City Council 14-Jun-2016: 16-17 Budget, Utility Rate Increases

Seven residents attended the meeting to approve the the 2016-2017 budget and utility rate changes. Perhaps the fact the process has been very transparent with multiple meetings open to residents early in the process contributed to the low turnout. As always feel free to reach out to me via phone or email with questions or comments. I really don’t mind being challenged on decisions or opinions. It always makes me think.

City Council 07-Jun-2016: Edge Homes, Bike Trail, Multiple Re-Zoning Requests both Commercial and Residential

The council meeting ended at 12:30 AM. There was lots of discussion with residents, which I always view as positive, and I therefore didn’t mind that we ran late. Several residents stayed till the bitter end and then talked afterward with council members for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Council Meeting AGENDA / MINUTES

Public Comment

• Dave Krammer, Head Coach of the Lone Peak mountain biking team introduced a proposed project and then let team members Levi Kammer, Cade Nielson, and Kyle Randall describe it. They want to create a  bike trail system on City property off of the Murdock Canal trail
  and Canterbury Drive. The project would be done as multiple Eagle Projects, grants would be sought to fund the project, and then the team would assume much of the responsibility for the maintenance of the trails. These would be available to all residents. The council expressed support. Brian encouraged them to address parking concerns when they bring this back to the council for a vote. Click here to see the presentation that was shared with the council.
  
  

City Council 17-May-2016: Tentative Budget, Mortuary Conditional Use Modification

About 10 people attended the meeting. Representative Mike Kennedy gave a brief legislative report (see my notes from the East-West Connector meeting for more detailed comments on the most topical item discussed). The East-West connector will be an item that will be worked on over the course of the next year. It does look like this is a difference of opinion between Senator Dayton (see article posted on UtahPolicy.com) and the city and county on this item so we will have to see how this resolves itself over the next 9 months.

Council Meeting AGENDA / MINUTES

Public Comment

• No appearances

Utah Property Taxes: What Is A Certified Tax Rate?

Each year each county in Utah calculates a new certified tax rate for all taxing entities (i.e. cities, school districts, and service districts) within their jurisdiction by taking the property tax revenue collected the previous year and dividing it by the current assessed property value within the taxing entities (exclusive of new growth). This is the tax rate is then applied to all assessed property (including growth) and the new total becomes the base for next year. Another way to say this is if our home value doubles then our tax rate will be reduced by half. Confusing? I know! Let’s try walking through an example to clarify.

Issues and Information 26-May-2016: East-West Connector and State Land, a Discussion with Senator Dayton

Thanks to those who attended the meeting last night, especially, Senator Margaret Dayton, Rep Mike Kennedy, Rep Kay Christofferson, and State Auditor John Dougall. I counted over 60 people in attendance. Lots of questions were asked, most were answered, and everyone was very respectful.

For a background on some of the history related to the land and the east-west connector please see my earlier post entitled  “Highland East-West Connector History“.

City Council 19-Apr-2016: Roads Work Session, Spring Creek Park–Sell Land, R-1-30 Zone …

About 65 people attended the meeting. At least half were there to speak during the public hearing on whether or not to declare the 12 acres that comprise the undeveloped Spring Creek Park as surplus. This was an interesting discussion.

Roads Work session

We reviewed the work to date on the road study. PEPG confirmed that their final report would include an estimated timeframe the work should be done to a road after which the cost to repair would increase. Click here to view a copy of the presentation made by PEPG. Their general findings were that:

Gender Politics: Bathrooms, Locker Rooms …

I attended a local school board meeting (Alpine School District) today and made the following comments to share my views on the recent edict from the Federal Departments of Justice and Education (click here to see their Letter on Transgender Students). This is what I wrote in advance and not necessarily the exact words I used.

