City Council - Regular Meeting

a key leader meeting on Monday. Um I wasn't able to attend, but I do have um a followup that CTC is going to be doing a parent survey in conjunction with the Davis Behavioral Health. And so that survey will be coming out and um we'll have a code a QR code as well as a flyer that I'll be sharing with you all um just to help us get information um from the parent side on how to best support um our coalitions. So it's in conjunction not just with our CTC but all the ones in Davis County. So that'll be coming up. Um and any other followup that you guys ever want on that sharp data, let me know. Happy to share it. The uh parks department's closing the bathrooms at Andy Adams. They're going to be building a new one.

So there will there will be portables there. So anybody that plays pickle ball on that have fun in the portable and they're also hiring. Sorry, I thought that was one of what that fun was. I used to never mind. Stop. Stop. Yeah. And the uh they're also hiring uh 14 years and older and a myriad of things. Uh

scorekeeper, umpires, all kinds of stuff. Amphitheater tech. That's a fun one by the way. Arts in the park and tennis instructors. That's a hard one. A lot of people play tennis and it's hard to get uh people

anyway. And then I think that's 16 and older. They got seasonal. And then the lifeguards, they're always looking for lifeguards. 15 and older. That's all I got. Um I do have it's actually not a committee report, but uh I did receive a phone call from the vice president of the Utah Farm Bureau, Tyson Roberts, recently. Um, I was hoping Weston would be here. He had sent Weston an email uh requesting um an ordinance exemption for pumpkin stands. Um, currently um the ordinance states that the the stand actually has to be fenced so a cost for the grower to rent fencing for two months and stuff like that. So, um, looks like Alex wrote that down. So, just follow up with Weston to to respond to Tyson's email.

You know, along those lines, I know that that has been an issue because I even got a call from John Green and his guy that does pumpkins as well, it's by time they grow and try to sell them, it just it isn't it's too costly for them to go into fencing and not. Yeah, I' heard I hadn't heard that, but I'll follow up with question. My my opinion is that's that's such a seasonal short time. Well, usually don't they just it's more of a go pick your own. But that's the problem. All of those fields have gone away now. So there's only a few few that are still growing and people want to buy them and it supports our local but few local farmers are.

Yeah.

Um the other thing and this is more of a comment. Uh Jon did a presentation um last council meeting on the east gate and he provided a little history and uh I think history is important and there's probably only two people in this room that know this part of the history, myself and Alex. um kind of how the east gate um and I think this would be good for the council members to and staff to to know this um kind of how the east gate came to being and how um Wasatch integrated and former mayor Jerry Stevenson instigated this. Um so the property became available um and there's actually two components of this. probably came available by the urging of the Wasatch Integrated Board. uh Jerry's urging they look at creating a bigger a larger buffer around the waste energy plant burn plant for people that and that with the with the theory that uh kind of to protect that for more of a commercial zoning and that the waste energy plant could provide energy mainly steam energy to businesses that lo um kind of located in there. So that's how that came to be. The board adopted pushed the issue. I think it was around 2000 if I remember correctly is when that transaction took place. And then a little bit long um after that I think it's 3500 east. So this is the road that goes to the east gate of Hill Air Force Base. um Hill Air Force Base was looking for an East Gate entrance to uh their

facility to um to access the new hangers that they were building. So, and that so um again, I think if if I remember correctly, uh Jerry was still the chairman of the board. Um the the landfill brought over their heavy equipment. uh Lake City Engineering Department did all the engineering. Uh and if I remember correctly, this was still uninccorporated Davis County at the time. Um landfill staff did all the um the rough grading, brought it to u not quite grade, but close. And then uh Leighton City, if I remember right, Alex might correct me on this, but I think they contracted uh with a contractor to come and finish the grading and actually pave the road to the East Gate. And that was that was kind of to help Hill Air Force Base to to position them to have that entrance and stuff like that. So, I think that little bit of history u the history on on lawns started in 2007. I thought it'd be important to look back a little bit of how that property came came to be. Jerry's philosophy um was he he was concerned that uh that would become residential and and that so he really was pushing trying to protect some property for more of a commercial base and industrial and stuff like that. And then the only other question I have and I'm gonna pull the rookie card that I'm the rookie on this team um is uh um a few council meetings ago we went over are uh the council's goals uh for that. I know Alex was taking a bunch of notes. Um I was hoping maybe next council meeting you could update us on where we're at um on if staff's working on those goals or looking into them. hope

to get some feedback of where we're at on that. So, but I don't planning commission there was one item went real smooth. Did uh did some additional training for the the the U commission and so pretty pretty quick meeting last Tuesday. So, and that's it. Okay. Do you have anything? Okay. All right. That was good reports. We did kind of have some discussion on it, you know. Being that we have our fire chief here, we need to acknowledge the fact we had some a lot of promotions or acknowledgements in the department, which was kind of cool.

Yeah, we we did that on Tuesday. We did it on we we did a badge pinning ceremony for our two new deputy chiefs, battalion chief that filled one of the roles, captain that filled that role, and the two engineers that all moved in. Um, and we also had a kind of a we had a we had a little little thing for Kendall that morning and then we had a little thing for Kendall that afternoon because March 31st was also the

the anniversary of the which was the 26th anniversary of Kendall's death. And so, but we uh yeah, we we had a good thing in the morning and then I ruined the mood by talking about Kendall and then we had a really good thing in the afternoon and we were it was very and then we did it we also do something every night every March 31st at mid or at um at 10:00. Yeah. And uh we had a tribute out there. We also scared a few people um and it didn't even cross our training people's mind. We as people I sent that email out to you know have everybody remember at 2200 detecting well some of our city staff were listening to the scanner radio app um and they heard what was training going on at that we were training at 1500 North Hillfield Road in in an abandoned building and we're doing we're doing our Mayday March training and they were listening to

Mayday's being called out and they were thinking that we're having another one on the same anniversary night. They were they were nervous enough about it that they brought up to my wife the next morning saying, "Is Scott okay?" And I was like, "Boy, if I have that going on and I slept through it, there's no way that I'm going to stay in this job." But no, but we had a very nice afternoon and a very good tribute to Kendall. So, thank you very much. That's good. Well, training is what it's all about, too. So, yeah, I I Yeah, I saw the trucks over there. That was cool. We We pretty much trashed that building. means it's coming down. Okay. Um there's no other reports then.

Just got to give a little bit of also in response to Mike's. My my recollection, you can correct me if I think that the the identification of the council priorities was was very general to a list. There was 10 or 12 of them, but I think there was a request made to try to identify from the council mayor's perspective which ones are the priorities. and we haven't we haven't seen those. We'll be happy to work on those if there's a we can bring those that list back and have you identify what are the priorities there. I know Ps was obviously issue that seemed to be two or three people and but there's a host of others. So we we didn't start down any roads being presumptuous about what the council thought was,

you know, pri priority of what you'd like us to work on. But so we've been talking internally and staff about it and I just said we haven't heard that we'll ask again. such. Thank you for bringing that up. Mike, do you guys want to that we prioritize the PRUDs now? I mean, I I know that I heard three of you say that myself. I Well, you should we put that one down as well as I Yeah. Okay. There's there's there was the water one that I think we should talk about that tonight.

Yeah. Talk about that one. a hate point with the Tina every time, but she did point out the access um handicap the ADA access being on the other side. Um and I I I never noticed that and I took a peek at it and I went, "Yeah, this that needs to be addressed." So, they have access for someone that spent eight months in a wheelchair. Uh that's really important. Um, I know that there's probably no funds earmarked for it, but at least let's maybe take a look at this fiscal year, this coming fiscal year, doing the the the engineering, the design uh to relocate that to the front. Um, it it's just a suggestion, but it's something we should, I think, look look at. So, it's more

friendlier access coming into the to the city building for people, you know. Interesting enough, I know that the we have that access over there and we only had the two handicap parking signs over there and then we changed and added more up front here and then I don't know. I'm here off and on and I don't see them used very much. They don't use very much but that you know they they meet the standards. So if we want to change spend money to change them obviously we can do that. Uh but they do meet the standards. Um,

again, that would be a priority if the the council decides it's priority. We're happy to to do it. I I can speak to that. Um, I think my main concern was this year and also years past where we had a one of the young folks from the youth court was in a wheelchair and couldn't reach the das to participate in some of the activities. Um, but I think we talked about maybe even just having like an indoor ramp as well that you could lay over on one of the sides so that you know if we have if we have need for that

that can make um make it a little bit more feasible and accessible for folks when they're actually inside. Um I mean the outdoor one being where it is, sure it's an inconvenience, but it is there so I understand that it's it meets the requirements. But that was my my original observation was based on the insight. Yeah. And I do I should know this off the top of my head, but that we talked about this. I don't know if well probably doesn't know it's not his line of work, but Cory and I talked about that back when that happened and we were moving forward to they were directed or asked to get a ramp, a temporary ramp that should be in the closets. So I'll just make sure that we have

double check that. Yeah, that's my fault, but I don't actually know. That was the direction was to go ahead and purchase one of those and when when it was needed we could bring it out and yeah they have those nice aluminum ones that fold up now that are easy. Yeah, they have to meet a certain standard of course inclined but yeah I'll follow up on that. Okay, since we're speaking of the dice um should we talk about the mics just for the heck of it? Sure. I mean it only because I know we got a February light agenda here. So what's um why don't you kind of explain what you where we're at on Yeah. And Ed could he's willing to grab me but

but you know we've been having some issues with the mic system and sound system sometimes when people call in from outside and then just in general there's a lot of feedback and noise and so

