City Council Minutes February 15, 2018

Minutes of Fairview City Council held on Thursday, February 15, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. at 85 South State Street, City of Fairview, County of Sanpete, State of Utah.

Mayor David Taylor called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.  Councilmembers present were Cliff Wheeler, Casey Anderson, KaeLyn Sorenson, Bob St. Jacques, and Mike Jarman.  City Employees present were Kammy Tucker, Justin Jackson, Garrett Sorensen, Greg Sorensen, and Jeremy Wright.  Citizens present were

Ramon and Erma Lee Aaron, Jay Nelson, Jackson and Charlet Pemberton, Mike and Milette MacKay, and Daniel Hopkins.

Councilman Casey Anderson offered the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Councilman Casey Anderson moved to approve the minutes from January 18, 2018, as amended with adding cemetery to Councilman Cliff Wheeler’s duties along with adding power to the duties of Councilman Casey Anderson.  Councilman Bob St. Jacques seconded the motion.  The voting was unanimous in favor of.

PUBLIC HEARINGS/APPEARANCES/COMMUNICATIONS:

Milette MacKay—Update on Chocolate Festival.

• 1000+ people in attendance, coming from as far as Logan to Cedar City
• Waffle Love parked out front
• Foodbank received $87
• Brought a check for the use of the building

Jay Nelson—Discussion on Reconnect Fee.

• Looking for clarification on policy of landowner responsibility of utility payments dated 2018-02
• Dave explained that renters leave bills unpaid, and the City can’t find the renters
• Utility bills can’t be in the renter’s name anymore
• He has received notice from the Driver’s License Division—if renters can’t put utility bills in their name, they can’t show residency
• Kammy Tucker and Kaelyn Sorenson said there are other statements—cell, bank, etc.—that can establish residency
• Jay Nelson has a problem with the bills coming first to him, then him having to take it to the renter
• He says that both he and his renter were double billed for the fees (Kammy says no)
• He was told she doesn’t need to receive a bill, she can just come in and pay it on the first of the month without receiving a paper bill
• Kammy says that it is the landlord’s responsibility to get the bill to the renter
• Jay “made a motion” that Kammy and Jan be full time with benefits because they are overworked

Kristann Gillies—Proposed Development of Five Homes and Interactive Farm, Booths, Corn Maze.

• She broke her back and can’t appear tonight, will need to delay to next month

REPORTS/ACTION ITEMS – BOARDS/COMMITTEES/STAFF/OFFICERS:

Planning Commission

Home-Occupation Permit (HOP) Daniel Hopkins.

• Daniel has a full-time job and this is, part-time, on the side job sharpening chainsaws and pruning trees.
• He has a stump beside his garage with his name and business information
• Councilman Bob St Jacques moved to approve the HOP per recommendation from the Planning Commission. Councilman Casey Anderson seconded the motion.  The voting was unanimous in favor of.
• He asked if there is a policy about fliers stapled up on telephone poles, and there was no opposition

Police Department

Discussion of Current Code Book and Suggest of Change.  There are some things we can do as a City to adopt the state’s code. If we copy and paste the state’s code into the City’s, then we make 100% of the money for the tickets, instead of sending it to the state.

• The officer is not the only one who can enforce city code; traffic, yes, but improper signage, trees needing trimming, improper parking for snow removal, etc., can be ticketed by other city employees. They can be co-enforcers.
• Councilman Casey Anderson asked him what the next step is, because the Council is in agreement with making these sorts of code changes.
• He said it is just a matter of bringing the code into our code book, numbering it, and having the City Council adopt it.
• Councilman Bob St. Jacques thinks it is important to put these things in the code book anyway.
• Mayor Dave Taylor said the City would move forward and get it to a point it can be presented to the City Council.
• Chief Jeremy Wright stated he’s been working two child sex abuse cases, two death investigations, theft investigations. He’s written three search warrants, he’s had the major crimes task force break down cell phones for him.
• His job doesn’t only happen here in Fairview, he has to travel to investigate people who commit incidents here but live elsewhere.

