CITY OF
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
COUNCIL
MEETING
CITY
OFFICES
PRESIDING Council Chair LeRoy Turner
CONDUCTING Council Member Casey Fitts
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS Dwayne Ruth
SERIOUS MOMENT OF REFLECTION/ Council Chair Michael Rutter
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:
Marilyn Brusch, Casey Fitts, Rea Goddard, Michael Rutter
LeRoy Turner, Shane Siwik and John Weaver
STAFF PRESENT:
Mayor
Robert D. Gray
David Carlson, City Attorney
Larry Gardner,
Director, Community/Economic Development
Kyle Kershaw,
finance Director
Chris Snyder,
Police Chief
Tim Williams,
Recreation Director
Dennis Pay,
Public Works Director
Geri Tessman, Public Works Supervisor
Craig D. Burton, City Recorder
Karen Rynearson,
Deputy City Recorder
OTHERS PRESENT:
See Attached List
NO ACTION COMMENTS
1. INFORMATION. Brent Herridge from EDT (Economic Development Team) reported on
what they have been doing in the branding process of the City, website
recommendations, information packets, proposed events, etc. They would like input back from the Council.
2. SCHEDULING. The City Recorder informed those at the meeting of upcoming events, meetings, activities, etc.
3. MAYOR COMMENTS. Mayor Gray
apologized for being absent at the last meeting. He was disturbed by a couple of things that
happened. First, two or three items in
the budget he submitted to the Council were intended for discussion. He would like to work closely with the
Council on the budget. He encouraged the
Council to discuss these issues with him and the staff. Some items can be rearranged to cover more
important issues that have come up in the last few weeks.
Second, there was a Deseret News article with a comment from Council Member Siwik stating: “…following $180,000 in painstaking budget
cuts during the 2007-2008 budget cycle, a last minute
motion allocated $200,000 to a mayoral contingency fund, Siwik
said. ‘Time, energy and good will were
wasted’, he said. Siwik’s
comments were echoed by Council Chairman Roy Turner.” As a matter of clarification and to clear the
record, there was no contingency fund of $200,000. That $200,000 fund was in the Council budget
and was for lobbying efforts, both in
The Mayor then turned some time
over to Dr. Steve Rogers.
Dr. Rogers reviewed the
playground equipment renovation proposal for
Council Member Fitts said the original proposal was that the City would
pay $60,000 for the park. Now it’s
$15,000 more. He suggested that the City
pay the $75,000 with the possibility that the first $15,000 of the additional
fund raising return to the City to recover the $15,000 advanced. Anything raised above that would go to park
maintenance or to complete additional improvements that have been cut from this
proposal.
Dr. Rogers agreed that would be a
reasonable goal for them to repay the $15,000.
He said the fundraising has just started and their goal is to raise more
than $15,000.
4. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS.
Council Member Siwik said he believes that
Council Member Rutter made the motion in last year’s
budget session and “slush fund” and “Mayor” were in
there, that it was money meant for the Mayor.
He’s aware it went to lobbyists.
What he was referring to was that it was Council Member Rutter’s suggestion that that happen.
Mayor Gray said he was just
clarifying it for the public record because that’s not where it went. It was in Council funds.
Council Member Siwik explained he was going off of his recollection as to
Council Member Rutter’s suggestion.
Council Member Brusch read a letter addressed to the Council from Karen
Larsen. A copy is attached to these
minutes.
Council Member Rutter said he doesn’t believe he used the term “slush
fund” last year. He hoped Council Member
Siwik would take the time to look up the exact words
he used and not castigate him as suggesting that we have a “slush fund” in the
City. He asked Council Member Siwik to report back to him on what he said.
Council Member Siwik said he would stand corrected if it was not the case
and asked the City Recorder to look up the comments.
Council Member Rutter suggested that the Council members limit their
remarks and concerns to a certain amount of time, perhaps three to seven
minutes. He believes they could keep
within that and not waste the time of the City with comments and discussion that don’t have any effect or interest to anybody but the
person saying them.