Ed and Corey have been working on trying to find a solution and Ed pulled me aside today and and uh explained what we're doing. But one of the one of the things that we think will help and it's we're all myself as guilty of it because you didn't know right is that in order to get the best sound out of the existing system and we're looking at bringing in some new technology and trying to make it better otherwise but but what most of us do I think maybe just myself but you you leave the microphone up when you're not talking and then you pull it down when it is but it stays on the whole time. What the expert that came in that was talking about sounded mics and and systems is that if you leave them if we will leave the mic down all the time because the mics are directional you're talking into it then it picks it up really well. If you tip it up to the sky it's picking up the sound that's bouncing off the ceiling and coming back down. So it's not nearly as clear. And so rather than moving the mic back and forth just reach up and push the on and off button. And most of us, myself, I've never thought about that. Uh, but that's one of the small things in the interim that we think would would help. Ed, would you clarify that if I misstated that in any?

No, that's exactly what we discussed. And then there's some the person we talked to is actually our our amphitheater technician who knows everything about audio and direction. Yeah. Not Dave. No, no, no. Jay. You said Jay. I thought you said Dave. I said Dave. I just bought my own mic and carried it around. Okay. It was directional. Everybody heard me when I yelled. The only thing that you have to do is and I'm going to be the guilt is when you pull it down to talk to turn it on. Exactly. I mean, you got, you know, it's it's another step, but it's that's the way it should be.

Look at all these years we've never done. So that's that's such a simple thing to correct it. Well, and a lot of times just with the way that council meetings work is it's almost it's a sign to you that we want to speak. Yeah. That's what it really is. Yeah. Right. And so as long as you do that, I just have to make sure I turn it off. Yeah. I'll have to watch hands now. Could you put Let's test it tonight. You put little flags on them. So we just put And it goes up. Absolutely. But but getting the some of the new technology and some of the mixers and stuff that are upgrading those will will definitely help. We've got a lot of of systems that's the wrong word probably the tying in and coming out of a single system need to bifrocate those

and so you don't have crossover and voice over and all the kinds of things that can can disrupt uh the sound. So we are working on that. That's that's doing a good job on that. This is part of the update. Yeah, go for it. dominate the meeting, but just to give a quick update. I was going to do it at the end, but we may have a time now on the TRZ ground. That ground has sold. The auction closed. Um the uh I think it's public,

right? Or I was looking at questions not here, I guess. But it's been announc it's been on the website, but the Wright Development Group, who's a local developer we have experience with and good experience with, are the ones that had the high bid. And they're they currently have a a 24-hour due diligence period, ends this evening to to make a final determination whether they want want the property. And they've reached out to our some of our staff and asked some questions and so forth. But uh they're they were the ones who who've been interested consistently had some of the contacts with grocerers and and others up there. So we're we're pretty pleased about that. That's good news.

They have to put a a pretty significant down payment down uh that's non-refundable if they walk away. So they like I said they've been trying to do their due diligence today, but we're hoping that will will hold. And that was very good news and we wanted to pass that on to you. we know you've been anxious about it and they're anxious to if it holds to to begin working with the city in earnest to try to move forward with development up there. So that was very positive. Just out of curiosity, did you do lower their price?

Yeah. What what they did is they they put in their specs and the bid specs that informing the buyer, this is what they had before, that that there was an expectation that they were going to do a certain number of units that are quote unquote attainable. Well, yeah. Housing. And so then they just let the market, they didn't specify it was going to be reduced by this amount or that amount. They just let it play out in the market. Oh, okay. Um the the the number I probably won't say it but but the number that they sold it for was quite a bit higher than I thought they would with that reduction with the reduction.

So I think the market uh Rob White region one director was kind enough to to call me and let me know. Weston had already heard about it and gave me a heads up, but Rob reached out and just said, "Want to let you know it did get sold and this is who got it?" And uh and this was the price. And I said, "Well, seem like that was a little more than what you're anticipating." He said, "Yeah, it wasn't near the reduction we thought that DOT would be giving up. It was less than half of what they talked about." So they felt very good about it from a being responsible from a UDOT perspective and managing the you know resources of the state and so forth and obviously the development community felt

good about it. So they felt like it was a good it all worked out well despite all the bits and starts along the way. So that's why you'll be aware of that. That's good. Press that forward and keep you informed as it as it progresses. Good news. Okay. Um, there's no other updates, then let's go ahead and turn the drive over to Tracy for our budget discussion.

Okay. Mayor, members of the council, I'm glad to be here tonight. Um during our all day budget meeting, I took a few minutes and talked about uh property tax and it, you know, talked about would it be appropriate to impose a property tax rate increase in this budget year or you know or what type of a theory would we want to have as a city, you as a city council related to property tax. And so I thought it would be important because of a House bill that passed, House Bill 236, to give you an update of the requirements of that because it up it it cut the timeline for your ability to make a a decision on that. And so I put these together a few days ago and so I apologize if I kind of read through them a little bit, but basically what that House bill states is that in the meeting where the tenative budget is presented, an executive officer has to state that the tenative budget includes a property tax rate increase and they must present a property tax impact schedule. I have some details about what's included on that. And the meeting agenda has to include a separate line item notifying the public that the above statement is going to be made. So basically, I would have to get up and state in the meeting. It doesn't have to be a public hearing, but in the meeting that the budget has a property tax increase in it. And so they just want it to be made very clear to the public that that that's there. Um, this stuff's a little bit repetitive, so I apologize, but on or be on or after May 1st, but on or before June 1st, we have to state in a public meeting that our tax rate is going to exceed the certified tax rate if the tax increase is approved. We have to present the approximate amount of revenues that

would be generated by the increase the approximate percentage increase and we would have to follow all the other noticing and hearing requirements uh if we decided to proceed with an increase and most of that takes place in July and August time frame. um on or before June 30th, we'd be required to prepare and adopt an interim budget that includes the property tax increase, includes a separate schedule from the budget document. That's the tax impact schedule. And at the public hearing or that is at any public hearing where we discuss the general fund budget, we would have to present that property tax impact schedule. And then we would also be required to set aside a restricted in a restricted budget account an amount equal to the estimated tax increase. So you can see there just a like a checklist of things that we're going to have to do if we want to do a property tax increase. And we cannot spend or obligate the revenue until after the final budget adoption would which would be at the end of August. And there's detailed schedules of communication and county notification and public noticing and that kind of stuff related to property tax increase. The impact, the property tax impact schedule would include the dollar amount of revenue generated, the estimated percentage increase, the estimated percentage increase in the amount paid on an average residential property. That next one should have said commercial, average commercial property. It would also be to identify the department budget that would increase or decrease and articulate the department impact if the

taxing entity approved the tax rate increase. Now in our case in the budget as it's put together for 2027 right now a property tax increase would simply reduce the amount that we are proposing to take out of our reserve. it wouldn't have a direct effect on any particular department at this point. The point of the discussion during the all day meeting was that as of right now, we're budgeting in order to cover everything that we need for 2027. We're budgeting to use some of our reserve and this is a method that we could use to lessen that amount over time. you know, say we were to do a 3% a year or 5% a year and grow that property tax, then we would hope that one, we could either keep up with inflation in this form of revenue or start to reduce slightly that amount so that it's more balanced. Now, for maybe as long as Alex has been here, as long as I've been here, and he's talked about this before, the reason our budget always budgets to spend reserve is because we like to have the cash in hand, and then we look at the projects that we can do. And so, we spend out of our savings account basically for one-time projects. And I'm not that's that's a good way to do it, right? That's not how everybody does it, but that that is a good way to do it. Anyway, the most important thing to get out of this little discussion tonight is that if as a council you want to consider doing a property tax increase for fiscal year 2027, which starts July 1st, we have to make a decision about that before I present the tenative budget, the first meeting in May. So I felt like it was important that you know today

first meeting in April then perhaps we can discuss is that even on you know the realm of possibility for this year because if we get to the day of the first meeting in May and we haven't made any kind of decision well that's our decision is that we're not doing anything with that. So yeah I wanted to bring it to you so that you had the timeline and the importance of that. Do you have any questions about that? Are they saying you have to increase it by a certain percentage? No, that's completely that one where they put limits and things on it. There was there was one out there. None of that passed. Oh, okay.

Yeah. None of that passed. most of the stuff this past where we have to now tell people sooner and which we would tell people that at a this just forces you to tell people whenever we've had a property tax increase at the tenative budget we always talked about it so but this forces you to put it on the agenda as a separate line item so that if people looked at the agenda they would say oh they're going to talk about a property tax increase Right. Mhm. So that's what it does. When was the last property tax increase?

