City Council Meeting - ARCHIVED

SOUTH JORDAN CITY CITY COUNCIL MEETING September 6, 2022 Present: Mayor Dawn Ramsey, Council Member Tamara Zander, Council Member Brad Marlor, Council Member Don Shelton, Council Member Patrick Harris, City Manager Gary Whatcott, Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis, City Attorney Ryan Loose, Strategic Services Director Don Tingey, Director of Commerce Brian Preece, Director of Administrative Services Melinda Seager, Police Chief Jeff Carr, City Recorder Anna Crookston, Director of Public Works Jason Rasmussen, City Engineer Brad Klavano, Director of Planning Steven Schaefermeyer, Fire Chief Chris Dawson, Director of Recreation Janell Payne, IT Director Jon Day, Senior IS Tech Phill Brown, GIS Coordinator Matt Jarman, Meeting Transcriptionist Diana Baun, Strategy and Budget Analyst Abagail Patonai Absent: Council Member Jason McGuire Others: Assignment Desk, Tomas Langholtz, Katie Olsen, Jess Shackelford, Robert Paxton, Mary Heine, Michele Snarr, Shannon Groves 6:46 P.M. REGULAR MEETING A. Welcome, Roll Call, and Introduction to Electronic Meeting - By Mayor Dawn Ramsey Mayor Dawn Ramsey welcomed everyone and introduced the electronic meeting. She excused Council Member McGuire who was unable to attend. B. Invocation – By Council Member Patrick Harris Council Member Harris offered the invocation. C. Pledge of Allegiance – By CFO Sunil Naidu CFO Naidu led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. D. Minute Approval D.1. August 16, 2022 City Council Study Meeting Minutes D.2. August 16, 2022 City Council Meeting Minutes Council Member Shelton asked for an amendment to page 20 of the council packet, the second paragraph from the bottom, and would like it to say “we aren’t the lowest because the commercial property to the residential property mix that we have in our city.” Also, on page 22 South Jordan City 2 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 of the council packet, third paragraph from bottom, it was printed “there is no way he would vote to reduce response times” and he would like it to say “there is no way I would vote to reduce budgets that would increase response times.” Council Member Shelton motioned to approve the August 16, 2022 City Council Study Meeting minutes as printed, and the August 16, 2022 City Council Meeting minutes with the amendments above. Council Member Marlor seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. Council Member McGuire was absent from the vote. E. Mayor and Council Reports Council Member Zander attended the South Valley Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting this morning for businesses in the city. Riverton, Draper, Sandy and South Jordan are all members of the South Valley Chamber of Commerce, with South Jordan recently joining. There is a board of business owners that meets once a month to identify the needs of businesses in our cities, everything from large to small businesses. She was able to sit in on that meeting and discuss how they can best support businesses within their cities. She had a great time at the Daybreak Dragon boat races, where she was excited to see South Jordan City had a team this year, as did Zander Real Estate. She noted that the winning race time in 2021 was Zander Real Estate with 50 seconds, however the winning race time this year was around 45 second, so teams are getting faster each year. Council Member Marlor said that on September 17 he attended the staff and council employee picnic, where he was able to help serve lunch while visiting with staff members. He also visited the business Hello Sugar, and it was great. On September 23, he attended the Corporate Citizen Award ceremony where they awarded Ivory Homes with that honor. On September 24 they had an Architectural Review Committee meeting with only one item. He went to the South Jordan Generation Day, during both the breakfast and lunch times, and couldn’t believe how many people were at the lunch where there was BINGO. He was very impressed, the food was wonderful, great people, and he saw people he hadn’t seen in years. Council Member Harris also attended the Corporate Citizen Award Luncheon. The Dragon boat race was great, and he was impressed with the number of residents that showed up to watch. He thinks this will get more steam with every year and it was a lot of fun. He also met with the mayor and the president of the South Valley Sewer District to get up to speed on everything going on there. Council Member Shelton said it was fun attending many of the same events mentioned by fellow council members. He attended the Senior Advisory Committee meeting last week, and in that meeting Mick Florin completed his service as chair of that advisory committee. Paula Brog was elected the new chair of that committee and he encouraged everyone to thank Mr. Florin for his service when they see him; he believes they are working on some sort of acknowledgement for Mick Florin’s service. The Generation Day was fun, and it was interesting to try and match up everyone’s photos. He attended the Jordan River Commission meeting, which was a field trip to Salt Lake City and the Cornell Park lift station. That is a place where they are trying to clean the South Jordan City 3 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 storm water before going into the Jordan River, and he thought it was interesting. He doesn’t think he would encourage us to put in millions of dollars on something like that, but they did have a smaller storm drain cleaning process that he thought was interesting, and may be applicable here. He was finally invited to a construction meeting at the Bingham Creek Regional Park and explained that if they were residents they would be cited for their weeds, so those are being removed and he very much appreciates that. He asked if there are any updates from