General Information

Government Type

Municipality

Entity

Blanding

Public Body

City Council

Notice Information

Add Notice to Calendar

Notice Title

City Council Minutes 9.26.23

Notice Tags

Administrative Procedure

Notice Type(s)

Notice

Event Start Date & Time

September 26, 2023 07:00 PM

Description/Agenda

CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Council in Attendance: Mayor Logan Monson Council member Cheryl Bowers Council member Len Gasser Council member Chris Ewald (via zoom) Council member Kellen Nielson Staff Members in Attendance: City Manager - City Engineer - Patrick Parsons City Finance Director - James Francom Judge- Others: Ryan Barton via zoom, Christine Watkins via zoom, Corey Higdon Tuesday September 26, 2023 at 7:00pm 50 West 100 South Street, Blanding, Utah 84511 Meetings are live streamed at: https://www.youtube.com/@blandingcity7442 City Community Dev. Dir. - Bret Hosler Economic Dev. Dir. - Ben Mulstein Police Chief- Fire Chief - Recreation Dir. - Mayor Monson called the meeting to order at 7:00pm A prayer was offered by Council member Grover The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Councilmember Bowers moved to approve the consent agenda and approve the minutes from the September 12, 2023 Council meeting. Councilmember Gasser seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion and asked for discussion. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting Aye: Councilmember Bowers Councilmember Gasser Councilmember Ewald Councilmember Nielson Those abstaining: Councilmember Grover Those voting Nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Declaration of conflict - None Public Comment - None REPORTS Mayor Report This week is prevention week at the high school. They have been having different activities throughout the week. Mayor Monson spoke at an assembly at SJH. The community is encouraged to wear bright colors to school events and games. Next week Mayor Monson will go to the One Utah Summit convention and make a presentation there. He will attend one day. It is a convention put on specifically for rural communities. Council member Bower said that she reached out to Governor Cox's office, she has been a council member for 9 years and she has never seen him here in Blanding. His office invited her to the convention. She may go. City Council Council member Nielson said that the pickle ball courts are moving slowly. The pile of cement has been removed. Mayor Monson also reported that the sprinkling system is done in the wellness center. The showers and bathrooms remodel will start soon. The deep well is complete and will be in the testing phase. Council member Grover asked about the fall festival and if the corn was going to make it here for the corn pit. Ben reported that a city employee will go pick it up on Thursday. Finance Report - James Francom James reported that he has been working on customized reports for each head of the departments. He can individualize it and send it out monthly via email. Check register is attached to the agenda and he said that he would take any questions. Council member Bowers asked if he was going to do quarterly reports. He said he will. She also inquired about the legal payment, she wants to make sure we are staying within our budget for legal services. She asked what the Geniva Capital Contract payment for the wellness center is. David Palmer was not there to chime in, James said that he will look into it and see what that payment is. Economic Development - Ben Muhlestein Ben gave a brief update on economic development. He reported that Blanding received a grant from the Utah office of Tourism to help promote tourism. It will help in developing ads to promote tourism. He said that a small video will play at the visitor center and will also be online that will promote different businesses. Video ads tend to be a little more expensive, but also seem to get more results. The pickle ball courts have been delayed for a while because of concrete contractor issues. But they have made some progress in the last few days. Concrete will be laid in the next week or two. Events: 128 people have registered for the marathon. There is still a month to register. Flyers for the eclipse will be put in hotels, businesses and the visitor center and will direct people to a central place to avoid confusion and traffic jams. The fall festival is looking good, there are plenty of activities and all booths are full. We will need volunteers to help with setting up, running the event and cleaning up. Mayor Monson advised that he will try and get some youth rounded up to volunteer. Council member Bowers advised that she is happy to help if she is in town. Sale of Airport Excess - Bret Hosler Bret reported that one of the show cases has sold. There is other stuff that is up for sale from the airport such as some old furniture. He has posted it on Facebook but there isn't a lot of interest in it so far. New furniture will be purchased with the new grant money. Southeastern Utah Association of Local Government - Christine Watkins She reported on the days that she will be at the One Summit conference and she said that the Governor will be there. She stated that she was a state representative for San Juan County for four years. She is a local administrative advisor, she is in charge of helping 19 different cities. She said that all of those cities have a population of less than 5,000. She is taking a grant writing class. She is impressed with the city and their receiving of grants. She has been a legislator for 11 years. If