fire station, sales tax increase, and Bypass items continuing

By Kathy Bence

Hooded Merganser Pair by Lori Cole

City Department Reports

Ash Creek Special Services District

Mike Chandler said they are in the process of getting some electrical issues at the Confluence Park treatment plant ironed out. There have been a couple of failures on the site and they are restoring power as well as controls to a couple portions of the treatment plant. This was due to some poor workmanship in the initial inspection.

As an aside, these electrical issues are separate from the Rocky Mountain power issues, but I can’t help wondering what is going on with our power. The outages in Toquerville are frequent and remind me of time I spent in a third world country.

Hurricane Valley Fire

This report interested me because Robert Hooper, the fire district representative, mentioned that there will be groundbreaking for new fire stations in July. One of them will be at the entrance to Sand Hollow and the other in the Babylon area of Leeds.

He added that shortly after that would be the groundbreaking for a Toquerville fire station somewhere in the Firelight development. His comments begin here.

Assistant City Manager

Darrin Lefevre covered the progress on the water project for Anderson Junction (which I believe is the project linked here), the Boulder Ridge Project, and Firelight.

He gave details of Firelight’s progress and how they will tie into the bypass. D.R. Horton is building 650 homes. Darrin’s comments can be heard here.

City Manager

Ben Billingsly addressed questions about the sales tax. Effective April 1st, we will see a sales tax increase rate increase from 6.45% to 6.78%. That money will go straight to the special services district for emergency services.

I can’t resist referring to Michelle Peot’s post, “Fire District Funding Exists If We Have the Political Will.” This sales tax was unnecessary, but alas, here we are.

The city is implementing a safety program through the city’s general liability insurance company. They will be evaluating the highest liability areas of concern in the city like side walks. The city leaders will also go through a mandatory leadership training.

On March 18, there will be an open house from 3 to 5 pm. This is an opportunity for residents to view the draft of the city’s strategic plan before the council votes and adopts it.

Ben reported that the city reached a resolution on the fiscal year end 2025. These audits are due on December 31st every year so the city is almost three months behind. The reason for the delay relates to our public infrastructure district reporting. There are eight PIDs in the community that were incorporated into the financials and were causing a problem. Eventually, they were able to reach a satisfactory resolution to that.

His comments can be heard here.

Business

Each of these items involve the bypass road. The discussion for all of these items can be heard here.

1. Change Order #26 in the amount of $6,272.50 for barriers and object markers from JP Excavating

This change order is for work that has been done but not paid for. This was approved.

2. Change Order #27 in the amount of $183,978.25 for slope repair and guardrail from JP Excavating.

This change order is about work that hasn’t been done but is required by UDOT. The price increased by $33,000.

The change order was approved in the amount of $216,993.75 pending UDOT approval for slope repair and the guard rail from JP excavating.

3. Discussion and possible action on Change Order #28 in the amount of $35,896.81 for remaining contract items.

This change order contains seven individual items from various locations on the project that were completed during the course of construction but were not quantified. It was approved.

4. Discussion and possible action on approving Supplemental Agreement No. 7 with Stanley Consultants Inc. in the amount of $60,000.

This supplemental agreement involved additional fees for the bypass. It was approved.

Calendar

Spring Community Clean-Up – Saturday, March 7th to Sunday, March 8th, 2026 – Center Street Park, Westfield Park, TRE Park and Toquerville Heights.

Open House for residents to review the Strategic Plan. March 18, City Hall, 3-5 pm.

Easter Egg Hunt – Saturday, April 4th, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. – Center Street Park.