City Council Minutes 4-21-20

TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
APRIL 21, 2020

Members Present:
Connie Archibald
Lyle Holmgren
Bret Rohde
Rick Seamons
Lyle Vance
Roger Fridal, Mayor
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Linsey Nessen, City Recorder

CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP

Mayor Fridal called the April 21, 2020 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 and via Zoom. Those in attendance were Mayor Fridal, Councilmembers Archibald, Holmgren, Rohde, Seamons, and Vance, City Manager Warnke, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Fire Chief Steve Batis (arrived at 6:19 p.m.), Community Services Director Marc Christensen, Public Works Director Paul Fulgham, Police Chief Kurt Fertig, and Treasurer Sharri Oyler. Also in attendance was Finance Director Curtis Roberts.

1. Review Discussion of secondary water rates model and possible adjustments to culinary and secondary water rates- Curtis Roberts, Finance Director and Paul Fulgham, Public Works Director

Director Roberts said I tried to make this input page more flexible with more specific results. During last Council meeting there was discussion of seeing the impact of any rate changes on the overall system. In developing the projections, I worked off what the base currently is, but the last conversations we had were leaning toward a 0-10,000 gallon for the base to be more consistent. The next level is where the secondary would kick in. We need to make sure the Council is comfortable with the tiers because changing them is the most difficult part of this process.

Councilmember Rohde said it would be nice to see those tiers match each other. Director Fulgham said with the 0-10,000 gallons and then 30,000-gallon increments it does match up. For culinary the first 0-10,000 gallons takes into account the usage indoors from a single person up to a family and then the outdoor usage starts. They are matched in 30,000-gallon increments for outdoor usage. Not too many have indoor usage over 10,000 gallons, the average is 4,500 gallons per month. Mayor Fridal asked about the $10 base rate. Director Fulgham said everyone pays a $10 base rate even if they do not use it. An increase or decrease in their bill will depend on usage. Councilmember Archibald said citizens need to realize we need to be conservative with our water. Councilmember Holmgren said I am okay with the tiered system, but I am nervous about the $3.50 per thousand gallons, it seems a bit steep. Director Fulgham said this is for outdoor usage, when you get over 60,000 to 90,000 gallons that is luxury usage. Councilmember Holmgren asked how we are doing this with our parks. Are we as a City willing to pay those higher rates? Director Fulgham said schools and churches, all those who have big, green lawns—have already been billed that in the past. The old culinary rate was 80,000 gallons and maxed out at $2.50. We can play with those numbers. Director Roberts said once we have established what to do with the residents and get a flavor of where we are going, we can adjust the commercial by a percentage and then spend time on the backside figuring out what that does to the rate.

Mayor Fridal said it would be nice to get the secondary rates less than culinary and asked if we could raise culinary a bit so secondary would cost less. Director Roberts said yes, I have kept things as they currently are within the system. The spreadsheet can be used to work out different scenarios and plug through rates you would like to see. This tool allows any councilmembers to come up with projections to review. There are certain things based off averages for historical patterns and connection fees, which can function up and down based on development. Those things do not have a huge impact on the overall matters we are considering. There is a break down between the two systems of what the fixed assets look like. The value of the new system is a lot higher than what the old system is retaining. It has used its life—the value of it diminishes over time. At a certain point, renewal is going to be necessary. The first thing is looking at return on assets. The 2% to 4% is a nice comfortable range. The closer to 4% the longer the rate will last. Return on assets is key for the bank and our bond. We have to be careful with future cash flows and keep it sustainable in the long-term. Once we have agreed on the tiers, it becomes a matter of putting numbers in and seeing what it does. We are considering an overall water system and what would be a functional rate structure.

Resident Erik Richardson asked how we are going to account for the additional consumption that was not reported. We are making a rate structure based on an incomplete picture of what our secondary consumption was. Director Fulgham said we are looking at our consumption on the culinary side because we did not have enough meters to give us any good projections on secondary last year. We did not have meters and there were so few it would not have made a large difference in the revenue. We had about 80 people signed up and around 75 meters in out of 2,900 meters. This year we are hoping for a better picture, but we probably will not get a really good picture until next year after we give these ones in service area 3 time to get hooked on and get their usage going. We are banking on the projection of what we have used in the past with culinary. Director Roberts said there are a lot of estimations built in, but they reflect average usage over a 10-year period as close as we can get. It is an estimation tool not an exact science. This is the best information available to us at this point. Mr. Richardson asked about the number of current users. Director Fulgham said, prior to installing meters, we had 75 customers on our secondary system. Last year we signed up another 80 or more customers. For service areas 1, 2, and 3, we could have 991 potential users by the end of this year.