there is something she doesn't know or can't do, then she probably knows someone who knows and can. She has been to Blanding many times. She used to work for UEA and San Juan was one of the areas that she covered. BUSINESS ITEMS Landfill/Transfer Station The Mayor reported that the employee for the transfer station can come back and work for a few months. Mayor Monson filled in council member Grover on what was discussed at the last meeting concerning the transfer station. James advised that he attached some financial numbers to the agenda. They went over those numbers and talked about the loss that the city has had over the years financially due to the transfer station. The council had a general discussion about illegal dumping, a possible city clean up day with the national guard, and people dumping in business' large dumpsters, the big dumpster that has been provided by the city around Christmas time, what days would be the most beneficial, the process of how the transfer station works, advertising it better, etc. They talked about other county locations that also have transfer stations. NTUA Agreement Mayor Monson stated that the title of the agreement is 'Water Treatment and Conveyance Contract.' The water portion of the agreement will be similar to the power agreement. Terry Ekker had drafted a lot of it before he left. Mayor Monson has stepped in on some of the meetings that have been happening since Terry left. The city attorney has reviewed the agreement and he changed a few things and now the draft that we have now is current. Council member Grover asked about water rights being brought to Blanding city for this project to move ahead. Council member Bowers said that our policy says that if someone wanted water and we had water rights or sufficient amount of water or source of water or return of water in the amount that was going to be used. NTUA requires that there is sufficient water available and proof that there is water to have water sold to them. Ryan Barton with Navajo Nation Department of Resources and Water Management advised that it is his understanding that the San Juan water conservancy district has transferred 50 acre feet of water to the city of Blanding for the deep well. Council member Grover advised that for every well that is drilled a water right has to be filed. Ryan said that the transfer of the 50 acre feet of water to Blanding is water right #09-438 and as of Aug. 31, Blanding City has not filed for that water right yet. Council member Grover was not happy that the ball had been dropped on this step or the process. Patrick Parsons said that he will take that responsibility on. Council member Bowers inquired about the meter that will be put in, she wanted to know if this is normal practice, to put a meter in at the city's cost for a new water line. Bret advised that for individual's that is not normal practice but the city council adopted a new policy to sell water to other government organizations. And this is the first time that policy is being put into use. The council talked about tabling the contract until the water right has been filed by the city. Patrick said that he would appreciate time to get more familiar with the project before he speaks on it. Bret talked about the chunk of land and street that are in the works of being annexed. He said that the annexation plan has been seen by the planning commission and steps for that process are being taken. The council had a general discussion about the concern of the pressure of the water that will go out to WestWater. It was said that the water engineers took that issue into consideration when planning. Patrick asked about the 29 lots and questioned about the possibility of more houses being built there. It was said that there are contracts and agreements in place that prohibit more than 29 units. Council member Bowers moved to table the water contract with NTUA to allow the new city engineer to get familiar with the contract and for Blanding City to file for water rights. Council member Grover seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion and asked for discussion. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting Aye: Councilmember Bowers Councilmember Gasser Councilmember Ewald Councilmember Nielson Councilmember Grover Those voting Nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. ADJOURNMENT Councilmember Grover moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilmember Nielson seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion and asked for discussion. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting Aye: Councilmember Gasser Councilmember Bowers Councilmember Ewald Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting Nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Council adjourned the meeting at 8:01p.m. By: Nicole Holliday

Notice of Special Accommodations (ADA)

In compliance with the ADA, individuals needing special accommodations during this meeting may call the City Offices at (435) 678-2791 at least twenty-four hours in advance. Every effort will be made to provide the appropriate services.

Notice of Electronic or Telephone Participation

One or more Council Members may partcipate electronically.

Meeting Information

Meeting Location

50 W 100 S
BLANDING, UT 84511
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Contact Name

Pratt Redd

Contact Email

predd@blanding-ut.gov

Notice Posting Details

Notice Posted On

October 09, 2023 02:39 PM

Notice Last Edited On

October 09, 2023 02:39 PM

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