staff regarding that park. Director Tingey said there are no updates, but they are meeting with the county project manager staff tomorrow for some updates. Council Member Shelton asked about the water test results. Director Tingey said he hasn’t seen them yet, but staff indicated they might have them tomorrow. Council Member Shelton said they think the problem with the grass might be the water, but the other soccer fields have done just fine with the secondary water. They will be removing the weeds and possibly switching to culinary water, depending on those water test results. Mayor Ramsey mentioned that while South Jordan City is moving towards becoming 50% owners of that park, but are not there yet and we have not been a part of the contract up until this point. Our name is on it, but the county currently runs things. We will eventually be partners and the park authority will take effect, but currently any concerns with that park should be going to the county. She has had many meetings, and attended other events previously mentioned. The South Valley Chamber invited our US senators and two of our congressional representatives to speak, and it was a fantastic event. She appreciated the chance to visit with both senators and two of our house members; she has a good relationship with them. On the trip to Washington, DC scheduled soon, she will be meeting with them about a specific project and working with our congressional delegation on trying to get some funding allocated as part of the new infrastructure law. She attended the Utah Rural Water Users conference for the second year in a row, as that was also where they had the State Drinking Water Board Meeting, and she was able to sit with some of the attending city employees at lunch. There is a lot going on with the League of Cities and Towns. She was able to meet with all of the mayors in Davis County and Speaker Wilson, and tell them about our water reuse pilot project. The mayors in Davis County are eager to see it and have a tour to see how it works. She had a unique opportunity to represent the city with all the mayors in the state of Utah to cohost a dinner and behind the scenes tour for all the mayors in Utah at the governor’s mansion. This is the first time this has ever happened, and there were about 115-130 mayors. It was outside on the lawn and she loved that no one was overly concerned about the lawn not being mowed. The goal was to hold an event to thank everyone for their service and create an opportunity for them to do something special. She had a few meetings with the Miller Group and staff, including one this morning with their executive team, and she is glad to be working with them. She is really looking forward to the Gold Star Families Monument dedication tomorrow, and grateful for everyone involved that has made this happen. South Jordan City 4 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 F. Public Comment Mayor Ramsey opened the public comment portion of the meeting. Katie Olsen (Resident) – I am the associate director of strategy and budget for the city. I like to make the joke that by day I do that job, and by nighttime I do another job. I am also running for the state legislature, I am running in a new district that was just created in our city, it’s House District 48. It covers parts of Herriman and Riverton, and then in South Jordan it primarily covers Founder’s Park in Daybreak, Highland Park and the Country Crossing neighborhood in Daybreak. If I’m looking at the map right, it’s primarily Council Woman Zander’s District, a tiny five buildings of Council Member McGuire’s District, and then also a small sliver of Council Member Shelton’s District but there may not be houses in it yet though. It’s a new district, there is no incumbent. I really want to set up a precedent; I want to keep a South Jordan presence in the state legislature as well. I am running because I care a lot about local government, you already know this about me. My dad was a fire fighter, I came to this because I love thinking about the issues that are at the local government level. I really care about whether or not people have clean water, whether or not the fire truck gets there on time, and whether or not the police are showing up. I think there is so much good stuff that we can do by paying attention at the local level. My official platform is balance growth, strong cities, and informed decisions. Like I said, it’s taking that approach that I take at the city that we have all committed to, of looking at the data, making sure we are talking to people, and then making good solid decisions. I am going to make one promise to you guys, it is the only campaign promise I am making and it’s the same one I made to Riverton City a few weeks ago, and I need to visit Herriman City soon; it is that you won’t find someone at the state legislature who cares as much about local government as I do. I want to make sure that you have two sets of things from me tonight. One, that you can keep trusting me to be your employee, which of course is still my primary job; I am not going away. Even if I get elected I will still be working for the city and you can trust me to give you good information, because that’s what I have committed to. Second, I want to make sure that my door is open as a candidate, I want to hear from everyone what issues they want to see tackled at the state level; how we can strengthen cities, balance growth well, and how we can do that informed decision approach. I will leave my business cards for you guys, at the back counter, so you have my campaign email, phone number, and my website is votekatieolsen.com. (Resident) – I live near 2700 West and I’ve noticed a lot has been going along the park strip on 2700 West. I have searched the city website and I can’t find anything about what the construction is that’s going on; I would