City Council 6-Dec-2016: Cemetery Work Session, Murdock Connector Resolution, Open Space Maintenance Agreement

Sixteen residents and others attended the council meeting none were at the work session.

Work Session: Cemetery perpetual Care fund

The Cemetery Fund currently has a balance of $10,000. Plot fees are presently being used to refund the city for the purchase of the cemetery land. The goal of a perpetual care fund would be to build up a balance that would generate enough interest to cover all or most of the cost of maintaining the cemetery. Matt Millis, Zion Bank, walked us through multiple scenarios for increasing the lot and burial fees in order to reach a fund balance that would be self-sustaining. We generally agreed to build a balance to that would cover some of the maintenance cost of the cemetery. The fees needed to be reviewed periodically. We felt that the city should pay some portion of the costs as the cemetery does fill a “park role” for some residents. The estimated percentage of “park”  was not fixed (10% to 15% was discussed). Staff will work with Mr. Millis to further refine the model and finalize initial fee recommendations. These would need to be approved at a future council meeting. Click here to review the presentation we were given.

Council Meeting AGENDA / MINUTES

Public Comment/Appearances

• Rhonda Bromley, the principle of Lone Peak High School, came and thanked the city for helping with parking and allowing the marching band to utilize a public field adjacent to the high school. She reviewed recent accomplishments and awards the high school has received: LP named sports school of the year and school of the year for K-12, 95% graduation rate. seniors earned  over $8M in scholarships, 80 clubs, no suicides for 2 years.

CONSENT ITEMS

1. MOTION: Approval of Meeting Minutes for the City Council Regular Session – November 15, 2016. Approved unanimously. Click here to view the minutes.

2. MOTION: Ratifying the Mayor’s Re-Appointment and Appointment of Board Members to the Highland City Water Advisory Board - Re-Appointment, Mayor Mark Thompson and the Appointment of David Bunker. Approved unanimously. Click here to view details from the agenda.

ACTION ITEMS

3. MOTION: Allowing the Golf Skill Training Center located in American Fork City to connect their culinary water line into a Highland City culinary water main. Approved unanimously. Click here to view details on this motion from the agenda. The council previously approved a connection to our sewer system from the Golf Skill Training Center that will be constructed just east of the pond shown below. They would now like to connect to our water system as well, which the council unanimously approved. The Golf Center will bear all costs associated with the connection.
   The water main is shown in blue in the picture below.
   

4. RESOLUTION: Adoption of a Resolution of Support for the Utah State
   Developmental Center and the Murdoch Connector. Click here to read background information from the agenda. A council member expressed a concern that this resolution may offend some government officials associated with the Development Center and/or residents of Pheasant Hollow. The mayor mentioned that he has had an ongoing conversation with the development center and is not aware that the center is concerned about the resolution. The president of the Pheasant Hollow association was present for another issue. When asked indicated that the road alignment on development center property was not a concern. However he pointed out that the city has not communicated in the past as had previously agreed (true statement) and this was concerning. In the end we revised the resolution to remove the specific alignment shown in the diagram provided with the resolution. See the approved concept plan and revised diagram provided with the resolution below.
   
   
   Note, the road as approved by the state legislature will likely not be constructed in the exact place shown in the approved plan because of an underground aqueduct and trail head. Minor modifications will need to need to be made.
   
   A concern was expressed that a new traffic study has not been completed so that we can understand the impact of the road. I think that will be useful in setting expectation. Note, it is underway and scheduled for completion around the end of January first of February.
   
   The revised resolution it was unanimously approved. Anyone wishing to express their support for the Murdock Connector can sign an online petition created by Robert Shelton, a member of the American Fork City Council, by clicking here. For a history of the Murdock Connector with links to various documents click here.

5. RESOLUTION: Amending the Fee Schedule – Establishing a Fee for the Installation of Pressurized Irrigation Meters. Click here to read background information from the agenda. The council unanimously approved the motion to charge a fee to install pressurized irrigation meters on all new homes. The fee structure will be as follows: $372.00 for a three-quarter inch meter, $432.00 for a one inch meter, $1017.00 for a one-and-one-half inch meter. For meters larger than one-and-one-half inch, the cost will be cost of the meter plus $100.75.

6. RESOLUTION: Amendment to the Highland City Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual – Utah State Retirement, Tier 2. Click here to read background information from the agenda. The legislature passed a law requiring employers participating in the Utah Retirement System update personnel policies to specific whether elected or appointed officials are eligible or ineligible to participate in the Tier 2 retirement program. This action updates our policy to indicate that elected and appointed officials are not eligible.

7. ORDINANCE: Approval of the City Council Meeting Schedule - 2017 Calendar Year. Click here to read background information from the agenda.
   Below is the adopted city council calendar:
   January 10, 17 (this was added since the meeting)
   February 7, 21
   March 7, 21
   April 4, 18
   May 2, 16
   June 6, 20
   July 18
   August 1, 15
   September 5, 19
   October 3, 17
   November 14
   December 5

MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL & STAFF COMMUNICATION ITEMS

• We reviewed another draft of the open space maintenance agreement. Much of the conversation centered around when or not gardens put in the resident maintained open space would be allowed to have fences or not. In the end we approved fences. My view was that gardens should not be allowed since they are somewhat permanent but that since we had agreed to allow them I was OK with fences. We approved a couple of other minor changes. Once the revisions have been completed the agreement will be approved at a future council meeting. Click here to review the draft we discussed.
• Tim Irwin mentioned that the Draper City Council would be meeting tonight to discuss whether or not to surplus the land on our north boundary. The developer who is looking to purchase the land is planning to build high density housing. An affected resident was present and made some comments. He expressed concern that a developer on the Draper side had recently put in a barbed wire fence which he did not like. See the following article published in the Deseret News on Dec 27th, “Draper holding off on Sun Crest development, planning 3,000 acre protection.” If you are interested in this issue a Facebook page, “Save the Hollows”, has been set up to help keep people updated.
• I asked for a report from the radar speed signs on Highland Blvd. Staff is working on that and will have it for a future meeting.
• Ed Dennis asked the council to hear a proposal from an economic planner at a future meeting. His resume was provided. Click here to view it.
   

STAFF AND COUNCIL ACTION ITEM LIST

Description	Requested by / Owner	Due Date	Status
Road Capital Improvement Plan for FY 15-16. Prioritize and Communicate to Residents	City Council	Nov 2016	Plan Completed. Working on unified maintenance and capital plan to share with residents.
Election Policy	City Council/ Jody Bates	Jan 2017	In progress
Determine Park Use for Recreation	City Council Parks Staff	2016	In progress
HW Bldg. – PW Storage Status	City Council Mayor/PW	2016	In progress. Will use garages in city owned homes. Long term it is looking like multiple locations will be the answer.
Options for Fire & Police	Mayor		In progress.
Employee Pay Rate and Benefit Comparison	Mayor & City Council		In progress.
Code enforcement policy update	Mayor		In progress.

LINKS:

• Council agenda with my rough notes.

• Presentation used by staff to go through agenda items.
• History of the Murdock Connector.
• Change.org petition supporting the Murdock Connector.
• “Draper holding off on Sun Crest development, planning 3,000 acre protection”, Deseret News, 27-Dec-2016.
• ”Save the Hollows” Facebook Page.
• Resume of Marlin Eldred, economic planner.