear in this resolution as proposed changes. For the employee service awards we discussed recognizing our fire department. It never included firefighters, which is well over due. Councilmember Estep brought that to our attention. We have listed them as employees who are eligible for the award. That would also include part-time recreation. City packets and materials come to the Council electronically and you are required to have an email to respond to citizens. For those reasons you need a computer. The way the City has elected to provide this resource is by an allowance at the start of your term. That is adjusted by COLA (2%) and has increased to about $1,625 today. The other item is recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday. It became a federal holiday last year and the State also approved it. We have a fire department with full-time firefighters, which we did not have in the past so we had to adjust some of our policies to meet their type of employment specific to holiday pay. We need public safety employees to work holidays so they can either take a day off on another day or they can get paid out. That holiday is equal to eight hours for office employees, 10 hours for our police department and 12 hours for the fire department.

Next the Council reviewed a resolution reaffirming and amending fines for the City’s Consolidated Fees and Fines Schedule. Assistant City Manager Christensen said we got a notice from Econo Waste, which was spurred on by the Box Elder County landfill charging extra for their tipping fees. Instead of them eating that increase they requested from the City, which they can do as part of their contract, some fee adjustments. Garbage collection went from $32 a ton to $34 a ton, which equates to a 40-cent increase for each resident. For recycling, with the price of gas and everything that has gone up, he has requested a 47-cent increase, which was rounded to 50 cents, so 90 cents total.

A resolution to approve a professional services agreement with REDKOR Brands, LLC to complete a Branding and Messaging Project for the City was up next for discussion. Assistant City Manager Christensen said a couple months ago we heard a presentation on city branding—what it is and what it can be. Back in 2013 the City went through this process and had six bids from branding consultants. They were within what REDKOR is quoting now. We went back through plans and how we implement them. In 1988 there was a recommendation that downtown should run an image campaign to promote itself. The SDAT was done in 2013 and it said the same thing. It is our recommendation that the City do a branding campaign to get buy-in from all the stakeholders. This would be for the City and downtown Tremonton, as well as Main Street. REDKOR would collect messaging from the citizens and then we can say it back to the citizens of who we are. I know it came down to money for some of the Council. The cost of this is about $58,000. The sales tax report has been sent out and we are about 16% above budget on this current year. There are businesses in town that want to be here because they love this place and the branding could put us on a different pedestal to incorporate new businesses. I think it is a good thing and something the City is lacking. The Council had accepted funding for us to do an annexation plan and we got a CIB grant, which is a 50/50 match. If the Council prioritizes the branding on top of that then we can use the funds ($37,000), which were budgeted toward the branding instead and then we would not recognize the other funds because it was a grant. We could use that plus the sales tax surplus to fund this.

Councilmember Archibald said as I was studying for this meeting and thinking about what are the things that citizens are asking for and one is they are asking to be communicated with and this branding is all about that. That is one of the reasons why I think this is money well spent. This gives us an opportunity to change the way we look and view our City. Tremonton is a great place, but it is improving. This is continuous improvement we are talking about and I think branding can help that. With the help of these professionals we can gather the information we need from citizens. Councilmember Rohde said we had the meeting on the Land Use Master Plan and I thought that was well done I was excited about where that was headed and having this focus on where we are and how we are going to do things was refreshing. I feel like this is that same thing. We have a culture change going on in Tremonton right now with our growth. The focus we would get from something like this would be really fantastic and keeps us focused on the same mission. Mayor Holmgren said a lot of it has to do with our ability to better communicate with the public and let them know what is going on. Our population is getting bigger and we are getting more sophisticated as a city. I think this is a good thing for us to be involved with.

