council, water, Westfield access, & Bypass bucks
by lynda williams
Councilman Gary Chaves conducted this October 15 city council meeting as Mayor Sip was absent.
There were no comments during the Public Forum or the Public Hearing on the Joint Water Conservation Plan so the meeting went straight to business.
Joint Agency Regional Water Conservation Plan
F. 1. This was discussion, which begins here, and possible action on a resolution adopting the Joint Agency Regional Water Conservation Plan.
Councilman Todd Sands commented that there were two things that stood out to him about this resolution:
We don't have to finance our own water conservation plan every five years.
This plan is not mandatory.
Councilman Chaves had a few more concerns and things to say about it: He reminded us that this matter had been discussed in the last two meetings. He pointed out that the city has saved 27% in water conservation so far. The district is asking for another 14%. He then read from page 6 paragraph 3 of the resolution:
"Despite its breadth of responsibilities, the district does not have the authority to regulate water used by end users, set retail water rates, establish and enforce policies, codes or other ordinances or manage growth."
He further stated that "this is a plan, and a plan has goals, but the city is still the one that will regulate and enforce." He then turned to page 24 that cites peak day demand which shows Toquerville (compared to all other partners in this regional agency) coming in lowest in water usage.
Chaves then directed us to Page 10 and said this may seem a little more aggressive than our town needs. "You will see that in 2025 the district is expecting us to reduce, then reduce for the following year and the following year and the following year. Every other regional participant has already signed off on the plan. It’s the responsibility to have a plan and all the actions they are taking to help the conservation effort are positive actions so it is my opinion that we should go ahead and sign off on this resolution."
I personally appreciated when he expressed these concerns: "You can't get blood out of a turnip. So l don't know if we have come close to maximizing our efforts and we're going to have a hard time. But it's their plan to reduce it for the next five years and then level off, but no one is going to jail if we are not compliant."
There was a motion to approve the plan which passed.
Hunter to Heartland
F. 2. Discussion and possible action on a street identification change application submitted by Jeff Willmett to change Hunter Lane to Heartland Ranch Rd. Here’s a map.
This was approved.
MOU for Westfield
F. 3. Discussion and possible action on approving an MOU (memorandum of understanding) for the Westfield Connector Road access. The discussion begins here.
This would provide access to the Parkway. Many residents would like to have a nice, paved access from Westfield area to the Parkway, but the city does not have the ability to require the developer to make that improvement prior to when the development is actually going to happen.
There is a verbal agreement with the property owners that they would be willing to engage in this type of MOU so this is a proposal to the developer which essentially allows the city a temporary license to use this area as a point of access. Improvements would be the responsibility of the city and would not be an all-weather road.
There was much back and forth discussion about the pros, cons, and liabilities for the city and the residents that you can follow here.
Eventually a motion was made to deny access from Westfield area to the parkway.
Almond Heights Subdivision
F. 4. Discussion and possible action on the Almond Heights Subdivision Plat Amendment.
The ordinance was changed from amending the plat to vacating a portion of it. This ordinance concerns the lots near Westfield that drop off the cliff to the pond below. The action takes the back half of those lots and gives them to the same property owner so when the lots are sold, they are not dropping off the cliff. This vacates a portion of those lots and remedies a long-standing issue.
As they were ready to make a motion a question came up about the recital and was it changed? This launched a lengthy discussion about verbiage. The city attorney recommended approval. A motion was made to approve vacating (not amending) the Almond Heights subdivision plat as long as staff works to make sure everything is proper with respect to the exhibits.
The motion passed with a roll call vote.
Employee Policies and Procedures
F. 5. Discussion and possible action on Employee Policies and Procedures.
This was approved.
Money Down the bypass
Business items 6-9 were about change orders and cost overruns from Stanley Consultants and JP Excavating all concerning Toquerville Parkway. The discussion begins here.
Listening to all of this was rather entertaining.
Motions were all approved but "you can be reassured these funds will be coming out of a different account. It will not affect in any way the city's budget or increase property taxes or anything like that. If the city is concerned about us spending this tremendous amount of money that we just got done doing, it’s all related to bypass funds.”
Bypass Bucks
Each of these expenditures, listed with their Business order numbers, were approved.
F.6. Stanley Consultants $160,000.00 for supplemental agreement #7.
F.7. JP Excavating change order #21 $16,466.01 for additional work items associated with powerline relocation.
F.8. Change order #22 in amount of $126,060.54. JP Excavating for additional traffic control.
F.9. Change order #23 in the amount of $15,940.14 from JP Excavating for North Pond Access and Repair of Damaged Pavement at North Slope.
Calendar of Events
Halloween Story Telling
Saturday Oct. 25 4PM
Town Hall4th Annual Trunk or Treat
Oct. 25 6PM
Church Parking LotWashington County Walking Tour
Saturday Nov. 8 10 AM