Recap! City Council December 2020

 December City Council Recap!

•The council awarded a contract to KR Plumbing. The bid included updating water fountains to touchless in all city buildings and parks with those amenities. The total was just under the $50,000 allotment used from CARES act funds.

•The city gave recognition to city planner Barry Burton who is retiring. The council and others gave their thanks to him for all his work and dedication to the city for over 30 years.

•The conditional use permit for the soccer complex came forward again. In September after a lengthy meeting with the council agreed that owner Kelly Park could come back to council after having the opportunity to revisit costs associated with the CUP created at that time. A committee consisting of council and staff along with Kelly met to review his findings. The committee made a few changes and brought to the council which was approved unanimously.

•The council accepted an agreement with new city planner Shari Phippen. Before coming to a council, a committee consisting of council members and staff interviewed the top two candidates that applied for the position. Shari comes with 12 years of planning experience in other small cities and a master’s degree in Public Administration. We look forward to working with her!

•The council needed to amend funds that to match FEMA grants funds for a BRIC planning grant. This was originally done back in November but an error in calculation required the council to change the amount to $17,000 rather than the $15,000 granted back in November.

•The Parks and Rec committee brought forward some amended plans for Canyon Meadows Master Plan. The committee requested the city to consider using funds that are now available since some costs that were already budgeted were covered under CARES act money. After some deliberation, the council agreed to allow the parks committee to use first, park impact fees; second, funds now available through displaced CARES act money; and any other costs associated will come from capital funds project money - if needed. This motion allows for the construction of 4 pickle ball courts, basketball court, paved parking lot and tactical bicycle track to begin. This will cover phase 1 of the park, with future amenities to include grass, pavilions, 4 more pickleball courts, 1 more basketball court and concrete walking paths. There is also a fund from private citizens that is being collected to help cover the costs of the pickleball courts if anyone else is interested in contributing. 

•Paramedic Service Transfer: Currently paramedic services are licensed by Davis County. In the near future Davis County will disband their license and require municipalities to cover these services either by providing their own or contracting with neighboring cities to pay for them. This has been an ongoing conversation of over a year and the council was brough up to date. Currently, the county collects taxes from citizens to help supplement these costs. When this license is transferred, the county tax will be redirected to their respected municipalities. South Weber is in a position to be able to cover their own ambulance licensing without needing any additional equipment but will need to bring on 3 additional firefighters as required by law -one to stay at the station, one to drive the ambulance and one to assist the patient in the ambulance. The difference of these costs against the income the city will receive from the redistribution of taxes was discussed. No final decisions will be made at this time, but it will be an ongoing conversation.

•Crossroads & Speed Limit Signs: There has been a few different requests for flashing speed limit signs throughout the city and crosswalks on South Weber Drive in a couple different locations. These concerns were brought to the public safety committee which brought it to the council to weigh in on. Where South Weber Drive is a state road approval from the state is needed. The council discussed flashing speed limit signs and deliberated the flashing speed limit signs. It was agreed the city should cover those funds but a process would need to be in place to evaluate requests. It was also deliberated whether it would be appropriate for private citizens to place the flashing speed limits on their property. Staff will begin working behind the scenes to come to a resolution.

Reports:

Mayor Jo: She has met with the county regarding property acquisition to discuss the trail that will connect the Bonneville Shoreline trail to the Weber Pathways with Staker Parson’s and will be meeting with Geneva soon.

Councilwoman Alberts: The PR committee was able to finalize our choice for a new website design. They will begin migrating the data from our old site to our new site beginning of January and should be up and live by the middle of January.

Councilman Soderquist: He met with the gravel pits to discuss ways to measure dust travel and other dust mitigation

Councilman Winsor: Code committee met and finalized all the definitions of uses for city code. We will meet at the end of December and review and send it to the Planning Commission for their approval. The code committee will continue to start applying the uses to the appropriate zones.

City Manager Dave Larson: The council had a discussion last month regarding a grocery study for the Stephen’s property at the corner of Old Fort Road and 475 E. Ultimately a 3 way split was agreed upon by all interested parties including the city. The cost for the city will be approximately $2100.00.

Just a reminder we do have a position that will become open for a new planning commission member. Applications are on the city’s website and are due by January 6th. This position is available to anyone who is interested and has been a resident for at least 12 months.

And that’s a wrap! Happy New Year everyone!! Here's to tightly crossed fingers 2021 is better than 2020!

Recap! City Council November 2020

 City Council Recap: November!

•General Plan 2020: {insert celebration!!}. The General Plan was officially and finally approved by the city council. There were only a few changes from the recommendation that came from the Planning Commission. That included changing the zoning on the area south of the carwash to commercial highway with the option of adding patio homes (single family units) as a buffer, as well as adding more verbiage in the narrative regarding the history and decision of removing the connection to Layton. There was a discussion concerning the uses included in the commercial recreation which was decided to have the code committee review. I want to thank everyone who participated in the general plan feedback one final time! That plan underwent a great deal of evolving to get from what was presented to what was approved, and it wouldn’t have happened without you!

•The Fire Department has a rehab truck that was given to them from Region 1. This rehab truck was in need of replacement of the trailer, truck and supplies. All these items will be covered by funds from Region 1, *not* the city. However, it will be stationed and managed by the South Weber Fire Department. The council approved the supplies requested.

