City Council Minutes 5-16-23

TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MAY 16, 2023

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

CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP

Mayor Holmgren called the May 16, 2023 City Council Workshop to order at 6:35 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, Seamons, and Vance, City Manager Warnke, Assistant City Manager Christensen, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Public Works Director Paul Fulgham, Police Chief Dustin Cordova, Interim Fire Chief Chris Scothern, and Downtown Manager Sara Mohrman.

1. Review of the agenda items identified on 7:00 p.m. City Council Agenda

Recorder Nessen reviewed the City’s health insurance. We are not changing carriers this year and the plans we offer for medical did change slightly. We are at the will of Select Health since it is off the shelf plans. They got rid of our high deductible plan that was a bit lower. This is their best plan they offer for high deductible. The City is paying 90% of premiums, with employees paying 10%. We kept HSA contributions the same. Dental was originally an 8.5% increase, another $400 a year, but they were talked down to a 4% increase. Vision, life and long-term disability insurance stayed the same rate.

Director Fulgham reviewed street projects. He said we got an estimate and then had Staker Parsons give us a hard quote that would go from Main Street to our City limits to grind the road down two inches and bring up a three-inch layer of asphalt with a new surface. The cost would be $490,000.17. We already awarded the chip seal bid so that would bring that total project cost up to $1,589,000. We have set aside $1,715,000 so it is still less than what we were planning on. Manager Warnke said we could get the acquisition agent to line up those property owners. I would propose we try to acquire the property now and apply for a CMAQ project (congestion mitigation air quality).

2. 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 6:48 p.m. by consensus of the Council.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Mayor Holmgren called the May 16, 2023 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, Seamons, and Vance, City Manager Warnke, Assistant City Manager Christensen, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Public Works Director Paul Fulgham, Police Chief Dustin Cordova, Interim Fire Chief Chris Scothern, and Downtown Manager Sara Mohrman.

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 Director Fulgham and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilmember Estep.

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 May 16, 2023. Motion seconded by Councilmember Vance. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

5. Approval of minutes – May 2, 2023

Motion by Councilmember Vance to approve the minutes of May 2, 2023. Motion seconded by Councilmember Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

6. Presentation

a. USU Extension – Laura Holmgren

Laura Holmgren said the USU extension is more than just a college and we want to discuss our programing and get the word out. We want to make sure our cities are connecting and taking advantage of resources and opportunities. We can help you prioritize trees for your parks and collaborate on grants. We have several specialists and lots of programs. We would love to support Tremonton in a similar way you support us and we would like to express gratitude for all you do. If there is something we can do for Tremonton let us know. We want to keep working with you and be partners. Mayor Holmgren said we appreciate everything the extension does.

7. Years of Service Award

a. Nate Christensen, Fire Department – 10 years
b. Joe Rathbone, Fire Department – 10 years

Interim Fire Chief Scothern said thank you for letting us do this. These are great people who have dedicated years of their life. We would not be here without the support of their family so we appreciate them, too. He then read through each of their bios.

c. Linda Burns, Library – 5 years
d. Linda Kitch, Library – 5 years

Mayor Holmgren said when I started with the City Council my first assignment was with the library so I have an appreciation for those who serve there. It is a crown jewel. He then read through their bios.

8. Public comments:

Resident Jeff Hoedt said in some military branches, instead of saying kudos you say Bravo Zulu, so to the City employees and first responders especially, since I am a former one, Bravo Zulu to you, nice job. That was a positive report on the improvements to the Northern Community in the last meeting and to see them fix up some of the homes in town is a good thing for everyone. I am glad to see that. I am here to propose a request to you. Since 2019 we have seen incredible growth in our population—3,000 people. That is a lot of homes and a lot more to come if the economy allows it. With growth comes a lot of things, hopefully good things, but a lot of other concerns. The slow the grow group has expressed some of those and with the government experience I have I knew would be coming. Traffic is coming with the roads. You all had to be aware that would come with the growth you promoted. I assume medical and fire calls are going up and that was reasoning behind your decision on a property tax increase to be able to fund some of the fire department positions to go from volunteer to paid. I want to know what is happening with the crime rates since that does not come out in the news. There are not numbers to digest and see where the trends are. When I hear we are not of the ratio anymore, I pose the question were we at the ratio before all this growth? If we were, then you knew it was going to be out of the ratio with the growth. You knew all this was coming and that there would be several tax increases. The water treatment facility will have to be enhanced and replaced. There are huge things going on. What prompted you to do so much growth that would drastically change the culture of the town, the traffic loads, and the need for infrastructure. There had to be some reasoning behind it and I have never seen that come out in the public. That is what I propose you let the public know why. What promoted you to do this? Thank you.