Last property tax increase I believe was in 2023. That one was related to um actually that was a decrease. I think it was 2022 with the 2021 or 2022 with the fire station. So we had funds to build the fire station but for a number of years we didn't have the funds to put people in the fire make it operation right the oper the ongoing operational cost and so in order to do that the council approved a 17% property tax increase and that funded 17

it was 17 yeah the what 1920 the 2020 21 budget because we weren't we weren't here yet. Yeah, you guys came right after. We were right after it. I think I may be wrong, but I think in the at least the time I've been here, I think there have been two property tax increases over Yes. 35 years. So, link has a long long history of of not doing property tax increases, good or bad. But it's it's one decrease. Yeah, there's been more decreases than there is. done a decrease increases.

Um so obviously just the way this bill is written um people aren't typically doing property tax increases to fund their balance. They're doing it for some sort of departmental budget or something like that. So does the does the the legislation actually identify that that that we can do it just for fund reserves or does it have to be for something department? You can do one for whatever you want. Yeah. And I mean, if I remember correctly in our all day,

I mean, we could easily say that, well, you know, our property tax doesn't cover anywhere near the cost of our fire department or our police department. And so, we need a property tax increase or for that matter, it doesn't even cover the annual increase in those two departments wages. And so, you could say, I mean, you can word it however you want, right? the you could easily say um well our police department needs a wage increase and if we don't do a property tax increase they won't get one now that would be a whole different decision right and we aren't making and we aren't saying that that is the decision

but I'm imagining that's what cities could do right is they would say well we're going to do a 3% increase it's going to cost $1.2 million and in order to come up with $1.2 2 million. We need a 15% property tax increase. And if we don't get one, and a lot of cities operate this way, then we will reduce the department, right? Well, that reduces service to the community. So that that may be what they're implying here. Well, I just you can just tell the baseline people's baseline property tax is based on some sort of project they want to do or some something departmental, not just we need We we are using our savings and we need to make our savings bigger, right?

Yeah. So, okay, that makes sense. Okay, good questions. Anything else? Why did you you had a question? Tracy actually answered it. Okay. So, it's interesting like Tracy said, not to blavor it, but all the budget meeting is there's some entities that run those that hold those. They don't do property taxes increases, but at some point they probably did because they run their reserve balances up to the 35%. Now it's been dropped back to 20. But they're carrying that much capacity. They got it probably through taxes over the years. Does that make sense? Mhm. And and just hold on to it and let it sit there as opposed to putting it to right

to work. So it's it's interesting the approach that gets taken. It's kind of a one-size approach that doesn't fit equally to all the cities, which is always the case. It's not good or bad, but and so you're I think you guys are clear. We're not suggesting you should or shouldn't. We just wanted to make you aware Tracy did of if whatever those discussions are this has an impact now in the timing or it it uh and it has to be done earlier than later or it takes away the opportunity to make the decision. That was the purpose in bringing it. So not to suggest a good idea or a bad idea, that's totally up to you. But still a same way, right? I I don't I don't think we need to.

And I I I think conceptually in some ways having it like better to do 3% every year than to have it be, you know, 15% in 5 years or whatever. But I also don't think that's really how government should be operating if I'm being my my opinion is that if you're building in an increase, then there's always an assumption that the money is going to be spent in some way. And I just think at the end of the year we decide at the beginning of the year we decide what does it look like this year and I don't think the assumption of a property tax increase even if it makes it easier over you know on people's pocketbooks hang on it is so that yeah I don't like that as

you're always spending that money before you right that's what I'm saying the assumption is I think it I get it from like an accounting standpoint but I just think from a public from a public entity I just don't think it's good I think we've done to your credit Alex for a long long periods of time never really had to do that. Now our budget meeting gave was a little eye opening um because it's the first time at least since I've been here where it's been we are living within our means. We do do things the right way but the money's not there right which is

the first time in seven years I've seen that happen. So I think it's something that if even though I'm maybe my own opinion not in favor of doing some sort of tax increase this year but I think it's definitely something that we have to at least have part of the discussion moving forward because it isn't because we are trying to to splurge and spend money we don't have. It's really just, you know, the the nuts and bolts of running a city, the the salaries and the benefits and things of that nature that we're getting to a point where maybe we have to look at something alternatively that we would haven't had to look at before. So that's where I'm at.

I just think on a educational basis, I think we I brought this up a couple years ago too, just with the truth and taxation and just the practice of doing it. Not that you're going to increase or not, but getting ourselves familiar and also the public familiar and you know with the process itself instead of um just always having a negative connotation behind the increases because we know that you know what is what's your motto Clint? Cities provide ser cities exist to provide services, right? But there does get to a point where what we have can't support the services that we are providing or that we should be providing. Um, and so just about educating the public on what the property tax really is, how much cities, you know, play into that. And I think those are things that we as a city can help with

um on a regular basis. To that point, and this is a legal question, but truth and taxation is is a actual legal procedure, right, that you have to follow if you are intending to raise taxes. Um but is that something that you can do if you are not raising taxes? Because there's an extra hearing, there's extra notices that go out. The problem you would have is that you would you would come, this is my opinion, you would come at it from the approach that you were going to raise taxes,

that would bring somewhat of an unnecessary negative light if you actually didn't intend to, right? And so although I agree with the approach of educating and I think that it would bring it unnecessary scrutiny because if you're not you're not going to go through the process if you aren't thinking about it because you have to tell the county they have to put out advertising and the advertising is not going to say zero right they wouldn't they wouldn't approve to put it on there I guess and that's my that was my opinion maybe just to your point maybe it's just that we need to ramp up uh the discussion around a budget meeting alto together,

right? And not just have it be, you know, make people aware. We've joked about this that, you know, we have a issue about, you know, a dog park or something and we have a bunch of people show up and then we have a $100 million budget on the next line item and there's everybody leaves and there's nobody to discuss it. Um, maybe that's the education that we need to do because I think it's import for people to realize that they have a say in these things and that that we don't want to just see them when there's a property tax increase that we'd like to have them come but in in some ways I'm not sure we can create that kind of desire

outside of what we already do. If you do that, then it's kind of like crying wolf. People won't pay attention when you do have to do it right because they're going to say, "Oh, they're just doing that because they want to, you know, they do it every year." And then when we absolutely need to increase it, they say, "Well, we didn't know." So, it's a catch 22 all the way around.

I'm not Yeah, I'm not concerned about people saying we didn't know because we're providing information. Um, I think it's better to be proactive. Um, and you know, I appreciate the clarity there just on not having to have it if you know you're not going to increase, but I think whatever we can do to help the general population understand what all of this means. Um, and this is really just really came to light more and more during this legislative session, right? where you have all of these sound bites from other areas and other entities and people are literally kind of crying fire when it's not really that. And so that's the issue that I have with it and anything we can do to help educate on what something is versus what something is not. Um yeah, we want people to come in and people have been coming in and talking about whatever whatever is on their mind, which is great. We welcome all of that. Um I just know that generally when people hear tax, their immediate reaction is no. And instead of your immediate reaction being no, your immediate reaction being why. And so I think that's on us to be able to educate and give them a why. And if we start that early, not that you know we're raising taxes today, tomorrow, whenever, but um a 17% tax can be marketed in any particular way. And when you say 17% everybody's going to be like what I mean because I would when you say a 3% I'm like okay let me think about that. Where is it going? What does it mean? And so while it's good that we haven't raised taxes in 35 year but two times in 35 years um in that year that you do raise them and the rate the taxes 10% or 20% or whatever it is that becomes a sticking point. Um, and kind of to to

Zach's point earlier, maybe, you know, after that 17% tax increase came about, some folks didn't get reelected. Well, it's not necessarily their fault, right? Like, you shouldn't you shouldn't be holding that over people if what they're doing is trying to make sure that the city can still run. And so that's where I'm coming from on the education piece because folks can folks can have their opinion which is fine but facts are going to tell you it takes this amount of money to fund all of these things that we do and we have more people here than we had before and more people who are coming and all of that all of that adds up. So, anything we can do to keep proactive

to your communication's point, I mean, the idea of of allowing the city in some sort of, you know, infographic or communicative way and showing here's where your tax money goes. And to your point about having it not be reactive to saying we're showing you what we're doing and we're not asking for an increase because most of the times they only say here's what we're doing and this is why we're asking for more. It would be nice just to say here's what we're doing and we're not asking for more. I just wanted you to show you where your money's going and where it's going because I always felt when we get our our executive uh documents for the budget and see where all the money's going, it's really eye opening. And I'm sure you you even said that too. Once you get kind of behind the scenes and you see like all that goes on in the city, all that's funded, all the projects, it's it's pretty amazing. And I think if if we could find a way to communicate that

um not in a defensive posture, right? We're just trying to, you know, defend our ability to do anything, but to show like here's what your here's what your tax here's what your tax money is paying for all these amazing services. So, I think that could be something that I'd like to share. The Utah League of Cities and Towns has put aside some money to create a series of truth and taxation and property tax videos. They're going to be short snippets of what you're just talking about. So, I imagine if we could take those and then explain how it works with us would be. Yeah.

