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Home My Public Portal AboutMIN-CC-2020-12-18 Page 1 of 2 December 18, 2020 MOAB CITY COUNCIL MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING December 18, 2020 The Moab City Council held a Special Meeting on the above date. Consistent with provisions of the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act, Utah Code Ann. § 54-2-207(4), the Moab City Council Chair has issued written determinations supporting the decision to convene electronic meetings of the Council without a physical anchor location. Due to the health and safety risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic and considering public health orders limiting in-person gatherings, the Moab City Council held this meeting by electronic means. An audio recording of the meeting is archived at http://www.utah.gov/pmn/index.html. A video recording is archived at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMJLQqZw25o. Mayor Emily Niehaus called the Workshop to order at 12:02 p.m. Participating remotely were Councilmembers Rani Derasary, Karen Guzman-Newton, Tawny Knuteson-Boyd and Kalen Jones. Coubcilmember Duncan was unable to attend due to previous commitments. City staff participating remotely were Manager Joel Linares, Assistant Manager Carly Castle, Attorney Laurie Simonson, Finance Director Klint York and Recorder Sommar Johnson. Public Hearing on Proposed Resolution 46-2020: A Resolution Amending the Fiscal Year 2020/2021 Budget Mayor Niehaus opened a public hearing to receive comments on the proposal to amend the budget in order to utilize $200,000 received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, & Economic Security (CARES) Act to the City’s local grants program. She stated the public hearing would remain open until the meeting adjourned. She noted there was one written comment. Written Public Comment (Theresa King): Thank you for scheduling a public hearing. Moab citizens want to be engaged in their government. Erring on the side of the 'spirit of the law' vs the 'letter of the law' in regards to public meetings is to be commended. As for the public hearing today, I understand the subject is opening the budget to do some accounting gymnastics to be able to use the CARES funding without as many restrictions. In the spirit of transparency, it would be helpful in attempting to give intelligent input about the budget if the budget for this fiscal year was available online (on the city's website) to review. My comment is "could these funds be used for infrastructure needs of the City"? Would it be possible to use the $200,000 as matching funds and acquire a grant for immediate infrastructure needs thus potentially having $400,000 to spend. I believe this would be a better use of these monies and would serve everyone in the City for years to come. Resolution 46-2020: Amending the Fiscal Year 2020/2021 Budget—Approved Presentation: Finance Director York described the Buy Local Bucks program and stated that all Grand County households would receive three $15 coupons to spend like cash at participating businesses within City limits. He said more than 70 businesses to date were participating. York explained the program would commence the following week and would last until March 1, 2021 or until funds were used up. He added that businesses would submit coupons to the City for reimbursement. Mayor Niehaus asked about tracking the spending and York explained the procedure and public notification of the depletion of the fund. Councilmember Knuteson-Boyd asked about which businesses were participating and York noted the list of participants on the Page 2 of 2 December 18, 2020 City’s website. Councilmember Derasary brought up the option for residents to donate unused coupons to charities and asked aboit any plans for leftover funds. City Manager Linares explained any remaining funds would be transferred into the General Fund and could be used for future business incentives, if needed. Derasary asked about the points made in Ms. King’s letter. Linares explained that the funds could be used for local business incentives but could not be used for City infrastructure. Councilmember Guzman-Newton requested that staff make it clear to the public the limitations on spending the CARES Act funds. Councilmember Derasary also asked if the budget was on the City’s website and York stated he would update that information. Mayor Niehaus reported she had received a lot of positive feedback about the program. She suggested that unused coupons could be given as gifts and tips for local workers. Linares described statistics from other communities that had introduced similar programs and suggested that as much as 50% of coupons could go uncashed. He said information would be posted to the City’s website weekly. Mayor Niehaus next brought up the Community Contributions program, which would account for half of the CARES Act spending. City Manager Linares stated $100,000 is available for local nonprofits, special service districts and government entities. He described the process which would involve grants applications with an approximate due date of January 21, a staff committee to recommend awards and council approval of funding requests. He further clarified that the normal Community Contributions grants and special events fee waivers would be part of the upcoming planning cycle for the 2021/2022 budget. He answered a question from Councilmember Knuteson-Boyd about how the City tracks multiple requests from entities over time. He also answered a question from Councilmember Derasary about whether funding requests need to be directly related to COVID-19 impacts and he explained that it was not imperative, and he explained more details about the special event fee waivers and the Community Contributions program going into the future. Mayor Niehaus concluded the discussion by thanking staff for their hard work on the CARES Act funding program. Motion: Councilmember Knuteson-Boyd moved to approve Proposed Resolution #46-2020 Amending the FY 2020-2021 Budget. Councilmember Derasary seconded the motion. Discussion: Councilmember Guzman-Newton made clear that staff brought the City back into the black after a very challenging year and that the City was in a very strong financial position. Mayor Niehaus concurred. Vote: The motion passed 4-0 aye with Councilmembers Jones, Derasary, Knuteson-Boyd and Guzman-Newton voting aye. Adjournment: Councilmember Jones moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilmember Knuteson-Boyd seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously and Mayor Niehaus adjourned the meeting at 12:38 p.m. APPROVED: __________________ ATTEST: ___________________ Emily S. Niehaus, Mayor Sommar Johnson, City Recorder