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HomeMy Public PortalAboutMinutes_City Council Work Meeting_12192023 CITY OF IONA CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING IONA CITY HALL DECEMBER 19, 2023 6:00 P.M. PRESENT: Mayor Daniel Gubler, Council President Rob Geray, Council Member Michael Thompson, Council Member Peter Wadsworth, Council Member Evan Mann (via telephone), City Attorney Andrew Rawlings, City Engineer Dave Noel, Public Works Director Zech Prouse and City Clerk/Treasurer Keri West. ABSENT: None VISITORS: Kirsti Cook, Diana Estrada and Rylea Farrens. ITEMS OF BUSINESS: Discussion of Future Annexations and Approach — Council President Geray stated he requested to have this discussion on the agenda after he personally read through the state statutes pertaining to annexations. He continued and stated he feels the annexation of Green Valley Estates would be considered a "Category C", rather than a "Category B". He also explained in the state statutes it repeatedly uses the word "consent" pertaining to annexation and gives the impression that the consent to be annexed should be initiated by the owners of the land. Council President Geray continued and stated as he is reading the statutes he understands it as saying that if a subdivision has over 100 parcels, those landowners need to approach the City with written consent to be annexed. He continued and stated he does not feel the City is on the correct path to annex the Green Valley Estates subdivision. Council President Geray then stated if the City chooses to pursue "forced" annexations of areas with less than 100 parcels, the annexation would then be subject to judicial review. He further explained there are options to pursue annexation of contiguous properties that are connected to our water system, thus serving as "implied consent". Council President Geray continued and stated he feels the appropriate approach for the City would be to annex undeveloped land that is contiguous to the City and any other properties that are completely surrounded by the City. Council President Geray also asked Attorney Rawlings to research and determine if there can be multiple levy rates attached to the same taxing district. He continued and stated residents that live in the county(outside of a city) pay the same county levy rate as those that live in a city, but they are receiving a disproportionate advantage of county benefits than those that live in a city. Council President Geray further explained the only way to help with uncontrolled growth is to have two different county levy rates; one would be a higher rate for those that live in the county and the other would be a reduced rate for those that live in a municipality and don't utilize as much of the county services. Mayor Gubler stated that would be something to address at the state level. Council President Geray understood and asked Attorney Rawlings to research this theory. He then continued and stated he would like to get information from staff members to determine county properties that are on the City's water system and contiguous, as well as properties that are surrounded by the City that have not been annexed. He continued and stated he would like to pursue those annexations prior to anything else. Clerk West stated she will get this discussion added to next month's agenda. Council Member Mann stated he will work with Council President Geray to get the ball rolling on contacting legislatures regarding the levy rates. IONA CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING - DECEMBER 19, 2023 Discussion of Video Recording City Council Meetings — Clerk West stated she added this discussion to the agenda because numerous people have requested the council meetings be recorded or live streamed to allow more residents to stay informed. Council President Geray stated he is not opposed to recording the events, but he does not want there to be any interaction. He continued and stated he would request no comments be allowed. Mayor Gubler suggested adding a camera to the wall that is facing the rostrum and is tied into the existing audio system. He continued and stated this would make it easy to create a file of the recording with the audio from the microphones. Clerk West stated she agreed with this option, but encouraged the Council to consider less expensive options to initially see how well it is received. Council President Geray reiterated the need for community engagement at the meetings. He continued and stated those residents that would like to be engaged and make comments at meetings need to physically attend the meetings. He added that he does think a recording is helpful for those that just want to stay informed and are unable to attend in person. Clerk West agreed. Council Member Thompson suggested a platform that is shareable across social media but agreed that comments should not be allowed. Council Member Mann stated Bonneville County has a good system they use for their meeting recordings with audio. Clerk West stated many other entities have designated staff members that are in charge of the technology aspect of their meetings. She continued and stated she is unable to oversee an additional element to the meetings and would need to have either a staff member or a volunteer oversee the recording. Rylea Farrens commented from the audience and suggested the recording go through the City's website, rather than Facebook. Clerk West stated she can do the research on various platforms, but she needs approval from the City Council to pursue it. Council Member Thompson asked Attorney Rawlings what type of legal ramifications a live recording would have on the City. Attorney Rawlings stated he agreed with not allowing comments because that creates a public forum. He stated "viewing only" creates transparency and would be great for the City, but once the City allows comments it gets into "content mediation". All Council Members agreed to pursue the potential of live-streaming City Council meetings without allowing comments from the public. Discussion of 2024 City Projects —Mayor Gubler stated there are a lot of projects that the City has discussed to take place in 2024. He continued and stated the largest project that is happening is the road project to rebuild Free, Denning and Scoresby Avenues. He stated the City was selected as a grant recipient for this project and it will be funded in January. Engineer Noel corrected him and stated the money will be funded in February. Mayor Gubler stated the requirement for the grant is that the project needs to be completed in 2024. He also stated Director Prouse and Engineer Noel have identified additional needs that are related to this project, but will not be included in the grant. Mayor Gubler further explained the desire to also update the water system under those roads while they are torn up, to remove lead and replace the pipes. He continued and stated he has instructed Director Prouse to take an inventory on what will be needed to complete this aspect of the project and determine how much it will cost the City. Director Prouse stated that will also be part of the Facilities Planning Study (FPS) that Engineer Noel is currently working on. Mayor Gubler stated the FPS process has begun and typically takes 4 months to complete, with an additional 6 weeks for the Department of Environmental Quality(DEQ)to review. Mayor Gubler stated an additional project the City has submitted a