TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
MAY 5, 2026
Board Members Present:
Bret Rohde, Chairman
Kristie Bowcutt, Board Member
Brent Jex, Board Member
Beau Lewis, Board Member
Sharri Oyler, Board Member—excused
Blair Westergard, Board Member
Linsey Nessen, Executive Director
Cynthia Nelson, Executive Secretary
Chairman Rohde called the Tremonton Redevelopment Agency Meeting to order at 9:38 p.m. The meeting was held in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Chairman Rohde, Board Members Bowcutt, Jex, Lewis, Westergard, Executive Director Nessen, and Executive Secretary Nelson. Board Member Oyler was excused.
1. Approval of agenda:
Motion by Board Member Jex to approve the May 5, 2026 agenda. Motion seconded by Board Member Lewis. Vote: Board Member Bowcutt – yes, Board Member Jex – yes, Board Member Lewis – yes, Board Member Oyler – absent, Board Member Westergard – yes. Motion approved.
2. Approval of minutes – January 20, 2026
Motion by Board Member Bowcutt to approve the minutes of January 20, 2026. Motion seconded by Board Member Westergard. Vote: Board Member Bowcutt – yes, Board Member Jex – yes, Board Member Lewis – yes, Board Member Oyler – absent, Board Member Westergard – yes. Motion approved.
3. Public Hearing
Chairman Rohde called a Public Hearing to order at 9:39 p.m. to consider adopting the tentative budget. There were four people in attendance.
a. On consideration of adopting the Tentative Budget entitled “The Redevelopment Agency of Tremonton City Annual Implementation Budget 2026-2027 for Tremonton West Liberty Foods EDA 172 and Fund 71 RDA District #2 – Downtown, for the period commencing July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027”
Chris Danvers said Mayor you are getting everybody on board with this idea so we are all on the same ship. I think that is the attitude everybody in the City needs to have. I know everybody who is working for the City does an awful lot. I think part of the deficits we are having is because there is a lot less involvement in volunteers and people within the City actually coming out to help. When I got here, we had just instituted a paid fire department and the City never had that before, which tells me an awful lot. Many here are in new positions of leadership and you can use this excuse that I am new, but I have also found that only goes so far. I do believe with all the transparency you are trying to get out that is going to become insanely important because the last Council was voted out because most of the town did not feel like there was a lot of transparency. They got really upset when they had to pay more in taxes. I am not against paying what we need because again we are all in the same boat, but I do believe we need to push things out to the citizens and help them understand. Our town needs to find the culture of helping more. I do not get how we got to the information age and have so much less time. I think people need to get out from behind their screens and start doing more in their communities. Somehow you guys need to push that message.
Chairman Rohde closed the Public Hearing at 9:44 p.m.
4. New Business
a. Discussion and consideration of adopting Resolution No. RDA 26-02 adopting the Tentative Budget entitled “The Redevelopment Agency of Tremonton City Annual Implementation Budget 2026-2027 for Tremonton West Liberty Foods EDA 172 and Fund 71 RDA District #2 – Downtown, for the period commencing July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027”
Mayor Rohde said the only direction I think we need to put in here is the contract for Kelly Wood. Manager Nessen said we were giving our last downtown manager $25,000. It is a lot of work. Councilmember Lewis said Main Street America recommends $48,000 so we are about half of that.
Manager Nessen said are you interested in continuing the project we did with the West Liberty fund where we gave those grants for affordable housing? That was up to $400,000. Mayor Rohde said maybe we hang on to that to see what is going to come with the temporary housing and affordable housing that could come for workers with the data center. Manager Nessen said this is our money so we can use it how we see fit. We piloted this last year to see how it would do. The funds are meant to be for affordable housing.
Motion by Board Member Jex to adopt the resolution. Motion seconded by Board Member Westergard. Roll Call Vote: Board Member Bowcutt – yes, Board Member Jex – yes, Board Member Lewis – yes, Board Member Oyler – absent, Board Member Westergard – yes. Motion approved.
b. Discussion and consideration of adopting Resolution No. RDA 26-03 approving a professional artist services agreement for the mural at Midland Square
Director LeFevre said back in 2013 the SDAT came to help revitalize Tremonton and come up with programs we could do to better our community. They asked us to find our assets and one of them was our murals. We have several murals dating back to the 70s and they have continued to now. It was highlighted as something we should do to bring vibrancy and attract people to our downtown area. We started an Arts Council to keep this going. We have become known for this and had several articles about being named the mural city of Utah. We have also won the Best of State Award for Public Art many years since 2015. This year there was a previous mural that was on the proposed wall. The building owner wanted to seal and protect that and our previous contract was up. It was within his rights to do so. We met with the Arts Council and identified that wall as a high priority as it is in the middle of downtown. We wanted to have a mural put back on. The Midland Square mural was identified as the topic. I met with the building owner, and he signed a new contract so we can add a mural and have the easement to that wall. We put out an RFQ in August asking for qualified artists to submit their concept. We had two finalists. The winning finalist was Layton Scarbrough, who went to school at UVU for fine arts. He is not local but is familiar with the area and what drew him to this mural was he had a family member who was a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. Within this mural there is a lot of significance. You see the police officer in the center handing two roses to a young girl. The two roses represent our fallen officers. He stands guard protecting the young girl. On the far left you see a soldier hugging his mother. The Midland Motel was the bus stop of downtown and that is where soldiers met family as they came home from war. In the middle, you see a father, son and dog flying a kite where it represents unity of the community and bringing people together. These were the things the artist wanted to express. There is also an American flag, which represents the patriotic community we have and the Midland Motel, which stood as a unifying gathering place. It was a keystone of the community. We have worked a professional service agreement with the artist and with your approval that will be signed. He would start in June and finish within a week. I applied for a tourism grant. We received $7,500 and the cost of the mural is $10,000 so we would only owe $2,500.
Motion by Board Member Westergard to approve the professional artist services agreement for the mural at Midland Square. Motion seconded by Board Member Jex. Roll Call Vote: Board Member Bowcutt – yes, Board Member Jex – yes, Board Member Lewis – yes, Board Member Oyler – absent, Board Member Westergard – yes. Motion approved.
5. Adjournment
Motion by Board Member Jex to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by Board Member Westergard. Vote: Board Member Bowcutt – yes, Board Member Jex – yes, Board Member Lewis – yes, Board Member Oyler – absent, Board Member Westergard – yes. Motion approved.
The meeting adjourned at 9:58 p.m.
The undersigned duly acting and appointed Executive Secretary for Tremonton City Corporation Redevelopment Agency hereby certifies that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes for the RDA Meeting held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.
Dated this __________ day of __________________, 2026.
____________________________
Cynthia Nelson, Executive Secretary