•The contract renewal of our city manager, David Larson, was approved by the council. I think I can speak for all our council members that we feel very grateful to have been able to renew this with Dave and he is a great asset to our city!

•The parks and rec committee brought forward their recommended master plans for Canyon Meadows Park. This includes pickle ball courts, basketball courts and pavilions. The Petersen Family has donated to the city a barn on their property that is over 100 years old. This donation was also discussed in council. This beautiful barn will not be able to be renovated as we had hoped, but the family would like to have a pavilion designed with barnlike elements put in its place as a way to commemorate and memorialize the barn. After discussing costs associated with this, it was determined that a pavilion can certainly take its place but additional design and elements above that may need to be received via donations as the budget for the park is already very limited.

•Blue Ox Development approached the city about paying for a market study for the Stephen’s property – which is just off 84 on the west end. They related a possible grocery store was interested in this location but wanted the city to pay for the market study to see if it was financially feasible. The council decided that while we are not opposed to discussion of a shared cost for the study, we were not comfortable with paying for the full cost of the study.

•Also presented to the city was a concept plan for the Poll property which is just west of Highmark Charter School. This plan included multiple businesses, townhomes and apartments. Some of the commercial, including Aggie Ice Cream and Dutch Brothers, had level of interest agreements. Other commercial ideas were an anytime fitness and another large area for future commercial building. The council felt the plan was a good plan – particularly the commercial aspects – but had concerns over the amount of density of the housing on both the apartments and the townhomes. The developers listened to feedback from the council as well as the planning commission to test the waters and will go from there.

•The Public Safety Committee has been working on applying for a BRIC grant from FEMA to develop a hazard mitigation plan for the city. The application requires the city to match any grant funds received at a ratio of 25:75% meaning the city would be responsible for 25% with FEMA covering the remaining 75%. The council approved budgeting $15,000 in anticipation of a nearly $50,000 grant from FEMA. This grant will apply to natural disasters so anything relating to wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes and such. This plan will identify potential risks of natural disasters so as a city we can work on and plan for mitigation of those risks.

Reports:

Mayor Jo: The landfill will be transferring a substantial amount of waste to the new landfill which will help with the odors. The next stage of cover will begin August of 2021 for the landfill that is closest to South Weber. The life of the landfill is approximately 10-12 years, however the transfer station will continue to be in use. She also attended a channel opening on the Weber River. This was done to create channels for the Bluehead Sucker which is a threatened species. The hope is these channels will help these species to move off the main channel and provide an area where they can begin to thrive.

Councilman Blair Halverson: HAFB RAB met on the 29th of October. There is a new ORC contract put in place for the next 10 years. 2 of their objectives is to evaluate and recommend alternative solutions for OU1 and OU2 (both located in South Weber) and doing ROD amendments for OU1, OU2 and OU6. OU4 (down towards Riverdale) is not really progressing so they will be focusing on new tactics for that site. The Public Safety Committee is continuing the discussion of the paramedic service transition from a county sheriff’s department level to a city level. The CERT program citizens met and laid out the team captains and discussed the layout of a plan. Resident Brandyn Bodily has been working diligently alongside Chief Tolman on this and the city appreciates their efforts and work! This is a great asset to the city!

Councilman Wayne Winsor: Code committee is making headway though it is a bit of an extensive process. They are now meeting once a week instead of 2 times a month. They are reviewing all the uses and their definitions. The municipal utility committee had a presentation from Utopia as well as Connext. They are also reviewing other options for high-speed internet and will work with the PR Committee to get all information out to the residents. There is some concern about 5G and some health issues that Wayne will be focusing on researching further. Mosquito abatement may be losing a financial partner as far as ariel services – they are looking into other options to increase revenue to compensate for these areas though possible solutions are premature at this time.

Councilwoman Angie Petty: The YCC had a leadership retreat that was planned for November that was postponed due to Covid restrictions. They have been working very diligently in their gratitude challenge for South Weber and lighting up the city with gratitude. The parks and rec committee will take the feedback from the council on the master planning of the park and look into different options.

Councilman Quin Soderquist: Everything was discussed and he had nothing further to report.

Councilwoman Hayley Alberts: PR committee met and discussed website updates. We had budgeted $25,000 to redesign the city’s website but we were able to find other options that allows us more customization and flexibility and at a lower cost. This will be a bit of a slower process to migrate all information over, but we are excited for the upcoming abilities.

City Manager David Larson: The court hearing for short term rental Cobblestone Manor happened this month and we were successful in arguing our case that the short-term rental (STR) is operating without a business license. The city was granted a preliminary injunction which requires the STR to stop any and all short-term renting until they have obtained a business license. This is great news! We will continue to work on things on our end. The council agrees we need to look further into our code regarding STR’s in general and areas where they are and are not allowed. Our code on short term rentals was very helpful in proving our case.

That is all! Hope your November was wonderful. I want to thank all those who participated in the #LightupSouthWeber campaign. We are still counting and so continue to watch the trees at city hall. Have a great Saturday everyone!

City Council Recaps - Update!

 Hello all!

