By lynda Williams

This May 21 City Council Meeting ended up being somewhat of a marathon lasting about 3 hours.

Mosquitoes

I like to think we don’t have much of a mosquito problem in Toquerville and in the 20-some years we have lived here we have blissfully passed the summers with relatively few of those nasty pests.

This Presentation by Sean Amodt—Southwest Mosquito Abatement and Control District—reminded me of how much I appreciate that fact. His comments start here.

Sean reported on the many ways they work to control the mosquito population from harassing us. Their work involves draining stagnant ponds, testing water sources, and setting traps to count the mosquito population.

He did report that “in the last few years we have a new invasive species “Adeses Aegypti” mosquitos. He emphasized that this species is not supposed to be here. The theory is that they came in through potting soil and fertilizer.

That information piqued my interest as I thought about the invasion of this species last year in the Las Vegas area. I lived in Las Vegas for 50 years of my life. We never had a mosquito problem that entire time. Suddenly last year Las Vegas was inundated with mosquitoes. I have numerous family and friends there. Everyone was getting bites every time they went outside. What is happening?

Sean wanted to remind us that the most important thing is source reduction. Don’t let water stand around in buckets, wheelbarrows, or containers. Residents are invited to call Southwest Mosquito Abatement District for a service call at 435-627-0076 if you start getting bites or see a problem. This is a no charge service paid for by a small fee included in your property taxes.

Public comments

Public Hearing

Stacey Eaton’s comments start here. He brought up a lawsuit between the Bences and the city. He questioned how much the city had spent on this lawsuit. He brought up that people in the city should follow rules. He was concerned that the Bences are not following ordinances since they have a cell or radio tower.

Kathy Bence’s comments start here. She said the Bences have been in a lawsuit with the city because they believe and were advised that the city broke the law. She also said that they have worked with the city and she believed followed every ordinance and rule as they have built on their property.

Public Hearing on Tentative budget

Public input is sought on the Tentative Budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026.

Lynn Olds (his comments start here) questioned some items in the proposed budget:

$613,000.00 in wages is a horrendous amount of money for a little community with such a small amount of money coming in.
Legal fees $190,000.00.
The number of vehicles in the city fleet: the $60,000.00 worth of leasing fees, then there’s the maintenance, fuel, insurance. Is there something the council can do to eliminate or even suck (these expenses) down quite a bit?
$70,000.00 for police?
$30,000.00 for a prosecutor

Mayor Sip replied that if we don’t have a prosecutor then none of our ordinances have any teeth.

Mr. Olds applauded the Cultural Budget and the Holiday celebrations that were happening. He would approve of expanding that budget.

These seem to be reasonable questions and concerns as our budget seems to have grown far faster than our population has grown.

There were no other comments.

Public hearing on Compensation for Executive Municipal Officers

Public input is sought on the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year Compensation for Executive Municipal Officers.

There were no comments.

Business items

Browse Solar—item #1

This is a proposed cost reimbursement agreement between Browse LLC, and the City of Toquerville in which Browse Solar agrees to pay the costs Toquerville will incur (up to $10,000.00) as it studies the feasibility of establishing a Municipal Power Department. This was discussed in the City Council report of May 10 and referred to as the Boulder Ridge project. The discussion begins here.

The discussion became excruciatingly long as they discussed the pros and cons, and what ifs of the legalities or responsibilities that may be incurred by accepting this offer. This item, item #1, also became very enmeshed with discussion of item #2. There was concern from some Council members that agreeing to accept the money from the developer for the feasibility study might commit the city to some degree to go ahead with creating the power department. Most felt it did not imply that and think that the city is only agreeing to study the matter in order to decide if it is a good thing for the city to pursue.

After what seemed like many hours of discussion #1 was approved with changes to the wording.

pursuing the creation of a municipal power department—Item #2

This discussion was about possible action to authorize pursuing the creation of a Municipal Power Department.

It was questioned why this was even on the agenda before the feasibility study has been agreed to.

This item was tabled until data is collected from item #1.

Boulder Ridge pID Performance Guarantee—Item #3

Discussion and possible action regarding the Boulder Ridge Public Infrastructure District Performance Guarantee, which began here.

It will be helpful for the readers to know that this is the Boulder Ridge development slated for the west side of I-15 and the developers are the same people that are proposing the Browse Solar project to the City of Toquerville that was discussed in items #1 and #2. The Browse Solar project is associated with the Boulder Ridge project. It was also discussed in the last City Council report of May 10. Here again after a lengthy discussion we can boil this down to a few digestible paragraphs.

Toquerville City has allowed Boulder Ridge developers to create a Public Infrastructure District (PID). It was explained in this post back in 2023. This is a fairly new financial instrument that builders have come up with in the last 6 years which allows them to issue bonds to finance a development they want to build but may not have the money to do. The PID issues bonds with the purpose of financing the construction of public infrastructure. The bonds issued by PID #1 were $4 million par value. (rounded) The developer is working on an additional bond to cover the difference between funds available now to the PID and what will actually be needed.

The developers also have an obligation to post a Performance Guarantee to ensure completion of the public infrastructure so the city doesn’t get left holding the empty bag and an unfinished development.

The Boulder Ridge developers have come to City Council with a proposal, something new that has never been done in Toquerville before. Those public infrastructures are the same infrastructures that are required for the developer to build to satisfy obligations under the Toquerville Subdivision Ordinance. Additionally, because the PID has those funds in the bank the developer would like to utilize the funds available to the PID to serve as the majority of the performance guarantee.

This item was eventually tabled until the kinks can get worked out but there is a lengthy discussion on YouTube you can watch until your eyes glaze over. Many pros and cons were brought up by different council members.

I hope they are all carefully considered.

Nightly Rental Application—item #4

The discussion of the nightly rental application by Ray and Kathy Bence begins here.

The Bences had met with the fire department representative and the city about the nightly rental. After some discussion they confirmed the things that would need such as a fire hydrant and a turnaround area for a fire truck. The nightly rental was approved based on these things being completed.

A letter to la Verkin—Item #5

Discussion authorizing the Mayor to sign and send a letter to LaVerkin City regarding the proposed Critical Infrastructure Materials Protection Area. This brief discussion begins here. This was covered at length in the last Council meeting report and explained in Brian’s posts here and here.

There will be another Planning Commission Meeting in LaVerkin this Wednesday at 6 pm. This item is on the agenda.

Calendar of Events

Summer clean-up – Saturday and Sunday, May 31 and June 1 at Center Street Park, Trail Ridge Estates and Westfield Park.

Council, mosquitoes, budget, Browse