Next was a resolution on awarding a bid to Rupp’s Trucking for the East Main Street Sewer Replacement Project (300 East to 1150 East). Manager Warnke said the cost has grown. This was a project that was contemplated back in 2019. It is an impact fee eligible project done for the purposes of providing future capacity. Within our Sewer Fund we have all but $150,000. Depending on how this next year goes and the cash flows associated with that specific fund we may need to do an inter-loan fund for the wastewater treatment plant at the end of fiscal year 2023. We are also looking at the wastewater impact. When Garland City leaves our treatment plant that will free up a lot of capacity (500,000 gallons per day). That many homes will then be available in our wastewater treatment plant, but we will lose about a quarter of a million dollars associated with their departure. We will look at the wastewater impact fee to see what future facilities we need based upon their departure and what that time frame looks like. Director Fulgham will reach out to our wastewater engineer and have him propose what the amount would be to update that impact fee.

Finally, the Council discussed a resolution to award a bid for the Parks and Recreation Shop Building Project (600 North and 1000 West) to Christensen Building Inc. Assistant City Manager Marc Christensen said this is impact fee eligible for our parks. It is a need the Parks has had for a while. They are storing their tractor and parks equipment in with the recreation stuff so it is all crammed in there. We have a foundation behind the Parks and Recreation building so we thought putting a steel building on there would be cost effective. This would help out the Parks Department drastically. We received one bid that was close to the budget that the Council had approved last year.

3. CLOSED SESSIONS: No closed session held at this time.

a. Strategy session to discuss the purchase of real property when public discussion of the transaction would disclose the appraisal or estimated value of the property under consideration or prevent the public body from completing the transaction on the best possible terms; and/or
b. Strategy session to discuss the character, professional competence or physical or mental health of an individual; and/or
c. Strategy sessions to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation; and/or
d. Discussions regarding security personnel, devices or systems

The meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m. by consensus of the Council.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Mayor Holmgren called the March 15, 2022 City Council Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was held in the Tremonton City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Mayor Holmgren, Councilmembers Archibald, Estep, Rohde, and Seamons, City Manager Warnke, Assistant City Manager Christensen, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Fire Chief Robert LaCroix, Police Chief Nick Nessen, and Public Works Director Paul Fulgham. Councilmember Vance was excused.

1. Opening Ceremony:

Mayor Holmgren informed the audience that he had received no written or oral request to participate in the Opening Ceremony. He asked anyone who may be offended by listening to a prayer to step out into the lobby for this portion of the meeting. The prayer was offered by Jeff Hoedt and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilmember Sarah Mohrman.

2. Introduction of guests: Mayor Holmgren welcomed those in attendance.

3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.

4. Approval of Agenda:

Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the agenda of March 15, 2022. Motion seconded by Councilmember Estep. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

5. Approval of minutes – February 15, 2022

Motion by Councilmember Seamons to approve the minutes of February 15, 2022. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

6. Public comments:

Resident Kristie Bowcutt said I want to talk about unity, civility, and respect. I want to talk about a person on the Council. He is very quiet and honest, and does not come with fanfare. He works hard and has integrity. I found this out on a very wintery day in January 2022 while riding in an ambulance to McKay Dee Hospital. The roads were terrible and I was very concerned. I asked someone in the back of the ambulance are we going to be safe and they said, yes you have the best driver. He is caring, works hard, and does not need any fanfare. He knows what he needs to do and goes to work. That person is Wes Estep. He is a man of his word. There is such a difference when we start talking about church, state, schoolboard and city council. Your church callings do not define who you are. You are held at a higher standard and should be. Unity is the state of being understood or joined as a whole. Civility is formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech. Respect is due regard for feelings, wishes, rights, and traditions of others. As people have stood and voiced their concerns on where this town is going, as in building, water, sewer, schools, roads, and taxes we will all be asked to pay, we have been met, at times, with anger, hostility, yelling, and rudeness. A lot of people have left here saying, they do not show an ounce of respect and that is sad. Unity and civility really do start on the top and trickle down. We have talked about Micah in the past. When he looks at a farmer at a Planning Commission meeting and tells him, if you do not like it sell your farm and move to Snowville. I do not care. I have a problem with that. The farmers are what feeds us. We are here because we want to be here. We are here for a common good and I think if we all come to the table and stop rolling our eyes, throwing our hands, and yelling, we can make a difference, but it comes down to respect, civility and unity. As citizens we are concerned about our community. Each person trusted you to do the right thing to govern this town with our Tremonton values in mind. That is the reason most of us have not attended City Council meetings, which is our fault, but it is because I trusted you. You did not adopt, as Manager Warnke has said, a future plan map for Tremonton City. You wanted more studies done. The studies were done and you have not put one into place. When we were at the Planning Commission meeting the other night, the gentleman went over the survey they had done and only 600 people contributed. I thought that is a low number. He chose to not go over the summaries, which is the heart of that whole study. This is where we need to come to the table. We would not be having these issues if you would have adopted a land use map. I have talked to four different people who put that map together and they worked hard. Why it was never approved I do not have a clue. I am asking as a citizen that the back biting stop. We need to come to the table as adults and have civil conversations without yelling. That is the only way we are going to bridge this gap. Arguing does not get us anywhere. If we are going to move forward without anger and hostility it has to start with you guys. The reason people do not come anymore is because they walk out and say they do not care. I will use an example of a couple who came about a building lot next to them. It is zoned an acre and has been for years. They walked out and said I wasted my time. That is a sad thing. I want to change that. I do not want people to walk out and say they do not care. That is all I am asking is that we can come to the table with civility, respect, and unity and let us bridge the gap.