Power Department

Department Update.  City Employee Greg Sorensen stated that they’ve done quite a few estimates for new services for new builds.

• There have only been two major outages, both were on Rocky Mountain’s side. There have only been three outages on our side, due to faulty cut outs put up long before Garrett and Greg were here. They’ve changed out a lot of the faulty cut outs, but there are a lot of them out there.
• Substation update: cement finished, wire is in, main feeder pole is by the rodeo grounds. Mt. Pleasant will come help make some of the changes.
• They’re making plans for the future with switches.
• Breaker station: still running on bypass switch. Found the gas leak that caused it to fail. It was a manufacturer flaw, but in order to fix it, it needs to be a low-humidity, warmer day. They have all the tools and everything needed to fix it.
• Insulator change-outs on the 46-line have been done twice. A lot of cities don’t have these insulators, and cities will send out apprentices to help just so the apprentices will get hours of experience. They’ve made about 70% of the changes. They’ve saved some blinks by doing those change outs.
• Tested the other transformer in the substation. Have gotten two estimates on changing it out, they are waiting on the third. The primary bushings are bad, the LTC needs to be replaced and that will probably be the most expensive part.
• Casey asked if they’ve heard anything about the end of April/first of May outage. Greg says that they should have made the replacement long ago. They’re trying to schedule for after Memorial Day. We will probably have two big outages this summer.

Sewer/Water Department Update

Sewer Update. Everything is running fairly smoothly. Flows have been extremely low, and the bacteria have struggled. Things are running smoothly, there have been only two valid call outs since October. One was a computer-based error, the other was a band-screen plug up. Someone is flushing latex gloves, someone is flushing rubber bouncy balls, a tube of lotion. In April, Justin has agreed to go to Snow College with all the fourth graders to show them what should and should not be flushed. He would like to do the same at Fairview Elementary.

Water Department Update.  Just finished the report for the Bureau of Water Rights. This compares the gallons that we pull in vs. the amount of gallons that went out for billing purposes. He adjusted the acreage for the unmetered, unrestricted water usage.

• Our peak demand was 1,000,000 gallons in one day. Lowest usage is about 300,000 gallons.
• Sources: springs, or wells that are pumped. 43% of our water is not metered, it is not being monitored. The previous thinking was that if it is not being billed there is no point in reading the meter; but the point of reading a meter is knowing where it is going and how much. He would like to put a meter on the ballpark to know exactly how much is being used. He would like to address it this summer.
• That amount of unaccounted water needs to be resolved. A 10% deviation is considered to be a perfect system. Without everything being metered, he doesn’t know where his next priority should be—are there underground leaks? Ancient residential meters?
• The green tank needs some maintenance, needs cleaning, de-rusting, painting. The lower spring tank is in bad shape, it is the oldest tank. Servicing the inside of a tank requires specialized divers, and they are expensive.
• Giles residence on Day Lane: She wants a number of permits to build. They’re in the County, but the City has control over the permits. Day Lane’s water system is a private water system. Leon Day owns the pipe, but the City provides the water. The system does not meet code. Once there are a certain number of connections, it MUST be brought up to code. In 2011, Leon approached the County requesting permits for construction. Eight homes can be built before a complete renovation is needed. There are already seven on that system, which is the max allowed before the complete upgrade. Kristann Gillies wants to build four to five new houses, including fire hydrants, etc. BUT, there is about 500 total buildable acres, the potential for about 100 homes. At some point, because of elevation, there would have to be a pumping station installed to maintain the pressure necessary for fire hydrants. If the City supports the building permits, that is a flag to start an engineering project. The minimum just to put the pipe in the ground would be about $400,000. It is not a cheap decision to grant her these building permits. Justin’s advice to the Council is to think of a boundary area over there, where the City will support home building, and beyond which they will not. Thinking of future growth now will potentially save expense further on. The future plans may also require future sewer connections. This decision will impact the City for decades, it’s a small decision with massive impact. There is a difference between a public water system and a publicly owned water system. Ours is a publicly owned public water system.
• He would like the engineering group to put together a new growth master plan for the City, so that we would have a good idea of the infrastructure that would be needed for certain scenarios of growth, so that we wouldn’t get into a project and find out that we aren’t prepared for.

