City Council

1 River Heights City Council 2 Minutes of the Meeting 3 January 14, 2014 4 5 6 Present were: Mayor James Brackner 7 Council members: Doug Clausen 8 Richard Okelberry 9 Geoffery Smith 10 Dixie Wilson 11 Blake Wright 12 13 Recorder Sheila Lind 14 Public Works Director Clayten Nelson 15 Finance Director Clifford Grover 16 17 Others Present: William Baker, Kathryn Hadfield, Ross Mann, Jeff 18 Young, Gayle Brackner, Peggy Smith, Rasmussen 19 Family, Ruthann Nelson 20 21 The following motions were made during the meeting: 22 23 Motion #1 24 Councilmember Clausen moved to “adopt the minutes of the December 10, 2013 Council 25 meeting and the evening’s agenda.” Councilmember Okelberry seconded the motion, which passed 26 with Clausen, Okelberry, Smith, Wilson and Wright in favor. No one opposed. 27 28 Motion #2 29 Councilmember Okelberry moved to “pay the bills as listed except the Brentag bill, until the 30 goods are received.” Councilmember Wilson seconded the motion, which passed with Clausen, 31 Okelberry, Smith, Wilson and Wright in favor. No one opposed. 32 33 34 Proceedings of the Meeting: 35 36 The River Heights City Council met at 6:30 p.m. in the Ervin R. Crosbie Council Chambers in 37 the River Heights City Building on Tuesday, January 14, 2014. 38 Opening Remarks and Pledge of Allegiance: Mayor Baker thanked all those that have served 39 the city over his tenure as mayor, including the council and employees. Councilmember Wright led 40 the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. 41 Swearing in of New Officials: Recorder Lind administered the Oath of Office to James 42 Brackner as the new mayor and Douglas Clausen and Geoffrey Smith as council members. 43 Adoption of Previous Minutes and Agenda: Minutes of the December 10, 2013 Council 44 meeting were reviewed. River Heights City Council Meeting, 01/14/14 1 45 Councilmember Clausen moved to “adopt the minutes of the December 10, 2013 Council 46 meeting and the evening’s agenda.” Councilmember Okelberry seconded the motion, which 47 passed with Clausen, Okelberry, Smith, Wilson and Wright in favor. No one opposed. 48 Pay Bills: The bills were presented and discussed. PWD Nelson asked that the Brentag check 49 be held until he receives the goods. 50 Councilmember Okelberry moved to “pay the bills as listed except the Brentag bill, until 51 the goods are received.” Councilmember Wilson seconded the motion, which passed with 52 Clausen, Okelberry, Smith, Wilson and Wright in favor. No one opposed. 53 Finance Director Report: Mayor Brackner introduced Cliff Grover as the new finance director 54 who took his spot at the table. 55 Purchase Requisition Requests: There were none. 56 Public Works Report and Discussion: Clayten Nelson reported on the following: 57  Logan City has been holding some sewer city meetings. They are coming up with an advisory 58 committee. He requested a meeting with Mayor Brackner and the council member who will be 59 over sewer to discuss what is going on. 60  JUB Engineers have been working for the storm water coalition for the last two years. Some 61 cities have been pulling away from using them. Logan City is going to head up the coalition 62 now. If River Heights has paid JUB for unused services, they will be reimbursed. 63 Councilmember Clausen asked why Logan City feels they can do this. Do they have legal 64 jurisdiction? Mr. Nelson doesn’t know for sure but will find out more at a meeting tomorrow. 65 Administrative Report: Recorder Lind reported she has been getting a lot of the old files 66 organized. She suggested they could stop in the office to learn the system for finding things. 67 Public Comment: There was none. 68 Presentation of Council Assignments: Mayor Brackner handed out and read ‘River Heights 69 City’s traditional Method of City Administration,’ a document he drafted (included with these 70 minutes). He asked that differences be tolerated. He discussed the traditional form of city 71 government, which he would like to keep intact. 72 Mayor Brackner asked Councilmember Clausen to be over water and sewer, Councilmember 73 Wilson to be over parks and recreation, Councilmember Okelberry to be over community affairs, 74 Councilmember Smith to be over public safety and Councilmember Wright to be over planning and 75 zoning. Councilmember Okelberry respectfully declined his assignment. He doesn’t feel he is willing 76 to participate in this way, but he will volunteer for other things. Mayor Brackner asked 77 Councilmember Smith to take community affairs and he will be over public safety and roads. Mr. 78 Okelberry suggested having the council clarify the duties and responsibilities for council assignments. 