Resident Darlene Hoedt said I was out for a few weeks so I do not know what information you have talked about recently. I have a garden that I did not plant last year because I knew we had water issues. At the last meeting I attended I understood we would have enough water so I want to make sure of that so I know if I can put my garden in. Last year we had to ration water. Councilmember Estep said it is hard to say because we do not govern the canal. If they say we need you to cut 25% like they did last year then we will have to do that. We cannot guarantee it. Mayor Holmgren said last year we were in a serious drought. Moving forward a year the ground water is much better according to the canal company. We cannot predict the future though and do not know what will happen. We should have a relatively normal year. Mrs. Hoedt said that was my biggest concern. I also wanted to make a comment to some of the information that was presented in the workshop about branding. I feel like it is the cart before the horse at this time. I do not think there has been enough public input on it. I have been with a planning department for over 10 years before we moved out this way and we did go out to the public and present our plan. We got input from the different sections of the county. We put it together that way rather than going out to somebody else and paying for this branding. We are educated people in the Tremonton area and we can work together and put our branding out there by working with one another. That is my take. I just do not see that we should pay somebody when you do not know what the public wants to be known for. Councilmember Rohde said part of this contract is reaching out and bringing the public in and getting all that input. They will go out and help us do that. Mrs. Hoedt said right, but that is what these meetings are for. To bring your public in and to find out what they want. We have websites too and those who do not have that ability can attend these meetings or you could have special meetings with different people to come and talk about what they want before you start paying out all this kind of money. I do not think we are at that point and I wanted to put that out there. I am new to the area, but I have been coming here for a lot of years. That is why we settled here. It was an area that is close to Idaho so I can see my dad and be where I want to be. I do not want to be in a huge city. I could live in Burley, which has more and be right by my dad, but I wanted Tremonton. I liked this community. I think we are jumping ahead from where we need to be and you ought to consider that rather than putting the money out there and expect someone else to do something when they are not from here.

