Public Comment
Paul Sorensen - Mr. Sorensen read through the half year financials and feels they aren't clear and was concerned about wording changes with the golf course financials. He hopes the Council will make the financials easier to understand.
Jerry Dearinger - Mr. Dearinger read the court documents submitted by Paul Sorensen and Ken Severn requesting the removal of Mayor Richardson and Konrad Hildebrandt.
Ken Cromar - Mr. Cromar continued to read the court documents mentioned about.
Keith Johnson - Mr. Johnson is the Scoutmaster for Troop 1186 and discussed the Boy Scouts of America as they are celebrating the 101st birthday of the BSA. He said this district has 3374 youth and has done over 14,000 hours of service. Cedar Hills has provided 140 Eagle Scout projects for the scouting program. He presented the Council with BSA statistics and gave each council member a patch.
Consent Agenda
--The minutes from the January 17, 2012 council meeting were approved.
--Approval was made to move City Council meetings to the Public Works Building.
--Approval given to release $5,820 of the Hewett subdivision escrow bond. This bond was received in 2003 for improvements to be made on Canyon Road. Water, sewer, and irrigation improvements are complete but the curb and gutter and sidewalk improvements have not been completed. Therefore, the decision was made to release $5,820 of the bond but the remaining $12,769.40 will not be released until the completion of the remaining improvements.
--Approval was made for the appointment of Tonya Edvalson as second alternate on the Planning Commission.
Review/Presentation of Second Quarter Financial Statements
Rebecca Tehero, the Finance Director, came to present to the Council the second quarter financials. Per state law the Council is required to regularly review the financial statements and our city does this each quarter. Mrs. Tehero went over each fund and answered questions that came up. The financial documents consist of several pages and any resident who would like to discuss in depth is welcome to contact Mrs. Tehero, the City Manager (Konrad), or any member of the Council. I will just point out a few of the items Mrs. Tehero highlighted and discussed:
General Fund
--Property tax revenue is at 94%. The majority are paid in November but there is a smaller amount collected in March, so we should be at 100% by end of March.
--Sales and Use tax revenues are already at 50.5% and as there is a 60 day lag between the time of purchase and the time we receive payment we may exceed expected revenues.
--Telecom Tax revenue is low at 29.1% but this was due to some issues the State has experienced with calculating the appropriate amounts and is expected to be fixed by end of the fiscal year.
--Building permits revenues are low at 36% as the City anticipated some commercial business coming in. The hope is that Hart's is completed before the end of the fiscal year, which will allow us to meet the budgeted amount.
--Recreation program revenues are high at 82.2% as most of the recreation programs for the fiscal year have already started.
--Legal services expenses are high at 90% due to unplanned lawsuits and/or litigation matters that were not anticipated. Due to the recent court documents filed by Cedar Hills residents our legal services expenses will be higher than the amount budgeted for this fiscal year.
--Part time salary & wages expenses are high at 96.2% but this position has been terminated and no further amounts need to be paid in this category.
--Solid waste services and recycling expenses are low at 34.5% and 30.5% but this is mainly due to a delay in billing and should be on target for the year.
Water and Sewer Fund
--Sewer television expenses are high at 498.2%. This is due to the timing of shipment of equipment. This equipment was needed and budgeted for during the last fiscal year. It was ordered toward the end of the fiscal year but wasn't actually shipped until July 2nd. Because the shipment date was in this fiscal year it has to show on the books for this fiscal year, even though it was ordered last fiscal year. The Public Works department is aware of this and is trying to find ways to cut $8,000 from their budget so as not to have to request a budget amendment.
Golf Course Fund
--Green fees revenues are on target at 51.6%. When the budget was created the expectation was that the CoRec facility would be completed in January, allowing for additional tournament business. While the CoRec is now not expected to open until late spring the golf course is still on target to meet expected revenues.
Discussion Regarding Capital Improvements Plan
The City has short, mid, and long term plans created for a variety of projects. During our meeting we decided it was best to set up a time to discuss each project individually to determine what needs to stay on the Capital Improvements Plan and what can be removed. A few specific items that were discussed:
--Deerfield Park - this project is on hold due the litigation brought forth by the Harvey family with regards to this property.
--Civic Center - this has been a controversial issue. The Council determined it doesn't make sense to discuss whether or not to build a civic center until a feasability study is done to determine how much space we need for city offices and how much space we currently have available to us. A feasability study will be conducted.
--Fiber Optics Infrastructure - this will be removed from the plan.
Review/Action Adopting Fees
An earlier discussion of water usage fees came up after the Council approved a resolution allowing for assisted living centers to be built within residential areas. The concern was that an additional usage fee should be added to these facilities to pay for the additional impact they may have on the infrastructure. City staff was also asked to create fees associated with the resolution to allow temporary businesses within Cedar Hills. The fees for temporary businesses are still being researched so the resolution that passed this night was to allow an Infrastructure Capacity Fee of $2.10 per 1,000 gallons of water for assisted living homes, which will be in addition to the usual culinary water rate.
Review/Action on Appointment of City Staff
City code requires the Council to approve the appointments of the following city employees after every election: City Treasurer, City Recorder, Deputy City Recorder, Finance Director, Community Services Director, Chief Building Official/Zoning Administrator, and City Engineer/Public Works Director. No changes were made in personnel and the appointments were approved.
City Manager Report
--Konrad let the Council know that Pleasant Grove wants to know if we have made a decision regarding allowing some of their residents to utilize our sewer lines among 4800 West.
--The CoRec facility is 80% complete.
--Hart's is working on preliminary plans and hopes to make them available to the Planning Commission on February 23rd. They would like to have final plans to the Council at the second meeting in April and would like to be open in early summer.
Board and Committee Reports
Councilmember Martinez is working on the Family Festival. Culinary Designs would like to provide the food for this event and brought some sample desserts for the Council and attending residents to try. C. Martinez is looking into bringing in bigger carnival rides for older kids and has set up a competition between city staff and the Council as to who can raise the most money for the Family Festival.
Councilmember Jackman attended a LPPSD Board meeting where they discussed the possibility of expanding into neighboring cities and a vehicle consolidation plan.
Mayor Richardson has been given a Unified Transportation plan for the State and will provide the the Council.
Councilmember Augustus is working with the Planning Commission and Hart's.
Councilmember Gygi will be attending a Utah Valley Dispatch Board meeting where he will discuss safety issues with our border with PG.
Councilmember Rees is working with the Beautification Committee on landscaping for the CoRec facility and re-implementing the Yard of the Month program. She is reaching out the local businesses about participating in the Community Covenant Program with the U.S. Military. She is working with city staff to have a new website up by the end of the month. She has contacted the County to obtain information on the book mobile program.
Review/Action on City Manager Performance and Contract
This has been postponed until April.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at jrees@cedarhills.org or via cell at 801-358-8730.