City Attorney David Carlson
explained that as the City Council rules stand, there is no limitation on how
much a council member can say on an issue.
The rules say that each council member has the opportunity to speak once
on an issue. So, the Council Chair could
limit the discussion by limiting each council member to one opportunity to
speak on an item. If you wanted to put
limits on yourselves you could do that with a resolution but he’s not sure it
would be binding unless everyone agreed.
It would just be an honor system.
Council Member Rutter pledged he would limit himself to five minutes and
when he is the conducting council member he will ask for a limit on time to
council members and citizens that would be fair and equitable to all concerned.
Council Member Fitts issued an apology for cursing in last weeks
meeting. He doesn’t want people to think
that he yells at his children often. The
point he was trying to make was he felt it was a situation of talking down to
individuals that weren’t listening on a reasonable level. After the meeting, an individual he respects
very much said to him that one of
5. CITIZEN COMMENTS/QUESTIONS.
Michael Stahle,
Steve Aste, Utopia Station Development Corp. There is a grand opening event this Saturday evening
for tenants that are being attracted to the Market Station area. One of those that has
moved in is Elite Model Management. This
world renowned company has not opened a new office since 1971 and to pick
Stacey Liddiard,
President and CEO of the
Council Member Weaver thought it
would be very important. He would like
to hear a report from the Chamber on what they’ve done with the support the
City has given prior to having to make a decision about future funding. Council Members Fitts
and Rutter agreed.
Council Chair Turner said they
would get back to her with a time.
Ed Winter, 2992 South 600 East. He would like to have the agenda put on the
City’s web page so citizens could access it and see what’s happening and come
and voice their opinion on it.
The City Recorder and Charee Peck from the Mayor’s office explained that it is on
the web page and if he would like, he could be also have it e-mailed to him.
PUBLIC
HEARING –
To receive public comment regarding the adoption of the South Salt Lake
City budget for fiscal year July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009
Public Hearing was scheduled to begin at
Finance Director Kyle Kershaw had given the Council some
updated information since the Council meeting last week. The Council also received an updated memo
from Mayor Gray that had been given to them at the presentation of the
Tentative Budget. A copy of the updated
memo is attached to these minutes and incorporated by this reference.
The City today got updated information on sales tax. Compared to budget, the City is over $300,000
down, and that does not include Codale Electric. Sales tax is decreasing at a more rapid pace
than was thought at the beginning of April.
Class C revenue /expenditures increased. A lot of that will come from Reserves as per
the request of Public Works to purchase a piece of equipment and to the
probability of doing the 900 West project in the future, which is subject to
discussion.
In April there was a question about no information about the
solid waste contract. We received bids
and are looking at about a seven percent increase in the Ace contract – about
$13,000 to $14,000.
The City has used some of the rental receipts from the
apartments to help cover the cost of maintenance for Pioneer Craft House, which
the City is now the owner of. We
guessing it will be about $25,000 a year for the maintenance and utilities for
that.
Because of changes requested last week, we have almost
$63,000 in fund balance being utilized to balance this budget.
In the Capital Fund we have the purchase of 15 Police
vehicles.
One of the road projects approved last year was bid in April
and work will begin June 1. That money
will be reallocated because it will carry over the fiscal year.
Several items still need to be discussed, including loss of
revenue due to the relocation of Codale Electric and
our sales tax problems, the type of raises to be funded, the amount of
assistance for the Chamber of Commerce and funding for parks.
Mr. Kershaw had a handout for the Council regarding the
Capital and General Funds over the last 10 years.
Council Member Weaver asked where we are relative to the 18
percent “cap.” Mr. Kershaw replied that
the “cap” is based on ensuing year revenues, so if the budget were passed today
as is, the math works out to the General Fund, we could go up to $3.7 million,
and we’re at $3.4 million. The intent
has always been to try to stay as close to the 18 percent without bumping too
close to it because we could then run afoul of State law. The idea was to keep the “rainy day” fund as
much as possible in the “rainy day” fund.