So, that's something to look forward to. Um, that's going to be now because of this. They wanted to get this information quick to the city. So that should help. They also asked us some things during the session and I remember specifically putting that in an email. So hopefully they are doing that with other things. Yeah. Yeah. But that'll help. It'll help. We'll talk about the how much goes to cities and through the taxation the process and and it'll also help us in our bridge meantime until we have access to a communications person. Whoa. Pretty good. Great.

I like that.

I have a couple other slides to go over with you. Different things just so tonight a few of the enterprise funds. I didn't have a chance to get through all of them, but wanted you to see uh where they're at. 2025, the water fund. Now, the bulk of this got committed into projects. You can see there's a lot of projects that were still carry over into 2026. It wasn't that we budgeted them all right there, but they they carried from 25 this 16 up to here. And so when we get to the end of this fiscal year, I would estimate that we'll have about 17 million in the water fund available. And then for the 27 budget, we have another 11 million in projects out there. And we'll end up with about 10.7. Now, that number is a little lower than perhaps uh well, I don't know that I talked about it at the all day budget meeting, but you can see here that the revenue estimate just based on and I think Steve will talk about, you know, conservation and what Weaver Basin Waters said lately. And so, just as I put this information together, I put together this, you know, the revenue will come down. If we looked at the consumption here was the last time we had, you know, our revenue was running up in this area and then uh the mayor and the council through the conservation campaign, you know, got that down. Where' my thing go? Got it down. But the problem with Well, I guess it's not a problem. It's a problem for me, right?

But um when the when consumption goes down, the revenue goes down and it goes down a lot. And you know, then it's gone back up a lot because people aren't conserving as much the last couple of years in wet years. That would go back to this fluctuation, right? Going from 14.3 to an estimated 12.9. I mean, if we truly had a 20%, that's only about a 10% cut. If we actually had 20% reduction in revenue, that that's another, you know, $1.5 million. So that would take our reserve down to about 9 million. And you think, well, 9 million, that's plenty. Well, we've managed to spend a lot on a lot of projects and there's a lot of projects out there still and that's the reason our age structure is the way it is. But

going on with the connections. Yeah.

So, yeah. And you know, not to I mean, all of you are aware that our engineering group's done a fabulous job and and you guys as well of getting federal funding and bringing in lots of different sources to help with those projects. But here's a few slides and I believe you have access to those out on the share all but it shows the total water use and where we're at. So we would anticipate that the 2026 water year would be you know somewhat lower if you do a 20% reduction or if you ask for that. Uh the next one out there the storm water fund you can see where the position on that is a lot of reserve related to projects that get pushed into the current year as well. I under these models I just assume that all that money is going to get spent. It won't. it'll get pushed forward to the next year, but it's the point is that it's already restricted for projects. And so the storm water fund a few years back we raised the rates on storm water uh I believe it was three years in a row by a dollar. And so that's helped to boost this up so that we can do the projects that we need to do. uh the sewer fund, you know, there's a proposed rate increase on that in this 27 year on the city side. There was one last year on North Davis sewer side. Next year there will be one on North Davis sewer side. They had uh they skipped a year between their increases. And so with that, we would anticipate revenue going up in 2027. Um, but you'll notice with the cost of the operations, which is mostly treatment that we pay to North Davis Sewward and those capital projects that are out there, uh, we're still, you know, eating into the reserve we have there. And even with those increases, you know, this fund's anticipated to

have about a million dollar reserve. So that's, you know, it doesn't have as large a reserve. Part of that being that for years and years the city didn't raise our side of that rate. So the rate that the citizens pay is a combined rate. The rate that North Davis Sewer charges us and then the small amount that we have to cover our operational expenses. Correct me if I'm wrong. That's actually tied to the water consumption if I remember correctly. Yes, it is. So water consumption goes down.

It could affect this as well. Correct. Yeah. It shouldn't it shouldn't affect this as much because most of that's commercial related and if you're most of the excess consumption is commercial related and if it's commercial related it's not outdoor watering related it's product you like the Smith's distribution uses a lot of water to make their products that's the sewer fund street lighting oh go ahead we did the sewer impact fee fun fee Right. Yeah. Um does that and that goes to this

u I should put that on here. That sewer impact fee is now Steve can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's so limited in what it's going to be able to do for us, but I should put it in here. You're right. It's specific to this enterprise. Yes. Okay. Because I just saw it on the previous ones with impact. So I remember that we put it on there. Tracy would be guessing if you put any numbers in there though because we don't have, you know, until we start seeing those permits come through, we won't know how much we're going to collect. Okay. But that will go into this fun.

The the thing with that is though, then I'll add a separate line down here that says restricted for impact fee related projects. And so it won't affect the reserve that we have for our normal projects, right? it can only go towards those that are in the impact fee facility plan. On the street lighting side of things, u we can see where that uh revenue source is at and our expenses there. Uh we've done a number of projects that have added up to a significant amount here. And our reserve is, you know, it was built up a little bit because we weren't doing as many projects, but now we've done those and we'd anticipated getting down to about a half a million in that in that fund.

We're still, Steve, we're still taking the old poles down. is that we're installing we're installing new poles still and then occasionally we replace an old pole once it is um I thought we were doing something who owns them Rocky Mountains all those and so we we we're working on some updates for you on that but but we're not changing out all of Rocky Mountain Powers poles because they have a lifespan on them and until that comes up Rocky Mountain wants us to pay that depreciation and we That's pretty used to do. So, so a lot of the

What about places that don't have it? That's where focus. Okay. Which is what the idea was behind it. Okay. Okay.

For our refuge fund, I brought this up at the all day budget meeting. The Wasatch Integrated increased a dollar. Uh we're proposing to increase a$135 on the first can. Haven't had an increase in that in a while related to the collection side and also second can and recycling. And so that will increase our revenue in the refuge fund. You'll see though that it still um has us using a little bit of reserve in the calculations. I did that on purpose because our reserve had grown higher than I think we needed to be in the refuge fund. I mean, we basically have two contracts that we cover and and then we have people that we allocate some of the cost of our utility clerks to this fund as well. They should probably allocate all their costs because that's where most their calls are except on water shut off day, but you'd be surprised how many calls we get about garbage cans.

But anyway, we allocate some of those personnel costs and operations there. But for the most part, it's two contracts and so we don't really need to carry as large of a reserve here. This will give us, you know, a few years, this kind of an increase until we have to consider doing it again, assuming that there isn't a very large CPI increase from waste management, which I mean, they they've been pretty consistent with being just whatever the consumer price index is for their industry. But is fuel cost going to affect that? What was that? Sorry. Is fuel cost affect that?

Fuel could. Yeah. Now, we just I I hadn't actually thought about that until you just mentioned that cuz just the last I should have thought of it because, you know, cost me $150 to fill my truck the other day. So, that was no fun when it went from three something to five something. So, that's the sheet on the increase in the emergency medical fund. Um, we have the the revenues there. I'm not aware of any rate increases and our fire chief might correct me after the meeting if there is one and then I could incorporate that in here. But we do have uh capital projects related to apparatus uh partial part of the payment for the ladder truck is out of here and also some resurfacing and other things things that we discussed at the all day budget meeting in the the equipment schedules and the capital improvement schedules. And that's going to bring, you'll notice this, this one I look at cash, and I've explained that before, but I'll just like to look at cash here. And so that'll still leave us with about a million in cash in the emergency medical fund. And uh so that's that fun. So that's what I have for you tonight. The one fun I didn't talk about, the pool fund. I didn't have a chance to go through that yet. And the uh secondary water fund, which is that's really not anything. It's just the contract side of it. Our actual secondary water is in the water fund. So, those two small funds I'll bring back to you probably at the next meeting.

How are we doing on the metering for the flying? I was going to say this this is the year it's got to be done. It's got to be done by October by Halloween, but but we're moving. The contractor has done an exceptional job since they started back up. Just going to work through all of the Davis Weaver area as well. We got a few maybe going to be at 100 or so in the old old area with some different challenges that we got to work through. Oh yeah. Yeah, we're we're definitely on track. Good. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. Okay, we got one more item left on our work meeting which is the safe street grant. So Steve Jackson will present that. Yeah, we were going to do the water conservation. Oh, is that okay?

Yeah. right away. I just we ended with water and I was Yeah, we're talking about the same subject. Sorry. No, yeah, that's number four. We can cover both of them.