Resident Chris Danvers said the first and most important thing I would like to mention because it keeps being brought up by my seven-year-old daughter and my wife, who is allergic to bees and wasps, that there is a large wasp nest on the street lamp. It is a bit too high for me to get to and needs to be knocked down. It is across the street from my house (585 East David Drive). I think you guys should have a direct phone number to City services on your website for things such as pest control and dog catchers. It kind of sucks that I have to wait for a City Council meeting to come and bring that problem to the City where I could have taken care of it in a 30 second phone call. Mayor Holmgren said at the bottom of the website there is a Contact Us section. You can reach out to us there. If you need to talk to the dog catcher the front office can get you to that person. We could extend that out and make it more detailed. Mr. Danvers said coming from a service industry I like to over communicate and help people get the information they need or want or do not even know they want. At the last meeting we talked about how we make mulch and that was not doing so well. I would like to pose the possibility of making fertilizer instead. There will be a great need for fertilizer with our farmers. I imagine we can use much of the same material and maybe even make a profit for the City by making that compost into fertilizer. Mayor Holmgren said from my extension point of view, the compost itself has a small amount of nitrogen and phosphate. It will be really expensive to convert that compost into fertilizer. Director Fulgham said we are dealing with bio solids from human waste, so we have two options—to incinerate it or compost it. We elect to compost it. We have certain things we have to do for EPA standards and then we have to test it after it has met all the first parameters. The only reason we do that is to be able to get rid of our bio solids. If we land apply it with a permit from the State or take it to the landfill and pay them to take it, we are responsible for that if it ever caused problems. We would have to boost that up and it gets expensive. We just sell it for what we think the public is willing to buy it for and give it away as much as we can. Mr. Danvers said finally I want to touch on growth. It is inevitable and as long as we manage it and encourage the values and cultures that make Tremonton so desirable it might not be a bad thing. There needs to be outward communication from the City versus digging for information on the websites. I think you guys need some people who are stepping out to the community opposed to waiting for them to come to this meeting and looking for things on the website. It took me forever to figure out when this meeting was when I moved to town. I would like to get involved and help you guys out with anything. I have a million ideas. I do believe that the City should be broke up into precinct leadership. Each of you should be assigned to a certain section of the City and you should be voted on through that section. I think it would bring better representation and accountability to all of you and maybe even help the people who live here feel like they are more connected to their councilmember.

Resident Sarah Mohrman said I have been at the Holmgren Nature Trail for several days with my pup and there are absolutely no garbage cans anywhere, but there are signs encouraging us to clean up after our dogs and throw out their poop. Councilmember Estep said there should be one on that north driveway. Mrs. Mohrman said the only place I did not check was the bathrooms, which are locked. It would be nice to have at least one on the trail and some small cans with the stand and the baggies because not everyone brings that with them. The ideal situation would be three of them with each of the little benches and one at the other end and one at the beginning would be sufficient. There is nothing and bringing poop home is not fun for anyone involved. Councilmember Estep said the difficulty with that is getting the garbage cans emptied. It is a good thought and we can look into it more, but we are hoping people can double bag it, tie it and drop it off when they get to the top.

7. Employee Years of Service

a. Paul Fulgham, Public Works Director – 25 years

The Council thanked Director Fulgham for his years of service. Councilmember Archibald said Paul is an incredible employee for the City and of all the meetings we have had since I have been on this Council, which is two years, I can tell you that he has come so prepared to communicate the truth. He is extremely educated. I do not know that there are very many people who have been in this meeting that have been respectful toward Paul and that is unfortunate because he is an invaluable member of Tremonton City. We have talked as a Council about what are we going to do when Paul is not here. I know someone will surface, but thank you Paul. There are meetings I have been in and I do not know how Paul has even continued talking because he has been so beat up and I want to apologize for those individuals who have been so unkind and completely out of line when he is doing nothing more than telling us the truth. Thank you Paul for being truthful and an outstanding employee of Tremonton City. Mayor Holmgren said we are pretty fortunate to have Paul. I went to the water meetings in St. George with him and he has a national reputation for what he does for his trade. We appreciate you so much.

8. New Council Business:

a. Discussion and consideration of approving the January Financial Statements

Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the January Financial Statements. Motion seconded by Councilmember Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

b. Discussion and consideration of approving the January Warrant Register

Motion by Councilmember Estep to approve the January Warrant Register. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

c. Discussion and consideration of approving Resolution No. 22-11 amending Section XIII: Compensation Planning and Section XVIII: Leaves of Absences of the Tremonton City Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual

Manager Warnke said this proposes modifications to our existing policies. We highlighted some of those in the work session. Councilmember Estep brought to our attention that firefighters were not being recognized as part of our employee service awards so it makes that adjustment. It also recognizes Juneteenth as a City holiday. The federal government has done that and it looks like the State of Utah will too. It also incorporates our new classification of firefighter EMT employees as it relates to holiday pay and sick leave, which are typical benefits offered by the City.

Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmembers Estep and Rohde. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

d. Discussion and consideration of approving Resolution No. 22-12 reaffirming, amending, and enacting new fees and fines in a schedule entitled Tremonton City Consolidated Fees and Fines Schedule including, but not limited to, fees for garbage and recycling collection service fees

Manager Warnke said we contract with Econo Waste to provide solid waste and recycling services to our residents. They have submitted consideration for cost increases for garbage collection, attributed to an increase in landfill tipping prices, and an increase for recycling, which is attributed to gas and hauling charges. Garbage is a 40-cent increase and for recycling it is a 50-cent increase, so 90 cents overall. The last increase was in 2017 for recycling and garbage was last year. Councilmember Estep asked if they will come back in three months and say diesel is high and we want more. Assistant City Manager Christensen said since 1997 he has only asked for an increase six times (4-5%). He has been good even with inflation.

Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmember Estep. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

e. Discussion and consideration of adopting Resolution No. 22-13, approving a professional services agreement with REDKOR Brands, LLC to complete a Branding and Messaging Project for Tremonton City

Assistant City Manager Christensen said this would have us hire a marketing and branding professional. REDKOR has done this for about 10 cities. They have an idea about how to get the community involvement. As City staff and the Council, we want this to have stakeholder groups. We want people to be on board and buy-in. They are the professionals on how to bring that all together and create the brand, but we would help facilitate that by going out to the correct individuals, merchants, the Council, department heads, and staff. This is an in-depth process (six to 12 weeks) to really understand who we are. Councilmember Archibald said this is a process that would allow us to have a comment section on our website. Branding would help with that—it has an awful lot to do with communication. In today’s world we rely on different forms of communication and this would be one way citizens could communicate easily and swiftly. Councilmember Rohde said about four or five years ago we tried to get traction and have not been able to do it. I think this will give us the traction we need. I am sure it will now because there is some skin in the game.

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to adopt the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – nay, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – nay, Mayor Holmgren – aye. Motion approved by a 3-2 vote.

f. Discussion and consideration of approving Resolution No. 22-14 awarding the East Main Street Sewer Replacement Project from approximately 300 East to 1150 East to Rupp Trucking & Excavation

Director Fulgham said this has been on our impact fee schedule since 2014 and it was scheduled to go in 2019, but then the State redid the road and put a two-year cut moratorium on it. Back then the engineer’s estimate was below $1 million. We had two bidders: CT Davis ($1,519,485.20) and Rupp’s Trucking ($1,286,264). We went through the bid schedule and Blaine Rupp has everything covered. Since he is local, he can save on mobilization costs. It is above our engineering estimate, but we have almost all the funds. As we collect more user fees, we will have enough to balance it out. If not then we can borrow from the Wastewater Treatment Enterprise Fund. I suggest we award the bid to Rupp’s. When asked about the timeline, Director Fulgham said the hardest part will be the piece where we tie in at the entrance of Kent’s Market. We will sit down with Rupp’s and Kent’s to work out a schedule to get it done in the most efficient manner so it does not put as many people out. They will go across the bridge and cut Main Street by Sinclair. That will follow up the north side into the existing line at 1150 East Main. It will be upsized to a 15-inch and then across the river it can be a 12-inch line. This will be completed mid-October so everything can be patched to UDOT standards.

Motion by Councilmember Seamons to approve the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmember Rohde. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

g. Discussion and consideration of approving Resolution No. 22-15 awarding the Parks and Recreation Shop Building Project to be located at approximately 600 North and 1000 West to Christensen Building Inc. (CBI)

Assistant City Manager Christensen said this is the park storage shed behind the current Parks and Recreation building, which is a shared storage space for parks equipment and recreation equipment. We would build upon an existing foundation. CBI was the lone bid. The Council had approved this project as an impact fee eligible project for this current budget cycle. It is $4,200 above what was budgeted, but we could amend that in the next meeting.