grant for is the addition of sidewalks on Main Street to connect the Freedom Field Estates subdivision to the existing sidewalks. He continued and stated the City has applied for the Children Pedestrian Safety Grant 2 IONA CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING - DECEMBER 19, 2023 through the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council (LHTAC), but the project engineering cannot be included in the grant funds. Mayor Gubler stated this project does not need to be completed in one year and the City can reapply for the grant next year. Clerk West stated the total cost of this project is $450,000 and asked how the City could receive additional funding to cover the total cost. Engineer Noel stated if the City is awarded the maximum amount of $250,000 from LHTAC this year, the City can either pay the rest "out of pocket", or work on the project until the grant funds are gone and apply for the same grant next year to finish the project. Mayor Gubler reiterated the engineering costs are part of the $450,000 and cannot be paid with grant funds. He continued and stated he envisions this to be a multi-year project to eventually have sidewalks installed throughout the entire City. Council President Geray expressed concern regarding the City overextending itself and having multiple projects that are left unfinished. Engineer Noel stated another project slated for 2024 is the survey of the new City park on 49`h North. He stated this will happen in the spring when the ground is more accessible. Mayor Gubler stated that cost has already been approved by the City Council for this fiscal year. Mayor Gubler went back to the discussion of the road project to rebuild Free, Denning and Scoresby Avenues. He stated the desire is to replace the current galvanized pipes under the road that will connect to a new meter pit on the property. However, a future project would be to replace the pipes from the meter pit to the individual houses. Mayor Gubler stated he has discussed the finances with Clerk West and there are funds available in savings to complete this project. Clerk West expressed hesitation to use savings from the Water Fund and General Fund to complete this project. Council President Geray agreed. Mayor Gubler stated we are also waiting to hear back about additional grant funding that could potentially pay for these water system upgrades. Council Member Wadsworth stated he understands the project to replace the pipes from the meter pit to the house is not an immediate need. However, he suggested giving the individual property owners the opportunity to install a new water line to their house, while the property is already torn up to install a meter pit. Director Prouse stated that would have to be at the expense of the property owner. Council Member Wadsworth stated he understands that, but it would be a lesser expense while the water is already shut off and the hole is dug, than if they chose to do it at a future time. Director Prouse agreed. Engineer Noel agreed and stated other municipalities that have completed projects similar to this have requested to have an alternative bid item in the contractor's bid to complete that portion of the project. He continued and stated then the individual property owners can elect to have that done as part of the project and pay the contractor directly, or payments can go through the City. Council President Geray asked what age of home this would be necessary. Engineer Noel stated it would apply to any houses that have galvanized pipe or a lead gooseneck, which could be anything prior to the late 1980s. Director Prouse reiterated the main priority is to replace the pipe from the main line to the right-of-way. Clerk West asked if there is an estimated cost for that project. Director Prouse stated the City would need to gather data and request bids before knowing the cost. Discussion of 2024 City Events — Mayor Gubler introduced Diana Estrada as the City's new City Events Coordinator. Diana approached the Council and presented the proposed dates for the 2024 City Events. No concerns expressed regarding the proposed dates. Council President Geray asked if the City accepts donations from individuals, rather than businesses, and if there is any incentive for them to do so. Diana said in the past there have been small donations from individuals, but nothing significant enough for an incentive. Clerk West stated this is something 3 IONA CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING - DECEMBER 19, 2023 that could be negotiated with individuals that are interested in sponsoring the events. Council Member Thompson welcomed Diana to the City staff. General Fiber Project Discussion — Mayor Gubler stated there were concerns brought to the City's attention from a resident about the installation process used by Direct Communications (DC). Clerk West stated she received a written response from DC about the incident that is included in the Council's packet. She summarized that DC expressed appreciation for the information from the resident and contacted him directly. They also stated they have adjusted their installation process to implement recommendations from the concerned resident. Council President Geray stated his was just installed and felt they did a great job. Clerk West stated the resident that contacted the City had his installed in August, so recent installs should include those better processes. Clerk West then stated she discussed with DC the desire to have them begin attending a monthly meeting with the City to discuss future concerns and the overall status of the fiber project. Director Prouse suggested DC attend the monthly Work Meetings. All agreed. Council President Geray stated he is now online with DC fiber and has been very happy with the service. Clerk West also confirmed the drop has been done to the City Building, but they are still waiting for the install. Council President Geray stated, based on feedback from his installer, DC only has one employee doing the actual installations right now, after the fiber is dropped, so that is a slow process. Staff Reports —Deputy Davies stated nothing to report in addition to the call report included in the Council packets. Clerk West stated she is gathering potential dates for the City's Christmas Dinner that takes place annually in January. During the discussion, it was determined that Clerk West would send an email to all employees and Council Members to determine the best date for the dinner. Clerk West also reported there will be City Council and City staff employee photos taken immediately preceding the January Work Meeting. Director Prouse stated it was requested at a previous meeting that he get a cost associated with installing additional emergency hand pumps for water in the other City parks. He stated he has reached out to Denning Well Drilling, but he has not received a quote back from them yet. Director Prouse continued and stated he estimates the rehabilitation of the current hand pump will cost $10,000 - $15,000. Mayor Gubler stated there are residents installing trees in the right-of-way and he would like that to be a future topic of discussion. Director Prouse stated the code already addresses this topic. Mayor Gubler stated he will talk with him about changes this section of the code may require. Meeting Adjourned: 6:58 p.m. COUNCIL APPROVED: January 23, 2024 Daniel Gubler, Mayor ATTEST: nizus p Keri West, City Clerk/Treasurer 4