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Municipality

Entity

Blanding

Public Body

City Council

Notice Information

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Notice Title

City Council Minutes 2/27/2024

Notice Tags

Administrative Procedure

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Meeting

Event Start Date & Time

February 27, 2024 07:00 PM

Description/Agenda

CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Mayor Logan Monson Mayor Pro Tempore Cheryl Bowers (absent) Councilmember Chris Ewald (absent) Councilmember Charlie Taylor Councilmember Erik Grover Councilmember Kellen Nielson February 27, 2024 at 7:00pm 50 West 100 South Street, Blanding Utah 84511 Meetings live streamed when available at: https://meet.google.com/ymf-jwqo-rjs POLICY MEETING Call to Order Roll Call Prayer or Thought - Prayer was offer by Council member Nielson The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all in attendance. Approval: Consent Agenda and Minutes from February 13, 2024 Regular Session Councilmember Grover made a motion to approve the consent agenda and minutes from February 13, 2024. Councilmember Nielson seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion and asked for discussion or questions. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting aye: Councilmember Taylor Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Declaration of Conflicts of Interest - None Public Input - None Reports Mayor Mayor Monson stated he went to the Public Power and UAMPS meetings last week. Nothing has really changed with UAMPS. He will continue to go to the UAMPS meetings as usual. They will keep us posted if anything changes on the power end of things. He went to a coalition meeting with the San Juan County Prevention Action Coalition. It was good with lots of information. They have videos that we can use if we choose to do so on our social media. Caucus meetings are on the 5th, next week. They are asking people to pre-register to vote. City Council Councilmember Nielson met with the San Juan County Historical Society and talked about the Swallow's Nest. He showed them the estimate from Tri-Hurst Construction. They are pretty adamant about going with someone who is proficient in fixing historical buildings. They contacted a company out of Colorado that specializes in that work. The estimate was about $14.000. Mr. Herring said that the quote from Tri-Hurst Construction is for a professional to do the work. Councilmember Nielson stated that when he talked to Joe Hurst he didn't get that impression. Councilmember Nielson also stated it still needs a drain installed. The San Juan Historical Society is willing to raise funds on their own. Mr. Herring asked if the quote from Colorado is for repairing the door. Counclmember Nielson stated that it's to repair the damage on the building done by water. Mr. Herring asked if they were willing to oversee it and take charge. Councilmember Nielson said that that was the impression he got from them. Councilmember Grover asked if they wanted to own it. Councilmember Nielson stated that he doesn't think they can. Finance Report - James Francom Mr. Francom stated that the check register is included in the packet. There is about a month's worth of expenses. He said it includes the expenses for dispatch. We just started the street design, so some of those expenses are showing up. Councilmember Grover asked if the dispatch expense was yearly or quarterly. Mr. Francom stated that it's yearly in the amount of $32,000. Mayor Monson asked about the reimbursements from all the grant projects. Mr. Francom stated that we are fully reimbursed for the deep well. We just received a payment for the airport project. There are still some projects that are being worked on. Mr. Herring has asked all the department heads to hit it hard to try and get a bunch of projects cleaned up and done. He would like for him and Mr. Francom to get a better understanding of the full picture of a project. Mr. Herring stated that Mr. Francom has done a good job and made some great progress in getting reimbursements for a lot of projects. Economic Development - Ben Muhlestein Mr. Muhlestein stated that he added some additional things in his report. He spoke about some statistics from the Visitor Center. He talked about visits and sales. There were over 28,000 visitors at the Visitor Center and there was a decent amount of revenue. Last year there was about $55,500 in sales just at the Visitor Center. Mr. Muhlestein talked about the Visit Blanding website. There was an increase in visits to the website with our best year so far. There was a 200% increase in site visits. There were 8.7 million views on various ads that we put out there. We also saw an increase in TRT taxes that we receive from the State compared to 2022. Mr. Muhlestein stated that he is working on updating all three of our websites. The City website has a lot of buttons and he is working on eliminating duplicate buttons and making it easier to use. He is also updating the Visit Blanding website. He is putting more links there to direct people to what is going on in Blanding. He said that the marathon portion of the website is getting updated and getting more pictures and information. Councilmember Grover asked about TRT taxes. Mr. Muhlestien stated that we get paid for those from the State and then the County is supposed to match it. Mr. Muhlestein has been talking to a lot of businesses and trying to figure out