City of South Salt Lake

CITY OF SOUTH SALT LAKE

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

COUNCIL MEETING Wednesday January 25, 2006

7:00 p.m.

CITY OFFICES 220 East Morris Avenue

South Salt Lake, Utah 84115

PRESIDING Council Chair William Anderson

CONDUCTING Council Member Marilyn Brusch

SERIOUS MOMENT OF REFLECTION/ L. Shane Siwik

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:

William Anderson, Marilyn Brusch, Casey Fitts, Rea Goddard

Poponatui Sitake, Shane Siwik and John Weaver

STAFF PRESENT:

Mayor Robert D. Gray

David Carlson, City Attorney

Craig D. Burton, City Recorder

Scott Turnblom, Information Technology Specialist

Kyle Kershaw, Finance Director

Larry Gardner, Acting Director of Economic Development

STAFF EXCUSED:

Karen Rynearson, Deputy City Recorder

OTHERS PRESENT:

Attendance not taken.

NO ACTION COMMENTS

1. INFORMATION. Council Member Shane Siwik informed the new council members that he is associated with Utah Gardens. Last year our youth program came to the City Council and asked for a water meter waiver fee of $950.00. There are two one acre parcels on 700 West that the youth run. These kids manage the whole program. One parcel was for fund raising and the other was for donating. Last year they could only do the fund raising garden and they decided to donate half and sell half for fund raising. With the water meter waiver I told the kids that they needed to be accountable to the City for that waiver and they needed to come and report. That’s what they’re doing tonight.

Denise Wayman, Utah Gardens Youth Group. There are six of us youth on the executive committee that came together and got it going. We’ve really worked hard to make it work. There were many large trees that we had to clear out. We chopped and mulched them and put them back in the garden to nourish the soil and help the plants grow. We want to thank those who brought in the mulcher and specifically Representative Wiley for bringing his backhoe and helping us remove some of the big trunks.

After the land was cleared we began to work on one acre of land with the supplies and money that we had. We plowed the ground and began to plant the seeds. We had planted over 100 tomato plants and lots of squash and chard and a big wind storm came and blew it all away which took off the weed barrier and a lot of the seeds. It set us back at the beginning of the year. But, with a lot of help from kids and neighbors throughout the community, we were able to put it back together and begin growing. Even with the setbacks we had, we had a great experience. We sold over $1,100 worth of food to raise funds for the garden through the Farmers Market. And we donated over 1,100 pounds of food to places throughout the area. Several hundred pounds went to the Bishops’ Storehouse. About four hundred pounds went to residents of the refuge homes at South Parc through Catholic Services. A large amount was donated to the Road Home and the Crossroads Urban Center. This is just the beginning of what we’re planning to do with this garden. In the future we’re planning to have much more come out of it. We’ve saved about $1,200 in our youth account that we plan to put back into the garden. Last year we had to water the entire acre using just a hose. Now we will be putting in a drip system that will make it much more efficient and a lot easier on time. We’re developing ties with organizations such as the Food Bank, and we’re planning to produce between 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of produce which will also help to fund raise for the future.

Part of being able to do this is getting as many helping hands as possible. We’ve gotten youth from all over. We’re always looking for more help. The more hands we can get helping out there, the more we can produce and be successful. I’ve had a great experience working with the youth there. I’ve not only learned a lot about gardening, hard work, organization and leadership, but I’ve learned an amazing amount about our community and the needs of our community. I had no idea of the community needs. It’s a great experience for the youth to see that and work on something that benefits someone besides themselves. We’re really grateful for all the City Council has done to help us and we hope to continue to grow for the future.

Council Member asked how many different schools are represented by the youth that work at Utah Gardens.

Miss Wayman said they come from Taylorsville, East, Hunter, Granger, and West as well as many other high schools which is really neat. It’s great to meet kids from the other high schools. There’s no other way that she would have met them.

Council Member Brusch asked how many youth have worked at Utah Gardens.

Miss Wayman said the largest number they had at one time was between 30 to 50 youth.

Council Member Brusch asked if they keep track of the number of youth that come through the program.

Miss Wayman said they keep track of the youth and the number of hours they work.

Council Member Siwik asked Miss Wayman how many IB classes she is taking right now and what her GPA is.

Miss Wayman said she is taking six IB classes and she has a 4.0 GPA.

Council Member Brusch thanked them for their service in South Salt Lake.

1. SCHEDULING. The City Recorder informed those at the meeting of upcoming events, meetings, activities, etc.

2. MAYOR COMMENTS. Mayor Gray asked if the Council Members got the letter from the State Auditors and a firm that wants us to look at a lobbyist for some of the issues that are before the State Legislators. They answered yes. Mayor Gray said he sent the lobbyist letter to them so they could start thinking of a lobbyist who could help in a lot of the legislative issues.

For information purposes we have four legislators that will be at the dinner tomorrow, Senators Gene Davis and Scott McCoy, and Representatives Larry Wiley and Mark Wheatley.

We’ve been working on the retirement issue for Theresa for quite a while. She is now back with the City. She is going to be operating an after-hours school grant. She’ll be involved in some of the athletic programs at Granite Park Junior High School. We supplemented that grant with the severance she received when she resigned. She has rescinded that resignation and she’ll be back on the payroll. She’ll be attached to the Police Department; however she’ll be working out of the Parks and Recreation Department. We finally came up with a solution to salvage her retirement. We met with her today. She has accepted, and we’re going to put her to work on Monday.

3. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS. Council Member Anderson gave an update on the Legislative Policy Committee Meeting he attended Monday. They meet weekly up at the Legislature to review the critical bills that are affecting cities and towns and the Utah League of Cities and Towns staff gives a briefing on each of the items.