79 He’d like to work on this with Mayor Brackner over the next few weeks. He read from the Utah 80 League of Cities and Towns handbook that recommends such actions. He’d like to put it on a future 81 agenda. 82 Councilmember Wilson wonders about rearranging some of the duties. Mayor Brackner said 83 he will work on more clear definitions in the coming weeks and present them at the next meeting. 84 Discuss Bid for Office Computers and Audio Systems: Mayor Brackner asked Jeff Young, of 85 YTech, to present his bid (included with these minutes). Mr. Young explained that he met with 86 Recorder Lind and PWD Nelson to determine what the city’s needs are. He discussed the audio 87 recording system. State legislation is moving more and more to the importance of record keeping. He 88 discussed the need for clarity in the meeting recordings. The current recording system isn’t very 89 effective. He recommended permanent microphones installed in the council desk. There is also an 90 additional microphone that can be plugged in for the public to use. He and Councilmember Okelberry River Heights City Council Meeting, 01/14/14 2  91 discussed the number of recording tracks. Mr. Okelberry worries about a gallery microphone that 92 would interfere with the council’s discussions. Mr. Young said he has not seen a problem with this. 93 The recording would be on a SD card, which would be transferred onto the city’s computer. He said 94 the quality is very good. 95 Everything he installs comes with a one year warranty. Their servicing fees are very 96 reasonable. He believes small communities need this type of equipment. 97 He explained the Council Room TV set up. There would be an external plug and additional 98 plugs for the Council to use to project from their own devices. The mayor would dictate who has 99 control over the projections. He recommends a 60”-65” TV. Councilmember Okelberry suggested 100 trying the TV the city has downstairs to see if it’s big enough. 101 Mr. Young explained how he looks to the future, when recommending equipment. It will all be 102 wired, so there won’t be any hijacking. Each ipad will plug in to the system. The main switch will 103 probably be on the side of the table. There is also a blueray player built into the set up. 104 Mayor Brackner is in favor of this, although he doesn’t understand the technology behind it. 105 Councilmember Okelberry wondered if the operating system on the server needed to be 106 purchased and licensed through the state, or a person who is qualified in the state’s eyes. 107 Councilmember Okelberry will look into this. 108 Mr. Young said nearly all cities have underpowered their computer system. They try to save 109 money but the system barely runs the software. The main office computer is slow. He also suggests 110 two monitors to all cities. He recommended Windows 7 and not 8 because it’s not supported. In 111 April, XP is done being serviced. Windows 7 is supported until 2020. 112 He said the router is in the basement, which isn’t good. He talked about memory needed to run 113 the software, as well as memory to hold the programs. 114 He discussed the downstairs computer. Mr. Nelson currently has a laptop, which are the 115 highest maintenance computers. Mr. Young recommends a desktop computer to store all the data, 116 rather than on a laptop that is transported around. The laptop is not able to run all the things Mr. 117 Nelson needs. Mr. Nelson said it was purchased to only read meters. Mr. Young assured that he 118 designed the bid for the smallest equipment needed to take care of the most programs. He projects 119 there will be problems with the current laptop because it’s not big enough. 120 Mr. Young informed, the computer system in the mayor’s office is decent and doesn’t need to 121 be replaced at this time. 122 He includes all install costs on his bids. Other companies don’t usually do this. He wants them 123 to know the bottom line upfront. 124 He discussed the file server and desktop scanner. He wants them to have information that is 125 easy to find and get to. The scanner would go on the desk and is a one touch system. It would allow 126 Recorder Lind to load all the council packet information in a folder that could be accessed by everyone 127 on the Council. No paper is involved and can be accessed from any device from home. 128 Councilmember Okelberry asked if the current copy machine scanner can be used in conjunction with 129 the new system. Mr. Young said it will work, but is less convenient. His scanner will be used 4-5 130 times more than the one with the copy machine. It does duplexing, double siding, and can feed up to 131 30 pages of any sized paper. 