The Council discussed the bond and payments. Director Roberts said we do not have to make a principal payment until 2021. We structured the bond that way because we knew revenues would not be flowing fully. We are making interest only payments until May of 2021. Councilmember Vance said we are trying to get the cost down for citizens as far as we can and still make the debt payment that is coming up, but at the end of this year, we will have more reliable information. I think we all want to come up with a perfect number, but we are not going to. It will have to be an adjustment as time goes on. Mr. Richardson suggested a few numbers for the input sheet. In that scenario, secondary water is 25 cents a gallon cheaper per thousand than culinary so people would be paying less for secondary. There is a base rate because all the citizens of Tremonton live in the City and the City is providing a service, which is a pressurized secondary pipe. So every home pays a base fee and that is offset by a 25% increase to commercial water customers. I am not trying to pass that buck off to somebody, but now you keep homes the same and entice people to switch to secondary. You are only charging a base rate for six months per year and your debt coverage is 157%. This is something I would like to pitch and explain. Then we can use the better data when we have it.

Director Roberts further explained the debt coverage ratio. You have to meet that or the bonds could be called and forced to raise the interest rate. By having it combined, we are almost guaranteed we will meet the debt coverage ratio. Like we have said in the past, the culinary is subsidizing your secondary system. As it stands, you are going to be back here again next year trying to adjust rates and figure out long-term stability. It could go a year or two, but that would start depleting cash and then the City will not have money if things break down the road. You would not generate enough to make improvements that may come up. Councilmember Rohde suggested raising the culinary base to $12. That does not seem painful to do $2 a month—even to the person with a fixed income. Councilmember Vance questioned the 25% increase for commercial users. That makes a big difference if you drop that down. When we talk about increasing fees we have to be careful on both ends.

Councilmember Holmgren said there is potential for service area 5 and east to the river and asked if the whole model will change as we bring on those new customers. Director Robert said yes, we will have to do an analysis on secondary projection similar to what we did on service areas 1, 2, and 3 and figure out the number of users and what their usage will be. We will have another bond at that point. It will take some effort, but we can flow it into this same model. Councilmember Rohde suggested some numbers, including a base rate for six months and a 10% increase on commercial. That increases everyone by 10%. I like the way that differentiates secondary to be less than culinary. Councilmember Vance agreed saying, I think you could raise 10% on secondary and get where you want to be. At the end of the six months, we could do a good reassessment and do that every year. Councilmember Rohde said if we were bringing a lot more money in than we should then we would drop the rates. It goes both ways.

2. Discussion of secondary water rates model and possible adjustments to culinary and secondary water rates- Erik Richardson, Tremonton City Resident

3. Overview and discussion of the Tentative Budget entitled “The Tremonton Annual Implementation Budget 2020-2021(General Fund, Capital Fund(s), Enterprise Fund(s) and Special Fund(s)” for the period commencing July 1, 2020, and ending June 30, 2021- Marc Christensen, Community Services Director and Shawn Warnke, City Manager

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

5. CLOSED SESSIONS (if needed): No closed session was 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 Fridal called the April 21, 2020 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 and via Zoom. Those in attendance were Mayor Fridal, Councilmembers Archibald, Holmgren, Rohde, Seamons, and Vance, City Manager Warnke, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Fire Chief Steve Batis, Community Services Director Marc Christensen, Public Works Director Paul Fulgham, Police Chief Kurt Fertig, and Treasurer Sharri Oyler. Also in attendance was Finance Director Curtis Roberts.

1. Opening Ceremony:

Mayor Fridal 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 Councilmember Rohde.

2. Introduction of guests:

Mayor Fridal welcomed those in attendance.

3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: none.

4. Approval of Agenda:

Motion by Councilmember Holmgren to approve the agenda of April 21, 2020. Motion seconded by Councilmember Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

5. Approval of minutes – April 7, 2020

Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the minutes of April 7, 2020. Motion seconded by Councilmembers Vance and Rohde. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

6. Public comments: Comments limited to three minutes.

Resident Erik Richardson said I have been putting together some rough numbers with the missing 75 users on secondary. It is not a substantial amount of people missing, but enough to sway some of those rate heights for the culinary. When looking though Councilmember Rohde’s suggestion of increasing the culinary base rate by $2 and commercial by 10%, which got the debt coverage up. These are on the conservative side and a few other people are missing, but also an estimate based on how wet or dry the year is going to be. I like how we discussed having secondary water cheaper than culinary and where we are going with this. My question is are we hoping to have a new rate structured by May 1 when this turns on? Mayor Fridal said good question we have not got that far. Councilmember Archibald said we have to. Director Fulgham said if we can work it out by May, the billing does not start until the end of May.

