2021 Mayor’s Messages: Highland City Newsletter

Below are my city newsletter messages from 2021 as well as my final newsletter message from Jan 2022. I always gave considerable thought into the content of these and appreciated the feedback I received from residents.

January 2021 Newsletter

“The Infinite gives to no man happiness; but only the raw material from which it can be made. He provides iron ore but never plowshares, clay but not bricks, wheat but not loaves. The material from which one man forms only an abode of misery, another transforms into a temple of joy."—William George Jordan, The Crown of Individuality, 1909.

2021 Highland Living Magazine Mayor’s Messages

The following are my mayor messages in the Highland Living magazine for 2021 plus one in 2022 as it was my last one. This magazine is delivered free to all single family residences in Highland and is published by Best Version Media.

January 2021 Highland Living Magazine

“Happiness is the greatest paradox in nature. It can grow in any soil, live under any conditions.”—William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness, 1900

I suspect that many of us learned last year that Jordan’s comment on happiness is true. In spite of a very interesting year, life continued. The sun rose every day and the sources of happiness and joy did not disappear. We also learned the importance of family and connections with others.

Family Stories: A Thanksgiving Message

“Today we give thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers—for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and the humility, which they possessed and which we must seek to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.”—President John F. Kennedy, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, Nov 1963.

What a wonderful tribute to our heritage and our obligation to live up to it. Did you know that a study by doctors Marshall Duke and Robin Fivush showed that the more children know about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the better they believe their families functions?

Meet with the Mayors – September 2021

Below is a video recording of a discussion on current and future issues facing Highland City with the current mayor, Rod Mann, and next year’s mayor, council member Kurt Ostler.

2020 Highland City Newsletter Mayor’s Messages

Below are my city newsletter messages from 2020. Let me know if there are items you’d like me to cover in 2021 or if you have any suggestions for other content in our monthly newsletter. You can find city newsletters on our website by clicking here.

2020 Highland Living Magazine Mayor’s Messages

The following are my messages in the Highland Living magazine for 2020. This magazine is delivered free to all single family residences in Highland and is published by Best Version Media. These messages tend to be less newsy than my messages in the newsletter.

January 2020 Highland Living Magazine

“What are the sources, then, of that state of mind which supports civilization? There are but two sources, education and religion. From them are derived the teachings of science necessary to give the requisite technical skill and moral ideals sufficient to support and advance civilization.”—Governor Calvin Coolidge, Amherst College Alumni Dinner, New York City, November 27, 1920

Governor Coolidge, who later served as President of the United States (1923-1929), also commented in his speech at the Amherst College Alumni Dinner, “What virtue would there be in choosing the good unless thereby the evil was rejected? There are evil forces at work now. … They can always be recognized by a direct appeal to selfishness and nothing else.”

Highland City Council Agenda Preview for Dec 1, 2020

Key items on the agenda include:

• Two code cleanup and clarification items dealing with resolving issues with public trees and identifying locations where people can engage in expressive activities such as marches, parades, and protests.
• The council will look at a code change to limit the ability of protesters to trap or harass people as they enter, exit, and use their private homes (this is not constitutionally protected conduct) without unduly limiting free speech activities.
• Burt Brothers is seeking a conditional use permit to build a lube center to the east of their existing facility.

Highland City Council Agenda Preview for Nov 10, 2020

Key items on the agenda are:

• A presentation on Ranked Choice Voting that will include reviewing the pros and cons. This should be interesting. Several cities used this process in the last municipal elections (agenda item 2).
• Discussion regarding an inconsistency in our alcoholic beverage sales ordinances (agenda item 7).
• Repeal of Chapter 12.30 Removal of Neighbor Option Trails of the Highland City Municipal Code (agenda item 8).

2020: A Year of Hope – A Highland City Proclamation

Everyone has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to one degree or another. During what can seem like a dark time, Highland City wanted to bring hope to the community via a proclamation “2020: A Year of Hope” and an accompanying video.  I  hope you find it inspirational. We all hope for a brighter tomorrow and thanks to your efforts we will.

A special thanks to my wife Suzanne who was the inspiration behind the proclamation, Scott Hart who produced the accompanying video, and the city council for sharing their thoughts.

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Highland City 2019 Review

If you haven’t filled out the 2020 city survey which is due by the end of March please take a few minutes to do so. It is  where you can help assess how the city is doing and provide input on priorities going forward. When looking ahead it is often helpful to look at what progress has been made in the past. Here is a summary of 2019 from a city perspective.

Let’s start with Highland in the news. We were covered in all major local and state news media as well as out of state and national publications. In all we appeared in print and video over 45 times during the year. Below are links to most of the coverage.

2019 Highland Living Magazine Mayor’s Messages

The following are my messages in the Highland Living magazine for 2019. Occasionally the editors shortened my message or revised it slightly. What I’ve included below is the message that was originally submitted. Most Highland residents now receive the publication at no charge. We were able to get the parent company to add over 500 additional households to the original delivery list which did not include a significant number of households.

January 2019 Highland Living Magazine

In the foreword of the 2008 edition of the Power of Positive Thinking, Pastor Robert Schuller shares a story from 1957 when he introduced its author, Norman Vincent Peale, a guest Speaker to his congregation.

It was time to introduce our guest. Before I knew what I was saying, I heard the following words come out of my mouth. “We have with us today the greatest positive thinker who has ever lived. His words have been heard and read by millions of people all over the world. He has changed more lives than can be counted. The greatest positive thinker who ever lived is here—with us—today!. In person! His name is … Jesus Christ! and here to tell us all about him is Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.”

