We discussed items on the Council agenda, so my notes are below.
Council Meeting
Public Comment
Ken Cromar - Would like the city to publish a year by year analysis of golf course subsidies. Feels city is afraid to share this information. Says CM Crawley's Herculean efforts to analyze golf course data should also be published. Challenges us to provide that information. Has filed a complaint with the city to adjust the minutes from a meeting in April 2013 to show that Matt Rees was in attendance at that meeting.
Greg Stowall - Asking for the city to approve Item #7 as they had no idea about the drainage easement until they started the process of selling their home.
City Reports
Chandler Goodwin - Harvey Well is running and will be in full operation next week. Food truck night is working, a few logistical things will be addressed but has been successful. We will need to clear out the parking lot at Heritage Park in the early afternoon so that food trucks can use the parking lot instead of the school. The summer breakfast will be on August 14th.
CM Zappala - Has been working on an app to report issues to the city. Students have a working model and will start asking for resident feedback. This will help with improvements and discussions with technology providers.
CM Rees - The Planning Commission met last week. They approved allowing animal rights in the R1-15,000 zone and also approved changing the zone along Canyon Road from the R1-20,000 zone to the R1-15,000 zone, and changing Doral Park, Cottage Park, and Cedar Run Park to the Public Facilities Zone. This will be coming to Council soon. The Planning Commission also discussed signs in the public right of way and asked staff to do some research on what other cities do. They will discuss this further and make a recommendation to Council at a later time.
Mayor Gygi - MAG is meeting this Thursday evening.
CM Crawley - Preparing for the Golf Course Finance meeting.
CM Geddes - Still ongoing issue with Utah Valley Dispatch as the bids received are significantly over budget. Parks & Trails Committee have put together the summer breakfast and hope to see many attend. Has finished the preliminary draft for beautification of roundabout.
Review/Action on Use of Community Center
Here is the memo from staff:
Executive staff met with the City Council in January about usage of the Community Center and direction/expectations for the center. The Recreation staff would like to move forward with plans for the schedule in the Community Center. Staff will act on Council's instructions and directions, however there are constraints based on our current budget for recreation. In addition, there would be ramifications based on potentially replacing revenue-based events with non-revenue events. We have hit an all-time high in revenues and to add specific nights for open usage would negatively affect our revenues in events. Staff takes pride in operating within our budget and exceeding expectations from the City Council. Again, staff is happy to change course on Council's direction,but we will not be as effective and successful with revenue loss and significant labor cost increases by utilizing additional staff after normal work hours for free/discounted rates. Please also recognize that when we open the building up for events/activities it may negatively impact the golf course tournament bookings, they typically book within 30-45 days. Here is a brief summary of what is currently being offered at the Community Center: Boot camp, Karate classes, Dance/tumbling, Celebrations dance/vocal club, Youth theatre classes, Youth City Council meetings/activities, Golf tournaments (meal, raffle, etc.), HOA meetings, City meetings (City Council, Planning Commission, Town Hall), Religious meetings, Baby Showers, Missionary farewell/homecoming events, Club banquets, Lone Peak High School clinics, Scouting court of honor, business meetings, commercial video sessions, wedding proposals, corporate/family parties and more.
Here is the email I had sent, requesting this be on the agenda:
In January at our retreat we all discussed and agreed that the community center should make community events a priority. I've been following some online discussions and many residents feel the resident cost makes renting the facility prohibitive and also feel we don't have enough community sponsored events.
I'd like to add an agenda item to our next meeting where we formalize a policy with regards to the community center. Specifically, I'd like to talk about:
- Setting aside specific nights for community events (Santa party, 4th of July, summer breakfast, etc
- Setting aside specific nights for resident uses at a steeply discounted rate (maybe every Monday and Tuesday)
- Reviewing the list of resident suggestions on community events (there have been many ideas thrown out) and tasking our recreation department with researching & implementing many of the suggestions
- Coordinating with MAG on a monthly seniors day or evening
- Setting aside specific nights for resident uses of the basement or conference room for free for things like book club, etc.