One the items talked about was sales tax on food proposal. The League of Cities and Towns is not supporting that bill one way or the other. Their estimation without a lot of research into it is that it would take a 12% increase in the sales tax rate on all other services in order to compensate for the loss of sales tax on food. Then they would propose to take a percentage of that and stick it into a pool to be used to hold everybody harmless. It’s not clear where that’s going to go. They’re not convinced that that legislation is going to pass.

The next item was the RDA proposal. There are a number of unresolved issues. One of the things they’re trying to deal with is whether or not retail can be a component of RDA. There’s still some resistance to that idea. There’s a need to firm up rules about extensions and changes in RDA diversions. Right now they’re capped at ten percent but there are rules that allow that to be changed so they want to firm those things up. Then there’s the issue about what they call “side deals” which a lot of RDA’s make, particularly with school districts, to mitigate the impacts of the tax consequences, where you get the increment. The RDA’s are making side deals with schools to share in that increment instead of recovering all of it to the RDA. Counties are concerned that they’re getting left out of that picture. If it’s good for the schools why isn’t it good for the counties? So they’re trying to deal with that aspect of the legislation as well.

Energy Sales and Use Tax we talked about last week. We’ve talked about the issues, whether or not there really are windfall revenues and what the extra utilities costs to cities are. One of the things they suggested as a possible way to deal with that is on a rebate basis as opposed to a reduction of the tax rate. There are some complications associated with that, particularly since you’ve got to give a 60-day notice to the Tax Commission if you’re going to change that rate. Then what happens in the summer when gas prices disappear and there is no windfall, do you revert to a different rate? So, rather than try to deal with it on the rate basis they’ve suggested that you might want to look at some sort of circuit breaker approach or a rebate if those revenues get too high.

A month or so ago the American Council of Engineering Companies came to the League and asked for some sort of participation regarding a state wide assessment of the condition of municipal infrastructure. Council Member Anderson asked if South Salt Lake participated in the study.

Kyle Kershaw, Director of Finance, said we got on the list to participate but they never contacted us.

Council Member Anderson said they showed us their survey in relation to a number of infrastructure items. The basis of their grades was an objective measure of quality. Their survey showed that the local level of infrastructure for waste water management was a C minus. Drainage and urban run-off was a D. Water was a C. Bridges was a C minus. Transit was a C. Roads were a D and airports a C. That pretty much mirrors the national average. The national average is around a C. It’s around a C minus for the communities in Utah. Part of this is to make it a visible issue with the Legislature so that they have an objective view of the condition of infrastructure and the challenges that the cities face in trying to maintain that infrastructure and its relationship to the State’s economic development. If you don’t have a good infrastructure we won’t be able to do economic development.

There was an item about rule changes on interchanges. UDOT wants cities to begin sharing 50 percent matching on the costs of interchanges that had to be built for economic development. So there’s some debate on what economic development means. The League submitted some language to clarify that so that is wouldn’t be so broad as to catch every interchange. They talked about coordinating the economic development aspects across the state. There are benefits, not just to the community where the interchange is located, that need to be taken into consideration. So why, as a citizen of Salt Lake when I go out and use the 106th South exit, does Sandy have to pay for 50 percent of that if citizens from other communities are actually using it as well?

They talked about legislation in regards to impact fees. They’re in the process of doing an audit of impact fee administration in municipalities.

We have received a copy of the summary of the land use amendments. I think we need to spend some time going over the details of this. There’s a lot of fear and misinformation about it simply because there hasn’t been any information sent out for several months. A draft was released about three months ago and the League has been responding to the language in that draft. Now that we do have the most current version available, I think we need to come up to speed so that we’re prepared to respond with a position in relation to the changes that are being proposed.

Council Member Siwik said we should look at that by tomorrow night.

Council Member Anderson said it would be good for the Council to read it and talk about it at the dinner with the Legislature. So, let’s make ourselves an assignment to read it tonight and be prepared to discuss it at the meeting tomorrow. There are some sweeping proposals there that would turn the land use decisions on their head. Right now we as a Council have broad authority and latitude in planning for land uses in the community that would potentially be done away with if this legislation passes. Some say it’s true and others that it’s not true. We need to get to the truth of what it is. I hope David Carlson, our City Attorney, can give us some valuable input on his interpretation of what these things mean.

Mr. Carlson said he has read it. It turns zoning on its head. It takes the power away from communities and gives it to developers.

Council Member Anderson said this bill is being pushed by three developers. Specifically named were Anderson Development, Ivory Homes and then Development Associates. Anderson Development has adopted a tactic of litigating land use decisions that are made against them. Those three developers have gotten together with the lobbyists who represent the Utah Realtors Association. It’s being drafted by the law firm that Representative Curtis, Speaker of the House, is associated with and it’s also being sponsored by Senator Mansell.

Council Member Sitake asked Mayor Gray if they would be seeing a City Engineer pretty soon.

Mayor Gray said he’s looking at contracting with an engineering firm to take all engineering services. In the past the City Engineer was looking at the engineering problems throughout the City and then would send them out for contract and bid. We’re taking a look at that to see if we can streamline the cost there and maybe eliminate the middle man. As for a City Engineer, we won’t have that in the very near future. We’ll get you some more information as soon as we formulate exactly what we want and what we’re going to need.

Council Member Sitake said he has talked with some of the citizens on Garden Avenue and 200 East. They were disappointed on that round-a-bout removal. They had a meeting for the neighbors in the neighborhood to put it up and they were expecting a meeting with you when you removed it but they woke up the next day and it was gone. I’ve talked to a few of them and they weren’t very happy. I’m just passing it on to you.