We have run close to 14 to 17 percent.
We’ve tried never to go below that.
The budget which the Council has is almost $21,000,000. With a $3,000,000 fund balance, if a
catastrophe happens and all revenue is cut off, this carries us for 1/7 of the
year. By law we have to have at least 5
percent, but no more than 18 percent.
There is a note receivable from the RDA. At the end of last year the RDA owed the
Capital Fund about $1.6 million. That is
being gradually paid down as we learned in the RDA meeting earlier tonight.
Mr. Kershaw reviewed the debt service accounts.
Council Member Fitts opened the
meeting for public input at
Andy
Mauer, Fire Department and President of Firefighters’
The job that our Fire and Police Departments do is
incredible. There is good esprit de corps between the Police and
the Fire in this City. He doesn’t just
want to come to the Council with requests.
He wants to come with suggestions and work through this together. He is concerned with what he has been
hearing. It says in their manual that
there will be step raises, and putting that back – there were some tough
times. He thinks we can get through this
together.
Gary Keller said three years ago that the “wolf is at the
door.” The wolf is always going to be
there.
Council Member Siwik asked officer
Keller when he suggested doing the cost of living another time, was he
suggesting that we take the two percent and move it to a step without a cost of
living, or that we do a two percent step in addition to a cost of living.
Officer Keller answered to make a step raise instead of a
cost of living, find another two percent to go with that and maintain the step
raise as laid out on the pay scale.
There was discussion with Mr. Kershaw (who was in the
audience without a microphone) and Council Member Siwik. Officer Keller was asked if a merit raise was
more important than a COLA to the new officers.
Officer Keller responded that when they look at the pay scale it is
based on step raises, not projected out on cost-of-living raises. At some point in time you have to adjust the
whole scale up with either a market increase, cost of living, or whatever to be
competitive in the field. Keep them in
their steps and let them progress that way and every couple of years review the
COLA and see where we are.
Council Member Rutter asked if we
have a standard of merit that is commensurate with other cities, state or
federal guidelines. Officer Keller
responded that there are different grades and that’s how you move up the line. They do have performance appraisals and they
have to meet the standards to be eligible for a merit increase.
Mr. Kershaw advised that whatever salary a police officer or
firefighter makes, regardless of how the raise is calculated, it counts toward
retirement. If he gets a two percent
raise next year, a step or cost of living, retirement is calculated on the new
salary. Officer Keller added that in the
steps you top out at some point, unless you change positions or assignments and
move up to a sergeant, lieutenant, etc.
They top out at about 11 years in their category. Those that have been through 11 step
increases are then relying on a COLA after that point. They can move up the ranks by promotion.
Joe
Anderson,
Council Member Fitts closed the
public hearing portion at
Council Member Siwik asked Mr.
Kershaw if someone in the Police Department has been a line officer for 11
years and then is promoted to sergeant, does that step increase start over so
they have 11 more years they can progress.
Mr. Kershaw answered that as they move up in the ranks the years are
compressed. If you’re promoted to
sergeant, there are only six steps.
Chief Chris Snyder explained that with each promotion
there’s an increase in the pay grade, so you’d be at a sergeant, lieutenant or
captain pay grade. Typically the first
step on any promotion is going to be lower than what an officer makes when he’s
maxed out. So when they’re promoted, if
they are already maxed, they’ll go at least five percent above, according to
City policy, to whatever pay grade is commensurate to that. So if an officer is at an 11 and is promoted
to sergeant, he may start at a Sergeant 3 and max out in three years at that
point. The reason for the condensed
steps is the higher you go up you’re earning the promotion essentially and it
should be less competitive as far as the salary goes.
Council Member Siwik asked if we
have a final number on the retirement increase that we talked about – going
from two and a half to a four. Mr.