As the council has decided to meet only two times a month, I decided I am going to write up just one recap each month. This is to both help me stay maintain all my responsibilities and to help you with a hopefully streamlined version of things happening in the city. I will cover what I feel is most important to city residents and not every agenda item. However, I will still post agendas of upcoming meetings so that if there is something that particularly interests you – you can chime in and watch the meeting live or later or review the minutes when they are available.

I hope you find these helpful. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, and I am always here to answer questions.

I will post November meetings tomorrow!

Recap! City Council 10.27.2020

City Council Recap! 10.27.2020

 

I apologize for this getting out so late – this week has been a long year! :D

 

•Youth City Council November Project:  Members of the YCC came to introduce their gratitude challenge project for the month of November.  They will be asking the community to share their gratitude on social media and at city hall.  Everyone item of gratitude will represent a light bulb.  The city will then decorate the trees at city hall to show a visual representation of all the gratitude of South Weber.  The YCC has invited both high mark and SW elementary to participate and are excited to share something back with the community!

 

•Property Acquisition by Ron & Karen Anderson:  The Andersons live on adjacent to Canyon Meadows Park.  Their property line is unique due to the layout of the subdivision and they are requesting to buy approximately 18.29 sq ft.  This is property they have been taking care of though it is owned by the city.  They wish to better line their property up with adjacent neighbors.  

 

•Consent Agenda: There was a discussion about a concern on the language of the conditional use permit for the Soccer Complex.  Staff explained that because the owner of the soccer complex was going to look into the cost of fencing and bring back their response to the response as well as any other items.  The minutes do no reflect the final CUP and that concern will be corrected and addressed. 

•Final Plat for South Weber Drive Commercial Subdivision amendment:  4.2 acres have been subdivided into commercial.  The first amendment was split to create Alpha Coffee.  They are requesting to split again and create a 3^rd lot to put in a commercial unit for salon suites.  This was recommended by the planning commission.  

 

•General Plan: YAY!  Can you believe it!?  The council discussed a few things left on the general plan, including some changes that were recently recommended by the planning commission. 

This discussion takes place about minute on the video below.  To help simplify, I will just cover some of the talking points:

-There was a discussion about the trails, specifically the canal trail.  It was brought to attention that according to the survey, some of the trails had less than 50% of interest.  There were concerns regarding the trails and property owners who do not want a trail in their back yard and/or property.  While any trails would need property owner approval, there was still some hesitancy amongst some members of the council.  It was discussed that leaving it on the GP would allow us add money into our impact fees as well as achieve grants, where leaving it off would not.  Inevitably, 3 of the councilmembers were in favor of leaving the trail on the GP with 2 opposing, thus the canal trail will stay as planned.   It is perceived the probability of this trail will not be happening any time soon. 

-In regards to the narrative, it was expressed that the “story” behind what happened with this general plan needs to be notated and remembered.  It was proposed to add into the narrative a section regarding a connection to Layton and the reason why it was added and the reason why it was removed.   The council was agreeable to adding additional information to the narrative.  See below for more information regarding this section.  It was also requested to put the dates of the public record so anyone in the future can find the public record of the survey results and feedback.  

-Commercial south of carwash:  A change made by the planning commission was to change this area from commercial highway to high density housing.  The council whether or not to keep this commercial highway or residential.  Two main thoughts here were whether we wanted to lose more commercial area and how to create a transition from commercial to residential.  It was advocated, due to public comments and feedback of nearby neighbors, to change the density from R7/multi-family to a single-family patio zone.  After some deliberation, the final decision was to leave it commercial highway to 7800 South with the option of adding a single-family patio home as a transition.  It was also expressed that the buffers for this particular property regarding commercial will need to be addressed and considered.

 

-Some other minor verbiage and dates were also requested to be changed.  The changes will be done by staff and presented to the council at our next meeting.  

Reports:          

Mayor Jo: The Weber and Davis Commissioners met and approved a resolution to adjust the county border along 2 properties, one is the disputed 4 acres for the RV park and the other is a small section on the east side of the city adjacent to where Uintah has commercial property.  The cities will be meeting separately to discuss those borders at a later time.   Hill Air Force Base has a link on their website and social media for feedback on their interactive maps.  Interestingly enough, it was determined because of the depth of South Weber, the sound from the jets was not as impactful.  If you disagree – you are welcome to provide feedback. ;-)  Code enforcement officer Chris Tremea met with Doug at the Riverside development about the dumpsters and weeds 

 

Councilmember Halverson: The CERT program captains have been chosen and assigned by Chief Tolman and is underway with many citizens coming on board to help.  The county wide  paramedic services are proposing and interlocal agreement for transition from county wide paramedic services to municipalities providing those services.  Discussions regarding this over the next 6 months will be taking place. 

 

Councilmember Petty: Asked for the citizens to support the Youth City Council regarding their gratitude challenge.  The parks and rec committee has met to work on the master plan for Canyon Meadows Park. They have also been reviewing the park code and making adjustments to it.  Both of these will be coming to the council soon. 

 

Councilmember Winsor: The Municipal Utility Committee met to discuss fiber and other high- speed internet options, they will be having a presentation by Utopia soon.  The City Code Committee also met and started going through some of the hot topic items and start the process of making changes.  

