Council, Sapp Brothers, Firelight, & IT

By Kathy Bence

Local Cactus by Lori Cole

Watching the July 16 city council meeting from home the next day, I have to complement the city on making their meetings available on YouTube. This helps residents to follow what’s going on despite scheduling conflicts, illness, or laziness. All of these reasons sometimes keep me from attending in person.

As I’ve mentioned before, you get what you pay for with the Toquerville Sentinel. In other words, amateur reporting.

With that disclosure, we try to link to important discussions on YouTube so readers can determine for themselves what is happening. Few other Utah government cities and agencies make it easy to follow what they’re up to by making their meetings available on YouTube.

Sewage Treatment Plant

The Mayor reported that the Confluence Park Treatment Facility should be in service by December 1.

City Departments & Bypass update

Darrin, the assistant city manager, explained what is happening with the bypass. The discussion begins here. The striping is down. The one lane traffic at both ends of the bypass will continue until the end of August. There will be lights on the south and the north end of the bypass for construction. The traffic light is on the south end now, as I am well aware since it slows my drive time significantly.

Darrin reported that there shouldn’t be more than an 85 second wait for these single lane passing areas. He explained what roads would be tying into the bypass and how the reservoir will tie in. While people have called about the dust, Darrin said he sees water trucks wetting down the area.

He mentioned FEMA updates with the reservoir. They have permission to continue working and expect to be finalizing the reservoir in two years when they will sign off with FEMA.

Ben, the city manager whose comments begin here, said the new fiscal year has greenlit some projects: the completion of the Westfield Park, water systems, the recreation side of Chief Toquer reservoir. The reservoir efforts are coming from a tourism grant. There are additional funds from UDOT for the completion of the bypass. The water tank, which was previously showing some problems, is holding water. It passed a 96-hour holding water test.

Sapp brothers travel center

A Sapp Brothers representative, Dan, provided background for Sapp Brothers Truck Stop. That’s the construction nearing completion south of the 27 exit. His presentation begins here. He reassured the council that they are a christian-based organization which fits well in Toquerville. They don’t sell liquor or pornography. They will have a full restaurant on the site.

Sapp Brothers’ bathrooms are known for their cleanliness. The toilets have heated seats and a bidet. That’s a huge step up from my usually disgusting pit stops. They will have a truck repair shop. They donate to “Truckers Against Trafficking” and invest in local communities. They’re hoping to open late September or early October.

FY25 Q4 Budget Update

City manager Ben is giving updates each quarter. He ran through the entire budget and the current differences for this quarter, which began here. There are no handouts on these presentations but there is a slide presentation. The downside to watching from home is the slides can’t be seen clearly on YouTube.

Budget line items appeared normal. The budget expenditures reflect a conservative approach. The fund balance is higher than expected at 25 percent. Total income is a negative $6,000 due to the water tank. The Toquerville Cemetery uses the money it receives for plots to not only pay for the site, but as a perpetual care fund. This provides for the operation and management of the cemetery rather than expecting the residents to subsidize this maintenance.

Business Items

Sapp Brothers parkway trail Deferment

There is a problem with the original plan and the placement of a trail and ditch which may need alterations. The discussion begins here. According to the Sapp Brothers rep, they’re not trying to get out of building the pathway. However, he argued that the path won’t lead anywhere, may not be used, and may be a safety issue since it’s next to a road. They offered to pay the $200,000 for something else that would be used today rather than a trail to nowhere. However, after some discussion it was agreed that Sapp Brothers would build the trail as originally planned. The reasoning seemed to be that it will eventually be useful and why burden a future city council with this task.

BLM Right of Way Acquisition application.

This discussion that begins here revolves around a road going through Bureau of Land Management land that will tie into Firelight. It will eventually be a full road.

Councilman Sands was concerned that the Toquerville ordinance states two entrances and exits (secondary access) are required for 20 lots or more. The fire code states secondary access is required for 30 lots or more. Different places in the code seem to say different things and the concern is that the access will need to be access for residents and fire. The concern is that it should be clarified through all documents saying whether it’s a secondary access, a corridor, or a road that will always be opened.

It was mentioned that we don’t want another confusing road definition where future decisions change what seemed to have been the original intent when the road was built.

We have history of problems where developers promised access and roads where later closed as described in this post by Brian McNary and this post by Lynn Williams.

There was agreement that consistency is important. It was also mentioned that this application can always be rescinded.

Todd Sands made an unusually long motion containing lots of details and escape clauses. The motion passed.

approved building permits in Firelight Increase from 10 to 22.

From what I understood, this motion allowed Firelight to build more homes at this time. The MOU (memorandum of understanding) had allowed them to build 10 homes as part of phase 1 and 2. This extends the permit to allow 12 more. The public will access the homes when the bypass is open.

This motion carried.

City Council’s Policy to Reconsider Decisions.

This would have been an interesting discussion that shows up on the agenda as Business Item 4, but they skipped this item. The YouTube video went from the conclusion of the building permits in Firelight discussion to the next item about allowing trailers for Firelight.

Amending the city Code To allow Trailers for firelight

Emily Teaters, Planning and Zoning administrator, explained this item with the discussion beginning here. My understanding is that this motion modified the city code to allow trailers for Firelight during their construction. It’s being considered because Firelight needs construction trailers. There was a discussion about the difference between special events and a temporary use. In the end, the council modified the city code and Firelight got their trailers.

Adding and clarifying Fees

This resolution modified the Fee Schedule to add a fee for Temporary Land Use Permits, which should apply to what Firelight just requested and was granted. It clarifies fees for the application and termination of utility services. These fees apply to larger businesses rather than fruit or lemonade stands which have an exemption. The motion carried.

Joining a Mutual IT Agreement

This Multi-Jurisdiction IT Mutual Aid Agreement should somehow help if there’s a major information technology incident. In other words, if all the IT goes down this formalizes how costs are allocated. During the discussion, the mayor may have expressed the views of many when he sarcastically said he would welcome an IT demise. In reality, it would be a true disaster since everything is now tied to IT. If nothing happens, then there is no expense and this isn’t needed. The motion to join this agreement carried.

Calendar

Pioneer Day Celebration – Thursday, July 24, 2025 at Center Street Park – 7:00 PM.

Note: this is PM not AM, which is a first for the city and the wards that run the event.