Council Meeting - September 17, 2013

Work Session

Discussion on Social Security Options - City has been paying employer portion of Social Security funds but found out recently that we hadn't officially opted into the program. Employees can choose to opt in or opt out and use a different type of retirement program, such as URS. Every employee voted and 75% preferred to opt out and utilize something like URS, but want to first know what will happen with employers share of Social Security that has been paid into the system. Technically, this portion could go back to the City and the City would have to determine whether or not to roll this over into a retirement program for the employees or to keep the funds.  However, if they opt out of Social Security then they also lose disability and death benefits and would need to purchase this coverage on their own. The concern that CM Jackman has is that as a Council, we can determine each year how much to apply to the retirement benefits and have it match what we paid for Social Security, but we cannot bind future Councils to do the same. At least with Social Security there is a mandated employer portion. I feel we should let employees vote on this as they've been educated on the options and I don't feel we are better educated than they on what is best for their retirement. David has said that they have discussed ways to incentivize employees to continue to save through a matching program and only giving the employee the employer paid portion if the employee rolls over the already paid funds into a qualified retirement plan.

Council Meeting

Public Comment
Angela Madsen - Wants to know how to change the noise ordinance for the park with regards to concerts and movies in the park. Her house is two houses away and it gets really loud. Some nights it is so loud the windows shake. Noise can get so loud that they can't enjoy their own yard. Would like earlier end time for school nights for movies and/or concerts.

Shawn Madsen - Enjoy the concerts, but many neighbors have little kids and all want earlier end time on school nights.

Presentation by Siemens on Utility Cost Savings
City staff has been working with Siemens group on potential savings to Cedar Hills by making changes to street lighting, pumping, and the use of secondary water. Mr. Cram presented potential savings and discussed how Cedar Hills should proceed should the City wish to work with Siemens on this project. Challenges faced by the city are limited budget, aging infrastructure, and limited capital. These are challenges faced by all cities. Siemens is obligated to ensure that these projects are cash flow positive and revenue neutral. Siemens can do this because of higher manpower and can set aside funds for improvements instead of having any savings go back into the General Fund, which usually gets used in other ways. Siemens would be in charge of the consulting, financing, and implementation. Life of project is on average 10-15 years. Savings will vary based upon the type of project. These types of arrangements have been made available through State laws to encourage energy saving projects. Siemens will guarantee an annual savings in terms of water usage, energy savings, etc. and if that savings isn't met then they make up the difference. Will do a no-cost feasibility study. Some potential  opportunities are city-wide pressurized irrigation water metering, city-wide street lighting, and secondary water connections to all parks. He estimates we could save $56k-$84k each year. Having a PI metering system would put more accountability on individual water users. Technology has improved quality of PI meters and can be guaranteed for 20 years. Goal is that infrastructure lasts longer than the payment terms. Projects would be financed with savings so we don't have to bond for future projects. Relevant legislation includes HB 116 in 2010, State Code Title 11 Chapter 44, State Contract MA946. City retains ownership of all equipment. Siemens is doing these types of projects nationally and around the world. More than 1,300 successfully completed projects and $3 billion in energy savings. Siemens is meeting their commitment over 99% of the time and are only having to pay out guarantee less than 1% of the time. City will move forward with the no-cost feasibility study. This does not obligate us to anything further.

YCC Presentation
In accordance with the bylaws, candidates for YCC mayor apply and present themselves to their peer group for consideration. The YCC advisor, with the recommendation of the YCC and adult advisory committee, submit the names to the Mayor. The Mayor then appoints the YCC mayor. The YCC advisor has recommended that each year as the YCC members begin their terms, they shall take an oath of office to affirm their commitment. Jordan Anderson is the YCC mayor. Mayor and all YCC members were sworn in by Colleen Mulvey, city recorder. CM Martinez expressed her excitement for YCC and how lucky we are to have these youth serving the city.

Consent Agenda
Minutes for the July 16, 2013 City Council meeting unanimously approved.

City Reports
David Bunker - Had kick-off meeting with Bowen, Collins & Assoc on impact fee analysis. Looking to have an open house in January to go over study results. State of the City has gone out. Timpanogos Special Service District meeting this week.

CM Jackman - LPPSD meeting this week.

CM Zappala - Utah Valley Dispatch met. Want to have LPPSD sign district agreement and want all cities to have to stay with Utah Valley Dispatch unless all cities want to leave. CM Zappala recommended it be a vote of the LPPSD board, which represents the district. City needs to determine what we are going to do with dispatch fairly soon, whether to stay with Utah Valley or use someone else. Issue is that AFPD uses Utah Valley so if we switched for LPPSD then we'd have two different dispatch centers, one for fire and one for police. Budget app is up and running and he will continue to work on it.

CM Martinez - YCC car wash coming up on the 30th at roundabout by Walmart.  2pm-5pm and all proceeds go to Santa's Workshop. Pumpkin walk and Haunted Creek will be October 28th. 25 cents for admission. Golf had another fantastic month financially. Tree Fitness is doing classes downstairs.

Mayor Gygi - Thanks Council for attending ULCT meetings. Wants each member to prepare a report of things learned and present at next meeting. UDOT has said they want to refinish Canyon Road but don't know when and haven't said what they will do to fix it, but is having County be in charge of snow plowing the road. County is talking with city staff regarding reimbursing city to do snow plowing. David continues to discuss with County and will bring to the Council when more info is available.

CM Rees - State of the City went out. Social media doing well. ABC4 picked up story posted today. Parks & Trails meeting this week.