Mayor Gray said he is fairly aware of the issue. He’s had calls on both sides that dealt with that issue. The decision to take that out was primarily made by him and that was after consultation with some engineers and consultation with our City Attorney. It was an extreme liability to the City and it was not working. He had the County Engineer look at that and he said it was totally a wrong place for that, it shouldn’t have been there. It was dangerous and he felt that we should remove that as soon as we could due to liabilities to the City. We are looking at several alternatives to still address the problem. We’re trying to decide which one would be best for that particular area. The round-a-bout didn’t fit for several reasons. The intersection is not square, therefore the round-a-bout became a oblong-a-bout. We had several complaints from the School District, larger truck operators, even the king-size pickups were having difficulty getting around so we had to do something with it.

Council Member Sitake said he wouldn’t care much about the School District’s concern in our neighborhood. They don’t show any mercy at all to us.

Mayor Gray said we also have to consider that our kids are on those buses as well.

Council Member Sitake said he’s surprised that Mayor Losser never asked Mr. Carlson’s opinion on the round-a-bout. We have the same attorney, and probably Mayor Losser never approached you on that and now Mayor Gray has asked you and your opinion is that it’s not safe for the City. The only concern I have is that those neighbors should have some sort of meeting before we remove it because we had meetings to put it up. I think they need to have that right to have their opinions heard, not just yank it out. But if that is the reason, safety for the City, then there’s nothing else we can say.

Mr. Carlson said it’s really an engineering issue. There are engineering standards for those kinds of traffic calming devices. My understanding is that our own public works people were opposed all along to putting it there. They didn’t think that it met engineering standards. Mayor Gray also confirmed that outside the City, that it didn’t meet highway safety standards. That being the case, it does become a liability for the City because we’re responsible for the design of our roads, and if somebody gets in an accident that is caused in whole or in part by the faulty design of our roads we can end up paying the bill for that.

Council Member Sitake asked if the highways and a regular streets have the same policy.

Mr. Carlson said yes. When he said “highway”, he used that term to mean street, alley, or any kind of a public way that the City controls. He doesn’t pretend to know what the standards are, he relies on the people in public works and engineers to know what they are, what will work, and what won’t. Once they say it doesn’t meet standards, then that becomes a problem for the City to defend.

Council Member Fitts said a citizen approached him with problems with solicitations for funds from apparently homeless individuals who have become quite consistent in their neighborhood. One of the concerns they mentioned was the fact that when the police were called they said there was really nothing they could do about it. I don’t know if this is something we can consider. The concern I have is someone coming to the door of a larger stature, who is not easily dismissed. Is there something that wouldn’t be difficult to draft that might alleviate this concern.

Mr. Carlson said we just addressed this last year. Right now, under our current ordinance scheme, the only thing a resident can do is to post a no solicitation sign. We can enforce that. There is a different approach that you can take to solicitors. The City had an old solicitation ordinance on the books. We revisited that because there have been some predatory attorneys trying to make money by suing cities with antiquated solicitation ordinances. Mr. Carlson presented two different alternatives to the City Council. One was more regulatory where solicitors would have to come in and get a license from the City and submit to a background check. The other was a more laissez faire kind of approach where the only regulation the City would impose was that if people posted their property “no solicitors” the City would enforce that. It was the more liberal approach that the City chose to adopt. We can always bring things back if it looks like a problem. The concern you mention is the concern generally that justifies the more involved approach. People are home alone during the day time and vulnerable, and can sometimes be easy prey to a criminal posing as a solicitor.

Council Member Fitts said he didn’t know if that was something we wanted to revisit. The main thing is not that we’re trying to prey on panhandlers, but at the same time I don’t think panhandlers should be preying on people in that situation. If we have in our power to protect people it would seem that we might be able to do that in a way that doesn’t really harm people who are soliciting for the proper reasons.

Mr. Carlson said he would be happy to give Council Member Fitts a copy of the more regulatory version he drafted so he could look at it.

Council Member Fitts said he would like that.

Council Member Anderson asked about vagrancy laws. No visible means of support standards. I don’t mean to make light of Council Member Fitts issue, because I think it’s real. But a fee for solicitors is taking it to the extreme. On the vagrancy issue, can’t we do anything about that?

Mr. Carlson said any time you get into these areas, you’re in a constitutional mine field. Vagrancy statues are fraught with constitutional problems and so are solicitation ordinances. You have to be really careful what you regulate and what you don’t because the courts, on a number of occasions, have found that there are some first amendment rights that are implicated. So you have to be careful. There is a whole lot of litigation in that area and in the vagrancy statutes too. It’s difficult to define what a vagrant is.

Council Member Fitts asked if something could be drafted about people asking for funds and not against proselytizers or someone gathering signatures.

Mr. Carlson said you’ve identified some of the lines that have been drawn, the political speech, the religious speech, the solicitation for charities are more highly protected, than your vacuum cleaner salesman, and so on, are less protected.

Council Member Anderson said they’d put it on a work meeting and have a discussion about the issues, and then see the direction the Council wants to go.

Mr. Carlson said it was no trouble on his part to give Council Member Fitts a copy of the draft he proposed previously.

Council Member Siwik said some of the things that were problematic in the other draft were that the Girl Scouts would have to register to sell their cookies.

Council Member Anderson said they need to discuss the issues on both sides before they can pick one. So they need to have a discussion about the pros and cons. He asked the City Recorder to add it to the list of items to be discussed in a work meeting.

Council Member Fitts attended the Central Valley meeting today and one of the issues that came up was what to do with the golf course. They want to promote it more and see where it goes. Would it be something that Tim Williams and Parks & Recreation could help with?

Mayor Gray said he would contact Tim. We’re looking for after-school recreational opportunities. That might be an excellent one to look at.