City Manager David Larsen.  The hearing for the short term rental Cobblestone Creek was scheduled to happen this week but the other side requested to have it delayed.  A new hearing date is set for November 16^th.  

**Since this recap is so much later, included in the packet is the new addition to the narrative regarding a connection to Layton.  Since this is a hot topic, I will add a picture of it here.  If you have thoughts or comments on anything here or in the general plan, please make sure to let us know.**. 

Recap! City Council 10.13.2020

 City Council Recap! 9.13.2020 

•Coronavirus update:  Cases have increased 40% this last week, total of 762 cases, 14 cases have been hospitalized in Davis County.  South Weber has 19 active cases.  Governor Herbert has released new guidelines, though it is not an executive order.  

 

•Ranked Choice Voting: A presentation was done by Kory Holdaway from Ranked Choice Voting.  Ranked Choice voting is a 501c3 organization that can avoid having to do primaries.  Candidates are ranked and whoever gets over the 50% of the votes is deemed the winner.  The council had a few questions for Kory regarding how it would play out for South Weber and why we would choose to use Ranked Choice Voting. Ultimately, it would appear for the council using this method wasn’t in the best interests of our city, though no formal decisions was made at this time.   

•Youth City Council charter:  The YCC has amended it’s charter and is bringing it forward, as well as the advisors to the YCC (Angie Petty, Hayley Alberts & McKenna Winsor) to the council for approval.  Each of the YCC members that were present for this meeting came forward and introduced themselves.  The city council approved unanimously.  

•Cares Act Funds – Hazard Pay for Fire Department:  For many cities, hazard pay for firefighters utilizing CARES act funds.  The council wanted to see an updated description where all the funds have been allocated thus far.  This updated amount is as follows:  SWC has received $445,186 of the $667,779 funds to date.  We have allocated $40,000 to city hall audio/video upgrades, $30,000 for utility customer assistance, $50,000 for touchless features, including water fountains, sinks and toilets in city buildings and public bathrooms, $73,000 for two auto load/auto lift gurnerys for the fire department, $14,000 for chest compression system for ambulances, and $360,000 to go towards firefighters salary.  The actual we have spent so far has been $8,846.  If we receive the third traunch, we will have $91,933 to still allocate.  The hazard pay was deliberated amongst the council and was decided to recommend the $2 per hour per employee, bringing the total funds allocated to $33,562.  These funds will be in two lump sum payments.  At this time, the hazard pay will cover from March 1^st until November 30^th of 2020.  It is not expected for hazard pay to continue beyond the November 30^th date, unless CARES funds are able to be utilized for it. 

•Mosquito Abatement District CARES funds: Due to increased costs from Covid-19, Mosquito Abatement is requesting $1,739 from each city and the county. This item was approved unanimously.

 

•Harvest Park Development Agreement: This agreement has been amended to include that the dog park, being put in by the Harvest Park Development but completed by November 1^st unless extenuating circumstances arise.  The council approved this unanimously.     

 

•City council meetings: City council meetings will now only meet 2 times a month (on the 2^nd and 4^thTuesday) due to smaller agenda items.  It is expected that work meetings will take place on the third Tuesday of the month.  The calendar from this date forward and for 2021 with these changes was approve unanimously.  

•New Business:  Councilwoman Petty brought up that the Posse Grounds had damage from the wind storm.  The trees that fell pulled out the sprinkling system and grass near and around the fire pit area.  It was suggested that instead of repairing those areas with new sprinkler lines and sod, to instead extend the parking lot.  However, that area is used often by residents for camp outs and during Country Fair Days, and not fixing the area would get rid of the fire pit.  Ultimately the council wanted to see the cost difference between fixing the area with new sprinkler lines and grass and extending the parking lot.  It was also asked if we need to consider looking into hazard pay for other staff members who work directly with the public – the council was in favor of reviewing more information on that.  Councilwoman Petty also requested that the municipal utility committee review Fiber options and revisit it.  The committee agreed to review that.  The council also discussed looking into other ways to slow down traffic near 475 W, 6650 W, Old Maples Farms and Canyon Meadows.  

Reports:

•      Mayor Jo: Pickleball clinics will be happening this Saturday at the FAC.  Power is available at the dog park – the sprinkler and fence are also going in as well as sod – looks like that park may be open by November 1^st after all! Updated General Plan will be on the meeting on the 27^th with the council for approval.

•      Councilman Winsor: West Nile has been found in the state, 11 of which were in Davis County.  They have been especially bad the last month, but the abatement has been working hard and successfully on it.  You can call or submit a form online, and they typically respond within 24 hours.  

•      Councilwoman Petty:  Parks and Rec met and submitted several letters of intent for grants.  Also discussed the master plan for Canyon Meadows Park and will be bringing that forward on the 27^th for the council to review.

•      Councilman Soderquist:  There were some updates made to the policy and procedures manual.  This will come before the council sometime next year prior to our June audit.  

•      Councilwoman Alberts: Our new sounds system is in! Our cameras have not yet arrived, but hopefully will be available by next meeting.  The monitors on the dias will be lowered.  

•      Councilman Halverson: The planning commission meeting on the 8^th.  The general plan was recommended to the council with one minor change – the parcel adjacent to the car wash was moved from commercial highway to R7.  They give preliminary approval for a salon next to the coffee shop.

