Mar. 15, 2011 City Council

Highland City Council Meeting Report
March 15, 2011

General Observations
1. This evening the City Council/City Staff appeared to be well prepared, efficient, and harmonious.

2. Mayor Ritchie and the council are keeping their campaign promises.
a. Last months meeting minutes were approved and are available.
b. They have realigned the accounting to correlate income with costs. For example, they now know the money collected for pressurized irrigation does not cover the cost. They also know the $20 a month fee collected from the residents of the Open Space subdivisions does not cover the maintenance cost. ($245K collected vs $359K expended).
c. The new website will provide residents greater access to more information in keeping with the pledge for open/transparent government.
d. The council is actively addressing issues that have been ignored for as long as ten years like park and trail maintenance. For example, $15K is proposed for trail maintenance this year.
e. The Open Space Committee and the Parks and Trails Committee are aggressively re-evaluating the entire park and trail system. Everyone recognizes we cannot afford everything that is on the master plan. For example, seven or eight years ago $6.5M park was proposed for the Beacon Hills area. Eight years later, it is still an undeveloped field. The city plans to do some infrastructure work and develop the park in phases (trying to keep the promise made years ago) but the park will be significantly less grand than the one originally proposed.

3. The debt burden plus increased Utah County assessments and a Federal Storm Sewer improvement mandate combined with the smaller than expected (three years ago) revenue stream continue to prevent Highland from making the improvements to parks and adding other amenities.

4. An amendment to the shopping center plan was approved. The developer proposed several of the lots be combined or reconfigured to give greater flexibility to the use of the land. They are trying to find an anchor store for the north side of Highland Highway (SR-92).

5. The Open Space plan for the Beacon Hills Plat D subdivision was approved giving residents permission to improve and maintain strips of city owned property at the resident’s expense thus eliminating weed patches. This will reduce city maintenance costs and improve the look of the city. There are 18 such subdivisions in Highland. Beacon Hill is the third to get approval. The rest are in the queue. The Open Space Committee works with the residents to organized the presentation to the City Council.

6. Councilwoman Kathryn Schramm proposed, in the spirit of openness, that Highland enact an ordinance that would require everyone on boards, commissions or city appointed committees to submit a conflict of interest disclosure form. The intent was to alert those on committees, etc. to the conflict of interest issue and to protect them from possible legal exposure. For example, it is a 3nd degree felony if your vote benefits you more than $250.

There was a spirited discussion and the council and the audience were split on the proposal. John Park made the winning argument by pointing out that the proposal would increase the city bureaucracy and most of the danger could be controlled through good business management and oversight. The motion failed 3 to 2.

7. BUDGET – City staff presented the first draft of the budget to the City Council. The read through went very well. The mayor and the new city council members are familiar with the budget process now, most of the accounting changes have been made, and John Park is a very good administrator. Points of interest:
a. The cost of the piping of the Murdock Canal is borne by Utah County but Highland has to pay for the moving of the utilities like water and sewer. This is not a huge expense but has a significant impact on a tight budget.
b. The number of part time summer help was increased (20% absenteeism is common) to better maintain our parks and open space. Fertilizer and weed killer was included in the budget this year; an item missed when the city took over from MD Properties last year. We will still have a significant saving ($200K?).
c. $500K is budgeted for city roads. The city roads are in bad shape and preventative maintenance will save big bucks down the road. (Pun intended.
d. A Federal Storm Sewer mandate was unexpected and greatly impacted the budget. I missed the discussion so I don’t know how much it will cost nor what is required.
e. Pressurized irrigation fees will go up this year. The increase was proposed last year but I think the City Council held off because of the sewer fee increase last year. We have to make the 2nd of three payments to the County for the additions being made to the sewage treatment facility. I sat through the budget working session last year and it was really painful.
f. The Public Works Capital Purchases (new pick up truck, new dump truck, etc.) were NOT funded. Road repair first was the reason.
g. Some of the cuts to last year’s police budget were restored this year. In a private conversation with Marv Whiting last week, he said crime in general is down all over the country. He said it is pretty quiet these days at BYU and the murder rate in Central Los Angeles (he was a detective in LA) has dropped from 300 a year to around 60. He suggested that maybe one reason for the drop in gang shootings could be due to the kids being inside playing video games instead of out on the streets looking for trouble.

Foot note: John Park asked the council to thoroughly review the proposed budget and said the city staff will answer questions. He complimented Matt Shipp (Director of Public Works) for a job well done and Mayor Ritchie said it was an excellent start. They are a full month ahead of last year and in much better shape.

Devirl Barfuss