Council Member Fitts said they’re pretty busy in the afternoons but perhaps an early morning or a summer program would be good.

Council Member Siwik said he appreciated what Mayor Gray has done for Theresa Gardner. It’s a win win for her and the City.

PUBLIC HEARING – 7:30 p.m.

To receive public comment regarding proposed amendments to the 2005/2006 HOUSING budget.

Kyle Kershaw, Director or Finance, said they are proposing to increase the Housing Fund Budget by $120,000 for the purchase of property. It entails an appropriation from Fund Balance, our balance sheet, into our Income Statement. So we’ll have a revenue of $120,000 and then a property acquisition at 65 West 2700 South for the Jones parcel. Since this is a capital asset that we’ll hold on our books until the project is complete, we move it from the balance sheet over to the income statement for budget purposes. Then, at the end of the year, we’ll move it back over to the balance sheet so the net effect is we’re changing one asset for another. We’re changing cash for property at the end of the year.

Council Member Sitake made a motion to adopt the budget amendment.

MOTION: Poponatui Sitake

SECOND: Casey Fitts

Roll Call Vote:

Anderson Aye

Brusch Aye

Fitts Aye

Goddard Aye

Sitake Aye

Siwik Aye

Weaver Aye

Council Member Anderson made the motion to adopt the amendment to the 2005/2006 HOUSING fund budget in the amount of $120,000.

MOTION: Bill Anderson

SECOND: Shane Siwik

Roll Call Vote:

Anderson Aye

Brusch Aye

Fitts Aye

Goddard Aye

Sitake Aye

Siwik Aye

Weaver Aye

Council Member Anderson stated the City is assuming some risk on this transaction to help foster some development of a substantial new PUD in the City that will revitalize the area. It’s a risk he believes the City needs to be willing to take. He doesn’t believe the risk is great given the current housing market. It’s a good move by the City to partner with South Salt Lake Works to help make this happen.

NO ACTION COMMENTS

4. CITIZEN COMMENTS

Gloria Kusha, 3780 South 500 East. She says she lives in a part of town she calls “shotgun alley”. Her storm door was shattered by small projectile on a Saturday evening last summer and the house next door took a bullet through an insulated storm window last winter. She got a dog last summer which needs a lot of exercise so she’s been going up to Parley’s Historic Nature Park which opened as an off-lease dog area. The people she talked to there told her the gangs that used to be in the area are non-existent now that dogs are common visitors. Her suggestion is to make the South Salt Lake section of the Jordan River Parkway an off-leash dog area, particularly around the 3300 South area. It would involve putting up signage telling people they’re going off leash and then back on leash and installing a dog waste bag station and keeping the bag supply filled. She predicts that the other reason that area is widely known for and advertised on the internet for would go away quickly. It may also free up the police to work on other crime problems like figuring out why 500 East is turning into “shotgun alley”. There is a lady in Salt Lake City named Lisa Romney who is doing research on crime reduction in the presence of dogs. There is also a group called “Friends Interested in Dogs and Open Spaces” also known as FIDOS. They have a website and are a very valuable source of information.

Council Member Weaver said that was an interesting proposal and asked Ms. Kusha if she participated in the last Citizens’ Summit held by the City and if she’d like to participate in one in the future.

Ms. Kusha said she would be interested.

Council Member Anderson asked that the off-leash dog park be put on a work meeting agenda.

Council Member Siwik asked Mr. Carlson if the City has purview in that area or if the County does. He doesn’t know if the City controls that area.

Mr. Carlson said the City controls some areas of the Parkway. We own certain areas of it. Mr. Carlson said he would look into it. If it’s designated as a County park then their regulations probably apply there. At least on the part that we own we have quite a bit of freedom on how we regulate it.

Council Member Anderson said even if the City doesn’t have authority it doesn’t mean the City couldn’t lobby the County if we are interested in doing that.

Del Atkinson, 2914 South 300 East. He commended the City for removing the round-a-bout on 200 East and Garden Avenue. It was a hazard. It was hard to make it around it with his truck. He has a friend who works for FedEx and he avoided the area completely because he couldn’t get his truck around it. He applauds the Mayor and City Council for its removal. If there’s still traffic problems in the area put in more speed bumps. He’d like to see more traffic enforcement there. He’s sure that would slow down a lot of the traffic.

Steve McFarlane, 125 Garden Avenue. He’s against the removal of the round-a-bout. It’s great if big trucks can’t go down there, it’s a residential neighborhood. He’s concerned about the children on the street being safe. It’s hard when people use Garden Avenue as a cut through to 300 East. The round-a-bout did cut that in half and that was the whole point. He thanked the City for the speed bumps, they have helped enormously. The lower part of Garden is wider so the traffic goes faster through there. He’d like to see another speed bump. There wasn’t sufficient notice before removal of the round-a-bout. He thought they’d get to sit down and talk with the City about possible solutions. We’ve wasted taxpayers’ money.

Council Member Siwik asked if there was any other plan that could be looked at besides speed bumps maybe even a smaller round-a-bout.

Mayor Gray said they’re looking at several options. The concern is the speed bumps normally aren’t a big help. One option is “water runs” which is a guttering effect. It’s a deep “V” which is placed at the intersection at each stop sign. The other option being looked at is a flashing red light. Those are the types of things being looked at now. As soon as we have something that will satisfy the citizens there we’ll call a meeting, see how they feel about it and go from there.

The first concern was to get the round-a-bout out to prevent accidents and possible liability to the City. The second thing the City is doing is consulting with some people that have knowledge about these things. As soon as we get their reports back we’ll bring that to the public down in the area and have them look at what option they feel will work best for them.