7. Presentations:

a. Tremonton City Fire Department 2020 Annual Report- Steve Batis, Fire Chief

Chief Batis went through the report. We have about 30 members with four in training. Due to COVID-19, that training has been discontinued. This past December we gave the Firefighter of the Year award to Dan Nelson for his dedication and drive. He was one of the big contributors for the department in 2019. Eight of our members have retired. We do public education and provide fire information throughout the year. Mike Allen takes care of all that in the schools. We do drills and have fire prevention week. Firefighters who have kids in those schools also participate in that. Jim Hess has done some wilderness survival and first aid for Boy Scouts. We also have CPR and CERT classes. In 2019 we had 1,233 EMS calls. That has increased every year since 2008. The important part to remember is that we have to have three firefighters on each one of the ambulance calls. We also had 152 fire calls with five firefighters responding. There are a lot of training hours. It takes a minimum of two years to get our new employees trained and if they want to have more skills, which could be longer. Last year we started our Touch a Truck safety fair for the community. That took place statewide and was a big success. We expected way more participation this year, but with social distancing we had to cancel it until next year. This department’s top priority is to provide the highest level of service to each member of our community in a timely manner. We continue to develop and grow the department to improve fire suppression, emergency medical service, fire prevention and emergency planning services to a growing community. Our biggest challenges have been and continue to be manpower, maintaining trained personnel as an on-call paid volunteer department. The Council approved to hire an outside agency to review our department’s current manpower, call volume, and training. He ran the numbers, completed the survey, got to know the members, and participated in drills. The challenges the fire department faced this past year makes our citizens and businesses vulnerable in an emergency. These men and women have full-time jobs, families, obligations, and commitments outside the department. They have been giving everything they can and then some. We want to thank you for your time and support. Councilmember Archibald said I appreciate what they did on the controlled burn. I watched the whole thing come down and thought they were well prepared. They did a great job and did it safely.

Mayor Fridal called a Public Hearing to order at 7:15 p.m. to gain input on the public safety staffing plan. There were 24 people in attendance.

8. Public Hearing

a. Public hearing regarding Public Safety Staffing Plan for Tremonton City Police and Fire Departments

Firefighter Chris Scothern said we could start looking at full-time positions or at what we can do now to continue as paid on-call volunteers. In my opinion, for us to be able to continue the way we are now, there are two things that need to happen. One, we need to figure out how to motivate current members and we need to figure a better recruiting practice. Quite a few members feel they could contribute a bit more. How do we tap into those folks and continue to bring up our numbers because our calls continue to increase. We use to have a hard time getting people to respond during the day now it is even tricky at night. This last year we had 357 transfer calls, which is 29% of our call volume. Our response time is a lot higher on our transfers. Maybe there is a way we can limit those. If we want to continue the way we are now, maybe transfers is something we need to address. That takes two to three people out of town for about 3.5 hours call day depending on the location. We could address this first and see how that goes.

Firefighter Lanette Sorensen said we cannot have two ambulance agencies run it because if we give up a little bit, even the hospital to hospital transfers, we will lose it all. That would have to go to public hearing if we only pick and choose which ones we take. Other agencies are looking to come in this area and if we give them a little foothold they will take over. It is not a good idea to bring another agency in to do transfers.

Firefighter Mark Thompson said I have worked for Intermountain Healthcare and the fire department. When I was at Intermountain at Bear River Valley, there were times it was packed to the brim and they were scrambling for space and to get those who are critical moved to another place. The staff gets frustrated because they are doing their best. There is no easy solution to this. Transfers are going to increase, that is something we have to deal with. We all pick and choose what we want to do when we want to do it. Sometimes we have to tell family sorry we have to go. This is part of our responsibly to each other, our citizens and the City. We save more lives on transfers. When they have to leave Tremonton, they need more advanced care than our hospital can give them.