I know we only budgeted $180k in revenues for FY2016 even though we expect $250k this year. I realize that making a policy as outlined above may impact revenues, but if this is going to be a community center then we all need to work harder at seeing it primarily used for community events. I, for one, am fine adjusting our budget to account for the decrease in revenue. Let's at least have the discussion.Staff had scheduled some classes with IFA, but these were cancelled after nobody showed up. A resident has set up classes on landscaping, but the attendance has also been poor. Jill is starting bootcamp classes this fall. There is interest in a Zumba class. Would like to see more volunteers willing to do classes.
CM Zappala said there is a difference between a community-wide event versus a resident event. We discussed a high priority for community wide events, like the summer breakfast and Santa party. Feels the Council needs to decide if we are willing to give up revenue for greater resident use of the building. Prior Council purposely built this facility as a revenue generator for golf course losses. If we want to go in a different direction, we need to know if this is what residents want. CM Zappala would like us to look at decorating the basement room so it's attractive for residents. Would also like to see much better advertising of resident rates. Possibly a resident only rate sheet given to each household, with a low fee, like $20/hour. We need to rethink our use of the grill space as it hasn't succeeded. We can move food sales to clubhouse and utilize grill space for things like a volunteer library, or something that is always available to residents. Would like to see more community-wide events.
I would like to find a middle ground. I think we could keep Monday and Tuesday nights open for residents to utilize the Vista Room at a very discounted rate, and leave Wednesday-Saturday open for revenue generating events. I'd like to have quarterly community events, like the summer breakfast, and find more activities for the basement, like merit badge classes. This way we can get more community events happening here, but also have specific days when residents can use the Vista room at a very low cost. It might be a good idea to create another resident-driven committee to look at community events that can be held at the facility.
CM Crawley agreed, but would leave Monday-Wednesday open for residents. CM Geddes agrees, but feels our fees are reasonable. He'd rather a tournament be booked over a cheaper fee for residents.
Over the past year we've rented the Vista Room on 10 Mondays and 9 Tuesdays to paying customers.
This item was tabled until staff and officials can come up with a specific proposal on fees, days for residents, etc. that the Council can discuss and vote on.
Review/Action on Approval of Canyon Heights Drainage Easement
The City of Cedar Hills has a drainage easement located on the properties located at 9058 N and 9044 N Silver Lake Dr. The easement is 15’ feet wide on both properties creating a 30’ wide easement and is meant to capture off-site drainage from the hillside. The current home located at 9058 N sits approximately 5’ into the easement, leaving only 10’ for the drainage and utility easement. The adjacent property located at 9044 N is currently vacant. After a review of the site, staff is recommending that the City vacate 5’ of the current drainage easement on lot 23, leaving the remaining 10’easement to continue as a drainage/utility easement. Resident has asked for this so there will not be title issues when they sell their home. The house was built about 15 years ago and we don't know how they received approval to build on the easement. This change would still leave enough of an easement for future utilities or drainage. There are no current utilities in this easement. This was approved.
Discussion on Communications with City Attorney
Under Mayor Gygi’s direction, a discussion regarding a potential policy regarding how, when, and who is authorized to communicate with the city attorney. With council direction, a policy can be drafted and presented for approval at a later council meeting regarding this issue.
CM Zappala stated that our original agreement with Mr. Shaw was that we'd give it a few months and see how things go, then discuss a different proposal, if needed. We need to meet with Mr. Shaw and revisit the contract. We've had numerous instances when the Council includes Mr. Shaw on emails and asks for feedback, which impacts legal bill. Proposes the Council and staff go through Mayor when legal opinion is solicited in order to control costs.
Mayor Gygi feels that the majority of the items on the legal bill were political and had nothing to do with the running of the city.
CM Crawley says first two months with a new firm we should expect higher bills as attorney gets up to speed. Doesn't think it's a bad idea to have a gatekeeper, though it shouldn't always be a hard and fast rule. We can all do better going forward. Thinks gatekeeper needs to be the city manager instead of Mayor.
I think we need a written policy so that everyone is operating under the same guidelines.
1 comment:
Thanks for keeping us informed.
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