Kershaw said that based on the raises that are in the budget, it is about
$60,000 a year. This starts in January,
so we funded it for about six months.
It’s in the budget right now, but will be an issue next year. The VECC contracts came in at a little less
on the Police side. The Chief cut a few
things and we came up with approximately the $30,000 that’s needed.
Council Member Fitts asked about
the sales tax “floor.” There was a discussion
with Mr. Kershaw.
Council Member Weaver reported that he had communication
with an attorney who works with the Governor’s office. It became clear that the issue of the
disproportionate allocation of land usage in
David Carlson replied that it’s not a coincidence because
the Mayor has continued to work very hard at that and the lobbyist that the
Council hired has continued to work very hard at that. We have had discussions this week and we have
a meeting with the Tax Commission next week to continue to talk about
this.
Council Member Weaver said he brought the matter up to both
confirm and commend what has been done and what is happening currently in those
efforts. This has been a concerted
effort over a period of time and it appears that it is paying off. We have the ear of the Governor’s office and
those that associate with him. They recognize our plight, which is a
significant shift. When the
redistribution legislation went into effect the message was “tough.” Hopefully we’ll see some fruits of those
efforts in the next legislative session.
Mr. Kershaw advised there was legislation passed that’s not
in here because it needs a lot of discussion and it does not take effect until
2009.
Council Member Fitts mentioned
discussion that the base year had changed.
David Carlson answered that it was their effort to get the base year
changed. Mr. Kershaw has just explained
what they got instead. The base year has
not been changed. It’s an opportunity
for cities that have been harmed (like
Council Member Fitts continued
that if we are to fall below the floor, there may be some benefits that come
from that. We should be aware of that
fact. If we were to carry through this
year and then have a drop off, we would feel the full equivalency of the drop
off. If we were to drop off and maintain
the base coverage for the next several years, if numbers continue to plummet,
we are ensured the number of $10,900,000.
Mr. Kershaw said that if our revenue isn’t going to be
consistently rising in growth, the next best thing is to have one bad year for
every two good years. For 20 years we
have used the economic growth in sales taxes to fund growth in government. We were hesitant to raise property taxes and
other things. When that was taken away,
with the growth in sales taxes we struggle to have that keep up with the growth
of government, even with two percent raises.
It took a financing tool from us.
There are other things on the horizon, but it takes time for those
things to start returning dollars to the City.
Council Member Weaver added that concern was taken into
account with the tax increase and the strategy of providing a window of
opportunity three years at a projected rate of disposal of resources, with the
full knowledge that we don’t know where we’re going to be three years out, we
at least want to ensure that window of opportunity to grow to get us to a point
where those things start to come on line.
That three year may turn into a five year, but the reality is that
additional revenues that came in in the first and
second year were set aside to purchase us a third, a fourth and possibly a
fifth year to allow for that growth to take root and bring us up.
Mr. Kershaw remarked that we didn’t anticipate a downturn
like we’ve experienced. The sales tax is
having an effect on our local economy, as well as the national economy.
Council Chair Turner advised, pertaining to Police and Fire,
that he would support a merit increase over a COLA. The best thing would be to have both, but if
we can only have one he supports a merit increase.
A merit increase ought to be based on performance
appraisals. He has been told by a number
of City employees that everybody gets a “satisfactory” rating. He doesn’t know that for a fact. But if everybody gets a “satisfactory”
rating, it means that everybody would get the full merit increase. If that’s going to happen we need to make
sure that our performance appraisals are done better next year so we have a
better reflection of what an employee’s performance is. Maybe more training is needed to help
supervisors do appraisals. It shouldn’t
be a once-a-year thing; it should be ongoing.
But if we go with a merit increase we need to make it realistic and
reflect accurate
performance appraisal.