Okay. I got got two short slideshows here. Um we went to the Weaver Basin Water Conservancy um districts custom agency meeting back in March. I'm going to show a few slides. The slides with the blue backgrounds are the slides from Weber Basin and then I've updated those as of today with orange background slides. So if you see the orange, it's my fault. If it's blue, it's their fault. So water supply outlook. This is what the precipitation was looking like. We were actually 100% of median for precipitation in the Weber Ogden River as we're flying up here into March 1st and then it flatlined and now we're down into the 40% area again. But this little tail right there, that was yesterday's storm. So

keep keep working on what you can with who you know. get this back up. So, we're 90% of median um snow water equivalent. We were 64% of median back on the 9th of of March. Um we were 52% of the median peak. And this is the terrible one right here. So, we dropped all the way down to 21% of median, 90% of peak. And again, there's our little magic tail from yesterday's storm. So, we'll get another little bump from today. Hopefully, we'll get another one tomorrow. Um, but it's not looking great. I'm just It's not doomsday yet, but just be aware we're not we're not in a spot where we want to go. So then they they threw out these projections from the graphs. We were hoping that we would be at 64% of the median peak with, you know, 50% chance of hitting this line. That's where we're going to end up potentially. If we hit the 50% line, we're going to be just kind of dribbling off here. So, we're we're setting records. They're just not good records. Um, so soil moisture, this is the really sad part. Soil moisture back in March was great. And if we had a lot of snow, we would have had a really efficient runoff. It was 190% of median. It's even higher right now. I mean, we're we're setting new records on the soil moisture side, but there's no snow to run off, so it's it's not going to be a great

Do you have a 30 second reason why that happens? It it just the the ground is not um it I don't think it froze like it was. And so I think the soil Yeah, it soaked into that. What was there was soaking in that remaining part. But to get up to you see it kind of peaks right now in in May the soil moisture because that's when all the ground is thawing and all that water's getting in. But it's it's we we're we're basically a month early on everything that's going on.

So um so their runoff forecast was that they thought they were going to maybe have 49% of average for their their total acre feet across their system back in in March. So, um, what does that mean? In the upper in the total basin, they were looking at a 54% storage. They have a 2-year storage. This is essentially one year's worth of water. Um, in the upper basin, it was 62%. So, you know, their average typical new storage is about 200,000 acre feet and they are going to be maybe 100,000 in this range. This but you can see those years.

We had some bad years. those earlier droughts we were talking about. I mean 7,300 acre feet was just abysmal and that was when we saw that really bad drought year. So So is that Steve was that new storage that's coming in based on the rainfall this year or does that include their existing capacity? My understanding was they we came into the year the reservoirs were pretty healthy. So does that take this into account or is this independent of of existing storage?

Yeah. So this would be the they they're just showing that this was what came in not including what was already in the storage area. So they typically get 200,000 acre feet. They're anticipating from this slide up here that they might get 144,000 if it comes down the way they thought it did. Now that was two weeks before we hit 80 degrees at the end of March. And and so what's the number that reflects? Sorry, Labor. number that reflects is obviously not a static number. It's going to evolve, but that with the existing reservoir capacity plus the small runoff, what are they thinking that's going to do?

So that's how that's this number here. So So currently they had just under 200 or 300,000 acre feet and the total system and and when I say total system, Willard Bay is taken out of the number for the upper basin. Willer Bay is the lowest reservoir in the in the whole system. So So in the upper in the upper storage they have 202. They anticipate that at the June 1st they would have 240. In the total system they'd have 350. And so when you you look at this you jump over here that puts you in the moderate for the the total storage. Um it actually puts you in severe excuse me for the total storage but it puts you in the moderate for the upper storage area. And so as you look at that, you say, "What are the drought triggers?" And you move to this chart and you say, "Okay, so we're we're somewhere on this line right here." And and so what they're trying to do is they're trying to get a 47 to 87,000 acre foot reduction in that. and and and so what they recommended uh in the meeting was that they would um basically outdoor watering. We would we would ask for a 20% reduction and then start the system uh loading in May 1st but waiting until May 15th water and then a system shutdown of October 1st. Um what they approved was that September 15th is the end of the water season this year with all of the 20% reductions. So, we're we're on that same trajectory with starting it up. There are some um agricultural users with some water rights that are going to to use it for actual a purposes before these dates, but for all outdoor um secondary culinary and and and I say a users, they may not need the water depending on what the rains do for them, right? And so we're we're prepared to deliver that water, but uh right now for outdoor landscaping, it's going to be May 15th.

Um whether you're on culinary or secondary, we're asking everybody to um to not water until that point. So um some of the other things that they talked about are some of these incentives. And I want to touch on one of these really quickly. Um well, I got a lot of words on the next PowerPoint I'll talk about, but I'm not going to read them all to you. But I wanted it to be in the slides for you guys to have when when we're finished. So they they are doing the smart controller rebate. Um it's $100. You can get a smart controller. We're finding that these are extremely effective at helping to to minimize or or to really maximize the the watering that people are doing at the appropriate times and minimize the amount of waste that's going on. Um there's this lowflow toilet rebate for older homes, but that's not going to get us out of a drought. Um, and then the flip the strip has now been rolled into this landscape lawn exchange. Um, except for people in Ogden City. So, um, what does that mean? Um, I just want to show this slide. It's a little busy, but this is the the flip your strip applications and and information. They've spent just over $800,000 on that program and Leighton City has used 48% of that dollars.

Okay,

that's good. We are not eligible for we were not eligible until recently for the LA the landscape lawn exchange. So if this demand of 48% holds and and let me remind you or let me point out this $387,000 is more than every other city has spent cumul or individually on the landscape lawn exchange. So, if we have the same kind of demand on the the flip the strip and the landscape lawn exchange, I think we could be a real big winner in all of this. But, um, so they've spent $27 million on this landscape lawn exchange um with cities that are eligible for it. A lot of that is state funded. And so, um, what what I wanted to to point out is that all cities now qualify for this landscape lawn exchange in Weber Basin's area, but it is 200 or $2, excuse me,$125 for cities who are not um haven't adopted the the water-wise ordinances that are required by the state and it's 250 if those ordinances are adopted because they're tapping into the state funding for that. So, um, let me jump over and give a little bit of detail. I just have a quick question.

So, um, what you showed us, um, the lawn exchange monies that were spent. Yeah. Leon hasn't had any of those. No, we No, no one has been eligible for the the lawn exchange program because it was all state funding at that that level. So there are some cities who have adopted those ordinances and they have been using that 2.7. But we we as a city alone have spent more than every city that's on this list in the flip the strip program. So if we get enough interest in the landscape lawn, we could probably blow up your basins program pretty good.

So let me go through this real quick. I'm not going to read all the words on these slides. It's on the websites and and it'll be in this presentation for you, but there is a ton of information on the website for Weber Basin for these rebates. And then this My Water Utah is the page that has a lot of information on these incentives, but it also is where you can go if you're a Weaver Basin customer to get um water use information from your meter. Um, local scapes is a is a great resource Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District has put together for these low water um and reduced water landscaping plans that are out there. These plans meet all of the requirements of this program for the landscape lawn exchange. Um, and then Utah State University has an exceptional website for water efficient landscaping. They've done a ton of research on how and when and why and things on different plants. So um soils too, right?

Yeah. And the soils and how you do that. So

there's opportunities for water savings. Twothirds of the water we use in Lake City is used for outdoor um landscape irrigation. Um the annual landscape varies from year to year depending on how much water we get from the sky, but it's anywhere from 28 to 32 in. And we're seeing that the average use is 30 to 40% above that actual landscape need based on these meters. So, we're seeing, you know, it's it's not just that people are using what the landscape needs, they're using a lot more than what the landscape actually needs. And so, um, one of the programs out here is Weber Basins Landscape Lawn Exchange. It's intended to remove lawn and replace it with lowwater landscape materials, including plants, to create the attractive low water alternatives to grass areas. So, we're not talking rockscapes. We're there is nothing in this program that will allow you to just put rock everywhere. You have to put plants back in and and it's an incentive to be able to to help pay for that. So, um again, it's available to all of Davis, Weaver, Morgan counties. Um we fall into this$125 um category because we have not met one I'll point this out. We got one requirement that if we decide to do it, we could we could qualify for the 250. But right now, all of our residents can get the $1.25. Um, it does have to be current living grass and then it has to be removed with a more water efficient alternative. So, if you go kill your grass right now, you get nothing. So, don't go out and do anything like that. Like, get improved and get in the system and then go at it however you want. So, um, the project area has got to be 250 square feet if you're doing it with the water efficient ordinances. If not, it's 500. Um, and again, it has to be um living long. You can't just let everything die and do that. So, um, you can't replace turf with any other kind of turf. So, if if

it's you can't suggest doing low water turf or anything like that. It's got to be drip irrigation and and plants that are part of that. So, so art artificial turf is an

artificial turf. Yeah. So, so you can't you don't get any credit for imperial surfaces. You don't get any credit for artificial turf. Um, you can't put a grass back anywhere that the that is less than 8 ft wide or in the park strips. You can't have any slopes or grass on slopes above 25%. It has to be lawn overhead sprinklers and drip systems can't be on the same irrigation valve. So, you can't there's there's some changes that have to happen so that you get really efficient water use on these planted areas. um and that that really helped do that. So, you do have to have at least 35% plant foliage at the plant's maturity. You got to put in trees based on a 3,000 square foot project area. Um if you do trees in a park strip, they have to follow the city ordinances. And then you don't get you don't get plants uh existing plants don't count towards the plant coverage unless you're you talk to the district beforehand. So, um