Mr. McFarlane offered to have an engineer he works with draw up a plan at his expense to move things along faster.

Council Member Anderson asked Mayor Gray if he would be willing to consider that and the Mayor said yes the City is more than willing to work with Mr. McFarlane anyway we can.

Council Member Siwik suggested Mr. McFarlane work with his neighbors to get their suggestions and input and present those to the Mayor’s Office.

NEW COUNCIL BUSINESS

1. Appointments by the Mayor. Mayor Gray presented three individuals for appointment.

First is Council Member Fitts as a member of the Central Valley Board. Council Member Fitts contacted the Mayor and offered to serve there and also offered to serve on the Mosquito Abatement Board.

The second appointment is for Larry Gardner to serve as the Economic Development Director.

The third is appointment is Cherie Wood to serve as City Treasurer. The Mayor has talked to Kyle Kershaw about this and he is in favor of it.

Council Member Siwik asked Mr. Carlson if it was okay for the Mayor to appoint a Council Member to serve in an administrative position with our council/mayor form of government.

Mr. Carlson said he didn’t see a problem with it. The only restriction on a council member is they can’t work for the City in a compensated position.

Council Member Siwik said he believes there is a $300 a month stipend paid from Central Valley.

Mr. Carlson said it’s not coming from the City so it’s not a problem. He doesn’t see it as a conflict of interest. He’s not aware of anything legally that would stand in the Mayor’s way of picking a city council person to fill this position.

Kyle Kershaw, Director of Finance, said that Murray City has had a city council member filling this position for them for a long time. If there was a problem with it they would have found out by now. That might be a precedent for us.

Council Member Anderson said that the by-laws of South Salt Lake Works stipulate the membership of that group. It stipulates that the Mayor and a council member serve on the board. He thinks the same thing is done with other agencies as well. They want a local elected official on the boards. He thinks it happens all the time.

Mayor Gray said part of his reasoning behind this is that he wants to involve the Council in a lot of the decision-backing process that’s going on with in the City. So, when Council Member Fitts called and offered to serve in that position he thought it was a perfect opportunity to get the council people involved.

Council Member Anderson moved that Casey Fitts be approved to serve on the Central Valley Water Improvement Reclamation Facility Board.

MOTION: Bill Anderson

SECOND: John Weaver

Voting was unanimous.

Council Member Anderson moved that Casey Fitts be approved to serve on the Mosquito Abatement Board.

MOTION: Bill Anderson

SECOND: John Weaver

Voting was unanimous.

Council Member Anderson moved to approve the appointment of Larry Gardner as the Economic Development Director.

MOTION: Bill Anderson

SECOND: Rea Goddard

Voting was unanimous.

Council Member Anderson asked for a clarification on the City Treasurer position, that it’s not an accounting function but a legal requirement for the City to have someone in that position. He asked what the duties where of the position.

Mr. Carlson said it’s kind of an appendix of old forms of city government. In some city governments the treasurer is the finance director for the city. We have other options under our form of government where we chose to appoint a chief financial officer and we contract outside for independent auditors to audit the City’s books. It’s pretty much a ceremonial title.

Mr. Kershaw said the treasurer function has never been a full-time function. Normally there are two functions the City Treasurer provides. One is the requirement to have the City Treasurer sign certain documents, for example bond documents that require an official city treasurer signature to meet the legal compliance of the State. The other is it’s a good fit for separation of duties between the accounting function and other functions. What we will have Cherie do is some of the bank reconciliation processes. Being that she answers to the Mayor directly and not to me, it’s a nice way to separate duties and have some controls on our cash handling. So, that’s what we use it for here. It’s not a full-time function. That’s why it fits nicely with someone else’s responsibilities as well.

Council Member Anderson moved to approve the appointment of Cherie Wood as City Treasurer.

MOTION: Bill Anderson

SECOND: Shane Siwik

Voting was unanimous.

2. Resolution Supporting the Renegotiation of the City’s Existing Line of Credit with Fannie Mae. Mr. Carlson said the City has an existing line of credit with Fannie Mae and that line of credit was used to purchase a twelve-plex and a four-plex for future expansion of Fitts Park. We had some discussions with Fannie Mae about making that line of credit more flexible so that we can use it on other housing projects within the City. The current line of credit is secured by $200,000 cash collateral that’s in a restricted account we can’t take the money out of it. Also, we’ve dedicated certain CDBG funds to repay that line of credit. We’ve also given an assignment of rents as security.

No general funds are used to pay back that line of credit; it’s all from sources outside the general fund.

Fannie Mae has indicated to us that they would be willing to turn this line of credit into a revolving line of credit so that we could use it on different projects. They would not require any additional collateral. The repayment source for housing projects would be the sales of the homes that were part of the project.

By adopting the Resolution you’re not entering into any binding agreement with Fannie Mae. You’re just indicating to Fannie Mae your interest in pursuing renegotiating this line of credit. That will put the wheels in motion with Fannie Mae to make that possible.

Council Member Anderson asked if the City is envisioning using this with any of the South Salt Lake Works projects.

Mr. Carlson said the project the City is looking at using it for right now is the Southgate project over on 2700 South between Main Street and West Temple. This plan could be used for acquisition of other properties also.

Council Member Anderson said that the City had lost some money on two other home building projects that it’s participated in. The challenge is if the City uses this as seed money to make things happen that we do put some of it at risk, but we have to look at it as an investment in the City. We can’t just continue to use smaller amounts. It does mean we’re taking a little more risk when we borrow money to do this kind of thing, but in order to get enough money to do projects of enough scale to help us make some meaningful changes, I think we need to take those risks. So I would vote in favor of extending this line of credit.