like to know that. Also, I would like to know what the plans are for remediation of the park strip. Obviously, I know that the city has been a big promoter of flipping park strips, I flipped mine and helped my neighbor as well, and I am hoping the city is taking those steps as well to convert the park strip that is being torn up into a water saving environment. Director Klavano said he is unsure of the specific company, but its fiber installation. It’s not Google, it’s either Comcast or FiberTel, or one of those. Their requirements are to repair the park strip to the way it was before the damage. To flip it would cost more money, and we can’t make them do that. He is unsure of the plan long-term for the park strips, and that plan is being worked on. South Jordan City 5 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 Director Rasmussen added that the city is developing a plan for all of their collector road park strips, and they are finalizing the design. They will be starting with 11400 South & 10400 South, along with a few others, but he can take a look at that and see what opportunities there might be. Bob Paxton (Resident) I would like to thank you for the prelude of the Woody Williams, I recently went to Normandy, had a couple of uncles that were there and survived, and it’s the most poignant trip I ever had. In fact, people in France near that area have field trips to these areas and I wish we could do things like that, to continue to promote what happened there and the value of that. So, thank you for that and for the Gold Star and those sorts of things. I also want to thank you for not having a huge increase in our property taxes. My daughters live in Park City, and one had a 33% increase in property tax, in a period of inflation. I hope that you can continue to keep, as a city, expenses under control with inflation because it is a major deal to people of all incomes. Mayor Ramsey mentioned a project that will cost a few million dollars that they don’t know if it’s going to work. Mayor, you have probably been on a committee with UDOT about the expansion of a gondola or a bus route up Little Cottonwood Canyon. I’ve skied for many years, went to many meetings ad-nauseam; ever since the Mountain Accord, all the way through the Central Wasatch Commission. There are, to me, a lot of problems, but one of the problems is $600 million plus. I know that you don’t make the decisions, but you can help with the decision making. $600 million in a period of inflation, to residents of Utah, where probably up that canyon maybe 50% of the skiers are from the State of Utah and the rest are from out of state, I don’t think we need to be paying that. I don’t like the red lights, they call it the red snake, I don’t really care for that, but it’s something that I think our city and perhaps you mayor, or if any of you are on a committee, could bring up. I could talk for hours on this topic. If any of you have any questions, give me a call, but I think it would be a tremendous travesty for the expense to fall on the residents of this state and I don’t know why they are going forth with everything like it’s already approved and there is no money approved yet. Mayor Ramsey noted that none of them sit on a committee that has any say on the gondola, however she sits on several committees with the executive director of UDOT and she would be happy to pass his information and opinion along. Mayor Ramsey closed the public comment portion of the meeting. G. Presentation Item G.1. Proclamation of the City of South Jordan in Recognition of the 235th Anniversary of the Constitutional Convention and Constitution Week 2022 (By Mayor Dawn R. Ramsey). Mayor Ramsey read the proclamation above and presented it to representatives in attendance. H. Action Items H.1. Resolution R2022-36, Appointing Patrick Harris to the South Valley Sewer District Board of Trustees (By Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis). Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis said that at the last meeting there was discussion about Mayor Ramsey stepping down from the South Valley Sewer District Board of Trustees, and it South Jordan City 6 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 was the council’s preference to appoint Council Member Harris to that position. Manager Lewis checked with the sewer district, and that needs to be done by resolution. That resolution is before the council tonight, and with its approval Council Member Harris will be appointed to that board. Council Member Marlor motioned to approve Resolution R2022-36, Appointing Council Member Harris to the South Valley Sewer District Board. Council Member Zander seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. Council Member McGuire was absent from the vote. H.2. Resolution R2022-37, Authorizing the Mayor to sign the School Resource Officer Interlocal Agreement with the Board of Education of Jordan School District (By City Manager Gary Whatcott). City Manager Gary Whatcott said this has been a long process. We didn’t get everything we wanted, which was for them to pay 100% of our police officers in the schools but that was challenging for the district to do. We did get a new rate, and we need to remember that we are negotiating with the rest of our city partners which include West Jordan, Bluffdale, Riverton and Herriman as we all needed to be on the same page. A lot of that has to do with how the school district pays us, how much they pay us, and negotiating an escalator clause in there that we didn’t have before that would allow us to actually start increasing the pay slowly to get up to our goal of 100% compensation. The district will have to do that slowly to get to that point. Manager Whatcott has worked with Chief Carr, met with the police chiefs of the other cities together and he believes they are all supportive of this