you can't build a garage. You can build a garage. You just don't get money for that portion of the yard because it's they never have to water anything. I I agree. But the program is to get people to to remove the lawn and then, you know, I think they what they want to say is, hey, you know, we're trying to get you to take what was really water intensive use and put it into the lower water intensive use. But if you're going to build a garage, you're going to do that anyway. So, um, but also a garage is not a part of a landscape. Yeah. Yeah. So,

can put a front on and so you don't you don't get to use annual plants or flowers and bulbs as part of that coverage requirement. You've got to have 3 to 4 inches of mulch. Um, again, they they are telling people not to remove trees, but it won't disqualify them. But if the city requires them to be planted or trees to be planted or left in the landscape, then then they need to do that. Um, commercial properties can also apply for these programs and um, if they span multiple properties, they get they get considered as one footprint and then they can have up to $50,000. Um, you have to use low volume drip systems on the new planting areas and then there's some requirements to be able to to do that. So, um, institutional properties are are qualify for this too. So, any public property institutions that own more than five properties can qualify. Um it says they will incentivize up to half the project square footage for $50,000 per institution per year. But then you can apply multiple years for projects. So um even residential users can come in and say I I can only do this portion of my yard. So that's the portion I want to to come and ask for funding on. And then they could do all of that within the 12-month time frame. And then they could come back the next year and qualify for a different part of the yard if they want to. So it really is a a great incentive to get people to do that. So, um, so let's talk about what has to happen if you want higher incentive. You have to have an ordinance that restricts park strips from having landscape or lawn in that area. You have to have a land an ordinance that says you can't have grass anywhere that's more it's more narrow than 8 feet at its narrowest point. Um the lawn area can't be 35 more than 35% in the front sideyard for single family residential. And then all these new commercial industrial can't have any areas that have lawn that exceeds 15% of the total landscaped area

outside of designated recreational areas that meet those design criteria in the landscape standards. So you can you can have playfields, you can have areas, common areas that have lawns and things like that, but um but the rest of their landscaping just can't be lawn everywhere. So

So Steve, does those do the first three I mentioned their list, but the first three requirements apply to new single family residential or are they saying the city needs to qualify retroactively go back and tell everybody you've got to pull out what you've got? Are you just going forward from this? just all new construction. Okay, so all all four of these actually are just for new construction. Um and and I'm going to be honest, the only reason we don't qualify for this incentive is because we don't require these first three on single family residential that are outside of PRUDs. We require all of this now in PRUDs. Um we require all of this for commercial, industrial, institutional already. The only thing is we don't require it on single family in a in a standard single family subdivision. So that is that is the only thing that's stopping residents in Leighton from being able to um use that. Now this program is completely voluntary right now. I mean unless the state legislature starts beating another drum. They're not coming at anybody saying you have to do anything yet. But they're finding a lot of success with this. Um and and so nobody's going to go to somebody in an existing home and say you have to go do this at this point. But we've got a lot of people who are asking why can't I get this 250 because that that's a huge you know double the money that you're getting to to remove some stuff goes a long way to incentivize people. So um anyway David you had a question

on the third one down. Yeah. Lawn areas shall not exceed 35%. Okay. Not exceed. If I took my side lawn and just removed it, is that okay? Yeah. You just would have to put some some growies back with. Yes. I mean, I understand. But what they're saying is on a new single family sub, this is new. On a new single family home, when you go to build when you go to landscape your front yard, you can only have 35% of the front and sideyards be grass. Okay?

And realistically, what they're saying in the local scapes is they're saying, "Hey, have a have a central area if you want to have some lawn and and design it that way and then have plantings on the sides where it's it's hard to to water effectively because you're you're narrow on your sideyard and things like that." So, I'd love to do that on my Steve. Would this kick in? If we had this ordinance and someone was doing existing home and they were doing a remodel, would they have to abide by um not not for the funding, but would if we changed the ordinance, would they have to abide by the new ordinance for say a remodel with their own permits and stuff?

Um, I I don't believe it would require for just a remodel, but We got to be careful. There's some nuances. Some people call it to construct a complete rebuild a remodel and that's not, you know, it can be defined. We would have to look into that and define that properly. But, but I do believe our current ordinance says that if you go well, for single family, it doesn't, but for other businesses, if you go above a certain amount, yes, you have to come in and meet these water wise landscaping programs. So, um the the one thing I will say is this this problem is not going away.

Even with the meters, we're finding a lot of success getting people to kind of understand what they're using. But, um as Weaver Basin is looking at things, they're they've already got ordinances that if you want to to contract for new water from them, we're not planning on needing to do that, but if you did want to go contract new water, you have to have these ordinances in place before they'll even sell you the water. So, it's it's something that they're looking at saying, "We have a limited supply. We have a limited amount that we can allocate to people." And so, we're going to make sure that it is used in the most efficient, effective way. And again, they're not trying to take away people's ability to have beautiful landscaping and and lawns. that actually some of these local scapes if you go to their website they're they really have a lot of character and a lot of things that you know I don't want to bag on home builders but some of them build a lot of stuff that looks the same and it's really the landscaping that makes the homes kind of have different personalities and characters and things so anyway that's that's all I have on these but I think you guys wanted to have a little bit of discussion

thank you for that so I mean 125 to 250 I understand that our residents are eligible for the 125 and the other cities are eligible for the 250. So the only money that so the second slide that showed the funding was just state funding that was provided. So our residents are still receiving the 125. There would be some qualify for that from the district. The district the district is funding basically the first 125 now. And the reason that we're not eligible for the 250 is because the other portion is coming from the state and the state is requiring those ordinances.

So if we saw if we saw a a table of all funding, we would be on that list. We would just be half. Well, now that that yeah, that we have not been eligible up to this point because we haven't had those ordinances. Okay. Just on that it looked like one gate like so the the 125 just recently went in where the city is. When was that Steve? Uh just at this last meeting is when they announced that that was going to happen. Yeah. Essentially it's coming May 1st.

Yeah. I mean I I think I mean uh Mike and I talked about that. I'd like to see if we could get an ordinance and at least debate it with the council and see if there's an idea about wanting to to move a different route. That was one of our priorities that we had talked about before. So, um, that's something I recommend. You agree with that, Mike?

Yeah, I think this is low hanging fruit that we could, you know, help our residents save some money in rellandscaping, definitely save some water. It's a scarce resource in this state. We do I think it was uh Governor Scott Mat said we do live in a desert. So if I remember correctly um so um yeah I think this is a really low hanging proof for the city to to act. I can't believe a builder wouldn't consider it thinking I mean if if I'm buying a new home that's saving me money in the long run because I'm not Well, I think before your discussion was you was worried about the burden he was putting on the brand new homeowner. Yeah.

It was hard enough that to get into a home. Yeah. That's I I know that's where the thought was last week, but obviously the other thought the other thought is, you know, if we stay the course just for the homeowner to to kind of rebut that is they're going to be spending money on water and continue this way, they're going to reduce their spending. They're going to keep more money in their own pocket uh that they can go spend elsewhere. Um so yeah, one more thing. So just just so I know conceptually, make sure I'm understanding The reason why we don't qualify for the 250 is because we don't have those first three on standard subdivisions, which we don't have a lot of for single family res,

right? But the rebate is available for all of our residents. Yes. Yeah. The incentive is available for all of our residents. the the the hangup is the state is saying we're not going to encourage people to put in these landscapes and then turn around and have to incentivize them to remove them. We want them done right to begin with. I was just trying to think of how many standard subdivisions we've improved in the last and and I agree and and to be honest we actually have some I can always think

we have some we have some some restrictions that are or some requirements that are actually more restrictive than this on our PRUDs. Um and and we tried to talk about that with them and basically the the answer is the state law says this is what has to happen in order to figure out the state money and so that's where we we have to look at it but but I'm happy to work with Weston. I think we have a draft of the previous ordinance where this was discussed and it shouldn't take much time to to bring that back to you and work with Alex if that's the direction.

No, I was just going to say should we we should bring it back. We should revisit it. I I was one that wasn't as excited about this when we um debated it last time and have I I think the the model's proven out to the point where now it's and now it's been adopted into the landscape exchange. I think that's that's telling us something. And I'm not I'm not as concerned we're looking at this year's water. it's next year's water and next year's water that we are

we we need to give people the residents every tool available to be able to conserve to to help all of us and so I agree with Mike about the how low the fruit is hanging in the current where we are right now and Mike's point um we are required by the state law that is passed to to build every secondary connection by the meter by 2030. So there's not going to be any more flat rate water anymore for anybody. And so you're going to be spending more simply because you chose to have 100% lawn instead of whatever. So it will

just rookie card again. So currently even though the lead meters in place we're uh we're not actually charging the residents by by their consumption but in 2030 the plan is to start by we have to by 2030. We can do it anytime before that. Our our plan is with the new water master plan update is to bring back a rate structure that we will recommend to the council to adopt that will allow us to build by those meters. Um, we do have to send out monthly consumption information for them, but but yeah.