Council Member Weaver agreed with Council Member Anderson that in order to have the funding to do projects of a significant scale, given the amount of redevelopment that the City is facing, this is a prudent move.

Council Member Weaver moved to suspend the rules so the Council can vote on the resolution supporting the renegotiation of the City’s existing line of credit with Fannie Mae at this meeting.

MOTION: John Weaver

SECOND: Bill Anderson

Vote was unanimous.

Council Member Anderson moved to adopt the resolution supporting the renegotiation of the City’s existing line of credit with Fannie Mae.

MOTION: Bill Anderson

SECOND: John Weaver

Roll Call Vote:

Anderson Aye

Brusch Aye

Fitts Aye

Goddard Aye

Sitake Aye

Siwik Aye

Weaver Aye

3. Computer Decisions. Scott Turnblom, Information Technology Specialist, asked the City Council Members how they would like to communicate with City employees and citizens. Would they like an e-mail account through the City or just use their personal e-mail accounts.

After some discussion it was determined that city e-mail accounts would be set up for six of the council members. Shane Siwik opted not to participate. He believes he would still get necessary information. He has his cell phone listed on his business card. If he wants to communicate with a constituent, and he wants to get his political opinion or even use his personal e-mail address for campaigning issues, he doesn’t want to feel like he’s using the City’s resources to do it. If he runs for re-election and he puts out an e-mail reminding people to get out and vote, he doesn’t want to use City resources to do it. He would rather not participate.

Mr. Turnblom asked if the Council Members would like to have their e-mail addresses listed by their names on their web page. The benefit is your constituents can easily contact you but it also is exposed to the webbots so you end up on every mailing list and that’s why they are currently not listed on the web page. We do have an e-mail filter that gets rid of a lot of the junk mail but it is a concern. It’s up to you as a Council but you will get some junk mail you’ll have to delete.

After some discussion it the Council decided they would like their phone numbers listed on the web page rather than their e-mail addresses.

Mr. Turnblom said several years ago the City purchased an ISP and some computer equipment to help give City Council Members access to the internet. The City paid for an internet provider and computer equipment for Council Members so they could access the internet. The City hasn’t supplied any computer equipment to the Council for the last four years. Mr. Turnblom asked if the City wanted to take advantage of it or get rid of it.

It was decided by the Council to continue this program for those who may need it and want to take advantage of it.

Mr. Turnblom said that in the current year budget the ISP and equipment is covered but in the coming budget year the Council will need to budget some money for this to continue.

Mr. Turnblom briefed the Council on a new video system the City is looking at for the police. There’s new technology out now for the video equipment installed in the police cars that make them digital and they would record on memory rather than a video tape. The quality is much better and the control, from a City standpoint, is much better. Police Chief Beau Babka submitted a grant request last year and received funding for the beginning of this process. The City is now looking at purchasing some of this equipment and getting started. It records 48 hours on one memory component rather than having to come back to the station and dump a video cassette every four hours, or after every incident, etc. The police will come back to the police department, attach it to the system and it will download all the video into a server that’s accessible to people who have rights to access that. It’s instant, rather than having to locate a VCR tape. Some of the benefits are the video quality will be better in the dark. This system is automatically set so that when they’re in pursuit or an event occurs it can be set to zoom in and zoom out so we can get a good read of a license plate or something that is in front of the officer. It has a pre-record system of one to four minutes so if the officer doesn’t have the recorder going and he gets in an accident, you can go back and see what happened up to four minutes prior to the event. It will also keep recording as long as it was not destroyed in the accident. This system is officer uninvolved. The officer can’t go back in the trunk and remove the tape, he can’t not turn on the recorder, it’s automatic. It turns on when something happens, when the officer turns on his lights or his speed is up above a certain amount. There are all kinds of triggers that can be put on the system. It’s a very nice system.

We have roughly 38 recordable systems in our patrol cars right now. They cost about $4,000 apiece the way they are right now. They are roughly two to six years in age which means they’re starting to get beyond a useful age limit. If we were to replace every unit today, the new units are $5,300 apiece, and it would roughly be $196,000 just to replace them all today. We have between $50,000 and $60,000 in grant money right now. The server and the recording receiver are about $16,000. It will hold about two years of video.

Council Member Weaver asked how much grant money Mr. Turnblom thought we could count on for this project.

Mr. Turnblom said Chief Babka has had a lot of success getting grant money and he wouldn’t be surprised if the entire system is covered by grant money. At least a very significant portion will be grant money.

4. Pioneer Craft House Letter of Endorsement. Jim Davis related that in the summer of 1847 a small group of pioneers led by John Scott was sent to the banks of Millcreek and approximately 700 East and established the Scott Settlement. That was the beginning of the South Salt Lake, East Millcreek, Holladay education center. It’s the place where they built the first school and church out of a mud hut. It transformed later into the beginnings of church schools and later territorial schools and eventually became Granite School District. The site of the Scott School at 3300 South 500 East is the oldest, continuously operated school in the state of Utah. In 1947 the state of Utah gave as a centennial gift to the future, Pioneer Craft House. We were informed earlier in the year that Granite School District is selling the facility and had it up for sale as a commercial piece of property.

We have just received a preservation grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the saving of the facility and the continuation of the Craft House operations. We receive ZAP tax funding. For a lot of years, since 1978, the Mayor of the City of South Salt Lake has sat on the board of Pioneer Craft House. About four years ago all of the original founders had all passed away and a small group got together to rekindle the Craft House and its activities. Since that time we are now offering over thirty classes. Crafts are a very important part of our heritage and the Pioneer Craft House is teaching those skills and crafts.

During this last year with the help of South Salt Lake’s community service and the Parks and Recreation Department, we have painted the Craft House and revitalized the grounds.