document, as are all the other city managers. The school district has already passed this, and they are comfortable with where we are headed with it. This agreement is good for five more years, and we will continue to provide services to our schools, which we think is a truly important effort. Not only in regards to safety, but the education provided with the DARE program as well. Police Chief Jeff Carr thanked Manager Whatcott for his efforts spearheading this, as this would not have happened without that. Council Member Zander asked how they balance out schools with multiple cities attending. Manager Whatcott said they use the political boundaries of each city, and that’s what each city covers. For example, Herriman High School has about 2/3 of its students from South Jordan, but Herriman still handles that high school. Council Member Shelton noted that it shows they are being paid $60,000 a year, and that isn’t enough so there is definitely a gap we are funding. Manager Whatcott said that previously that amount was $45,000, so this was a big jump. This is also across all the cities, and there has been a lot of discussion about the fully loaded price. Along with the salary it’s the gun, car, uniform, training, etc., and he thinks they made a lot of inroads into the district understanding how much we have paid over the past three to four years in police salaries, and that they need to get up to speed. The district just asked, through the negotiations, that they are given some time and that’s why the escalator clause was added, to start building that. Our end goal, which will probably go beyond this contract here, is to get to the fully loaded price. Council Member Shelton asked how many resource officers we have. South Jordan City 7 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 Chief Carr said there is one at Bingham, Valley, a part-time officer at River’s Edge, along with officers in the three middle schools in the city. Manager Whatcott added that school is also out part of the summer, and when they aren’t in the schools and doing school related activities, they are working on patrol or other duties as assigned by the chief. We do get them a portion of the year that they are not being used in the schools, but they really want the hourly rate being paid to get to them being paid at the full cost while in the schools. Chief Carr said the resource officers also teach DARE at the feeder schools for their middle school. Manager Whatcott discussed the DARE program and that there have been discussions about whether or not to continue it. Teachers fully support the program, and he has found that when the program is left to teachers rather than an officer, it just doesn’t have the same effectiveness. He also noted that the middle school resource officers are a huge resource for the high school officers, helping to solve cases and with other things that take place. Chief Carr added that the DARE Program is more than just drug education now. It is a whole decision making model that helps with all aspects of life. He has visited almost all the schools in our city and talked with the principals, from elementary through high school, talking about some of the issues, mainly security related based on current events. They are very supportive of the city and the help they get from the police department. Mayor Ramsey said the district has been working to remodel the entrance of every school in the district, and she believes Bingham was the part of the last group of schools needing that remodel. You now can’t enter that school without going through the front office first after the remodel during the summer. Council Member Zander asked if all the cities have been cooperative in these efforts. Manager Whatcott said yes. In fact, Bluffdale uses Saratoga Springs as their police department and they came to the meetings and were very supportive and collaborative as well. Council Member Harris motioned to approve Resolution R2022-37, Authorizing the Mayor to sign the School Resource Officer Interlocal Agreement with the Board of Education and Jordan School District. Council Member Zander seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. Council Member McGuire was absent from the vote I. Public Hearing Item I.1. Resolution R2022-35, Approving the 2021 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report and authorizing submittal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (By Long Range Planner David Mann). RCV Planner David Mann thanked Katie Olsen for her hard work as the previous coordinator for this program, and noted that the transition to him was smooth and easy to do. He continued by reviewing his prepared presentation (Attachment A). South Jordan City 8 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 Council Member Shelton asked about the ramps going into the areas that are still highlighted in red on Attachment A. Planner Mann said that map is something they are continuing to fund. The program is easy to use since we don’t have a lot of neighborhoods that would qualify under the requirements to help low to moderate income families. These are assumed qualifiers, so we can help those with disabilities by having that infrastructure program and dedicating a majority of our funding there. We are continuing to go through that funding for the time being, and once they are all approved they can start dedicating their time and attention to other areas it might benefit. On average they do about 40-60 ramps per year. They used to do more, but the cost of materials has definitely changed the number they are able to do. Mayor Ramsey noted that this is something the city has been working hard at since she became mayor. Council Member Marlor said there was a smaller amount he noticed given to the dental assist company, and it didn’t look like it had been used. He asked about the