•      Staff: Just a reminder there will be a ballot drop box available at the FAC.  There will not be one at City Hall.  

Hozzah! If you read to the end of this, you deserve a treat! Indulge away!

Watch the meeting below.  Click here to see the agenda/packet. 

Local Elections!

 Good morning South Weber! Hopefully all of us at this time have received our ballots. If you aren’t sure who to vote for in your local elections - I hope you will find this helpful!

I have reached out to all the local candidates that will represent South Weber and asked them a series of questions. You can see their responses, as well as information on where and how to vote, where to research judicial nominees and read more about the amendments to the state’s constitution on the city’s website. Happy voting!

http://southwebercity.com/file/2016/10/1-Elections-2020.pdf

Recap! City Council 9.28.2020

 City Council Recap!  9.29.2020 

•The Youth City Council was sworn in.  Advisors this year will be Hayley Alberts, Angie Petty and McKenna Winsor.  We are very excited to get started! ­­

•Coronavirus update:  The cases are continuing to increase within Davis County.  South Weber currently has 9 active cases and a total 55 cases.  Currently there are 12 hospitalizations within the county and no new deaths this week.  Utah is lowest in the country for mortality rate.  

•The city gave recognition to Stacy Whitford who has been taking care of our flags within the city for the past 8 years.  Stacy started this project to help her son with his Eagle project.  She encouraged anyone who has a flag to download the colonial flag app and it will notify you of days your flags should be at half-staff as well as other observations.  We thank her for this patriotic duty she does on behalf of our city!

•Soccer Complex Conditional Use Permit:  The council discussed this permit at great length (read: 2.5 hours!).  Most items included on the CUP were to help mitigate noise, nuisance parking and other barriers.  In the end the final CUP was quite lengthy but included hours of operation for both indoor and outdoor fields, maximum parking of 100 vehicles and paving the temporary parking lot, signs posted on 475 E and South Weber Drive to direct La Roca traffic, no parking signs posted on SWD, Raymond Drive, Kingston Drive & 6650 as well as no soccer complex traffic on streets as well.  Other items included a plan for citations in the event of violations, a masonry wall and others.

•Riverside Place Phase 5:  Council had questions regarding emails sent in for public comment regarding the condition of Phase1 and 2.  Trash on the lots as well as over flowing garbage containers have been addressed code enforcement.  The builder explained why some houses have not yet been completed as well as some other issues.  Phase 5 has outside builders willing to buy lots which will finish the project sooner.  The motion passed unanimously.  

 

•The Lofts at Deer Run: Council was presented with the latest renderings of the new plans for the Loft’s project. The developer is seeking to amend the original development agreement for less commercial and therefore less parking. The council was very firm that the amount of parking is not sufficient and because parking on 2700 E has been restricted this create a big problem. The council also requested the height of the buildings come down to 35’ vs. the 55’ the developer is allowed. Some suggestions made by the developer was to remove commercial all together or remove even more commercial than what the amended agreement was. The council expressed that in order to be able to do so would mean the parking would need to be addressed and suggested more parking stalls and less residential. There was quite a deal of discussion and questions asked. The developer will return after speaking with his staff. At this point in time the developer is looking into two options: 1) either move forward with the current development agreement signed in 2018 and the allowances within the code/agreement or 2) amend the current development agreement with adjustments to commercial space requirements, residential units and parking stalls. As this is a new version of site plans and he was seeking feedback from the council, no decision was made. If the developer chooses to amend the agreement it will need to be approved by the council. If not, he will return to the planning commission when he is ready with preliminary plans or possibly another presentation, depending on his preference.

 

•Cottonwood Waterline: The replacement of the waterline on Cottonwood Drive is being a shared cost between SWC, Uintah and Weber Basin.  After a lot of work and time from staff, the total amount came in well below budget.  South Weber City’s portion will be approximately $282,000.  The amount budgeted was $350,000 in FY2019.  This waterline is necessary to bring pressure up to state code for fire hydrants.  The contract awarded was approved unanimously.  

•Job Corp water re-pipe project: Contract was awarded for this project unanimously.  Job Corp is out of compliance with the state and asked South Weber City to take over management of this project.  Job Corp will be paying for this project with their funds and giving the city a managerial fee to compensate for time spent on it.  

•City Council Schedule: The council discussed meeting 2 times a month vs. 3 times.  There was discussion about adding a work meeting into the schedule to allow the council time to work on things that are happening within the many committees the council, planning commission and staff are a part of.  Council will try it out and see how it goes, realizing extra meetings may still be added on busier months.  

•Reports:

•Mayor Jo: Mayor reported increased crime has happened throughout the city and DCSO is advising everyone to make sure to lock up and keep valuables out of vehicles.  Stan Cook, who was injured by a falling tree during the high wind storm is recuperating well and should be able to come home soon.  Jo and Peifen from HAFB visited 14 residences for possible contaminated well water but found none of the residences were using those wells for culinary water or gardens.  

•Councilman Winsor: reported a few trees were still down from the storm and questioned about the process of clean up. 
•Councilwoman Petty: The YCC will be having their first meeting this week.  They will be revisiting the charter and making any needed amendments and bringing it before council soon.  The Parks & Rec committee will meet and discuss a number of items she will report back on.  
•Councilman Soderquist: The Admin and Finance committee will be meeting later this week.  There is also a meeting for Staker Parsons regarding the dust and studying where it is going, how far it is traveling and other concerns.