I would like to speak to the issue of gender identity based usage of bathrooms and locker rooms. With the assumption that students are being harmed by the current birth gender policy and without regard to whether this is a federal  overreach I have several concerns:

City Council 5-Apr-2016: Utility Rate Study, Library Re-write …

About 30 people attended the meeting. Most were there to participate in the discussion on a rezone request for 7.25 acres of land located in the northeast quadrant of Highland. One of the most interesting items on the agenda was the library report. The other was the Utility Rate Study update. 

As a preamble to the meeting notes I would like to give some background and share personal thoughts relative to the Utility Rate Study underway which will recommend rate increases for each of the utilities. Please note that since I am publishing this so late I’ve included the utility rate data from the May 3rd council meeting which has the final recommendations (see item 10).

10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation

I just listened to a 12 minute speech by NPR Radio Host Celeste Headlee entitled “10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation.” I’ve never heard of her but love her thoughts. If you’d don’t have 12 minutes to listen here is brief a summary.

Public Safety Board 31-Mar-2016: 2016-17 Budgets

Public Safety board Meeting (April 8th)

Tim Irwin could not make it to the meeting so as the Highland alternate board member I attended. The primary discussion item was the 2016-2017 proposed budget. Both the fire department asked for a 2.7% increase and police for a 4%increase.  During the meeting I made the comment that from Highland’s perspective I could not support percentage increase greater than our projected general fund tax revenue increase. Note, if police or fire request a 2% increase Highland will end up with a +2% increase because for both police and fire we are growing faster than the other cities that share in the cost (Fire: Highland, Alpine, and Cedar Hills, Police: Highland and Alpine).

My Perspective on a Meeting with Governor Herbert

I was invited to participate in a breakfast meeting with Governor Herbert along with a few other N. county residents, some of whom were state delegates and most of whom had differences with the Governor on important issues. Kudo’s to the Governor for meeting with those who don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with him.

The governor responded to questions regarding Common Core, SB-54 (Count My Vote Compromise), testing, local control and more local control.

Governor Herbert was an active listener and acknowledged that there were issues to be addressed. It was a good experience for me and I believe most of those involved. One item that came out of the discussion was the need for him to hear from a broader set of voices on education related issues and his willingness create a vehicle for doing that.

City Council 15-Mar-2016: Annual Report, City Survey, Annexation, Apple Creek (Town Center Project), Utility Rate and Skydrop sprinkler controller

There were +14 residents at the council meeting on March 15th and just a couple at the Work Session held the week prior. The work session had two agenda items:

• (1) An update on the Utility Rate Analysis being performed by Zion’s Bank
• (2) A presentation on a potential water conservation program.

Both items were interesting and I will cover them briefly before getting to my council notes.

City Council 16-Feb-2016: Utility Rates, Park Land Purchase, 11800 N/Highland Blvd …

There were 15+ people at the meeting. Not sure if it was because I was still recovering from the flue and that the meeting ran from 6 pm to nearly midnight but I managed disagree at some point with all presenters but one, plus all those offering public comment, all councilmen, and the mayor. I think that has to be a record of some sort. We held a one hour work session focused on the utility rate study followed by a 4+ hr. council meeting. Here is a brief summary of my disagreements. You’ll of course want to read the details that follow.

• Challenged the Zion’s bank representative on information he presented during the Utility Rate Study progress report.
• Opposed the city subsidizing insurance for the Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra.  Note, our insurance provider declined to cover them under our policy.

City Council 19-Jan-2016: Work Sessions, Utility Rate, Road Reconstruction, Annual Deer Report, Road Work, Canyon Resolution, Severance Pay

Below are my notes from the Jan 12th Worksession. I think you’ll find them interesting.

Work session Jan 12

Utility Rates

We recently contracted with Zion’s ban to do a study analyzing our utility rates. In the last year staff has completed long term maintenance and capital requirements report for each our of utility services -- Culinary water, Pressurized Irrigation (PI), Storm Sewer, and Sewer). The rate study will provide give us insight into what our options are to ensure that we have sufficient funds in the various service accounts to meet the needs of the city (all of us). Zions’ provided a snapshot of where they were on the project which is scheduled to be completed by the end of March (click here to see the presentation). Given the information Zion’s has now here is the fund balance projection.

