Council meeting time finally determined for next year Soda Springs City Council Meeting 11/20
A wide ranging city council meeting was held on November 11, with the most entertaining discussion of the evening being reserved for the issue of meeting start times.
Planning and Zoning
The council meeting began with a discussion of the Zone and ordinance adoption procedure. It was discovered that there was some discrepancy in the city’s regulations regarding posting and hearing procedures for zone changes, as well as some other procedures. The basic choice was between having the state requirements (which are superseding in any case) be the main reference point for city ordinance and map amendment procedures, or the narrower city regulations. Attorney Tom Smith noted that the city has requirements which are more stringent than the state necessitates (for instance, a 1000 foot notification perimeter of affected residences for zoning changes, versus the state’s 300 foot requirement). Smith suggested formally adopting the state’s requirements, which need to be complied with anyway. Alan Skinner suggested that such a move would make the process simpler for Chelsey and Andrea in the city office.
County Hazard Mitigation Plan
The County’s Eric Hobson spoke to the council about the All-Hazard Mitigation Plan. “When the county does one we reach out to our municipalities,” Hobson said. Mike Clements, who is working with the county to author the plan, was on hand to discuss the project and what he’s working on. The web address is available by QR code, and it has been published in the paper before, and again this week.
Clements explained a bit more about the mitigation project. The study allows entities in the county to apply for certain grants after disasters. It allows for econ dev, hazard mitigation, and other types of projects. The plans are designed to anticipate and prepare for hazard reduction and mitigation. There are coordinated with state and local and national authorities. Hazard mitigation goals are part of the requirement for projects, but Clements was clear to explain that the possibilities were larger in scope than might first be imagined. If a project is in the plan, and there is a plan to deal with it, then it’s available for federal funds. New projects can be put in and then can be used in application.
An example Clements presented was sewer line replacement. If the line was upgraded as an earthquake resistant replacement, the majority of the funding could come from the federal government under the AHMP granting process. The city’s concerns about document storage were raised. (The city hall building is prone to flooding, and the permanent records have been undergoing a long digitization process as a result). Clements explained that “you could get the most deluxe system if the purpose was to be disaster proofing, it could qualify for these funds.” He used the example of the city of Bancroft, which was looking at a retention pond liner. A more ambitious liner that served a disaster proofing purpose could also qualify for one of the grants made possible with the AHMP in place. “Your project costs twice as much, but you get somebody else to pay for 75 to 90 percent of it, ” Clements said. A straight replacement is maintenance. But upgrading it for disaster proofing would be mitigation. Clements stressed that he felt the bottom line was “How can I make this project benefit my community, but also mitigate hazards?”
Clements would like the projects by Christmas.
Brock Byram
Byram spoke to the council about 220 south. “We at one point had a blacktop connection to the curb. So now we have an island without access to the street. Is there a way the city would make a blacktop connection to the south side of the back warehouse?”
Council President Mitch Hart, joining remotely, stated, “I appreciate Brock’s request. If we could defer that and give the council and staff a chance to consider the request and some options, we could get back to him in fairly short order.” It was decided to consider the potential fixes, which would hopefully be best for everyone.
Conditional Use Permit
A conditional use permit for a commercial shop, with a view obscured from the public to store a shipping container at the Bear River Electric, was discussed. The contractor clarified that it was not a shipping container, but a permanent structure. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval, and city council approved the permit.
PZ—Jo Turner
New Planning and Zoning member Jo Turner was unable to be sworn in, as she was stuck in winter traffic.
Project Updates
A Main street project walkthrough will be held soon, and a list of items to finish in the spring presented. Striping remains to be completed as well. RFB (flashing light) lighting for crosswalks also needs to be completed, and they are 3 weeks out on those. 3 of those are going in. A+ is repairing a few soft spots in the asphalt.
Trail system is close to being finished for sand. Barns are gone. Working with county for hauling.
Resolution 2024-06
Parental Leave Request Form was discussed. The policy had been revisited due to some concerns about its language and the exact requirements for the city under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Councilmember Rod Worthington “I appreciate that it’s simple and to the point.”
Councilmember Ryan Carpenter expressed some issues potentially with the 6 weeks paid leave/vacation for parental leave.
Councilmember Gritton stated, “I frankly value our employees, and would be interested in providing whatever benefit, but that has to be balanced by the needs of the city, and I do recall some heads voicing concern about some of the effects this would cause. I would like to find a
balance point.”