Firefighter James Munns said we are part-time people who all have other jobs that we rely on. COVID-19 has affected everyone, good or bad. We had our first positive case and had to transfer them. That puts a big stress on all of us. I was in the back of the ambulance and that affects my family and full-time job if I get infected and cannot go to work. For 357 transfers, that is about three hours per call, which is over 1,000 hours. Some of us work 9 to 5 and if we get a transfer that night we are home late. You are asking a lot of us. I am a City Councilmember in Garland so I understand your position. It is a big decision for the Council to make because this is a lot of money for a full-time staff. We are trying to come up with ideas for part-time staff, which would help, but the members of the Tremonton City Fire Department need help. A lot of these guys put their whole lives into this department and it is a top-notch department. We want to keep it that way and keep the volunteers involved, but we need help from the City.

Firefighter Paul Evertsen said I agree with a lot with what has been said so far. All of us on the department have full-time jobs. There are a handful of people who are making the majority of the calls, but everyone on the fire department made the same commitment when they signed up. They all have full-time jobs and outside commitments, but it seems like there is a big group that does not have the same commitment level that those handful of people do and have for decades. How do we get them to commit to the same type of level as our top 10 people? How can we level this playing field? If we can figure that out, our current members and staffing will improve. It will not fix all our problems, but it would be a good start to get on the right path of making sure this department stays at the level we are at. We have a top-notch department and we want to stay that way. Part of the solution is to work on our own members and recruitment.

Firefighter Wes Estep said I have slowed down a lot. Some of this comes after 30 to 40 years and you feel like you have given what you can to the City. Life changes when you get older. You want to do a few more things and make plans that are tougher to break. You have broken them for so many years to your spouse, kids, and grandkids, and the call volume is just overwhelming. Someone asked me why do we have a Parks and Recreation division with three full-time guys? It is because years ago you could get by with some commitment to time, but you cannot expect people to keep giving, keep giving and keep giving. It has evolved over time and time is more important to people. We always said people ought to quit at 50 to 55 years old and we are all to that point now. I am not as committed as I used to be. I figure 39 years is enough. I still love the City, but I do not feel I can give anymore than what I am doing now.

Firefighter Oria Burningham said I am one of the newer members and I feel like commitment is harder when we are not on-call. At night I have no problems with it. I know I am supposed to be there and there is space for me on the ambulance, but during the day when I go they have enough people so I am not getting a chance to go. It does frustrate me when I am not needed and have to turn around. I have a young daughter I have to drop off and it is a lot of time. I would feel a lot more committed if there was a schedule of what days I am needed or on-call. When there is no schedule, I feel like it is a free for all.

Firefighter Nate Christensen said I agree with Oria. I think there are a lot of people who were dedicated to begin with, but where you work depends on how many calls you are going to make. People are only going to try so many times before they quit trying. In a lot of cases, I do not try because depending on the time of day and week, I have a good idea of who is in town or not and the likelihood of me making that call.

Firefighter Amy Cole said this is only going to get much worse because our town is booming. There is a lot of growth and families coming in, which means more calls. You are going to put a strain on an already strained situation. I think we need to keep that in the forefronts. I have a little one and cannot just leave. These guys who have dedicated so much of their time have missed out on a lot and lived their life for it. This puts a lot of strain on the younger members to pick up that slack. We cannot depend on that because it is not a set schedule. I would love to have a set schedule. I could plan my day better, have a sitter, and be there at the drop of a hat. We cannot support a system that is going to grow exponentially without the fire department growing with it.

Firefighter Jeff Oyler said I would love to see us stay like we are. I think commitment is an issue and do not know how you fix that. I think everyone would like to stay like this and do what they can while getting new people committed, which can be hard, but I also think it is time we just bite it and look at going toward either a 12 hour day seven days a week shift or a 48/96 for the same cost. You can man it very lightly while still using the volunteers to fill in where needed. No matter what we do, it is coming that direction. I think we need to look at the cheapest way in the next year and get it going in the right direction eventually.

Firefighter Munns said during the first Council meeting I attended it was suggested we hire four guys on 48/96 shifts. If you are going to hire guys for 12 hours a day, maybe look at hiring a couple people for the 48/96 shifts then that guarantees you the first ambulance out all the time. That is less of a liability to the City and you do not have to wonder if we are going to be able to cover the call. Two weeks ago I made an extra commitment to see if I could make a lot of calls and I went to everything at the drop of a hat, but I did not make very many because they got covered. On other weeks people were calling me to help because we were short handed. Maybe the answer is to hire a couple of people full-time and bite it off smaller to start with. As we continue to grow, the City can plan for that.