We’re very concerned on two fronts. One, losing the resource of Craft House is very important but overriding all of that is the tremendous loss of this historic resource. We’re in the final stages of negotiating a sale with Granite School District. We’re making application to various foundations. The most significant application is due February 3, 2006 for the ZAP program. South Salt Lake is one of the only communities to have never received a ZAP facilities grant. The County Council has endorsed our application. Mayor Losser and Mayor Gray have visited and been an integral part of it. We are very desirous in putting together a $700,000 grant application to the ZAP program so that we can not only own the facility but we can also refurbish the facility at that point.

We’ve got the opportunity of having the state’s major university as sponsor. We have the opportunity of having Salt Lake Community College classes there. There are a lot of lost arts and a lot of treasurers there. We have a puppet collection that has puppets in it that are 200 years old. This April, the Puppet Guild will be holding their annual meeting and festival at the Craft House. We will be including the local children in this event. Kits are being prepared so that the children can build their own puppets and then put on their own productions.

We would ask for your encouragement. I did take the liberty of drafting a letter. If you feel comfortable with it we would be honored to have the support of the City of South Salt Lake in the preservation of both Scott School and Pioneer Craft House.

Council Member Siwik moved to suspend the rules so this action could be voted on tonight.

MOTION: Shane Siwik

SECOND: Casey Fitts

Vote carried unanimously

Council Member Siwik made a motion authorizing the Council Chair to sign the letter of endorsement for the Pioneer Craft House.

MOTION: Shane Siwik

SECOND: Casey Fitts

Vote carried unanimously

5. Council Representative for South Salt Lake Works.

6. Council Representative for Association of Municipal Councils.

7. Council Representative for Small School Districts Initiative.

8. Council Representative for Charter Schools Initiative.

9. Council Representative for Friends for Education Initiative. Bill Anderson is serving as a representative for South Salt Lake Works. That was an appointment through the Mayor. If anyone has an interest in serving on some of these things we might be able to make some changes in those assignments.

Mr. Carlson pointed out that if these positions are appointed by the City then the appointing power is with the Mayor. South Salt Lake Works is a little bit different because as a matter of their articles of incorporation a member of the City Council and the Mayor of South Salt Lake are ex-officio members of the board. We resolved when we first made that appointment that the Council would select one of their members to serve in that position. It’s obvious that a council representative for the Association of Municipal Councils is something also that the Council should select. These other three I’m not familiar with but I just raise that issue that generally the appointing power is with the Mayor.

Council Member Anderson said that’s part of the reason he wanted to bring it up in terms of any kind of official involvement that the City may have with these organizations. At this point we have been members of the City Council in name only, essentially participating in some of these initiatives. And whether or not we want to have official representation on those, I’m not sure how to go about doing that. And that was an issue I wanted to bring to the Council, is if we wanted to have some official representation there or if we wanted to continue to do it on a ad hoc basis.

Council Member Siwik said he has attended the Small Districts Initiative meeting and has made a commitment to help in that process. Now whether he’s an official representative of the City or just an angry citizen, it really doesn’t matter. He would discourage us from appointing someone from the City because personally, he wants to pursue the District. He thinks it needs to come collectively from the Council if that’s what we’re going to do. If that’s what we’re going to do, the Charter School will directly compete with the Small District issue. He thinks before we decide which road we want to go down we probably should sit down in a work meeting and decide where we really want to see this and then we’ll have a better sense of whether to appoint someone.

Council Member Anderson agrees that right now we are just doing some investigation and fact finding and some participating to learn about the issues. He wanted to get it out in the open before the Council so we are aware that we have members of the Council that were participating on these things and then to start bringing back some reports about what we’re learning so that we can begin to enter into these discussions about how far we want to go down the road in any of this.

Council Member Siwik said his roll in the Small Districts will be more than fact finding. He will be proactively pushing the initiative. He would say this should go to a work meeting first.

Council Member Anderson said he thinks that we’re getting far enough along on some of these things that we may want to talk about our involvement and what we’re learning so that we can keep the Council informed.

Council Member Siwik said he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with asking Council Member Weaver to look into the Charter Schools Initiative. And that can be either a volunteer thing or an assignment.

Council Member Anderson said he is comfortable with that as a place for the Council to be at this point. He doesn’t think we’re ready to adopt any sort of official position. But he thinks it’s important that the Council know that Council Member Siwik’s involved in the Small Districts Initiative, that he asked Council Member Weaver to start looking at Charter Schools information, and that he’s been involved with the Friends of Education and the things that they’re doing to lobby the Legislature for increased funding for public education.

Council Member Anderson asked Mr. Carlson if what they have discussed is okay to do.

Mr. Carlson said the Council can do whatever they want in their personal capacity and serve on whatever boards.

Council Member Anderson said that people know he’s on the Council and they’re looking at us.

Council Member Weaver said he thinks at this point there is prudence in moving forward and having some fact finding take place but at the same time it’s very easy to say, “We’re gathering information. We’re not acting in an official capacity on behalf of the City but we would like to know more about what you’re doing.”

Council Member Siwik said that whether we’re fact finding on behalf of the City or if we’re active then it’s an individual thing even though we’re a Council person. We just need to be saying, “I don’t represent the whole Council in this, or the City.”

Council Member Weaver said he is confident that education is enough of an issue in South Salt Lake that at some point, as a Council, we will probably settle on indorsing one particular approach and move forward in that.

Council Member Anderson asked to have this added to the work meeting agenda to talk about these three initiatives.

Council Member Brusch asked if the Council could be made aware of when meetings are being held for these groups.

Council Member Anderson said that was part of what he wanted to cover was for Council Member Siwik to report about what he is finding out from Small School Districts, for what Council Member Weaver is finding out about Charter Schools and the things that He has been involved with in the Friends of Education.