•Councilwoman Alberts: All of our equipment for live streaming has arrived! Yay! Installation will start happening this week and should be ready by our first council meeting in October.  The PR committee also discussed addressing concerns with live streaming and creating a process to help viewers find the correct stream as well as report technical difficulties.  The Country Fair Days committee met and had a recap of the events for South Weber Days.
•City Manager David Larsen: Liaison Lt. Boydston with the DSCO has been promoted to Captain and will be moving on.  In the meantime, Sargent Pope will step in his place.  

Recap! City Council 9.15.2020

You can watch this meeting below, or find the minutes to review this meeting here.   See more information on any of the agenda items in the packet, here. 

You can watch the meeting below!

•Davis County Sheriff's Office Presentation: Sargent Pope reported all the work done in South Weber from December of 2019 to September 2020.  Included in his presentation was all their recorded hours, the most common calls and a review of eventful calls.  This presentation showed how much work is doing done by DSCO and I encourage everyone to take a moment to listen to it.  A personal note here was my sadness to see such an increase in calls involving mental health and suicide in our own cute little town.  We have seen a huge increase in those needing and seeking help.  Please make sure to check in on your loved ones.  2020 has been a difficult year for a lot of people.  

•The Cottonwood Drive Waterline replacement agreement with Uintah was approved unanimously as well as the declaration of surplas property.  The budget amendments were mostly from additional CARES Act funds the city has received and distributed.  

The council had a few discussions under new business:

•Mixed Use:  In light of the recent presentation on the Stephen's property, the council felt it was necessary to give more details concerning the concept of mixed use.  The council was unanimous in feeling neither of those areas should have a residential component.  In order to better streamline the process and better direction for prospective developers, staff, planning commission and city council, the council will let the Planning Commission know.  

•Census Results: South Weber City has great Census results, but encourage any who have not yet done their census to do so.  The city will be sending out notifications to remind citizens.

•Cleanup Efforts:  The community was commended with their clean up efforts from the storm.  From a public property stance, the Posse Grounds were hit very hard.  UDOT came and helped the city clean up the Posse Grounds and trees down on Cottonwood Drive area.  If anyone needs additional help, please let us know.  The council was concerned for Lisa Poll's bench.  There was some parts of the wood that were warped slightly, but otherwise it was okay.  Also if you have any garbage cans that are not yours, the city can help them get to the right person.  A question was raised about declaring a state of emergency helping community members, the answer is that it does not help private citizens.  It was determined to not declare a state of emergency but after getting more information, on Wednesday Mayor Jo declared a local emergency.  This will allow funds that could be reimbursable on damages incurred on city property (sprinkler lines, fencing, tree removal).  

•CERT program: Given the storm and the ability for a community program (and the fact there is still 4 months left to 2020!) it was brought up where the CERT program is at.  Chief Tolman and Dave have talked with a few people they are working with to get 5 captains.  

Reports:

•Mayor Jo: Wasatch Integrated Waste has begun transferring their waste to Tooele County.  They continue to increase their daily tonnage and are hoping to transfer all residential waste by January of 2021.   Regarding their new recycling plant, they encourage those who have recycling cans to continue as recycled material is cleaner and easier to sort.   They are working on other recycling programs in the area too.  Council members are encouraged to take a tour of the recycling plant.  

•Council member Halverson: reported the Planning Commission meeting included a presentation on the Stephens property as mentioned above.  The Lofts property also had a continuation of the special meeting for Wednesday the 16th.  New packet and revised plans are on the city's website.  The Planning Commission was ready to recommend the general plan to the city council, but due to new legislation they are required by law to first have a public hearing and then make a recommendation.  This will take place on their October 8th meeting.

•Council member Soderquist: The meeting with Stake Parson's concerning funds that they donate to the city for recreation purposes went well.  They would like to include their name in more places as a donor for our programs and ammenities.

•Council member Petty: Parks & Rec committee meeting met and looked closer into the look and feel of the final plans for Canyon Meadows - more info coming soon.  The Youth City Council has extended their time for application to September 21st.  Application is still online - one error on the application was that attendance and citizenship is not required.  We had some members of the community already reach out to help in some great ideas and we hope anyone 14-18 will consider applying!

•City Manager Dave Larsen: Roger Worthen, previous city manager for South Weber and now city manager in Riverdale passed away from Leukemia on Sunday morning.  It was unexpected and quick.  Information on the funeral and viewing as well as a place to donate to the family are available online.  He was commended for being a wonderful man and will be missed.   

-The meeting scheduled for September 22nd has been been changed to September 29th.  Among other things on the agenda will be the Conditional Use Permit for the Soccer Complex.  Another item is the Cottonwood Waterline bids (we received 10 bids) came back much higher than what was estimated and budgeted for.  Additionally, work at the dog park has been underway.  We are hopeful we can do a grand opening in the spring of 2021.  Unfortunately, many of the trees surrounding the trail around the park fell during the storm.  

-And finally, we have received word that we have a court date for the Cobblestone Resort hearing - October 26th.  