Councilmember Carpenter said, “I don’t think there’s a disconnect. There’s an opportunity for a spouse for 2 weeks at home paid, 4 weeks nonpaid. I value employees and want to give them every benefit we can. But is this causing a burden to those who have to pick up the slack? It’s a different world and this bonding time certainly is important. I don’t think we should limit the time off, but maybe the paid amount.”
Attorney Tom Smith clarified that under FMLA, 12 weeks of vacation without worry about job security are required by law, but it does not have to be paid. A few years ago, the city made a 6 weeks commitment to paid time off.
The council tabled the resolution for the time being to consult with department heads about the experiences they could report from their departments which needed to be taken into
consideration.
The parallel issue of PTO as a way to provide for paid time off was also raised.
Enders
It was suggested that the city does have some interested parties who want to talk about potentially being involved in leasing the Enders building. No specifics were given. As soon as more information becomes available, the council will let the public know. It was determined that Enders will become a consistent agenda item. “The question of what to do with the building is still in front of us,” President Hart noted. “One of the more attractive options is for the city to occupy it, and cohabitate with another entity who can use the other parts of it.”
Councilmember Gritton asked “is there some proposal in the works that justifies delaying this discussion?”
Mayor Robinson indicated that yes, there was a reason that a decision on the building’s future should be tabled.
President Hart explained separately that “one potential tenant of the building has been in discussion, but it would not preclude the city using the building. I’ll go on the record—I think we should keep the building and occupy it, and I’ll put together a proposal.”
Councilmember Carpenter said “We owe it to ourselves and our citizens to have all options on the table, and I think if there’s something on the table we should consider it and make sure all bases are covered.”
707 Ordinance City Council Annual Time Change
A discussion of a ordinance proposed by Councilmember Paul Gritton then took place. By ordinance, the meeting time for the city council has historically been 5 pm. CM Gritton would like to permanently change it to 6pm. It has temporarily been moved to 6 til the end of the year. Gritton’s ordinance would change the time permanently to 6 p.m.
President Mitch Hart, who has made no secret of his preference for the 5 p.m. start for the meetings, opened by asking CM Gritton for a justification of the time change.
Gritton has also consistently held the position that a 6 p.m. time “makes it easier for citizens to attend and participate, especially those who work until 5 pm. “
The council has been holding its meetings at the 6 p.m. time for several months, and President Hart asked whether there had been a commensurate increase in attendance during that time. It was broadly agreed that there hadn’t been, but Gritton asserted that he was not necessarily seeking a dramatic increase in numbers, but just the potential for that.
President Hart then asked whether the time created an undue burden on staff. Members of the staff indicated that they preferred an earlier start time in order to be able to spend time with their families before it got too late in the day. The issue of city employees being in the building between the end of work at 5 and the meeting at 6 and therefore either being clocked in and adding hours or effectively working off the clock was also raised.
As the discussion evolved throughout the evening, it boiled down to two main issues—whether the later time allowed for greater public access, and whether that outweighed the burden on city employees to attend the later meeting.
A straw poll of department heads and employees resulted in a clear preference for the 5 p.m. start time, with the majority, including members of the public present, stating that the earlier start time was easier. Several of those present had no strong opinion, and explained that they were required to be there in any case.
It was pointed out during the discussion that the county commission met during the morning, and there did not seem to be problems with public access. President Hart noted that the meetings were held twice a month with a clearly posted date, and that if someone wanted to attend the meeting they would likely be able to arrange to do so. It was pointed out by others that there were two citizen input sessions (at the beginning and near the end) of the meeting as well.
CM Gritton reiterated that he “would like to create an atmosphere where we do everything we can to get the citizens to participate, and that’s my primary motivation with this change.”
CM Carpenter stated “I would counter that we can do everything in our power, but we can’t do it for them. It’s twice a month, I’m willing to make the commitment either way. 6 works better for my pocketbook, but I don’t want to cause any undue burden to the city employees.”
After the main talking points were exhausted, a voice vote was called. Councilmember Gritton voted “aye” on the resolution, President Hart voted “nay,” CM Rod Worthington voted “aye,” and Cm Carpenter voted “nay,” resulting in a tie. Mayor Austin Robinson was forced to break the tie for his first time ever.
The mayor voted against the resolution “to respect employees and avoid the lateness…my vote is no.”
Motion to go back to 5 p.m. for the first meeting in January was passed. That meeting will be on the 8th, due to the holiday.