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to approve the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmember Estep. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

h. Discussion and consideration of approving Resolution No. 22-16 approving a Professional Services Contract between Tremonton City and Brett Nance, D.O. to serve as the Emergency Medical Services Director

Chief LaCroix said Dr Anderson has been the medical director for nearly 10 years, but has retired and moved to Ogden. He continues to serve the valley as the medical director, but it is hard to get a hold of him and update protocols and policies. I reached out to Dr. Nance because I think it is important for us to have a medical director who knows what we do inside the valley and is an active emergency room doctor. He is the medical director for the emergency department at our local hospital. He elected to be that and is very excited. Councilmember Archibald said I have worked closely with Dr. Nance and he is an exceptional individual. He is a very integral person, who wants solutions and works toward them. I find him to be an outstanding individual all the way across the board. He is an amazing physician. I am tickled to death that he is willing to offer that to Tremonton City.

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to approve the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

9. Calendar Items and Previous Assignment

a. Review of calendar

The Utah League of Cities and Towns will be held on April 20-22. For that reason, there will not be a City Council meeting that week.

b. Review of past assignment: None.

10. Reports & Comments:

a. City Manager Reports and Comments

1. ARPA Funds Revenue Replacement- Shawn Warnke, City Manager

Manager Warnke said through the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal government, as part of the continuation of COVID, has granted Tremonton $1 million. Half of that was received for this fiscal year and the same will occur in July of this same calendar year (fiscal year 2023). There are some regulations on those funds, but we plan to use them for a water project. The federal government has carved out an exception for cities as recipients of ARPA funds to claim them as lost revenue associated with the COVID pandemic, as long as it does not exceed $10 million. We are proposing we claim those funds under that provision. At the end of this fiscal year, we can transfer funds to the Water Fund. It will go to the City’s General Fund as lost revenue and then be transferred to the Water Fund.

2. Update on 1000 North Road Project- Shawn Warnke, City Manager

Manager Warnke said we have discussed several road projects and will continue those conversations. After our last meeting City staff felt the best path forward to getting this project in a position to actually implement is to do two things. One is to have the City Engineer finish the engineering to determine the limits of the project area. This will determine the fill slope easements we need to acquire from property owners to construct this project successfully. We would then engage an acquisition agent. The engineer will also order a survey for the entire right-of-way from 2300 West out to Interstate 84. That will let him know the elevation of the road. We discussed the paving option—is it feasible to pave and not throw that pavement away. The road surface has reached the end of its life so the surface needs to be replaced, but we also want to build out the entire right-of-way, which is an expensive endeavor. The hybrid option would be that we replace the surface life of the road at the correct elevation so we could use that in the future when we expand the right-of-way. That is what he is working toward. This has been a long priority for the Council. As you talk to residents let them know the plan is on the City’s website under community development. We have a lot of plans listed there.

b. Development Review Committee Report and Comments

1. Update on development reviews

Manager Warnke said we continue to meet and some of the projects we have discussed continue to be reviewed. Rivers Edge is back on the agenda now that the referendum has come to a conclusion. They have submitted some additional plans to try to finalize an approval. We are also working on Mac Builders, which is Craig Christensen’s parcel off of 2300 West. There is Harvest Acres off Rocket Road that continues to move forward. Another project that is up for public hearing at the next Planning Commission meeting is Bear Meadows, property off of 600 South just north of Aspen Ridge. Those are the ongoing projects that continue. Archibald Estates is ongoing and there is a parcel next to them called Envision Estates, which is a single-family home project. At our next meeting I will have a more detailed report.

c. City Department Head Reports and Comments

1. Exemplary Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic awarded to the Tremonton City Library- Marc Christensen, Assistant City Manager

Assistant City Manager Christensen said Kim Griffiths at the Library was given an award in exemplary service during the COVID 19 pandemic by the State Librarian. It was a hard time and we were not sure if we should stay open. She worked really hard to continue to provide access to our residents whether they were open or not. She implemented public WIFI, book drops where they were not interacting, but rotated books through and kept them quarantined. The State wanted to recognize her, which is well deserved. Manager Warnke said during that time our patrons could make arrangements to check out books with staff doing a curbside pickup. That whole endeavor was tremendous and the service was at a critical time when people were home and needed our facility. Other libraries shutdown completely and did not have this alternative approach to providing materials. When residents needed the library the most, they found a way to come through and provide the service. I was thrilled about their approach and the award was well deserved.