Recap! City Council 8.25.2020

City Council Recap! 8.25.2020

 

•Covid Report:  South Weber has a total of 35 cases, with one active case – we remain the lowest number in the county.  The hospital capacity is down to 46%, transmission rate is .78, Davis County is .77.  There appears to be a stabilizing trend right now.   Davis County is monitoring the sewer system to track cases.  

 

•The city introduced to new Public Works employees, Jacob Anderson and Jared Clark. 

 

•The city also honored the Country Fair Days committee Holly Williams, Tani Lynch and Victoria Christensen and commended them on an amazing job well done for Country Fair Days!

•Harvest Park Phase 3 final approval:  The council had some questions regarding the water table and basement and a land drain.  While it was stated in the planning commission meeting that there will not be a land drain place in now, but will be later if needed, it was determined that was false and phase 3 does have a land drain included.  There was a lengthy discussion on the dog park.  The council expressed frustrations that the dog park is not yet finished and it has been a year later.  After some discussion, it was decided the development agreement will be amended to show the dog park, including the fencing, the path, sod and sprinkling system will be completed by November 1^st.  This passed unanamiously.  

 

•The budget needed to be amended for a few items, one of which was $50,000 from CARES act to put in touchless features in all city owned buildings and parks.  This also passed unanimously.  

Reports:

•Mayor Jo reported that they had their final meeting with Horrock’s for their feasibility study.  The city paid $3,500 for this study to take place while Wasatch Front paid the remaining $46,500.  This study included a recommended alignment, 2 trailheads at each end and parking lots.  This is for the trail head that will be extending east from the Cottonwood Drive trailhead, following the river to Highway 89.  

 

•Councilmember Winsor asked about when the new upgrades for the city’s online streaming will be ready. All parts have been ordered and most of them are have arrived.  As soon as everything is available installation will be started.

•Councilmember Alberts asked about Fiber options and if any further discussion has taken place since the Town Hall Meeting back in July.  It was reported that the utlitities committee had spoken with Utopia regarding pricing.  It was also mentioned that during last week’s legisislation, $25 million was set aside for cities in central and northern Utah to use for high speed internet ability.  Staff will look into it and see if it is something we can utilize.

 

•Councilmember Petty announced that the Youth City Council application is now online.  We are very excited to get started on this an encourage any youth 14 or older to apply!

 

•Councilman Halverson announced that plans for the waterline for Cottonwood drive will be finished by the end of year and the East Bench Job Corp project is underway.  The city will be looking into maintaining the streetlights from Rocky Mountain power until we are able to purchase our own.  

•Councilman Winsor announced the Code Committee met and reviewed chapter 2 of title 10 and will be amending the roles and responsibilities of all those who work within land use.  

•Staff announced we should be receiving our second allotement of the CARES act fund next week, $250,000.  The rec center will be offering pickleball clinics soon to any youth interested.  

Town Hall Meeting: Response from Utopia Representative

The council received the following email regarding the Town Hall meeting we had earlier this month regarding high speed internet options for our city.  I thought I would share it here as well.  

I watched your recent fiber town hall and just wanted to provide a couple corrections and comments to the quotes below taken from the meeting. Please let me know if you have any additional questions for me. We’d be happy to schedule a work session to continue any dialogue with you about a potential UTOPIA Fiber partnership. Our other projects in the area (Layton, Morgan, West Point) have gone extremely well and the residents are very happy with the ultra-fast Internet services that we have brought to those communities. 

Thank you,

Roger Timmerman Executive Director Office: (801) 613-3855 | Cell: (801) 762-7960 rtimmerman@utopiafiber.com | www.utopiafiber.com

“UTOPIA is a company.”

UTOPIA (and UIA) is not a company. None of us make any money individually from these new city partnerships beyond just our normal salary from UTOPIA. We don’t have any stockholders, or other investors to pay. UTOPIA is an inter-local entity, similar to other municipal partnerships for power, sewer, and other services where we save costs, obtain better capabilities, and achieve better economy of scale by partnering together. A UIA agreement should be considered a partnership with the UTOPIA/UIA consortium of cities rather than being sold something by a business. 

On the flip-side of this, our barrier of entry for partnership with a new city is fairly high. The UIA board will not counter-approve a partnership with a city unless there is unanimous support from the applicant city council. We are not trying to push this on anyone, but are interested in partnerships where we understand that the relationship is mutually beneficial with strong support from both sides.

“Brigham City slowed down when so many signed up.”

This is a strange rumor to hear. I’ve been involved with Brigham City since it started and I’m not aware of any slowdowns. The network has always had far more capacity than has ever been used, even during peak hours or during special events. Our backbone runs right through Brigham City and supports 40 channels of 100 Gbps. That’s enough capacity to support a city larger than Salt Lake City but is there and available to Brigham City if it’s ever needed. Even our specific way of building fiber to the home assigns a dedicated fiber to each home with dedicated capacity to ensure that neighbors cannot impact each other. This is much better than fiber networks built by Centurylink or Google Fiber that use GPON to split and share connections with groups of homes on a single fiber connection. In those networks, neighbor usage does impact other neighbors.

“45% would have to sign up.”

The threshold to avoid cost to the city is closer to 40%, and based on timing, ends up being a requirement that has ~5 years to achieve.