Council Member Fitts added that it
used to be tradition in the City that merit raises were done on your
anniversary date, and because of the notion of correcting everything, they all
went into effect July 1. All of a sudden
you have to evaluate your whole department for July 1, as opposed to having
three people this month, four next month, etc. One of the things that would be beneficial,
and not popular at first, would be to correct the situation and make it
long-term viable by establishing more stringent requirements for our evaluation
process and doing them on an employee’s anniversary date as opposed to
everybody on July 1.
Mr. Kershaw replied there would be opposition if you’re the
one hired in May and you get one month of raise versus the person hired in July
that gets 12 months of raise. Council
Member Fitts said that goes back to the long-term
viability of it. You get 12 months from
May to May. The other person gets it
from July to July – the first year. If
you’re evaluating on a budget year, that make sense. The argument we hear is, “How are you
affecting our career in
Council Chair Turner said if we’re going to do this, we’re
going to have to have buy-in by the unions because someone who doesn’t get the
full raise is going to go to the union and say he’s not being treated
fairly. That’s a very sticky point
unless the unions are working with us.
Sometimes employees think their boss is looking to fire
them. That’s the last thing a boss wants
to do because you then have to go through recruitment and training, etc. We want to keep employees, so an Individual
Development Plan ought to be an important part of the performance
appraisal.
Council Member Weaver said the reality is the Council is in
the process of fact finding, discussing and looking at
options/possibilities. The fact remains
that City leadership made a significant commitment to its employees. Employees were brought up as much as 17
percent in a single year for a market adjustment. He hopes people don’t forget that and base their perception solely off of
a single budget year and forget the level of commitment in the past and is
still there.
There are things that really matter in terms of employee
morale, employee performance and in terms of getting the job done, and there
are things that are “fringes” that are ancillary or secondary to the core. He wants to make sure we are addressing the
core issues. If we’re facing budgeting
challenges and if there is cutting, he wants to make sure the cutting happens
in areas that fall into the ancillary/secondary or “fringe” departments rather
than the core. He is getting the message
the steps are very important, but there is legitimate concern on the part of
the Council. There have been instances
where every employee in the City has had a satisfactory performance appraisal
and then we have fired a number of those employees. That just doesn’t add up. It’s hard to sit down with somebody and tell
them “they are not cutting it.” The way
to approach that is to say what the level of expectation/performance
is and then ask what can I do to help to get you where you need to be. We want
to cultivate our employees and develop the very best they have in them. There will always be an individual, for
whatever reason, who is not able to make the jump. The City is not in a position to subsidize
that type of employee. We can’t continue
to employ someone who is “a really great guy,” and yet they are not doing the
job they are assigned to do.
Some things have not yet been looked at. When the market adjustment was made, the City
did not have specific information about positions and pay in our comparison
cities. We can get specific information
now and pinpoint more accurately exactly where the market is.
Council Member Fitts suggested the
Council table the discussion on the 2008/2009 budget, finish the rest of the
meeting agenda and then come back to the budget discussion.
PUBLIC
HEARING
To receive pubic input regarding proposed amendments to the 2007/2008
GENERAL, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS and HOUSING FUND budgets
Public Hearing was scheduled to begin at
Finance Director Kyle Kershaw explained that some of the
amendments are housekeeping matters and some are things that happened that the
City had to react to.
We are basically rerouting money around in the General Fund,
but it takes Council approval to do that between departments. In a department the Mayor can do it, but
between departments the Council has to do it.
The major portion is fuel expense in the Police and Fire. We are asking the Council to increase the
General Fund by $316,000. Of that
amount, $164,000 is for the 3300 South Project Scope Change. That will come from Class C reserves. We are now the owners of the Pioneer Craft
House. Part of the closing agreement is
that from some of the money we got from the County to purchase that, we can use
some of the money earmarked for future renovation to pay the accrued expenses
that Granite District has been paying
It affects the General Fund but does not impact it negatively.