The Friends of Education have been extremely supportive in any efforts that we’ve been trying to do in relation to Granite High School. They’re offered resources. They’ve offered money to help contact people, students to encourage them to enroll. They have a platform that they’re developing for the legislative session to increase awareness in the state about education issues. It’s a group of people that started out as the Friends for Wasatch and as they studied the issues that were important to them they found applicability across the board, that it wasn’t just about Wasatch. The issues that were important to them should be important to everybody. And so they’ve broadened their reach as far as the people they’ve gotten involved in the process.

KUED is holding a town meeting on the budget surplus and Council Chair Anderson volunteered to participate in that audience town meeting discussion.

He did meet once with the Association of Municipal Councils. It’s a group that studies issues that we may have that we might want to get help from other cities in lobbying or whatever. He will keep the Council informed of what’s going on there.

Council Member Siwik asked Council Member Anderson if he wanted to keep going and being the liaison to that.

Council Member Anderson said he would.

Council Member Siwik moved to suspend the rules to vote on the Council representative for South Salt Lake Works and the representative for the Association of Municipal Councils.

MOTION: Shane Siwik

SECOND: Marilyn Brusch

Vote was unanimous

Council Member Siwik moved to reaffirm Council Member Bill Anderson’s previous appointment as the representative for South Salt Lake Works.

MOTION: Shane Siwik

SECOND: Casey Fitts

Vote was unanimous

Council Member Siwik moved to appoint Council Member Bill Anderson to serve as the Council’s representative for the Association of Municipal Councils.

MOTION: Shane Siwik

SECOND: John Weaver

Vote was unanimous

Council Member Anderson said he had two items of new business he wanted to bring up. One is the draft of the letter to Superintendent Ronnenkamp after our work meeting last week. I think it’s important that we get a communication to him about where we stand, particularly since we have never as a Council taken a position of any kind. All the communication that’s been with the District has come through me. I have repeatedly said that I’m not in a position to make any formal representation from the Council. I talked to a majority of the members of the Council at the time who were supportive of considering this issue. I think we had a discussion last week where this sort of nails down where we’re coming from in that regard. So, if you could take a look at the letter I’ve drafted and let me know if you’d be willing to sign it. If you’re not willing to sign it, what changes would you like to make. I basically said, “We’re not slamming the door, but you need to come back with some compelling plans to rebuild Granite before we would feel comfortable in taking the risk to commit significant amounts of money to rebuilding Granite High. We’re not in a position to accept any kind of risk about the failure of that school and so far we’re not seeing much that entices us to want to participate. Until you have more firm plans we’re going to be on the sidelines.”

Mr. Carlson said the Mayor should be the one that represents the City in negotiations with Granite School District. I think that’s an executive function.

Council Member Anderson said the Mayor is not going to get any money unless the Council is willing to do it. And I’m okay with whatever, but I think we need to get something to the School District to help them understand where we’re coming from. I have no heartburn if it comes from the Mayor I just think we need to make some communication with District about this issue.

Council Member Siwik agreed with Mr. Carlson. It really does need to come from the Mayor’s office.

Council Member Anderson said he not sure he agrees, but he would respect Mr. Carlson’s position and advice on that. The reason I don’t agree is that we are the ones that would appropriate any money, not the Mayor.

Council Member Sitake said the Mayor is elected to represent the City and we’re not representing the City as the Council.

Mr. Carlson said that is his concern.

Council Member Anderson said he doesn’t really care he just thinks a message needs to be sent to the school board as to where we stand on the issue.

Mr. Carlson said he doesn’t disagree with what Council Member Anderson is saying about sending a letter. The proper channel for that is to go through the Mayor.

Council Member Anderson said he’s happy with that. He still maintains the letter is a draft that needs to be considered. He thinks its represents what was discussed last week. If anyone has heartburn about it please speak up.

Council Member Siwik said he would encourage the Mayor to take what was said in the meeting last week and write his own letter and represent the City in his own way.

Mayor Gray said he would definitely use Council Member Anderson’s draft. It has some good points in it. However, he suggests that even though it comes through the Mayor’s Office, that we also have the City Council attest to that as well.

Council Member Weaver said he doesn’t see a problem with the letterhead to read from the Mayors Office but also be endorsed by the Council because he thinks this is an issue where there’s some unanimity.

Mayor Gray said he’d be happy to do that.

Council Member Anderson said not everyone has had a chance to read his draft and suggested if anyone has suggestions after reading it that they let the Mayor know within a specific time period.

Council Member Weaver said the decision has been made that the letter needs to be drafted through the Mayor’s office. Why don’t we let that happen and then circulate it through the Council and then we can go from there. The exact wording will probably change a little bit so we’ll need to see that draft and then go from that point.

Mayor Gray said he’d take care of it and bring it back as quickly as possible.

Council Member Siwik made a motion that the Council adjourn to Executive Session to:

Discuss pending litigation

MOTION: Shane Siwik

SECOND: Marilyn Brusch

Motion carried unanimously

Regular meeting adjourned at 9:32 p.m. to go to Executive Session.

In accordance with U.C.A. Section 52-4-5, 1953, as amended by Chapter 180, Laws of Utah, 1987, as amended, detailed written minutes were made of the Executive Session. Such minutes are protected records under Title 63, Chapter 2, Government Records Access and Management Act.

Executive Session ended at 10:17 p.m. Council Members reconvened to the Council Chambers. Council Member Anderson made a motion to adjourn.

MOTION: Bill Anderson

SECOND: Casey Fitts

Motion carried unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.

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William Anderson, Council Chair

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Craig D. Burton, City Recorder