Youth City Council.  Councilwoman Kaelyn Sorensen has a packet that needs to be redone for the City and within another week or so it will be ready.

• Kaelyn asked if there is a budget to take the youth to Salt Lake City for an event that happens around January.

24^th of July Dates

• All activities start on Wednesday 18^th
• Kids’ rodeo Thursday 19^th
• Friday Volleyball, horseshoes, tennis, 3-on 3- basketball
• Saturday—rodeo, horse parade
• Sunday—DUP
• Monday—ATV Rodeo
• Tuesday—Fun run, Parade, Derby

• The Council discussed the best dates for the events, which would get the best attendance as well as be most convenient for the buildup and break down required in the arena.
• There was a discussion about usual attendances at specific events and the usual financial draw, so he would know what the budgets were for the events.
• Dates may switch for Kids Rodeo and ATV rodeo, based on usual attendance turnout. He’ll pin down dates soon.

Enforcement of Storage Containers

• Councilman Cliff Wheeler questioned: when we decided to change the ordinance, how did we decide to enforce it?
• Dave responded that he is speaking with them personally about the need to move them or paint them.
• We’ve asked the Planning Commission to put together a booklet that gives quick reference information on the most asked questions to the girls in the office.
• People bring in complaints or concerns, file it with Kammy and Dave or Jeremy take care of it.

COUNCIL REPORTS:

Mayor Dave Taylor – General City Update.  Congratulations to everyone in the City working hard.

Councilman Cliff Wheeler – Assignment from last meeting: do we need to notice or not notice about a city planner. Mr. Church said as long as the mayor is not receiving an income for the city planner job, we don’t have to worry, everything is legal and above board. Dave officially retired on January 1, but he is acting as the city manager. Dave’s goal is that in four years the city manager position will be funded, and someone will be hired. Each mayor has their own thoughts and direction, and there should be continuity from mayor to mayor. Please attend Miss Fairview on Saturday.

Councilman Mike Jarman – Thank you to the city workers, for your hard work and for making the city run smoothly.

Councilman Casey Anderson – Next month we’ll be talking about the new power project. Encouraged everyone to study the new operational budget report. Would like to start in March rather than waiting until May and June.

Councilwoman Kaelyn Sorensen – Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for coming to a new town and jumping right in.

Councilman Bob St. Jacques – Planning Commission is working on getting the booklet together to save time in the office when people pop in with questions.

City Recorder Jan Anderson is out of town, Alyson Lee is filling in taking minutes.

APPROVAL OF VOUCHERS:

Casey asked about Centracom for snow removal—it’s an agreement with MKJ to clear our sidewalks when they clear for Centracom.  Jeremy got a new phone, but the old police phone will be kept for part time law enforcement. Hopefully someday the county will put up a tower that will give our part of the valley better reception.  There was a faulty air tank on a fire truck that needed to be replaced, but when Nathan went out on the last fire, there will be some money coming in that will cover repairs like that.  Councilman Cliff Wheeler moved to approve the vouchers from January 1, 17, 2018 to February 12, 2018.  Councilman Bob St. Jacques seconded the motion.

Mayor Taylor talked about how to Chair a Meeting and get someone who is causing trouble in the meeting removed. It would take a vote from 2/3 of the City Council, but if they so vote, police could book them under a certain ordinance, and they would go to jail for being disruptive.

ADJOURNMENT:

Councilman Bob St. Jacques moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:14 p.m.  Councilman Mike Jarman seconded the motion.  The motion carried in favor of.