There are two major issues in the Capital Improvements
Fund. We received a federal grant we did
not expect to receive. The Police
purchased digital video recorders for their cars and about $49,000 came from
the grant. The $530,000 is to account
for the grant we got from the County to buy the Craft House. The total increase of the Capital
Improvements Fund is $599,000.
The Housing Fund is increased by $15,000.
Council Member Fitts opening the
meeting for public input at
There were no public comments.
Council Member Fitts closed the
public hearing at
Council Member Siwik moved that
the Council adopt the amendment of the 2007/2008 General Fund Budget in the
amount of $316,076.
MOTION: Shane
Siwik
SECOND: Michael
Rutter
Roll Call Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
Council Member Rutter moved that
the Council adopt the amendment of the 2007/2008 Capital Improvement Fund
Budget in the amount of $599,000.
MOTION: Michael
Rutter
SECOND: Shane
Siwik
Roll Call Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
Council Member Weaver moved that the Council adopt the
amendment of the 2007/2008 Housing Fund Budget in the amount of $15,000.
MOTION: John
Weaver
SECOND: Marilyn
Brusch
Roll Call Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
Council Member Siwik moved that
the Council adopt the Resolution entitled “City of South Salt Lake Amendments
to the Budget for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2008,” with additions to the
individual fund budgets therein in the following amounts:
Total
New Budget Amount
General
Fund $316,076 $20,638,959
Capital
Fund 599,000 9,521,000
Housing
Fund 15,000 526,830
MOTION: Shane
Siwik
SECOND: Michael
Rutter
Roll Call Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
PUBLIC
HEARING –
To receive public input regarding a proposed zoning ordinance text
amendment. The request is to allow the use
of a beauty salon and barber shop as a conditional use home occupation. Application is made by Trisha Simon.
Public Hearing was scheduled to begin at
Larry Gardner explained this application initially came in
from Trisha Simon on
Council Member Fitts opened the
meeting for public comment at
There were no public comments.
In response to Council Member Siwik’s
question, Mr. Gardner said the 20 percent floor space applies across the
board. He did an evaluation across the
valley and most of the ordinances specify 20 percent. In a home occupation you want to allow people
the freedom to generate income on their property, but with very strict
regulations. The last thing you want to
do is change the character of the residential neighborhood. If someone can operate a business out of
their home and their neighbor would never know it, then that’s the perfect
world.
There was a discussion of the various changes included in
Mr. Carlson’s most recent draft, including what to do about massage
therapists. The only “permitted” use in
a home occupation is an office only. After
further discussion, it was decided to exclude massage therapy as a home occupation. If someone later comes with an application to
change the ordinance the Council can address it at that time.
Council Member Weaver moved that with the adjustment
excluding a massage therapist
the Council approve the ordinance creating Section 17.06.130
“Home Occupations” of Chapter 17.06 “Supplementary and Qualifying Regulations”
of Title 17.
MOTION: John
Weaver
SECOND: Shane
Siwik
Roll Call Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
ACTION ITEMS
(continued)
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. An ordinance of the City of South Salt Lake City Council amending Title
17, Chapter 16, Article VI of the City of South Salt Lake Municipal Code to
allow relocation of billboards by special exception. This ordinance was not ready and was tabled
until the next City Council meeting on
2. An ordinance of the City of South Salt Lake City Council amending
Title 17 (Zoning) of the City of South Salt Lake Municipal code to create a
chapter regulating the use of temporary portable storage containers in
residential zones. Mr. Gardner explained that they have added a better
definition of a storage container.
Council Member Weaver moved to
approve the ordinance.