Mayor Holmgren said I would like to comment on the crime rate, that information is going to be published through Facebook and our sites to get that out to the public. Councilmember Rohde said he asked why we promoted growth and I did not. I do not think any of us did. Mayor Holmgren said you also asked why it was allowed in the first place. We are dealing with the same markets as any town in Utah and they are all experiencing something similar. I do not think we have gone out and said come to us it has been more market loaded. Our mission is to create a safe and welcoming community. I do not like the idea of people chastising people for coming in here. I do not agree with that. We need to give some thought to this—it is a fair question and we need to address it. We appreciate your time.

9. New Council Business:

a. Discussion and consideration of adopting Resolution No. 23-29 selecting health insurance carriers and defining the City’s contribution for health insurance employee benefits for the 2023 – 2024 Fiscal Year

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

b. Discussion and consideration of adopting Resolution No. 23-30 approving a change order in the amount of $490,017 for the 2023 Street Maintenance project

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

10. Calendar Items and Previous Assignment

a. Review of calendar

Mayor Holmgren said kudos to those who participated in the Farmer’s Market. It has been a great success and the Downtown Stroll sounded successful as well. We have Hay Days on July 21-22.

Councilmember Vance asked where we are at with septic tanks. Is that still moving forward? Manager Warnke said to a large degree that has been resolved. The County adopted an ordinance that requires any development within the City’s annexation areas to first come to the City and request or petition annexation rather than just granting them or processing their development under the County. We would have the opportunity to annex property in for development purposes and apply our standards. We reached out to the County and Health Department and expressed our concerns. The County followed through with their ordinance.

b. Unfinished Business/Action Items: None
c. Branding Implementation update

Manager Warnke said we have plans to submit to UDOT to implement wayfinding projects. Those projects have been contemplated since 1988, then again in 2002. It was revisited with the SDAT and the Main Street Plan. At this point we just need to submit and finalize those plans. We are getting bids now from sign companies to see what it would cost to implement. There are three phases contemplated. One of those includes replacing our entry signs with our new branding. We got a TTAB grant for $40,000 to help implementation. Manager Mohrman has applied for a $25,000 grant for implementation. We are also working on concept plans for our parks and storm drain basins. As development continues, we need to finalize the configuration of the storm drain basin and how that will function. Landmark Design has done some work conceptually. Those will be brought to you at the next meeting.

11. Reports & Comments:

a. City Administration Reports and Comments
b. Development Review Committee Report and Comments

Manager Warnke said we have two townhome projects on 4th West close to the Matheson apartments that are nearing approval. We have a rezone request we will be working on with the Planning Commission. We are close with the Land Use Plan. Our traffic engineer took a look at the densities and road networks to make sure those densities could support that and see if there were any changes needed on our Land Use Plan or transportation network. Rivers Edge is getting ready to record. There are not a lot of applications being reviewed, but a lot of work is going on behind the scenes.

c. City Department Head Reports and Comments

Director Fulgham gave an update on the sewer line and secondary water. Rupp’s is putting in our east Main Street sewer main that we bid last year. They ran into some troubles when they found an old basement foundation. This is our sewer main that they are replacing (a 10-inch concrete with a new 12 and 15-inch PVC). Replacing that with PVC will give us more capacity for growth. That takes care of everything from the east side of the Malad River to City limits. Anything past that in the future will have to be pumped because it gets too shallow. This should be completed by mid-July. They have until October. The secondary has been turned on and we started charging Service Area 5, on the north side of town. Rupp’s had a big leak to fix. For the SCADA upgrade we went through some programing glitches, but have to wait until the pumps are running and the canals are in. Road projects will start June 19. The chip seal project is on their schedule. On the new road project, we will push them to have it done prior to the fair.

