General Information

Government Type

Municipality

Entity

Blanding

Public Body

City Council

Notice Information

Add Notice to Calendar

Notice Title

City Council Minutes 12/12/2023

Notice Tags

Administrative Procedure

Notice Type(s)

Meeting

Event Start Date & Time

December 12, 2023 07:00 PM

Description/Agenda

CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Council in Attendance: Mayor Logan Monson-absent Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Bowers Council member Len Gasser Council member Kellen Nielson Council member Erik Grover Staff Members in Attendance: City Manager - Trent Herring City Engineer - Patrick Parsons City Finance Director - James Francom Judge- Others: Tuesday December 12, 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 Muhlestein Police Chief- JJ Bradford Fire Chief - Recreation Dir. - David Palmer Mayor Pro Tem Bowers called the meeting to order at 7:00pm A prayer was offered by Trent Herring The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Council member Ewald moved to approve the consent agenda and approve the minutes from the November 28, 2023 Council meeting. Council member Nielson seconded the motion. Mayor Pro Tem Bowers repeated the motion and asked for discussion. Hearing none, she called for a vote. Those voting Aye: Councilmember Ewald Councilmember Gasser Councilmember Nielson Councilmember Grover Those voting Nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Pro Tem Bowers declared the motion carried. Declaration of conflict - None Public Comment - None REPORTS Mayor Pro Tem Report - Cheryl Bowers Mayor Pro Tem Bowers wanted to officially welcome Trent Herring as the new city manager. He's attended city council before, but he is officially in the office full time now. Mayor Pro Tem Bowers wanted to thank Council member Gasser. This is his last meeting with the council. She wished him well and said that it has been a pleasure working with him and he will be missed. City Council Swallow's Nest - Council member Nielson reported that the county found out that the funds that they originally thought they would have, can't be used for the swallows nest. But there may be some funds available from the state. Council member Nielson reported that the swallow's nest was vandalized last week. The door was kicked in, frame and all. David Palmer stated that he spent half the day Saturday sealing it off. David stated that there has been vandalism in the past, but it's been a lot of years. Mayor pro tem Bowers asked if it is insured. David said that it is. Mayor Pro Tem Bowers also asked if there are any leads on who did the vandalism. Chief Bradford said there isn't any yet but Stg. Hillhouse is looking into it. Trent Herring stated that the newspaper wrote an article that stated that the council approved a grant from the county, he sent them an email and asked them to retract that and make it clear that the council gave David Palmer permission to speak with the county about grant funds, at this point he hasn't heard back from them. Financial Report - James Francom James stated that he attached a check register to everyone's packet and asked if anyone had questions. Council member Grover asked about 'Employee Moral.' James stated that he is trying to be more transparent and he made a new code for things like the Christmas party and things that go into that category. Council member Ewald stated that he saw several payments for EWAS and wondered if it was all paid for. James stated that he isn't sure where in the process that project is. Bret stated that there is still a lot of paperwork and one last payment of about $8000. New public works employee - Patrick Parsons Patrick stated that they needed to hire someone to replace David Homedew, who just recently retired. They interviewed three people and they hired Manuel Travezio. Patrick said that he interviewed really well and they got several good references from people in the community. He used to work at the landfill. Patrick said that he has a good attitude and is a hard worker. They are excited to have him onboard. Mayor Pro Tem Bowers inquired what his role will be. Patrick stated that he is another crew member of the public works team and he will do whatever is needed from the public works crew. Police Report - Chief JJ Bradford Chief Bradford stated that the stat sheet is in their packet. He also said that some officers have been doing some training this month with a company that trains on active scenario situations. They have had training with them in the past. Chief Bradford is pleased with them. They played out a scenario in the high school, he believes the officers learned a lot. Cadet Blake is in his 5th week at academy. He is doing well and learning a lot. Chief Bradford stated that a few of their radars are acting up. There are a few that haven't been recertified when the radar shop came down to do recertifications. He said that the new car that has been ordered and arrived at the dealership yesterday will have a new radar in it. The new car now needs to be outfitted with all the official officer gear. Council member Grover asked if Cadet Blake would get the new car. Chief Bradford said that Officer Stewart is due for a new car and Blake will take Stewart's car. Council member Grover also asked when we are going to liquidate some things. Chief Bradford said as soon as possible. Council member Ewald asked if the radars were going to be able to be fixed. Chief Bradford said that the radar in his car is about a $1200 fix. Council member Grover asked how much a new one costs. Chief Bradford said $2500-$3000. Chief Bradford said that he would like to start replacing some of the old equipment. He said that in the 7 years he's been with the city, they haven't replaced any radars. Recreation Report - David Palmer David stated that the council should have his rec. report in their packet and he would like to point out something on it. The CDBG grant that they have applied for, for the shade structures, has been a long process, the environmental assessment has taken a long time, but it's finally been approved. They sent a certificate and now we can move forward with the project and start involving contractors. David explained that the environment assessment was eye opening and he understands why people don't apply for these grants because it is so much work. There is a long list of things that you have to go through and it has taken several months and he is happy to be past that hurdle and onto the next step. David wanted to thank Council member Gasser for his time and work that he has put in on city council. He thanks him as a Blanding citizen and as an employee. BUSINESS ITEMS PickleBall Courts - Trent Herring Trent stated that in the planning stages of the courts, an eight foot fence was discussed, but the four foot fence was approved because of the cost. He said that the courts are beautiful, but they aren't done yet. He believes that some of the citizens' concerns are because things aren't finalized yet. Like the nets, they aren't set yet because the courts aren't painted yet. And they won't be painted until spring. It has to be 50 degree weather for 24 hours straight in order for the paint to adhere properly. Trent stated that Ben got some rough quotes for extending the fences to eight feet, he said it would be about $15,000. Trent also stated that he would prefer to do something permanent rather than something temporary, like netting that will get destroyed. Trent wants to have a grand opening of sorts in the spring. Trent said that it's a long and complicated process to do a change order with the CBDG grant. Trent thinks it would be best to complete the project and close out the grant and then do improvements on our own. There was a general discussion about the fence and whether it can be flipped around so that the rough side is on the outside. Trent stated that Scoot with Jones and DeMille is going to help dig into some of the possible issues and solutions. Trent believes that when the lines are painted there will be plenty of room around the edges of the court. There was also a discussion about the gates and the possibility of adding a gate in between the courts in the existing fence. Mayor Pro Tem Bowers said that she remembers discussion on the fences and she remembers that they talked about the existing tennis court fence and she thought that they had agreed upon taller fences, but obviously that didn't happen. She has had multiple calls about the pickleball courts just this week. The group again discussed whether they wanted to do the changes under the grant or not. Ben stated that he would investigate some options and see what it would take to get some changes done under the grant. They discussed extending the existing fence or totally replacing the fence with a taller fence. And because it is too cold to paint right now, there is time to look into it. The council agreed that the goal is to have it done and done correctly in spring. Advice and consent was given to look into extending the fence and adding a gate between courts. Council member Grover wanted to add that he has chosen to put his name in to run for district 1 county commission. He will do that in January. Council member Bowers added that she likely will too. ADJOURNMENT Council member Ewald moved to adjourn the meeting. Council member Grover seconded the motion. Mayor Pro Tem Bowers asked for a vote. Those voting Aye: Councilmember Gasser Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Councilmember Ewald Those voting Nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Pro Tem Bowers declared the motion carried. Council adjourned the meeting at 7:40p.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

January 11, 2024 02:26 PM

Notice Last Edited On

January 11, 2024 02:26 PM

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