City Council 2-Feb-2016: Moratorium on Final Plat Approvals N of 11800 N,

Over 50 people attended the council meeting. We held an executive work session prior to this meeting.

Council Meeting AGENDA / MINUTES

City Council 05-Jan-2016: 11800 N Intersection Study, Utility Rate Study

Brian Braithwaite	Tim Irwin	Ed Dennis

Brian Braithwaite, Tim Irwin and Ed Dennnis were sworn in for their third, second and first terms respectively prior to the start of the council meeting. Please note, I lost my notes from the meeting and so won’t have as much detailed information as usual.

Council Meeting AGENDA / MINUTES

City Council 01-Dec-2015: Family Cemeteries, Blackstone, and Murdoch Connector

I was out of town for this meeting. I would normally have participated via phone but in this case I elected not to do so. I knew there would be a lot of discussion on two items (cemeteries and Blackstone) and thought that it would be best if those voting were full participants. I have participated twice via phone but found it difficult to provide input to discussions over the phone. This was Jessie Schoenfeld’s last council meeting. She has been an great asset to the city and has made many positive contributions to the city, especially in serving on the beautification, economic development and Highland Fling committees. She is a get it done person who puts in the time to make things happen. We often shared treats during long council meetings to prolong our tipping point. I will miss serving with you.

Council Meeting AGENDA / MINUTES

Little Compromises for Happiness by William George Jordan

This is a chapter from William George Jordan’s book Little Problems of Married Life. A book he wrote in 1910 at the age of 46. He did not marry until 1922. His insights on marriage are perhaps a function of having a close relationship to his family and being someone who truly cared about others. Once again his words demonstrate a keen insight to human nature.

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Little Compromises for Happiness

This life of ours is a constant series of compromises, of concessions, of surrenders of what we hold dearest, and acceptances of what seems second best. That for which we have nobly struggled may fail us and we find what consolation we can among the wreckage of our hope. We make sacrifices of our desires on the altar of expediency; we pocket our pride in the interest of our purse; we smile over present loss in the hope of possible future gain. We travel along the line of ambition by slow freight when we had fondly dreamed of whizzing through on the “limited.” We surrender at the Waterloo of a hope and bravely look to regaining at the next battle. We bow to custom while we inwardly rebel at the obeisance. We play at battledore (a game, from which badminton was developed) between fear of the world on the one hand and approval of conscience on the other.

Hire JJ? Notes from a conversation with gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Johnson.

I recently had a one hour conversation with Jonathan Johnson who is running against Governor Gary Herbert to be the 2016 Republican nominee for Governor. I was invited to ask him anything regarding his run for office. Before I get into details I want to note that I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. He was gracious, candid, and very likeable. I enjoyed getting to know him. As I thought about what I would ask him I reviewed two posts I’ve written on selecting candidates for office: “Questions for Candidates that Won't be Asked in a Debate” and “Selecting Candidates for Political Office.”

City Council 17-Nov-2015: Family Cemeteries, Park Bond Refinance, Final Election Result Certification

We had over 40 scouts from various units plus 12 interested residents attend the meeting. We had healthy discussions about most items but concluded with unanimous votes on the final outcomes. The next council meeting (Dec 1)should be interesting. We will make a final decision on whether or not to allow family cemeteries on private land. This issue was discussed in an article in the Provo Herald and in two news segments on ABC4 (this was the top news story – it must have been as slow news day) and Fox13. Since then the city has had some calls from residents on this issue. The responses have been split. My experience has been an initial negative response but after talking about it a little most people say yes, I wouldn’t do it, but if someone else wants to I don’t really care.

Council Meeting AGENDA / MINUTES