132 Mayor Brackner recommended they each do some homework on this information and they’ll 133 discuss it at the next meeting. Mr. Young pointed out his contact information so they can ask him 134 other questions. 135 Mayor and Council Reports: Council member Wright reported that the Planning Commission 136 has embarked on trying to come up with a plan for the city’s property, located north of the Providence River Heights City Council Meeting, 01/14/14 3 137 Cemetery. A public hearing will be held next Tuesday to gather input from residents. A flyer will be 138 delivered by the end of the week. A survey has been set up on-line that residents will be able to take. 139 They are welcome to attend the meeting or submit written comment, as well. He’s hoping to have 140 Cathy Wood (cemetery consultant) at the meeting to answer questions. Councilmember Okelberry 141 would like to look into what money was used to purchase this property to make sure a cemetery would 142 be allowed. Councilmember Wright stated the property is zoned as ‘parks and recreation,’ which 143 allows a cemetery or park. Councilmember Wilson will do some checking to see if any grant money 144 was used to purchase the property. 145 Councilmember Wilson is still working on putting together some dog owner information. She 146 and Mayor Brackner will talk about it later. She thanked the Public Works Department for painting the 147 basement and Council Chambers. She will meet with PWD Nelson to discuss park goals for the future. 148 Councilmember Clausen asked how Jeff Young was contacted to give a bid for computer 149 equipment. Mr. Young said Mayor Baker discussed the city’s needs with the Richmond mayor, who 150 told Mr. Young. Mr. Young then called Mayor Baker to let him know his company could help. 151 Councilmember Clausen reminded that the city needs to get bids for projects over $7,500. Mr. Young 152 is fine with this. Mr. Clausen also reminded this isn’t in the budget. Finance Director Grover will 153 check the budget to determine if the city can pay for it. Mr. Clausen asked for a discussion to reduce 154 River Heights resident’s property taxes by 10%, on the next agenda. 155 Councilmember Okelberry has concerns about the website. He will discuss it with Mayor 156 Brackner before bringing it to the Council. He has been made aware of a bill that is going to the 157 legislature, which deals with business licensing. The sponsor wants to exclude non-profit businesses 158 from the need to be licensed. He is worried, if it goes through, anyone could start a non-profit business 159 and the city would be out of the loop for regulating. He’d like to bring this up at the next meeting. He 160 feels it’s important for the city to voice their concerns. He will send a copy of the bill to all the council 161 members. Mayor Brackner asked Councilmember Wright if the Commission could regulate this. 162 Councilmember Wright said a non-profit business still needs to apply for a Conditional Use Permit 163 (just like a school does). At this point the business would need to fall under the city’s ordinances. 164 Councilmember Okelberry has been doing some work on the ADA issues. He gave Mayor 165 Brackner an article about snow removal to discuss with PWD Nelson. 166 Councilmember Smith didn’t have anything to report. 167 Mayor Brackner and past mayor Baker will meet with the city finance employees on January 168 23rd. After that he’d like to hold a workshop to assess how the budget is doing. They scheduled this 169 meeting at 4:00 on Feb 25th, before council meeting. 170 PWD Nelson said Geoshack is holding the GPS unit until there is a computer to sync it to. 171 He’s sure the city doesn’t want to pay to load it a second time (when he gets a new computer). It will 172 cost $2,100 for the software and loading. Councilmember Okelberry volunteered to get a few other 173 bids for the computers before the next meeting. 174 The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. 175 176 ______________________________ 177 Sheila Lind, Recorder 178 ________________________________ 179 James Brackner, Mayor River Heights City Council Meeting, 01/14/14 4