Council Meeting - February 5, 2013

Work Session 

Discussion on Direction of Recreation and Grill

A lot of activity for the Grill was driven by golf so when golf stopped for the season the revenues at the Grill also went down considerably. Staff would like to see more recreation at the CoRec so as to get more foot traffic. Fitness classes are struggling to get consistent numbers of participants. Some classes had to be cancelled last year because of events. Most of the December classes were cancelled due to events and approximately 5-7 classes had to be cancelled in all other months combined. The Grill has some limitations based upon how it was built so makes it difficult to change the menu much. We also do not have signage marketing the Grill. Another option for discussion is leasing out the Grill to a private company. Greg has talked with Chubby's and they are interested. David and Greg will continue to talk with them.

Discussion on Roles and Responsibilities of Mayor and Council

City has traditional form of city government with 6 member Council, one being Mayor. Mayor can only vote in case of tie, hiring/firing City Manager, or if Council is going to amend Mayors administrative duties. Mayor has majority of administrative powers for City. Council has some administrative authority, such as approving a contract for building new buildings. Mayor is CEO and all city employees answer to the Mayor. Had issue in the past with different councilmembers going to City Attorney with opposing wants and it caused gridlock, so it was determined Mayor would give direction to attorney. This is also why staff report to the Mayor and not the City Council. It causes confusion if staff is being pulled in different directions by different councilmembers. Mayor has been told by staff that when Council is too involved, staff shuts down because Council takes over and it leaves staff confused as to what direction to follow.  

On the budget, the Mayor comes up with budget, which is presented to Council for approval or amendment. The budget determines course of action for City Manager and staff and City Manager and Mayor have to make sure the budget is followed. Changes in the budget within a department are administrative and a budget amendment is only needed if funds will be transferred between departments. If Council wants money specifically used for something then it needs to be approved by ordinance (such as hours for the Grill or for specific programs). Moving forward, we could create policy on when staff should notify Council when a fund isn't doing well and may need budget amendment.

Hours of the Grill and CoRec are administrative and under direction of staff and Mayor. City Council could pass an ordinance mandating certain hours. Staff determined to close Grill once golf course closed for the season because we didn't have customers. The Council could ask staff to come up with policies for the CoRec and present to the Council for approval.  

Mayor has the ability to make Council assignments by appointing administrative duties or responsibilities to Councilmembers and presenting recommendation to the Council for advice and approval. There isn't a lot of clarity on what administrative duties a Councilmember actually has. Council and Mayor should discuss this and come to agreement on what the expectation is in these assignments. Delegation comes from Mayor so direction typically comes from Mayor. Each Mayor may have different ideas of what this means. The first place a Councilmember should go for clarification should be the Mayor. If there are problems with that process then the Council as a whole may get involved.  

As a matter of courtesy, when interacting with staff and asking for things that will require staff to invest time we should clear that with Mayor so that we aren't interfering with other duties that staff has.

Council Meeting 

Public Comment

Nobody signed up for public comment.

Report/Update from Commissioner Gary Anderson (Utah County)

Mr. Anderson did not show up for this report.

Review/Action on Resolution Recognizing Paige Osmond

From the press release - As part of the Cedar Hills Champions program, the City Council will recognize Paige Osmond for her achievements in ballet after she was selected for the main role of Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular “The Nutcracker”.

Paige started dancing at age three and trains each week at Dance Club in Orem. She and her family were in New York for a dance competition when they heard about the auditions for The Nutcracker and she decided to try out. Her mom, Heather, later received the call announcing that Paige was selected to play the role of Clara in the Nashville, Tennessee performances. She spent one week in South Carolina learning the choreography and six weeks in Tennessee participating in 38 performances.

“Paige loved the experience of performing in The Nutcracker,” stated Heather Osmond. “This was the 85^th anniversary of Radio City putting on this ballet and Paige had so much fun being a part of it.”

“Paige is an inspiring young lady,” said Mayor Gary Gygi. “Her commitment to her talent is impressive and we are honored to recognize Paige for her dedication and success.”

February 6, 2013 was declared Paige Osmond day in Cedar Hills. This was unanimously approved.

Review/Action on Resolution Recognizing Herb Wilkinson

We previously recognized him but didn't have the resolution available. It was officially approved tonight.

Consent Agenda

Minutes for the December 18, 2012 Special City Council Meeting and the January 22, 2013 City Council meeting were unanimously approved.

City Reports

David Bunker - Staff looking at changes for healthcare policies that will be required for Obamacare implementation.

CM Rees - One press release issued, working on two others.

CM Jackman - Met with chiefs from LPPSD and American Fork Fire Department to discuss what they offer. These talks will be ongoing. Met on committee Murdock Canal. As it is nearing completion they are organizing an event to commemorate enclosure (April or so) then a few months later they will have another event that is focused on the trail. This one will be more of a community event.