Chief Cordova said I created a document for you to process your decision making. We are hosting a training this summer with our school staff and students for emergency preparedness. Inviting everyone so everyone feels safer and knows what we would do in those emergency situations. The torch run is coming up this week. We have limited resources, but will make it work. We also have a training with Northrup to collaborate their emergency response. We got the Department of Justice grant for $100,000, which is exciting. We have a few more out there we are working on. When asked about our police ratio to citizens, Chief Cordova said we are not recklessly after police officers. More officers do not always equal less crime. Once crime sets in, it makes these places have a lot of problems even though they are really saturated with police officers. Our goal is to prevent us from ever having those types of issues by being proactive and preventative. I have an outline of what can happen if we do not stay on top of this. That resident during public comment had a valid point when he said the public does not know. We do not see anything on the news and it would freak people out if they knew what we are dealing with every day. I do not want to create fear because we are doing our best to keep things under control, but there is definitely a fair share of crimes. The relationship we have with Garland gives us a buffer and is a good thing, but we have to stay ahead of it so we can respond appropriately. I believe in being open and honest with the public, but there are limitations. If I share too much information on a pending case, I can compromise it. That is why we do not release all information—we are trying to be responsible. Our plan is to keep our officers and community safe and we need to be in a situation to do that. We appreciate the support and will continue doing what we do.

Interim Chief Scothern gave an update on staffing. In April we lost one full-time firefighter. We are scheduled to lose another at the end of the month. We did interviews on Friday and will set up two offers to fill those slots. We are busy, but good. We are using our resources internally and spreading out to manage the work load. We have put in for a couple grants to bring in additional revenue for the department. When asked about the progress on hiring a new fire chief, Recorder Nessen said we are still doing the background check, but moving along. Manager Warnke said we have talked tentatively about the start date being June 30. We have not given the final offer.

Manager Mohrman said the Farmer’s Market is continuing. The first one was a great success and the weather held out. We are full for the season and have people on a wait list. About 40% of our vendors are produce, plant starts and baked goods. We want that to be 50% by the end of this year or next. We held our second Friday stroll with about 10 businesses participating. The businesses were excited to see the City participating with them in trying to get people downtown.

Animal Shelter Tech Julie Beagley said Officer Horspool and I have been working hard. I have been supporting him on the issues people have complained about for a long time. He has shutdown repeated backyard breeders who are operating without kennel licenses. One home was reported of having 18 dogs in their backyard and when he staked it out there were 25 on the property. We ended up with one of the moms and eight of her puppies at the shelter. That has been referred to the court and all the dogs are now gone. People do not know where to find or take animals if they lose or find one. We are working on the social media end and talking with people in the community to make them aware of where we are. We are not on the map and do not have our own address so when people put in animal shelter they are directed to Logan or Brigham City. We are trying to let people know we are here and we are getting a lot of traction through Facebook. Our shed has been in the works for a few months. The concrete has been poured and we are moving equipment in there. Best Friends is helping us get a washer and dryer. We hope to have AC before it gets too hot. We will keep things moving forward.

d. Council Reports and Comments

Councilmember Rohde said we are trying to manage growth and doing things with secondary water so we are somewhat ready. I think we have done a good job. We have helped development, but not recruited things.

Councilmember Archibald said Friday night I participated in the Stroll on Main Street and I learned some things. I had not been to some of those businesses and it was good for me to understand what is on our Main Street. I appreciate Manager Mohrman promoting this. It was enlightening for me to know what is downtown.

Councilmember Estep said the flower pots will be out Monday. Mayor Holmgren said we will start at 7 a.m. This year we will mix it up with different colors and plants. Those are in the green house now. We are excited.

Mayor Holmgren said I looked at the Brigham City paper and they gave their proposed budget for the year. It was $93 million and I thought holy cats. They are not much bigger than us. Manger Warnke, Assistant Manager Christensen and I went through our tentative budget and looked at about a $26.4 million budget. A big portion of that are utilities and public safety. That got me thinking. We have this budget we are proposing with a $1.2 million increase, but we have done a lot of grants, which added up to almost $4 million, which is significant. Many organizations are showing confidence in Tremonton by investing in our community and we appreciate that. I looked over property taxes and what that impact could be for homes. The average home in Tremonton is $377,000 and the tax rate would be $361. With Truth in Taxation that increases by $209. Over 12 months that is $17.47. For higher end homes valued at $600,000 it is about $35 more a month. Public safety is worthwhile. I would like to take this information and put it out to the public. There is a lot going on and we are growing, it is a function of the markets. This is happening everywhere. We will have to work our way through this. If we want public safety, we have to do this. Councilmember Estep said we owe our citizens a safe environment.

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

13. Adjournment.

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

The meeting adjourned at 8:21 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 6th day of June, 2023.

Linsey Nessen, City Recorder

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