MOTION: John Weaver
SECOND: Michael Rutter
Roll Call Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
3. A resolution of the City of South Salt Lake City Council approving
the proposed lease of the Pioneer Craft House premises between the City of
South Salt Lake and Pioneer Craft House, Inc. and authorizing the Mayor to
execute the same. Mr. Carlson
explained that he was not asking for final action tonight, he just wanted the
Council to see the lease and make sure they’re comfortable with it in
principle. They’re still talking with
Pioneer Craft House, Inc. to make sure that they can comply with all the
provisions. It’s a little bit of change
from being with
Council Member Weaver felt that
utilities in the contract could be strengthened. He would like to add that they can require a
50/50 sharing of utility costs or they can just cover the costs. They want the facility to be used but if energy
costs continue to increase, and the Craft House was to do something energy
intensive, then that would be an equitable way to address the costs.
Mr. Carlson agreed to look at
ways to address the issue.
Council Member Siwik moved to put this item on Unfinished Council Business
when the staff brings it back ready to be approved.
MOTION: Shane Siwik
SECOND: John Weaver
Voice Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
Council Member Rutter asked if the City has a revenue flow on the Craft
House, what revenue has been generated and what the City will be
receiving. He would like to see what revenue
they have and who is currently in there.
Mr. Carlson answered that they
would try to get a report on that at the same time they bring the lease back
for approval.
4. Staff report regarding using 2009 Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) funds for a 2008 project for
Mr. Kershaw added that the
approval process has to be done in a public hearing.
Council Member Weaver summed up
the thought saying that without approvals they cannot use future CDBG funds to
fund current projects, i.e. use monies from the Capital Fund or Fund Balance to
make it happen now and then reimburse those funds. That would require prior approval.
Mr. Kershaw agreed.
Mr. Pay explained that the
equipment could not be purchased with CDBG funds. He has identified about $85,000 of
improvements that need to be done in the park that would be eligible for CDBG
funds, but they cut it back to $47,000.
So, next year they could go back and allocate additional funds to do
what they couldn’t do this year.
NEW COUNCIL BUSINESS
1. A resolution of the City of South Salt Lake City Council approving
the “Interlocal Agreement for Traffic Signal
Maintenance” with Salt Lake County and authorizing the Mayor to execute the
same. Mr. Carlson explained that
this is an agreement the city renews from time to time with the County. We don’t have the expertise or equipment to
service our own signals so we contract with the County to do it.
Council Member Siwik moved to suspend the rules.
MOTION: Shane Siwik
SECOND: John Weaver
Voice Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Nay
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
Council Member Siwik moved to approve the resolution approving the “Interlocal Agreement for Traffic Signal Maintenance” with
MOTION: Shane Siwik
SECOND: John Weaver
Roll Call Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
The Council returned to the Public Hearing on the 2008-2009
Budget.
PUBLIC HEARING –
To receive public comment regarding the
adoption of the South Salt
The Council talked about when to
hold budget meetings and which department to review when.
Council Member Siwik said that he would like to see the council give a
merit raise to employees and try to avoid going more than $250,000 into
reserves.
Council Member Weaver thought
that would be very doable. He pointed
out that three years ago the majority of the Council approved a property tax
increase to ensure that there would be funds to dip into to get through
difficult times that they knew they would have to grow out of.
Council Member Fitts said that the sales tax dollars that have come in
over the last two years are in excess of $600,000 above what had been
anticipated. That gives them money
without dipping into the anticipated reserves that they should have had.
Council Member Weaver said the City
cannot run indefinitely by dipping into reserves. The discussion for him is what level of
reserves do they want to ensure to have for that rainy day fund and where do
they fall, what trade-offs exist, in terms of opportunities today, and then
discuss those trade-offs.
Council Member Turner moved to put the 2008-2009 Budget on
Unfinished Business for Council Meeting scheduled
MOTION: LeRoy Turner
SECOND: John Weaver
Voice Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
Council Chair Turner moved to
adjourn.
MOTION: LeRoy Turner
SECOND: John Weaver
Voice Vote:
Brusch Aye
Fitts Aye
Goddard Aye
Rutter Aye
Siwik Aye
Turner Aye
Weaver Aye
Council meeting adjourned at
____________________________________
LeRoy R. Turner, Council Chair
_____________________________________
Craig D. Burton, City Recorder