Hey, Steve, can just one thing um when you and Weston like revamp the previous ordinance, um could you also be prepared to speak to what opportunity we still have for new single family residents? And I think that's what Zach was getting to, you know, the fact that we haven't approved a whole lot of those anyway. But in light of maybe revamping this PRV, that could also come into play. So I think it'd be good for us to know what actual area is still available for single family residential. And is there is there any availability u or I guess restriction if there was some undue hardship on a on an homeowner or something where they couldn't put in the lawn that was required that they could meet certain requirements that they could get an exception but it could still be approved as part of the program.

You mean putting in more lawn than what is allowed? Yeah, just some sort I I just didn't know if there was We'll look into that, but some sort of hardship that I'm not aware of any because I would I mean obviously I'm I'm obviously on the record my opinion, but I I do like the idea if there is some sort of extenduating circumstance where it is financially burdensome that there was some way. But if that's not allowed, you can't have that parachute for that exemption and that doesn't mean you get approved, then I'd certainly rather have it approved. Just think trying to think of the they could probably work with vendors to like figure that out. Real real.

I was on the fence too. We got we still got one more item here. So just real quick to to clarify something. Are businesses um they are they are they are mention they can they can participate in these programs. Correct. That's my understanding. And the ordinance that now that we passed when we didn't pass the residential for businesses and commercial to anytime they remodel or new construction they have to they have to bring it up but I've talked about the program for newer bas incentives for commercial.

Okay. I think it's a good idea to bring it back. I mean obviously we've had a lot of uh old residents that have existing homes that are looking to redo. So I think it would be a good idea. Okay. Let's go ahead and now go on to item number five. which is the safe uh safe streets grant. So yeah, safe streets for all. Um excited about this one. We've got a project we've been working on since 2021. Um we're calling it safety elevated, the 2200 West Railroad crossing, active transportation bridge.

I I can't take credit for that. Mindy Hunagger in our office has done an exceptional job on this. And I think um I want to say we're up to almost $20 million total that she's been able to pull in on other projects, but this one is this one's a pretty big one for us, too. So,

uh we received from the US Department of Transportation a safe streets for all implementation funds award in December. Um there were six awards granted to the state of Utah. Only one was an implementation grant. The others are all planning grants. So there were 600 or 520 some odd grants and only 67 were implementation grants. So really big deal that we got this award. Um we started a a feasibility study with UD do's help um back in 2021. We completed it in 2023. We looked at four alternatives to to improve safety at this area. Um, just for your information, this project scores the highest on every single safety uh metric that there is in every one of the places we've been searching for funding. Um, and it's not by a small margin. It's like we're we're way up here when it comes to trying to get this thing fixed. So, we looked at an atra pedestrian crossing, which was just a sidewalk through there. We looked at a pedestrian overpass, a full grade separated crossing for cars and pedestrians, and then we actually looked at whether we should just close the road alto together. Um the recommendation out of that feasibility study was that we should pursue a pedestrian overpass across 2200 West. So this is a rendering of the of the preliminary drawing, 30% drawing. You can see there's a a span over the railroad tracks and and there's some certain height restrictions that we need to meet and then we come down off of it with the ramp and then some retaining walls. Um this is six 265 ft span steel truss across the tracks. um ramps tying in. Then we'll use retaining walls to support the the structure to limit the cost. And then there's also additional 780 ft of sidewalk to the north and south that we want to tie together to get people into the neighborhood there and whatnot to make it safe all the way up to Analopee Drive. So, this is a rendering that our our consultant put together. So, up here is Analopee Drive and then down here is um well, obviously the south of the

railroad tracks, but but this would be the pedestrian bridge portion of this project. And then again, we will continue sidewalk up up this portion of the road to get there. So, um, because Wasatch Regional Council put together a safety action plan, we were eligible to apply for this grant. And so, Minnie did a ton of work on this to put that together. But, um, yeah, so we we actually got an 80% grant for $9.90 million. Um, we need to come up with $2.47 million. We're working with some other partners to um see if we can't get some additional support on that. But um is is one of those partners the city to the north?

Uh yes, we're we're talking with them. We're talking with um the county. We're talking with UD do. There's some different places we need to to look for some assistance there. But city,

at the very least, we want their support because we're going to be impacting some of their residents. But yes, we're we're we're in talks with them right now. We're we're applying for some COG funding. Um we're looking at some Prop One funding possibly and then there's also some funding with UDL TTIF that we're we're trying to explore. Um we do need to execute this grant agreement within 12 months of the awards. We have till December to get this executed with them and then we have five years to complete the project. Um we have three phases that we have to go through. one is the base phase, which is everything environmental. We have to get that taken care of before we can move forward on anything else. Our our final design would then be next. Um we're at about a 30% design right now. So So we anticipate that we could really move pretty quick through that final design and then we go to construction. So, um, currently if we, um, if we could, you know, get this thing signed and taken care of, what we would anticipate is we'd start the environmental and the first quarter of 27, um, and then start working our way down and be finished by about the middle of 2029 with the project. We're still looking at these schedules based on funding and things like that. There might be some opportunities to to get some funding, but it may not be available as soon as we would like it. So, we're gonna we're going to see if we can't program some of this stuff in. But, um, just wanted to give you an update on that. It's very rare for somebody to to walk in with $10 million of a $13 million project and say, "Hey, can you help us out get across that finish line?" So, um, really excited about that. Mindy's done a great job getting this moving. So,

anyway, I know we're short on time. Any any questions? Great. That's great. Every time I go down there, it's just like Yeah. So that's awesome. I do have a three and a half minute video if you guys ever want to see it of all the craziness that goes on at that railroad cross. We'll save that for another video. You want it on the drive. Some of us are part of the craziness. I don't think the video goes back that far. Yeah, it's now straight up. So I'll entertain a motion to Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Clint. We'll now go into

watching TV. Hey, this is what you call spring break. Okay, I'd like to welcome everyone out to our Leighton City uh council meeting this evening, which is April 22nd. Um we're uh happy to have those in attendance here tonight. Um yeah, our two guests, but at the same time, that's a good sign that everybody's enjoying their spring break. So, um, as customary before we get going with our meetings, we'd always like to start out with our prayer and pledge and, um, we take turns each month. And so, I'm going to turn the time over to Council Member Smith Edmonson.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'm going to do the prayer first and then because we have a visiting youth council member here, I've asked her if she will lead us in the pledge. So, I'll ask you all to bow your heads. God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for an opportunity to come and do the business of Leighton City. We thank you that we have um a great city and that we have residents that are engaged. God, we thank you for our staff who helps us as a council and mayor make the decisions that are best for the people. But we also want to pause to thank you for the precipitation we've received over the over the past couple of days and we ask that you continue to do that. Um we ask that we'll deliberate on whatever we need to tonight and that all decisions that are made will be done according to your will and we thank you for all that you're doing for us and all that you're going to do. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Please stand. and begin. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you both. I appreciate that. That was a great prayer and leading us in the pledge there. Um, what I'd like to do to start out, um, is actually acknowledge our youth council member with us here this evening, which is London Black. And London, thank you for leading us in the pledge. But, uh, would you mind sharing a moment of, um, your experience on the council and what school you're from and stand? No. And I'll have you speak into this mic. You're welcome to either stand or whatever you want to do. Okay.

I'm London Black and um I go to Northridge High and I'm in 10th grade. I haven't been in LCYC for very long, but I liked it a lot so far. Okay. Are you ready for the July 4th holiday? Yeah, it's going to be fun. Okay. We're going to need you. Okay. Uh, with that, I'll just go ahead and um turn the time back over to the council to see if there's any municipal announcements they'd like to share at this time. Yes, I'm going to have to read them. Oh, go ahead, Mike. Turn on your mic.

Excuse me. Now the mic's on. Leighton City Council. Uh the parks department is closing the bathrooms at Andy Adams Park. There will be some portables there until the new bathroom is built. So be aware of that. They also are hiring 14 years and older, uh, a lot of kids, scorekeepers, umpires, uh, amphitheater techs, arts in the park, tennis instructors. The parks department, uh, six 16 and older, they're looking for seasonals. Surf and swim is looking for lifeguards, 15 and older. So if you got some young kids that are looking for work to get paid for, city is a great place to work in the summer.

Okay. Anyone else?

Um I just have one announcement from Leighton Communities that Care. Um we are going to begin our Circle of Security parenting classes. They'll be on Wednesdays starting April 8th through the through May 27th. They'll be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Crest View Elementary School. Um there are different sessions for each week and these are for folks who have kids between the ages of 4 months and 6 years old. Um but they are also welcoming caregivers and parents with kids of all ages to attend. So you can go to dbhutah.org um to register for that. And there are a number of other things that we do during the year. And if you want to volunteer, please reach out.