status of those funds. Planner Mann said that in the staff report it notes there was $3000 awarded to Roseman University for a program they were trying to do at the college. We were never able to get that funding used, and we contacted them a few times over the past year to see if they had anyone else that would qualify for that funding. The contract they signed expired in June, so staff will probably look at allocating that to something else. Council Member Shelton motioned to approve Resolution R2022-35, Approving the 2021 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report and submittal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Development. Council Member Harris seconded the motion. Roll Call vote was 4-0, unanimous in favor. Council Member McGuire was absent from the vote J. Staff Reports and Calendaring Items Manager Whatcott said he and the mayor will be in DC next week, meeting with many representatives to get money for a project with our water system, specifically a new tank on the west side. They will also be applying for grants, and they will be talking to our representatives there, trying to get them behind those grants, which usually helps get us to the top of the list. Mayor Ramsey added they have a letter of support from our entire congressional delegation for this project. These grants are extremely competitive, and while there is a lot of money available through the infrastructure law, the whole country also wants it. Manager Whatcott will be attending a water reuse conference with Director Rasmussen, touring a few facilities. There are some great projects in California related to reuse, and they will bring back that information to see how our project might fit into it as they continue to South Jordan City 9 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 help the state develop some regulations about water reuse. They still have a long way to go, but they are going to keep working on this and pitching it everywhere they can. He added that tomorrow is the Woody Williams dedication, and that the monument was unveiled today for some work to be done and it is amazing. Mayor Ramsey discussed the plans for the program tomorrow night and all the different groups and speakers who will be a part of that program. Manager Whatcott also mentioned resident Kelly Causey, who did an amazing job with heading up the fundraising. There was tremendous support from our business community and some donations of work and in-kind work. Tom Buckley from the Bentley Dealership donated quite a bit of money, along with the Miller Family Foundation donating $10,000 recently. He agreed that Council Member Zander’s suggestion to ask the community for donations was great and everyone was very supportive of the project. City Attorney Ryan Loose said they have Senator Fillmore set up for September 27 from noon to 1:00 p.m., Representative Pulsipher on October 18 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. because she has to get up to interim session afterwards, and then Representative Teuscher on September 26. The council will get invites for all those meetings, and those who can come should let him know so they can notice appropriately if there is a quorum. Those meetings will be held at City Hall, in the Cypress Conference Room. He will try to get one or two more set up before the session through November and December. He asked the council to let him know if there are any specific issues they would like to discuss as they are working with a federal lobbyist and a federal team to try and get a direct appropriation through our delegation up there, and then support that with the rest of the delegations’ letters of support. Manager Lewis asked everyone to make sure October 12 is on their calendar for the first strategic planning and budget meeting to start the next round of discussions. They are also looking at a second date in November since there is only one council meeting that month, possibly Wednesday, November 9 if that works for everyone. Both of those meetings will start at 5:00 p.m. if that works for everyone. Mayor Ramsey discussed the VIP preview breakfast for the 9/11 exhibit in Farmington at the Legacy Events Center with the Major Brent Taylor Foundation, and noted that next year they want to bring the event to South Jordan. She discussed the changes in the Study Session format, and asked the council and staff to be ready to start business at 5:00 p.m. through the end of December, as she has a required in-person class at BYU that she received special permission to attend via Zoom. She is attending from her office, but it goes until 4:45 p.m. and she plans on coming straight down to the study session meetings afterwards to start business at 5:00 p.m. The council agreed they were okay with the new format. Attorney Loose noted that business really wasn’t starting until around 4:50 p.m. anyways, so it doesn’t change much. The public notice says business will start by 5:00 p.m., so they South Jordan City 10 City Council Meeting September 6, 2022 can start as soon as the mayor is ready. Mayor Ramsey also noted she received an email letting her know that her request to be excused from Jury Duty for the entire month of October was denied. She is 100% in support of doing her civic duty, but she has so much going on right now that it would be too much. She will have to wait and see what happens, but wants everyone to know that is a possibility. Council Member Marlor motioned to adjourn the City Council meeting. Council Member Harris seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. Council Member McGuire was absent from the vote. ADJOURNMENT The September 6, 2022 City Council meeting adjourned at 8:06 p.m. This is a true and correct copy of the September 6, 2022 City Council Meeting Minutes, which were approved on September 20, 2022. South Jordan City Recorder