2. Report on updating the Veteran’s Memorial at Midland Square- Marc Christensen, Assistant City Manager

Assistant City Manager Christensen said in the early 2000s we got lists of veterans. Since that time, we have kept a running list of names to be added and there are 75. The veterans had ownership of maintenance over that memorial until 2014 when the City took it over. At that time, we needed to resurface the plaques because the lettering was falling out. We took them to the manufacturer who recommended we do not add the names at that point due to cost. They charged us $3,400 to refurbish all the plaques and said they did not want to take on the liability of putting the plaques through their machines to add new names because it would look different. If it was not to our standards then they were liable. To replace the plaques was a big cost. Now the names need to be added. We need to work with the veterans and revisit the ordinance to see how we want to update it going into the future. Councilmember Archibald said this is such a beautiful part of our community. There is not enough we can do to pay tribute to our military service. We need to make sure the names are there for those who have served.

Director Fulgham then gave an update. We are about two thirds through with the secondary system. Rupp’s is waiting on a few parts, but indicated they are asking for additional funds due to fuel prices. As soon as the weather breaks, they will finish it. There is a lot of pipes in the ground that have not been patched yet because they have to put the laterals across. Asphalt can be done mid-April to the first of May to button up those roads.

Director Fulgham added I forgot to mention this during the rate schedule discussion. We have always rented our Public Works building and it is used quite a bit for community events. We let committees us the facility for free because they benefit the community. We do rent it out to the public and in the last 20 years I have been responsible for that, there has been half a dozen to a dozen times we kept people’s deposit because they misused our facility. They do not clean it and have elicit activities we do not approve of. I suggested we do away with renting our facility to private individuals. They put a lot of abuse on that facility and I do not know that we recoup the cost of what it takes to repaint, as well as clean or replace the carpet. It is hard to control what goes on down there. We do not have issues with the community events. Manager Warnke said this was included in the fee schedule, but I failed to bring it to your attention. It is adopted that way. Do you want to revisit it and put it on the next agenda? We do have other facilities like the Senior Center that private groups can use, as well as our parks in the summer. The Public Works building is a facility that attracts young people to throw rocks and stuff around our equipment. The Senior Center is much more conducive for renting to private individuals. The Council agreed. Director Fulgham said we will work with those who already have it reserved.

d. Council Reports and Comments: None

Motion by Councilmember Seamons to move into closed session. Motion seconded by Councilmember Rohde. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

The Council moved into a closed session at 8:41 p.m.

11. CLOSED SESSIONS:

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to return to open session. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

The Council returned to open session at 9:33 p.m.

12. Adjournment.

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by Councilmember Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye. Motion approved.

The meeting adjourned at 9:33 p.m.

The undersigned duly acting and appointed Recorder for Tremonton City Corporation hereby certifies that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes for the City Council Meeting held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.

Dated this 5th day of April, 2022.

Linsey Nessen, City Recorder

Follow-up items for the Council and City Staff

Assistant City Manager Christensen is working on getting UDOT’s authorization to get the signs up on Main Street for two-hour parking. He has also submitted a TAB grant for wayfinding. Chief Nessen and his officers would reach out to local business owners on Main Street and let them know there is an ordinance for parking. Chief Nessen, Director Fulgham and City Engineer Chris Breinholt (the Traffic Advisory Committee) would take a look and sign accordingly for problem areas.

Director Fulgham will reach out to the wastewater engineer and have him propose what would be needed to update that impact fee.

City staff will look into removing a wasp nest from a streetlight on 585 East David Drive.

Archives