Tuesday, February 21, 2017

City Council Meeting - February 21, 2017

Public Comment
Nobody signed up.

Consent Agenda
David Bragonje was appointed to the Parks & Trails Committee.

City Reports
Chandler Goodwin - Policing event on March 8th at 7pm to discuss domestic violence. This is open to the public. Contract with Six Sisters has been signed. Golf Course is now open. Golf maintenance bldg construction has begun.

Mayor Gygi - LPPSD is meeting this Thursday. Finance Committee met last week to begin discussions on upcoming budget. Mayor and CM Geddes narrowed down city manager applications to 5. Mayor did interview all applicants and added a few more names to the list. Will be doing final interviews on March 1st. Recommendation will be made to the Council.

CM Bailey - Next 911 dispatch meeting will be held in Cedar Hills.

Review/Action on FY2017 Budget Amendments
Recommended adjustments are as follows:

  • 40-80-822 Parks & Rec Master Plan funding of preferred proposal is estimated to cost between $30,000 and $40,000. It will be funded with available unrestricted fund balance in the capital projects fund. 
  • 51-73-751 Water Construction Projects will need to be increased by $25,000 due to costly maintenance issues in the current fiscal year, which will be funded by reserves set aside for these type of expenses. This is to repair the AF Water Booster, which went down earlier this fiscal year. 
This was approved.


Review/Action on Awarding Bid for Parks Master Plan
The City of Cedar Hills made a request for proposals (RFP) to create a Parks, Trails, and Recreation Master Plan. The plan will use feedback from the residents, staff and the City Council to make recommendations for any short-term and long-term maintenance/improvements to our city parks, trails, and recreation programming, including facilities. Charl Louw (our finance director) met with Boyd Wilkins (chair of Parks & Trails committee) to interview all those who submitted a proposal. All the firms are excellent but have different strengths. Drawings for proposed parks are not part of the master plan. The Parks, Trails, and Recreation Plan proposals start at approximately $26,420 and options go up to $45,710.

Low bid was Insight Design Group from American Fork. They worked on Creekside Park in Alpine, which includes a splash pad that drains into the secondary water system, a first for Utah. Has worked on parks, churches, and temples. Cory from Insight presented. Alpine splash pad was only $250,000, as opposed to Highland splash park of $1m. They did this by having water go into secondary system instead of having to clean recirculated water. This also saved Alpine in water and sewer costs. They involved the community in other areas, such as tree planting, in order to save money. Designs spaces such as retention areas in an architecturally pleasing way. They also have construction experience with knowledge of construction pricing. Will help city so we don't design something we can't afford. Charl feels there would be some additional costs with Insight to include a survey for residents that are statistically accurate.

Landmark Design has done more master planning than the other bidders. They are willing to include schematic designs, which would be an additional cost with other firms. Maybe other firms would be willing to include. Lisa Benson with Landmark Design presented. They look at what is needed by population, how items are connected by trails, amenities by parks, features that need to be added. Feels very strongly about public involvement and encourages a steering committee. Important to have City Council, Planning Commission, and representatives from the community involved.

Last master plan for Parks & Trails was done 15 years ago and is outdated. Part of this process would be to get input from residents on what is important (parks, trails, recreation facilities, pool, etc.). Also, there are some upcoming issues that need to be addressed. PG Irrigation wants to shut off access to our creek in Heritage Park in order to reduce water loss to them, but this would mean the trees surrounding the creek would lose their water source. We need to start planning for items like this.

Jay with MGBA presented as well. They did AF park master plan and Highland's open space plan. Working on a master plan for Cedar City now. Zions Bank helps them to statistically valid surveys and will do drawings. Will do online surveys in addition to townhall.

Steve with Sunrise Engineering presented. Approach they take is to look at existing facilities, open space, and the needs of the city, as well as desires of the community. Will hold an open house in addition to online surveys. Would outline cost associated with each recommendation. Will also look at current facilities/parks and outline future needs.

This item was tabled until the next meeting to give the Council more time to go through the proposals and to make sure everyone is on the same page as to the purpose of this project.

Review/Action Amending Resident Rates for Vista Room
Staff is recommending we change the rates for weddings and corporate events on resident nights of Mondays and Tuesdays. Weddings have high traffic that requires more work for staff than other events. Propose a flat rate of $450 for a wedding or corporate event for the entire room on Mondays and Tuesdays. Feels this would better cover costs, especially as those renting wanting to meet with staff beforehand to plan wedding and need help with other needs. Per Chandler, the labor costs displayed below only cover having someone onsite during the event, but doesn't cover staff time before the event to meet with those renting the facility and doing cleanup after. This was approved.

The table below shows usage on these nights.