CM Martinez - Jr. Jazz is halfway done. Had Meet the Jazz player night at Lehi High School. Family Festival dates have changed due to a conflict with Orem moving their dates and the carnival company couldn't do our same dates. They have promised us a Ferris wheel this year. Tot soccer registration starting soon. Working on t-ball. Golf department is updating software and Wade is working on that. Replacing carts and all new carts will be delivered in March. Went to Thanksgiving Point expo to advertise Vista room and got some bookings. YCC starting to stuff Easter Eggs for Easter Egg hunt. Working with Mayor Gygi on new program where Family Festival committee will help plan and run Family Festival. Looking for nominations for people who would be good at chairing a committee.

Mayor Gygi - Will be talking with staff on Grill options. Also working on day long retreat for the City Council and executive staff.

CM Augustus - Went to North Pointe Solid Waste meeting. Only one item was discussed. Planning Commission did meet last month but CM Augustus was out of town and could not attend.

CM Zappala - Working with students to design apps for the City. They are really energized about this project and both will be beneficial for residents. One app is for a budget friendly document and another for a book sharing program amongst residents.

Review/Action on Ordinance Regarding Catteries

Chandler Goodwin presented. Made changes requested from last meeting, including only one litter being allowed at one time. Also cleaned up some of the redundancies. CM Zappala recommends we strike B3 as it is a duplicate of B2. Approved unanimously with changes.

Review/Action on Approval of Contract with PR Firm on Branding Campaign

Contract updated to reflect the items in the proposal. Suggestions for funding include items in the current budget instead of using unrestricted funds. The recommended funds come from line 10-40-330 (Professional/Technical set aside for PR in General Fund) for $12,000, line 51-73-330 (Professional/Technical from Water Fund) for $2,000, and line 75-70-600 (Advertising in Golf Fund) in amount of $4,000. Branding is more than just a logo, it is the vision for the City.

CM Zappala feels we need a new logo because it doesn't communicate a brand. I agree this may be the case and feel we need to involve other stakeholders, such as commercial business owners and residents, in the branding process. CM Jackman feels we need a better sense of identity and better brand. Chandler (Assistant City Manager) has started to put together a list of how this affects staff and all that will need to be updated. David Bunker stated he felt this was an important thing for the whole city. Mayor Gygi feels the greatest benefit comes from economic development, which is helped by branding the City and defining who and where we are. CM Augustus is concerned about future costs for things such as changing logos on trucks and street signs etc. We discussed that this is something that we can implement over a period of time, it doesn't all have to be done at once. PR firm would give us recommendations of how to proceed and what they think the priorities should be, but we get to choose. CM Augustus also concerned because he feels like he's been told we don't have money to travel to St. George for training but we should find money for this branding project. CM Jackman explained that we have the money available for St. George, we are just talking about whether we re-allocate travel funds to be used in different ways. (This can be accomplished by having the Council attend the Salt Lake training instead of the St. George training, which would save approximately $1000 per Councilmember.). CM Martinez feels this is a big decision and encompasses a lot of things. She feels more companies need to present to the Council. Local universities may also do branding for cheaper or for free. I felt we didn’t need to have each of the PR companies that were interviewed by staff to also present to the Council as we rely upon staff to do this kind of due diligence and present to us the best option. We don't require presentations to the Council for all bids related to park maintenance, financial auditing, etc. so we should trust that staff is bringing us the best option. CM Jackman stated he would like to see more funds come from the Golf budget and less from the General Fund as he feels the Golf/Rec/Grill programs will benefit the most from this branding effort.

Resident Keith Irwin spoke. He feels importance of brand extends beyond commercial district. When he first moved here and told people he lived in Cedar Hills they laughed. Feels Council has done a lot to turn around negative image, but a lot more can be done to improve that image.

Motion was made to approve the contract with Radi8 Creative subject to legal review and approval and more funds coming from the Golf fund and less from the General fund. CM Martinez was concerned that we were moving forward with all of these stipulations. CM Augustus expressed concern over my previous affiliation with Radi8 Creative. I did some consulting work for them in 2010 when they needed help coming up with strategy for one of their medical clients as healthcare is my background. I explained that I was not receiving any financial compensation from this group and had no personal interest in their business. CM Augustus stated he feels that my past attachment with them and moving forward with this contract is wrong.

Motion to approve PR Branding contract passed 3-2 with Rees, Jackman, and Zappala voting yes and Martinez and Augustus voting no.

Discussion of Social Media Use Policy

Presentation by Chandler Goodwin - Looked at social media policies from other cities to determine what our social media policy should be. The policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use of social media sites as a means of conveying Cedar Hills information to residents. This only applies to social media sites maintained by the City and on behalf of the City.