who has been renewing and who hasn't and trying to figure out why or why not. He is looking into incentives for businesses. He said that we have a CRA and a CEA set up but he needs to learn more about them. There is a list of new businesses: Brown's Towing and Tire; Day-z Concrete; Root for Kids; Utah Food Bank, TLB Properties; Jb2; B2B Mentor; Come2Success, LLP; Eddie Jim Painting; and Best Dough Bread, LLC. Mr. Muhlestien talked about upcoming events. He said that the fire department will do our fireworks for the 4th of July. It will be a big money saver for the City to have the fire department provide that service. The 4th of July will be celebrated on Thursday, July 4, 2024. Mr. Muhlestien is continuing to explore event sponsorship and opportunities. He has already had vendors reach out to him for the 4th of July. Mr. Muhlestein reported making the Fall Festival bigger than it has been in the past. He has already met with our major partner, the SJCPAC. The group is looking into making it more of a County event by bringing in different sponsors, schools, and vendors. Registration for the marathon is already live. There are runners and sponsors already signing up. He has been working with Bluff to solidify partnerships and make sure the finish line is solid and smooth. The marathon will finish at the old elementary school near the Bluff Fort. Councilmember Taylor asked when he will be meeting to make safety plans with law enforcement and EMS. Mr. Muhlestein said he already met with Bluff to see what they want. He will be reaching out to law enforcement and EMS in March. He said that Bluff would like to see the Cow Canyon portion of the road closed. Councilmember Taylor feels like it's fine to keep it open and should not be a problem. He said if the marathon gets bigger then we will address it then. Mr. Muhlestein said that the Tree for All is a great event that has been going on for a long time and they want to add a light parade to bring Santa to the event in style. There was a discussion about the fire truck being involved and what street would be used for the parade. Mr. Muhlestein has been involved in some community development projects. One in particular is a $30,000 grant application for ARPA funding for downtown renewal. We are a finalist for that, it's a federal grant, so who knows when we will actually find out if it will be awarded to Blanding City. They are also working on putting in trails. Mayor Monson stated that some other upcoming events are Little Miss Blanding June 29th, SFW Banquet March 22nd and the PRCA Pro Rodeo June 6-8. Mr. Herring stated that as part of the City website revamp, we want to do a city calendar and a community events calendar. Fire Department - Corey Spillmam Chief Spillman stated that they are getting the correct detectors in the correct places out at the college to try and eliminate some of the false alarms. They send people to the fire school in St. George every year and three firefighters participated this year. They came back with some good training that will be implemented in the near future. The upcoming training will be geared toward wildland as the wildland season is coming up. There will be multiple trainings in the next few months to get people recertified and certified and on to new levels. There are also classes on air operations. It helps communication with helicopters and airplanes on where to dump water on fires. Chief Spillman stated that he has spent a lot of time working on the fireworks. He has received a lot of help from Monticello Fire Chief John Nielson. A course must be completed that includes a test. Those that pass the test will have their names submitted to the State Fire Marshal's office after which there is another more in depth test. Anyone involved with fireworks has to take and pass this course. Mayor Monson asked what his staff numbers are like right now. Chief Spillman reported he has 14 total. Ten of the firefighters have agreed to get trained and help with fireworks. He has talked with Mr. Parsons about the possibility of using some of the Public Works employees to assist in loading the fireworks in the tubes. That part of the process is not technical. Councilmember Taylor asked if there is a place on our website to post jobs. Mr. Muhlestein responded yes and that the firefighter volunteer position is on the website. Mr. Muhlestein said that he will also include it in the newsletter. Council discussed a call that the fire department responded to the previous day and some issues they had with dispatch. Councilmember Taylor stated that we pay $32,000 for dispatch services, we need to make sure they are doing their job. Chief Spillman said that he has spoken with the dispatch director and clarified with her when they should be paged out. Parks and Rec - David Palmer Mr. Herring read Mr. Palmer's report in his absence. The boys 5th and 6th grade end of year basketball tournament was held at the Wellness Center. It went well. He heard a lot of great things from those involved. Volleyball season has started. Girls are down there all the time and there is a large group participating. The grant for the shade structure has run into some obstacles. He had to get more bids, but it's coming along slowly but surely. Numbers for visits this year compared to last year are up. He is on track for the Wellness Center rate increases to go live on March 1st. Business Items Resolution - 02-27-2024-1 Adoption of the General Plan - Trent Herring Mayor Monson stated that nothing has changed with the general plan, we just wanted a few more weeks for review. Mr. Herring stated that he sent it to the Council several different times for them to review. Councilmember Nielson stated that he has read through most of it. It looks like there are a few spelling errors and a recommendation to build a recreation center, but he likes a lot of the suggestions. As a reminder from previous discussions, this is a plan and what things could look like, not a hard and fast rule or what things have to be. Councilmember Nielson made a motion to approve Resolution 02-27-2024-1 Adoption of the General Plan. Councilmember Taylor seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion. He asked for discussion or questions. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting aye: Councilmember Taylor Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Resolution - 02-27-2024-2 Equal Pay Enrollment Outside Meter Reading Radius Mr. Herring stated that we are getting meters that are being read digitally and not manually. We have meters that go almost to Monticello due to the gas line that was installed. Instead of sending someone out as far as Monticello, he wants to get people signed up on an equal pay program. The lines will be checked quarterly and the meters will be read annually and the equal pay will be updated according to those readings. Equal pay is a 12 month program, then they reevaluate. Mayor Monson asked what is considered outside the reading radius. Mr. Francom stated that the meters being installed reach a certain distance, so depending on how many meters are installed, will determine how many meters will be reached. Mr. Herring stated they will talk with people before putting them on the equal pay program. He believes it won't be a problem for people when explained in the right way. This will affect very few residents. Councilmember Grover made a motion to accept Resolution 02-27-2024-2 Equal Pay Enrollment Outside Meter Reading Radius. Councilmember Nielson seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion. He asked for discussion or questions. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting aye: Councilmember Taylor Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Resolution - 02-27-2024-3 Paper Statement Fee for Utility Statements Mr. Herring stated there is a cost for everything we do. We pay a company to put our paper statements together. We have staff that spend time getting information together and sent out. He stated we currently have processes that allow for paperless billing and automatic payments online. Councilmember Grover asked what are the total costs? Mr. Herring stated that he believes it's about $2-3 but they are working on figuring out those costs, and getting a fee schedule together. Councilmember Nielson asked how many bills are still being mailed out. Mr. Francom replied it is approximately 900. He stated that of those 900 most are also getting emails too. Mr. Herring stated that this will be a slow moving thing. Councilmember Grover stated that he is opposed to raising taxes on ourselves. Mayor Monson said that this wouldn't be put into place until the fee schedule is set. Councilmember Taylor stated that he would like to put it out to citizens and give them the option and information about the paper statement fee before passing a resolution on it. Councilmember Taylor made a motion to table Resolution 02-27-2024-3 Paper Statement Fee for Utility Statements. Councilmember Grover seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion. He asked for discussion or questions. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting aye: Councilmember Taylor Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Resolution - 02-27-2024-4 View-Only Access City Inspect Mr. Herring stated that the county reached out to him and asked if they could have access to view only access to City Inspect which is the building permit program. He stated that the County already has an agreement like this with all other cities in the County. This is a request from the San Juan County Assessor's office. It will allow them to gather the proper information on permits and buildings for a smoother process. Rick Meyer, San Juan County Assessor, was present. He stated his office requests from Bret Hosler all of the City's building permits. The San Juan County Assessor's office puts a value on it and then the county puts a tax on it, which benefits Blanding and if they have more time and correct information to work on it, then things are done quicker and more efficiently. It was explained how this new process would work compared to how it has been done in the past. Mr. Meyer stated that it can help diffuse potential problems. Councilmember Taylor made a motion to approve Resolution 02-27-2024-4 View-Only Access City Inspect. Councilmember Grover seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion. He asked for discussion or questions. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting aye: Councilmember Taylor Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Discussion Items Work Sessions Once Per Month - Trent Herring Mr. Herring stated that he is learning new things. He would love to entertain the idea of doing more work sessions, possibly coming in monthly and having a discussion, making minutes a lot easier, exchanging information and ideas. Councilmember Grover asked when that would happen. Mayor Monson stated that the idea would be to come in at 6pm on council night and have a hard cut off time at 7pm. Councilmember Grover stated that the San Juan County Commission has done this same kind of thing. Councilmember Taylor stated that he thinks this is a good idea. He likes the idea of having a time that employees can come talk to him and the Council. Mr. Herring stated that some discussion items can take quite some time. Mayor Monson stated this is to help make things more effective. A work session would be open to the public just like a city council meeting is. They discussed some possible times for holding the work session. Animals at City Parks - Charlie Taylor Mr. Herring said that he plays a lot of baseball, he takes his kids to a lot of ball fields, and he doesn't know of a park outside of Blanding that doesn't have a sign that says no dogs allowed. He gets why people take their dogs there, it's fenced in, it's convenient, the dogs can run freely, but people aren't cleaning up after their dogs. Councilmember Taylor stated that he trained his dogs there, (Centennial park baseball fields) but this is a situation where one bad dog owner will ruin it for the rest of them. There are baggie stations around the park. Councilmember Taylor stated that at the skatepark, they warn if it's not taken care of or it's being vandalized then it will be shut down. He wants to have a place for people to take their dogs, but he wants them to take care of any messes that are made. No one wants to step in or sit in a dog mess when the fields are being used for other sports. There is a lot of time and money spent on getting the softball and baseball fields ready. Maybe they need to be locked up during those seasons. The softball field in particular is in bad shape. Mr. Herring said he will post some signs telling dog owners to clean up after them and if the problem persists, then they will do something different and more drastic. Fee Schedule Update - Trent Herring Mr. Herring said that we have so many fees out there. He wants to have all fees in one place in one document and have it easy to update and easy for citizens to find and see. He said that some fees have been stagnant for many years. We are well behind or lower compared to neighboring municipalities. Mayor Monson said that we tend to get behind and then when it's time to raise a fee it feels like a lot. He also stated that at times there is a need to decrease a fee and get rid of it all together. He said that the purpose of this isn't to raise fees. Councilmember Grover said that he wants to see a fee go away that was supposed to go away a long time ago, the natural gas fee. He said that fee was implemented way back when Chris Webb was here and it was supposed to be taken off. Mr. Herring explained that it's a stub fee. Councilmember Grover said that it was supposed to go away after 8 years and it's never gone away. Mr. Herring said that the purpose of the fee is a maintenance fee, it covers the ongoing maintenance costs. The idea of this is to look at all the fees and determine what needs updated, what needs eliminated and get them all in an accessible spot. It will help us be less reactive and more proactive. Mr. Herring said that his goal is to put all of our policies on a rotation where they will get looked at every 3 years and be updated if needed. Wellness Center Sprinkler & Bathroom Project - Trent Herring & David Palmer Mr. Herring said that the tile guys came back and they did not do a good job. There is a portion of the work that needs to be redone. He will do it himself if needed. The good news is the tile doesn't need to be torn out. Mr. Herring said that he went back and forth with the sprinkler company and they would not increase the warranty but they did up their offer of $1,000 to $10,000. Mr. Herring said that as far as he can tell, the schedule 10 pipes can last longer than schedule 40. The only change that will happen is in the pool room. Pickleball Courts - Trent Herring Mr. Herring stated that we are waiting on a final quote to do the job ourselves. The quote for another company to do it is $25,000. Councilmember Nielson said he saw people playing on them the other day. They had their own net. MWPP Report - Trent Herring Mr. Herring stated that this is an annual report that our water department has to do every year. It will be presented at the next meeting. There will be an action item for approval for the Municipal Wastewater Planning Program). It's a big report and it has a lot to do with what David Lyman does all the time. Closed Session Councilmember Taylor made a motion to go into closed session to discuss possible litigation. Councilmember Grover seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion. He asked for discussion or questions. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting aye: Councilmember Taylor Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Adjournment Councilmember Grover made a motion to adjourn. Councilmember Taylor seconded the motion. Mayor Monson repeated the motion. He asked for discussion or questions. Hearing none, he called for a vote. Those voting aye: Councilmember Taylor Councilmember Grover Councilmember Nielson Those voting nay: None Constituting all members thereof, Mayor Monson declared the motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 9:41pm.

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

March 18, 2024 01:58 PM

Notice Last Edited On

March 18, 2024 01:58 PM

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