This is an example scenario for a different city (similar size) that shows that even though the revenue guarantee begins after 2 years, revenues before that accumulate to protect the city from any financial exposure from the agreement. All of our projects under this structure have far exceeded this revenue projection with no financial exposure to the participating cities.

“Bill wouldn’t change when capital cost is paid off.”

This is partly true. We will not commit to what the cost of services will be in 27 years when the contract term ends. To do so would be irresponsible both for us and the city. Historically, the service speeds have increased every few years while the costs have stayed the same or gone down. The partnership of cities decides collectively what the rates will be now, and in the future. However, we do agree that you would get the same rates as the other cities, so when there are opportunities to reduce the price, South Weber would stand to benefit from that. South Weber is actually in a position to benefit far more from this arrangement compared to other cities because while residential areas barely break even over the long term, significant financial upside comes from business subscribers, of which South Weber has very few. Proportionally, South Weber would benefit by being part of a consortium that averages a much higher business component than South Weber has on its own. Over time as debts from various UIA projects are paid off, it is very likely that the price of service would decrease, but it would be irresponsible to make commitments now for what will be appropriate 27 years from now. If there is a need for system refurbishments, enhancements, new smart city applications, etc. we do not want to paint ourselves into a corner financially but instead need to have the flexibility to do what is right for the partnership of cities collectively.

“The city will have a 30 year bond.”

In our proposed structure, UIA is the issuer of the bonds and owes the debt. The city will have a 27 year contractual obligation, with 25 years of commitment (starts after two years) with UIA. The city will carry no debt. The city will not have to go through the process of issuing bonds. The city will also not have to deal with any costs above the revenue guarantee. In this structure UIA pays for all capital costs for infrastructure built previously (backbone routes, facilities, etc.) and all incremental after the initial phase (additional take rate, new developments, city expansion, churn replacement. etc) with no financial guarantee or obligations from the city. 

“Comcast has 1 Gbps up and 1 Gbps down service.”

Comcast only offers 1 Gbps service in limited areas and the upload speed is usually only up to 50 Mbps. Because of the shared nature of cable and the real-world condition of their cable, users rarely see anything close to the advertised rates. The technology being deployed now (Docsys 3.1) supports speeds higher than this in a lab environment, but not in real-world environments. Comcast actually launched a 2 Gbps service on Docsys 3.1 in Utah, but had to cancel it because users weren’t able to get speeds anywhere near that because of the limitations of the real-world condition of their cable facilities.

“What happens if there is 60% take-rate?”

Having a higher take rate is both good and bad. The good is obvious in that there will be more revenue than needed for UIA to cover its debt expenses. The bad is that this adds a significant capital expense that is not covered by UIA’s bond or the city guarantee. The difference between 40% and 60% in South Weber is about 500 installations, that cost about $1000 each. Therefore, UIA will be responsible for paying the $500,000 in installation costs for those additional installations. Some quick math shows that it takes about 3 years for UIA to get paid back on those installations from the additional revenue. During that 3 years, perhaps another 10-20% signup, or there is additional city growth and new development. Again, UIA would go underwater with paying for those installations but then would get paid back over several years. I know it seems like UIA stands to benefit from any additional take-rate, but only in the very long term, and only with the intent of financing ongoing subscriber growth, network expansion, and paying off the debts of these projects. 

“If it made sense financially why don’t they do it on their own.”

From a business perspective, UIA could make this work on our own. However, from a business perspective there are many cities that would be more profitable than South Weber if our primary motivation was profit. For example, we would pick cities with a large amount of business revenue potential and lower build costs. For these reasons, South Weber is not likely to ever see any private sector provider build fiber throughout the community. Instead, we are motivated by the communities themselves that recognize the need for this critical infrastructure and we provide the mechanism to make that possible without a cost to those communities.

“Is this the best fiber? Is this going to be good for 25+ years?

The fiber we put in is all the latest fiber from Corning, the leader in fiber manufacturing technology. The fiber we are putting in now is rated for 50+ years and is much better than the fiber we use in some of our backbone links that were installed 20+ years ago. However, even that older fiber is still plenty good for the 4000 Gbps systems we use in our core, so the fiber going in now is definitely good for at least 25 years, if not 50+ years. 

“Perhaps the city should do it ourselves and keep the money.”

Conceptually, this isn’t a bad approach. We are very supportive of all municipal fiber efforts, even if we are not involved. However, fiber is a very technology centric infrastructure and requires a lot of specific skill sets as well as significant start-up and other fixed costs. For example, we have full-time staff dedicated to our 24/7 Networks Operations Center, Network Engineering, Field Technicians/Splicers, GIS, Customer Service, Accounting/Billing, Fiber Construction Management, Fiber Engineering, Inspectors, Utility Locators, Legal, and many other roles. We did not get to a point of being able to cover our operating costs until we had about 14,000 subscribers. It would be very difficult to achieve any sort of economy of scale for a project the size of South Weber while also being able to support all the functions needed to build and operate a fiber network. Even at the size of UTOPIA with over 31,000 subscribers, there is very little profit to be had. Broadband is a highly competitive industry and we constantly work to maintain efficiency knowing that we have to be a better value than the incumbent providers.