Okay. Great program. I love it. You guys have done a really good job with that. So, thank you. Okay. I do have uh just two quick announcements. One is um if you see any of the pin wheels or signs with the pin wheels uh this month, just be aware that this is uh child abuse prevention month and uh we will have a couple of those pinw wheels in our park. But certainly um just help bring awareness to this. It's you know it's something that all of us need to be able to acknowledge and take a part of and and recognize that you know there there is a prevention for this. And so we're lucky we have uh actually a citizen in our city that is very much intimately involved with this and has been for numerous years. She actually sits on our parks and rec commission as well, Miss Debbie Commtock. So, I want to just give her a uh just an appreciation for continuing this. Okay. My other announcement is kind of a good again it's a excellent program. It's something to bring awareness to and that is our strong and secure senior fair. And this is uh put on uh by our Leighton City Fire Department. We've got the Abington Senior Center involved. uh Inter Mountain Health is involved. Davis County um aging services, Tanner Clinic, there's a number of people that are willing to help put on this fair. And this year it's going to be held over at the Leighton Hills Mall a week from this Saturday, which will be April 11th. And it's really uh designed for the entire family. So, we want everyone to come and kind of learn what you need to do to help take care of those of your seniors and aging population. and there'll be a lot of activities and education for the whole family and prizes. So again, that's a week from this Saturday.

Yes. Sure. Go ahead.

Um, thanks, mayor. I forgot I have one more announcement. So, um, I don't know if many of you remember that our schools had a learning to breathe program for our sixth graders over the past couple of years. um with Leighton Communities at Care. We are also doing a three session um learning to breathe for adults. And that will be on Wednesday, April 22nd, Wednesday, April 29th, and Wednesday, May 6th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. And those will be held at Davis Behavioral Health. Um also here in Leighton, we do know that our um our youth court kids um they have participated in our learning to breathe and some of their parents have stayed and completed those sessions and we've got really good feedback on that. um our police chief was also interested and so this is something that's good for adults as well as for our kids just to help with overwhelming feeling stress and just thinking about um you know mindfulness and our own personal awareness of our mental health. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Okay, seeing that there's no more uh municipal announcements, um I'll turn the time over to our citizen if she would have a comment or not. Okay, thank you for attending tonight. Um, being that there's no citizens comment, we'll just go ahead and jump right into our consent items. We do have two consent items on our agenda. And of course, like I've mentioned in the past, the um this council can go ahead and uh take action on the consent items by one single motion. So, when that time comes, just know that that's what they'll be doing. So, I'll go ahead and uh start out with our first item. and Mr. uh Steve Jackson will um give us the update on or the presentation on the understanding between Leighton City and the Royce Circle L regarding a utility connection.

Thank you, Mayor Council. It's good to be with you tonight. Uh for your consideration is resolution 2618. Uh, it's a memorandum of understanding between Leighton City and Royce Circle L. The the trailer court over there near um, excuse me, near Cross Street just north of Gentile. Um, the the the trailer court has been doing some utility improvements within the boundaries of their their development. Um, they're increasing their fireflow capacity and and some other things in there. Um, and in the course of that, uh, what was discovered is that our water meter is tucked right in the back corner of that property in the back through several gates and different other areas to get to the private property line. U, their sewer line also runs across the city's property. This is the the parks maintenance facility. Uh the property is owned by the redevelopment agency for the city, but um and then their existing water line cuts over here somewhere and possibly underneath that building to get to that point. So um as part of this, it's a 4-in line. um in order to to get increased fire flow in this area, um improve access for the meter for the city, uh we've been in discussions with them to to relocate the meter from the existing point here out here to uh Cross Street and then reinstall an 8 in water line that will connect and improve the fire flow for that property. Um we also discovered that when these utilities were put in, there was no easements established for these private utilities. And so part of this would be that uh the city would establish an easement on our property for the private utilities to be maintained in the future. Um the city would then own the the meter itself and the water line out to the street and cross street, but then the the water line would become privately owned from the meter into Circle L's property. Um, so with that, the the public works

department would install the water line in the meter and then Circle L would be paying for all the materials and the cost to to buy the equipment to to do this work as part of this memorandum. Um so staff would recommend that the council adopt resolution 2618 and approve this memorandum of understanding with Roy Circle L um regarding these utility connections and the easement and then authorize the mayor or city manager to to sign the necessary documents and and what that would entail is after the water line is installed um just to make sure there's no surprises as to where it goes, we would establish that easement after the water line was put in and and have the mayor city manager sign that over to circle L. Is there any questions I can answer for anybody?

Council, any questions on this? Good explanation. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much. Okay, we'll go on to item number B and um Miss Jaden Sanders is going to present this item for us and it's regarding a existing antenna facility.

Thank you very much. Okay. Uh, thank you guys. Um, so tonight I'm going to present on a land lease agreement between Leighton City and AT&T. There is an existing cell tower and an existing land lease on this site. It's Andy Adams Park. So, the original lease uh was originally entered into April 20th, 2000, and it's approaching the end of its term. So, AT&T desires to stay on the site. Um, and the city uh is agreeable to the request, but the access to the site needs to be adjusted to accommodate the construction of new bathroom facilities at Andy Adams Park. So, the original access went through um where the proposed restroom buildings are right there and so it's just been slightly shifted to the left. Um, so some key points in the land lease are that the original lease will be terminated in its entirety and replaced with this new agreement. Uh the amount of space that they're leasing is approximately 651 square feet. They will pay rent annually um in amount of $23,749 and each year that rent will increase by 3%. Uh the initial term of the agreement is for 5 years beginning April of this year and then the agreement may be extended for five additional 5-year terms. Um, in the event of a breach of an agreement uh that's not cured after 30 days, the city would be able to terminate. Uh, and then upon termination of the lease, whether it was terminated early or if it just expired on its terms, um, the LE shall remove the antenna facilities and restore the premises to its original condition. So, uh, city staff recommends that the council adopt resolution 2619 to approve this land lease agreement and authorize the mayor to sign the necessary documents.

Thank you. Any questions on this council? Again, good presentation once again. Thank you. Okay, being that there's no discussion on it, I'll go that uh I'll go ahead and bring the items back to the council for action. Again, that concludes our consent items. So, council, whoever would like to make the motion, please make sure you state the resolution as well. Madame Mayor, I move that we approve resolution 26-18 and resolution 26-9 as presented. Okay, I have a second. Who was that? Okay, Councilman Bloxom. Okay, all in favor of uh this action, please say I.

I. Any oppose? Okay, you have it. That wraps up our uh agenda at this time, unless there's any additional um unfinished business that anyone would like to bring before us.

Yeah, if I if I could, Madame Mayor, there was just a a request and something that maybe we could take as a as a city. I had a um Scott Wyn reach out to me uh the son of Steve Win, a crossing gourd that was tragically killed at uh Main Street in 1600 North and made a request uh I guess just an ask of the city if there was a way that potentially we could um memorialize or honor his father by renaming that street that 1600 North Street in some way um naming it in memory of Steve uh Steve win. So I don't ne and he gave a a similar street. I think it was in South Jordan. I could double check that where they didn't necessarily change the street itself because it's it still stayed the same on the mailing address, but they just kind of had a uh a memoriam street in addition to the 1600 North. So it was just something that I thought I'd pass along. um take my kids to school every single day and and honestly I I don't know if there's a week that goes by that I don't think of Steve when I'm taking my kids to school and and seeing those same crossing guards there and and just grateful for all of the time and time that they take and rain, snow, sleep, sunshine, no matter what uh to help those kids get across the street and it was something that really affected me. So I just wanted to to pass along to the council maybe something we we as a council and as a staff can discuss but I just wanted to pass along Mr. 's request.

Okay, that's I can't I I'd have to say I understand that and certainly I think we've all recognized um the sadness that that has brought and the importance of our crossing guards. So um council if you want to take the time now and discuss. I I just would like to say I really like the idea of the 1600 North is still there just for So you can find things, but to have maybe his name, I don't know how it would look underneath or whatever, but u it's kind of like our firemen.

Mhm. uh you know we don't have these things happen often and when it does it's not that it's more tragic than other deaths but it's something they were doing in the line for us and of course for all the kids and so I think it would be well within our thought process whatever you want to say to do something like that I I would totally agree for it

can't Anyone else want to weigh in on this or how you feel? Okay. Then I would recommend that we uh actually come back and make a decision perhaps in our next meeting when put it on an agenda item for our work meeting and uh see if something that we want to proceed forward so that the staff would know how to handle this. Okay. If there's no other business or that anyone else would like to discuss, then I would entertain a motion to adjurnn.

Here we I took my note off. Said turn on the mic. Um I don't know if I can make an a motion this early. It's just doesn't seem right. But I will make a motion that we adjourn. Okay. I'll second that motion. Okay,

thank you. There's a motion, a second. I'll acknowledge it and uh officially adjourn this meeting on this uh week of spring break and the great moisture we're saving. So, thank you everyone for attending and it looks like we have another person out there in the audience. So, that's awesome. Thank you for being here. Good night everyone.