Review/Action on Fire Restrictions
Fire Marshall Bailey discussed adjustments to the current fire restriction policy. With the recent rainfall there may be changes that would be appropriate with respect to policy. However, one of the largest fires in the District in the past was during the month of September. Mr. Bailey discussed the viability of adjusting the fire restrictions east of Canyon Road. Recommendation is to allow open fires west of Canyon Road but maintaining restrictions east of Canyon Road, which states open fires are only allowed with a screen cover. Fireworks restriction would stay in effect until October, and would need to be revisited at that time, but next allowed fireworks date is Chinese New Year. Unanimously approved.

Discussion on Non-Residential Rental Fees
City Council asked staff to explore the possibility of adopting a non-resident fee for rental business licenses. Non-resident rental units make up about 90% of the rental units in the City. Beginning next week, letters will be sent out to all property owners informing them of the code, and what they will need to do in order to obtain a business license. With regard to a non-resident business license fee, we asked Eric Johnson (city attorney) for input. His response indicated that the cost of a business license must be reasonably related to the cost of providing the service. As staff would not be performing any additional service for a non-resident rental unit when compared to a rental unit, staff feels that it would be best practice to have a single license fee for all applicants.

Discussion on City Code Regarding Rental Units
Staff has been asked to clarify City Code regarding the definition of a family. From our current Code 10-2-1: Family: One of the following groups of individuals, but not more than one at the same time: a) an individual living alone; or b) two (2) or more people all of whom are related to one designated occupant of the dwelling by blood, marriage, adoption, or legal guardianship and their foster children and up to two (2) other unrelated persons who do not pay rent or give other consideration for the privilege of staying with the family; or c) up to four (4) unrelated individuals who live together as a single housekeeping unit; or d) two (2) unrelated individuals and any children of either of them living as a single housekeeping unit. A "guest" under this section is defined as a person who stays with a family or a period of less than thirty (30) days within any rolling one year period and does not utilize the dwelling as a legal address for any purpose. For purposes of the definition of family, the term "related" shall mean a spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, great-grandparent, and great-grandchild. The term "related" does not include other, more distant relationships such as cousins.

There are inconsistencies and certain situations could arise that could be problematic legally and as a matter of enforcement; such as our definition of what constitutes being related. Staff would like to receive input from the City Council to help update the code in order to make compliance understandable for residents/property owners, and enforcement consistent for the Zoning Department. Staff would like to change it so that "related" means related to the head of household and that person must be owner of the house. Also suggest no more than one accessory apartment per house, outside entrance is required for accessory apartment and should be in the rear of the building, and cannot share common areas.

CM Zappala would like us to address to real issues, which seem to be noise and parking. How do we enforce these items, because most people don't care how many people are living in a house if they are taking care of the yard and obeying parking and noise ordinances. If we create code it needs to be enforceable. CM Jackman feels we shouldn't create code on the few outliers if it's going to make things more difficult for the majority of our residents.

Discussion on Policy for Public Use of Conference Rooms, During and After Business Hours
With the completion of the Recreation Center basement and conference room addition, a policy for the use of these facilities in addition to the conference rooms at the city building should be discussed. It is currently the practice to allow community groups such as HOAs and civic groups access to public facilities at no charge. At times, these groups wish to meet after business hours, which require staff to return to work to lock the building, clean up, set the alarm, etc. The current/proposed fees for commercial use of the recreation center are as follows:

Vista Room -Weekend $1,600
Vista Room – Weekday $1,400
Recreation Center Basement $30/hour one side, $50/hour both sides
Recreation Center Conference Room $30/hour

I feel that we should charge for groups that want to meet after hours as we will need to pay for a staff member to be onsite and close up. Others feel that we should leave it open for residents to use at any time and we subsidize the cost of usage after hours by finding areas in the budget to cut. We need to come up with city-wide policies with usage of city buildings. Item will be discussed later after Charl determines if there is money in the budget for this subsidy.

Review/Action on Proposed Parks & Trails Code
City Council asked staff to research the provision in the proposed code regarding the prohibition of the use of offensive language in municipal parks. After consulting with Eric Johnson, we feel that any prohibition on the use of any language would be in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Multiple documented legal cases have shown that offensive language is a protected speech under the First Amendment. Staff would like additional input regarding the use/consumption of alcohol in City parks. Staff would like to know if the definition of alcohol needs to be included in the Code. It was determined no, it did not need to be defined. Ordinance was unanimously approved taking out language portion and not defining alcohol (it is already defined by the State).

Discussion on Parks Curfew
The following is the proposed addition to the Parks and Trails code:
6-8-6: PARK CURFEW: A. All parks shall be closed between the hours of ten o’clock (10:00) P.M. and five o’clock (5:00) A.M. It shall be unlawful for any person other than city employees performing their duties to be to loiter in the park when it is closed. Current park rules state that the park curfew is 10:30 P.M., however, City Code states: 5-2-2: It is unlawful for any person to cause noise that constitutes a public disturbance.  d. Sports or other entertainment activities in or adjacent to a residential zone between the hours of ten o’clock (10:00) P.M. and seven o’clock (7:00) A.M. Staff would like direction on how the Council wishes to regulate the use of parks, it has come to our attention that 9:00 has been proposed as an appropriate park curfew, while current park rules state 10:30, and the code states 10:00. Staff would like the various times to be consistent for enforcement purposes.

Discussion is that we have a park curfew but a noise ordinance for concerts and/or movie that is earlier during the school year. If someone wanted to have an event outside of normal hours  (such as family festival) then a special use permit would be required. Discussion will continue at a later date.