Council Meeting - August 27, 2013

I'm at a conference this week and posting during my break so please forgive any formatting or spelling mistakes.


Council Meeting August 27th

Work Session
Discussion on branding. Going through the survey results, focus will be on bringing more recognition to our city to those who do not know who Cedar Hills, to attract and retain residents, build our commercial area, and increase revenue through recreation and events. This will include updating the website with a one page infographic, which will serve as our landing page for those interested in getting detailed information about the city all in one location, meeting with employers in northern Utah County, meeting and maintaining relationships with potential commercial businesses, showing through video and pictures who and what Cedar Hills is.  Also, the survey shows that over 60% of residents stated their preferred choice for city communication is via email so we need to work to collect email addresses and providing pertinent and timely information via email.

Corey Jackson spoke. Wants to know why city is trying to increase traffic to city. Also thinks city should find out why residents don't give email addresses. He doesn't trust government with his info. Wants to know how many items in the budget could be removed that isn't needed. Would like a venue where students could learn skills through city, like graphic design.  Wants to know how are we finding out from residents what they are interested in?

Council Meeting

Public Comment
Judy Arnold - Opened a corner little house library in her yard. Library has been very busy. People are coming from Alpine and Highland as well. Residents are asking for additional little free libraries. Would be delightful if residents could share their books with others. Great location would be  parks. This would be a great Eagle Scout project. Only cost is one time fee of $35 per box to charter with the little school library. No deadlines and no maintenance. Citizens have been very generous with their donations. Would like the city to do some advertising as so many residents don't know about this even though it was in the newsletter.

City Reports
David Bunker - Reminder that ULCT annual conference is next month. Geneva Rock staged some material on St. Andrews property. Geneva treats the city well and gives us great pricing. With the staging they were willing to grade St. Andrews and spread fill for  us at no cost. They were there for about four days and are now gone. They cleaned up everything. Wants to know if Council wants to push meeting Sept 3rd meeting as it's next week. Council agreed to cancel next meeting.

CM Jackman - LPPSD had board meeting. Discussed matrix study on sharing services amongst five cities.

CM Augustus - Planning Commission meeting last Thursday. Blu Line (developer) presented on ideas for commercial area. If Council has any ideas then please send to Trent so he can discuss with Planning Commission. Discussed making outer buildings four stories instead of five stories so no issue with setbacks. Right now building is proposed to be 62 feet, but that exceeds maximum guidelines that city has for occupied space. They will continue to work with Planning Commission on this. Developer wants utilities in the ground in December so they can start working in spring. Growth would be a phased approach, but would have certain requirements to complete at certain times so it doesn't sit empty. Will have several public hearings on this to get resident feedback. They have an existing similar development in Farmington, so have relationships with the commercial businesses that developed there. Discussed how Council gets feedback from the Planning Commission. Commission members are concerned that Council doesn't appreciate their feedback. We may have Planning Commission present to Council what their recommendation is and why at future meetings.

CM Martinez - Soccer has started. YCC presenting at next meeting. Doing fundraising car wash soon.

CM Rees - Press release issued for Tree Fitness. State of the City almost complete and being mailed out on September 13th.

Review/Action on Canvass of Election
Verify tally sheet amounts coincide with votes cast. All were correct. Additional votes calculated. Final numbers showed the four candidates who go on to the general election are Zappala, Martinez, Crawley, and Bradley. Canvass results were unanimously approved.

Discussion on Social Media
Continued until a future meeting when city attorney can attend.

Review/Action on Municipal Wastewater Plan
The Utah State Dept of Environmental Quality requires the city to prepare and pass a Municipal Wastewater Planning Program report showing that we have taken steps to maintain effluent requirements. Public Works director Jeff Maag presented on the prepared report. This was unanimously approved.

Discussion on Snow Plow for Canyon Road
UDOT is keeping jurisdiction of North County Blvd and Canyon Road. County says they don't have resources to take care of the roads and they want cities to snowplow Canyon Road. Wants Cedar Hills to handle Canyon to Canyon Heights, PG would take rest to State Street. Would cost the city about $10,000 to $15,000 per year to handle this. PG recommended that the city pay for half and the County pay for half instead of the County paying for all. In addition to the cost, there is the liability involved. CM Jackman feels liability includes bad roads and we have PG residents who live on our portion of Canyon Road. Feels liability is high, though he knows we'd do a much better job of keeping that road clear than the County would. I expressed frustration as we've been unable to get the County or UDOT to make needed repairs to the road but now they want us to pay for plowing roads that they own but won't maintain. Jeff Maag is also concerned it will require additional man hours and we only have one 10 wheeler, which is what would be needed to accommodate this. This was a discussion item only but Council and staff do not feel the city should take this on.

Review/Action on Contract for Impact Fee Analysis
The city requested proposals from companies on doing an impact fee analysis. It is time  that we had this done and it is in 2014 budget. Staff recommends Bowen, Collins, and Assoc., who would team up with Zions Bank to do the financial analysis. Would start in September and should be completed by end of the year. Unanimously approved.

Discussion on Golf Course Driving Range Fencing
A resident reached out to the Council stating that he has an issue with golf balls from the driving range hitting his house or ending up in his yard. He asked that the city make the fence higher or do something to prevent this from happening. Four options were presented. 1-Extend the driving range fencing, 2- Reposition tee boxes, 3- Install fence at resident property, 4- Plant trees at resident property. Options 1 and 2 would be quite expensive.

This isn't a unique incident. There are many homes right next to the golf course and there are some risks. Concern expressed is that this sets a precedent for every home near the golf course. We are going to have to replace nets and poles within next year or so anyway so this is a good discussion to have in next budget season. Council feels we should do nothing at this point and discuss again at budget time.

Discussion on Utah Valley Dispatch Contract
UV Dispatch has proposed new contract to LPPSD. Board members were concerned when we were looking at potentially utilizing a different dispatch. Term and termination would be for five year period and auto renew for five years, if we wanted to get out prior to five years we would have to pay a fee to leave. Right now both AFPD and LPPSD use UV Dispatch. Only LPPSD is being asked to sign, they haven't asked other cities to sign. CM Jackman expressed concern over five year lock down, should be one year so it corresponds with the budget year and we should have the option to give a years notice and change if we want. I expressed concern that AFPD could switch dispatch centers and if we locked down with Utah Valley then we could pay for two dispatch services. Council agrees that nobody is comfortable with five year lockdown or us being the only one being asked to sign.

Discussion on North Pointe Solid Waste Contract
North Pointe wants to lock us in for an 8 year period for two consecutive auto renewal terms of eight years. Buyout would be around $100,000. Orem is biggest proponent, but smaller cities are not in favor as buyout is so high it would be impossible. David is talking to other cities who don't use North Pointe to determine costs of other providers.

Discussion on Name Change for Clubhouse Drive
This has been discussed at several Council meetings. Sammy's and Tree Fitness are opposed and so is staff. No compelling reason to change. Item is tabled.

Review/Action on Branding
See notes from work session. CM Augustus recommended we bid out creative work to other individuals, not just companies. Tagline will be Trailhead to Adventure. Item tabled. Will come back as future discussion.

Discussion on Water Outlook
City is using too much water. Historically, when we've tried to ration PI usage has gone up as people panic. Also, PI meters break easily because it is dirty water and includes pepples. City is going to have to also reduce usage and monitor and fix issues with during watering rain storms and over watering. Residents have been asked to voluntarily reduce PI water usage to no more than three times per week. Watering restrictions may be placed next year.