2019 Highland City Newsletter Mayor’s Messages

Below are my city newsletter messages from 2019. Let me know if there are items you’d like me to cover in 2020 and if you have any suggestions for other content in our monthly newsletter. You can find city newsletters on our website by clicking here.

Surprising 10-Year Highland City Budget Review

Since the city is asking for a revenue increase to fund a significant jump in public safety spending I thought it would be good to share a historical overview of the city’s general fund revenue and expenses. When I included population growth and factored in inflation I was surprised at what I found.

Highland Utility Rates 2018-2019

I am occasionally asked why our utility rates are higher than those in the surrounding communities? Comparing our utility rates with neighboring cities (Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Lindon, & Pleasant Grove)  was an interesting exercise. I used the average Highland lot size and water usage to calculate what we would pay using another city’s utility rates.

The results were somewhat surprising. Even including our road fee we are still $14.17(10%) under the average total bill. Lehi was the lowest at $106.73 and American Fork was the highest at $181.87. We sit at $127.47. Note, in the comparison I did not include the Open Space fee in the “Other” category which 26.5% of Highland households pay. Nor did I include PUD/HOA fees which a number of Highland subdivisions pay.

Here are other interesting tidbits:

Traffic Count and Speed Analysis for Canal Blvd at 5800 West

When I ran for office in 2017 I spoke with a resident who lived on Canal Blvd and had concerns about speed. I committed to asking staff to do a traffic count and speed analysis. Staff did and I provided the summary  information they gave me to the resident. Residents are again expressing concern about traffic issues and potential traffic issues on Canal Blvd with the impending expansion of Canal Blvd to the East (the East-West connector) so I thought I would share the traffic information we collected in a more useful form. Note, I’ve probably spent over 20 hours putting this information together.

Mayor Messages from 2018 Newsletters

Here are my newsletter messages for 2018. There was no mayor message in January or February newsletters.

March 2018

Get Involved

This month, I’m writing to encourage you to get involved in our wonderful community and participate in our annual Highland Fling. Our Civic Event Coordinator is looking for a number of volunteers for the committee including Parade Assistants, Parade Banner Carriers, a Vendor Chair, a Stage Entertainment Chair, a Baby Contest Chair, a Sponsor Coordinator/Assistant, a Family Adventure Race Assistant, a Play Day Rodeo Chair/Assistant, a Garbage Management Coordinator, a Graphic Designer, a Photographer, a Videographer, Swag Assemblers, Information Booth Assistant, a Kids Night – Cardboard Challenge Coordinator, and Event Assistants. Some of these are single day commitments and some require work from now until the Fling. Some would even make great Eagle Scout projects. If you could help in any of these positions, or would like to get involved in a different way, please contact Julie Tapusoa at Julie@highlandcity.org  or 801-772-4507.

Why I Now Support A 0.25% County Sales Tax Increase

In 2015 the county voted down Prop 1,a 0.25% county sales tax  increase ($0.01 per $4.00 purchase) that would have split the revenue between the cities, Utah County, and UTA (40%, 20%, 40%) by a 59 to 41 percent margin. In Highland the margin was 68% to 32% (click here to see the official results). I was a vocal opponent to the increase largely because of UTA allocation. I described my opposition in a post “Is Utah County Prop 1 Good or Bad for Highland?”

Darth Vader Dark Side GIF from Darthvader GIFs

So why the switch in attitude Mr. Mayor? Have you gone to the dark side? Good question!

Notes from the Mayor: Open Space Disposal

I’ve been following some of the Facebook discussions relative the sale of Open Space as well as reading the emails sent to elected officials regarding this issue. One of the arguments raised for doing it now is that the “city” has had a chance to fix it and hasn’t, so time is up.

While I agree that there are issues with Open Space maintenance, I disagree with the conclusion that time is up. There are a number of issues the city has worked over the years that required a lot of time and effort to close. If we arbitrarily decided that enough time had been spent and quit then our roads wouldn’t be getting fixed and the East-West connector design would not be underway.

Highland City: 10-Year Crime Trends

After writing my previous post about Highland/Alpine being ranked as two the safest cities in Utah – we share the same police force and so our numbers get reported together. I wanted to look at a trend over time instead of just one year’s worth of data. Below you will find charts and graphs that show what type of specific types crimes were committed in Highland and Alpine over a 10-year period of time (2008-2017), and how we ranked within the state and nation over that time period. All data came from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting system.

I again used two additional metrics to compare crime in general:

• Combined Crime:  II multiplied the number of violent crimes by the national ratio of property crimes to violent crimes (~6) to equalize these two types of crime.
• Cost of Crime: I used a report published in 2010 entitled “The Cost of Crime to Society: New Crime-Specific Estimates for Policy and Program Evaluation” to attach a value to the specific types of crime reported by the FBI. This creates a total cost of crime to a community. I put the relevant tables from the report at the end of this post.

Notes from the Mayor: Tax Base, Tax Rates, …

As I have worked through the 2018 city survey I’ve seen a number of comments related to our prop tax and tax base compared to other cities. I’ve done some research in that regard and want to share it with you. There some limitations when comparing cities as they all have their individual idiosyncrasies  For example, we have a $18.50 road fee which we track outside of the General Fund, Cedar Hills has a $6 EMS fee, Pleasant Grove has a $8.45 road fee … . I did not reach out to the individual cities to get their current household count but used US Census Data for all cities which is several years out of date. Also, the revenue and expense data is taken from each city’s 2018-19 budget, which are subject to change as the year progresses. So while the information is interesting it is certainly not perfect. What is does show is that Highland does have a per household sales tax base that compares favorably with our neighbors (except for AF which is significantly higher than everyone else), our property tax rate is the second lowest and our general fund spending per household is in the middle (just below average).