On a side note, I requested we draft a policy about residents using the facility at no charge for community events. I recently had a resident reach out to me who is interested in hosting a teen dance for those in 7th grade and older. She is willing to pay for the food and DJ, just wants the use of the Vista Room at no cost. She would not charge anyone to attend, it would be free for all teens. My recommendation is that we should allow this and place community events as a high priority. There was push back that we only allow this within 30 days of an event, but not allow anyone to book the room more than 30 days out for something like this at no cost. I feel that if it is truly a community center we should place more focus on community events and allow for bookings further than 30 days out. If there is abuse of this or a substantial loss of revenue, then we could re-evaluate this policy, but we should allow community events to book Fridays and Saturdays even more than 30 days in advance and provide the room at no cost if the event is free to the community. I would like to see more emphasis on the community with this facility. There will be further discussion on this. I'm sure it will be a lively discussion as there is a disagreement among elected officials as to what the priority is - community events or revenue.

Discussion on Capital Improvements Fund and Motor Pool Fund
Here is the summary of changes:



Discussion on Highland Gardens Water Connection
You can also see notes on this from our last Council meeting. Cedar Hills provides water to a limited number of users that are outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the City; Cedar Hills also receives water from other jurisdictions. Cedar Hills is required to meter and backflow protect each point of connection and we require metering and backflow protection at all service connections. Highland Gardens (AF City) submitted a permit application for a new larger culinary water service to their property on 4800 N. Cedar Hills staff reviewed and approved the permit with conditions that the water be metered and protected for backflow. American fork City reviewed and approved Cedar Hills’ plan review and the proposed equipment. A permit was issued 11/2/15 and the property owner’s contractor proceeded to install the new water line but failed to install the required meter, backflow devise and meter box. Staff reviewed the permit at the time of expiration and contacted the owner with a request for final inspection. During the inspection it was noted that the owner had made the connection to the Cedar Hills water main and had energized his new lateral without authorization. The owner and AF City were notified that the installation was not installed as per the approved plans, that the permit was no longer valid and that the lateral valve had been closed. The owner contacted Mayor Gygi and staff for a review of his project. Staff agreed to a permit extension for an additional 180 days. This permit extension expires April 14, 2017; at which time staff will close the street valve if the project is not completed as per the approved plans.

Considerations:
1) The project includes the addition of a new 6” culinary water service lateral to private property outside Cedar Hills’ jurisdiction. This service will provide water for a fire suppression system and hydrant.
2) Cedar Hills ordinance requires that all service laterals be metered (7-1B-6).
3) Backflow protection is required by City Ordinance (Chapter 5).
4) Owner to provide and install backflow device (7-5-3, B, 2).
5) Meter and backflow equipment must be listed for fire service.

Owner of Highland Gardens presented. AF City asked him to put in a fire system 2 years ago. This required a connection to Cedar Hills water line as we provide water to that area. When he applied for permit, one stipulation was the 6" meter on the fire line, but eliminate the 2" line that provides culinary water to rest of facility so it all goes through one meter. Has spoken with several professionals who feel 6" water line isn't recommended and hasn't been done anywhere else, including in our own city. Has met with AF Water Superintendent, AF Fire & Rescue, Utah State Fire Marshal, and Utah State Fire Protection Engineer. Cost of 6" meter with installation is $30,000. He is willing to give the city an easement to monitor the line.

I asked for information on how Warinski Funeral Home is being handled as they are in the same situation (getting water though outside our city) and staff will research on that. I also asked why his contractor installed the line without the meter knowing it was required and owner said AF City told him to install it anyway, even in violation of our permit.

Owner stated that Mayor Gygi recommended he annex his property into Cedar Hills to avoid requirement. He is willing to do that, but Warinski doesn't want to annex and would be required to if Highland Gardens does.

Discussion on Surplus Property
Cedar Hills owns multiple pieces of land that are unusable for development, or are leftover parcels from previous developments. The first parcel is along Cedar Hills Drive and is a piece that is located between two homes. The piece was originally planned to be a cul-de-sac but the development happened in a way that left this piece as a junk parcel. One of the adjacent homeowners is interested in purchasing the parcel; the parcel is approximately 3000 square feet, or about .07 acres. The parcel is not usable as a developable lot for a single family home. The second piece of land is a city-owned piece that is along Cedar Hills Dr. but is land locked. The piece houses an abandoned water tank that was owned by the State Development Center, and other active utilities (irrigation ditch and Rocky Mountain Power easements). Due to the current state of the land, staff is concerned about selling the property as a single-family parcel due to the abandoned utilities and the active utilities on the site. The parcel could be sold to adjacent land owners as land that cannot be developed. This will come back to the Council for a vote at a future time.

Discussion on State of the City
The 2016 State of the City is nearing completion; it has been sent off for formatting and will be complete in the next couple of weeks. Staff would like direction from the Mayor and Council regarding the late delivery of the 2016 State of the City information. The Council advised staff to move forward with publishing.

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