Firefighter Evertsen said I think there are some great options to try and come up with a solution. I am concerned a big step is being taken that is unnecessary. Those who have been on the department a long time deserve to take the time to be with their families and respond to fewer calls. There is a gap that can be narrowed by tweaking a few things. We as a department have listed job postings over five different avenues, but I have not seen them. There are some gaps that can be narrowed by upping our recruitment process and trying to find people, who can make calls in town during the day when others are out. There are ideas that can be utilized to try and help the situation before we start making big steps and paying a lot of money.

Chief Batis said Recorder Nessen does our recruiting and she has tried every means possible and does an excellent job. She put one out in December and does it through all phases of social media, job service, and everywhere else. A few members even put out their own recruitment on Facebook. We all share it, but there is just no interest in joining the fire department.

Firefighter Scothern said I am sure Recorder Nessen does a great job. For me personally, I respond better to hands on type things. During our community Touch a Truck event would be an excellent opportunity to put someone in bunker gear with some supervision and have them sign a waiver to cut a car or put a fire hose in their hand, and really tap into their senses to see if they want to do it. It is a big step to go full-time with that money and as a citizen of Tremonton, my concern would be I do not want my taxes to increase.

Firefighter Blair Westergard said we have two big jobs to do—ambulance and fires. I do not disagree with more recruiting, but we put it on Facebook every six months. There is just not a lot of interest and this is happening all over the Country. Even our surrounding area departments do not show up anymore. We need more members who are younger and dedicated. I am afraid we are kicking the ball down the road. We have to get so we can manage it. A schedule works for some and not others. No one wants to pay for it, but if we could guarantee that part of the ambulances are covered that would help. I have been here 37 years and have given as much to the department as anybody. I do not want to go away, but I cannot do more. I do not want to be on call all weekend. It is hard for everybody. Sometimes we have a lot of people and sometimes no one can go. It is not a quick fix and as leadership we have banged our heads against the wall trying to figure out what to do. We need some kind of a guarantee and the City needs to know it is covered.

Mayor Fridal said we truly appreciate the input we have had from our fire department. You guys are great, dedicated, hardworking people. We have a situation that we are going to have to solve whether we like it or not and we appreciate your input. It gives the Council some decision-making information.

Mayor Fridal closed the Public Hearing at 7:58 p.m.

9. City Council Business

a. Discussion and consideration of approving the March Warrant Register

Motion by Councilmember Vance to approve the March Warrant Register. Motion seconded by Councilmember Rohde. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

b. Discussion and consideration of approving the March Financial Statements

Motion by Councilmember Holmgren to approve the March Financial Statements. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

c. Discussion and consideration of approving an appointment of an individual to serve on the Tremonton City Arts Council

Manager Warnke said several years ago the Council created the Arts Council, an advisory board to the Council about art related issues. Since then, some have retired. At least three individuals need to be appointed to constitute a working council. At this point in time Councilmember Rohde and Coordinator Zach LeFevre, who acts as staff member, are assigned to that Council. They have reached out to Katherine Ellis, who is willing to serve and has talents to provide. The recommendation is to appoint her. There would be three members of the Arts Council, which would be Councilmember Rohde, Tamera Zollinger and Katherine Ellis. They do have some business to conduct because the City did receive a grant to do another wall mural. They will discuss that and what it could look like before bringing that recommendation to the Council. Councilmember Holmgren reminded the Council he also sits on the Arts Council.

Motion by Councilmember Seamons to accept Ms. Ellis as a new Arts Councilmember. Motion seconded by Councilmember Vance. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

10. Continuation of Agenda Items in the City Council Workshop

a. If necessary the continuation of any agenda item listed on the 6:00 p.m. City Council Workshop

Manager Warnke said here is a brief overview of the tentative budget for 2020-2021. Staff has been working on preparing the upcoming budget. By statute, the Council needs to adopt the tentative budget by May 5. The final budget is required to be adopted by the second meeting in June. There are lots of changes that occur leading up to the final budget and even after the adoption, changes can be made. Several documents have been provided and if you want to look beyond the summary there are written areas that go more in depth.

Director Marc Christensen said here is every department’s total, if you want to go line by line it is more than 90 pages. Column I shows the changes the Council would approve at their next meeting. For property tax, we will not know the exact number until the end of June so we have budgeted an increase to be safe. For sales tax, because of COVID-19, we have looked back at the recession years and based on that we budgeted a 13% decrease in 2021’s budget. For health Insurance, we are working with our consultant GBS. They have been working with Cigna, who came back with a 9% increase for our health renewal, which is typical ($69,000). We have left in the 2% cost of living adjustment and 1% merit increase, overall that is about $83,600. Councilmember Vance questioned if the 9% health insurance increase was normal or too high. Recorder Nessen said it started at a 24% increase and went down to 9%. Manager Warnke said with that increase, there are some changes to the plan that we think are pretty minor and will not affect the majority of individuals.

Director Christensen addressed notable changes within the General Fund. You will notice our non-departmental went down by about $130,000; that was budgeted money for billboards. It ended up being about $50,000 and we had a grant as well. The new Councilmembers had a computer allowance and that is the $7,000 difference. The Court is going to get a new software program so there is an increase there. We are also finishing some economic development plans this year. We do not have to spend money for an election this year. We did get a $50,000 UDOT grant and a big portion of this planning and zoning money is for a Land Use Plan. We are leaving $11,500 to engineer chip seal. Councilmember Rohde asked why the chip seal needs engineering. Manager Warnke said since it is a public works project, we are required by State law to follow their improvement process. City Engineer Breinholt usually puts those together for us. Councilmember Archibald asked if that is something they rotate or who makes the decision on what gets chip sealed. Manager Warnke said Director Fulgham as the Public Works Director puts together a list of recommendations for roads. He uses a study that is done every three years and is tied to our financial statement in reporting requirements by accounting standards. He takes all those into consideration and makes the best recommendation to the Council, who decides which streets get chip sealed.

Director Christensen said we are on a four-year replacement for computers so we do not have performance issues increase. This is a big year for the library’s computer replacements. Councilmember Rohde asked if they could spread those replacements out and spend the same amount each year. Could we get a rotation where every year we are replacing rather than five in one year and then none in another? Manager Warnke said we try not to replace computers until we need to, but it is higher than normal this year. To your point, we could try to space it out.

Director Christensen said for UTOPIA the 2% annual increase equates to $7,500. We are going to assign $300,000 into our future road projects and then $179,000 to cover our debt ratio shortfall for the Recreation Department, which is mainly salary and non-departmental—the programs pay for themselves. The Food Pantry is pretty close to seeing a decrease. We bought an electric pallet jack last year and they have not asked for a big-ticket item this year. The 2% increase in the Recreation Department attributes to benefits and salary. For our Parks Special Department Fund, I came to the Council about the outdoor fitness park that is still going forward as long as we can find funding. We have halted asking for funding until COVID-19 goes away. There is also some landscaping at the trailhead. We already budgeted $65,000 for that. In Fire, there are self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) for $200,000 and $175,000 for a new ambulance. We have $100,000 budgeted in 2020’s budget. We have a right-of-way that is paid for by a grant so really it is only $20,000 of the City’s money. In the Water Department we budgeted $100,000 to purchase water from the Bear River Water Conservancy District and replacing the fixed base meter system. Secondary water we have $350,000 worth of construction budgeted money for extra water shares and $200,000 for new water meters. The Treatment Plant went down because of the nutrient removal project, bio-solids handing, and influent screen. Sewer has a bit of a decrease in operating costs. We have some public ground enhancement money for the RDA downtown and the reimbursement for Tremont Center that we agreed to. We have $200,000 worth of purchasing property for moderate-income housing.

That is a snapshot of all the funds. Manager Warnke has put his memo in the packet. The noteworthy expenditures have more information on them if you want to dig down into why staff is recommending those. This also gives you a quick snapshot of the General Fund expenditures and where we are compared to last year. The Council thanked him for his time.

11. Calendar Items and Previous Assignment

a. Review of calendar: none
b. Review of past assignment: none

12. Reports & Comments:

a. City Manager Reports and Comments: none
b. Development Review Committee Report and Comments

Will be presented at the next meeting

c. City Department Head Reports and Comments: none
d. Council Reports and Comments

Councilmember Rohde asked about having a closed session with Zoom. Recorder Nessen said I could make a separate, closed meeting for our next Council meeting.

Councilmember Holmgren said we are planting about 30 trees at the cemetery. It will look good when we are done.

13. CLOSED SESSIONS (if needed): No closed session held at this time.

14. Adjournment.

Motion by Councilmember Holmgren to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by Councilmembers Vance and Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

The meeting adjourned at 8:31 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 May, 2020.

Linsey Nessen, City Recorder

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