Town Council - Regular Meeting

ready. Okay. Uh, welcome to the Springdale Town Council amended. Let's see. So, it's a regular meeting, right? The regular meeting of the Springdale Town Council. Today is Wednesday, December 10th, 2025. The time is 50:04. We are at the Springdale Canyon Community Center. From the town, we have uh Greg Hardman, our council. We have Tom Danzy, Rick Wixom, and Robin Romero. On the dis we have Jack Burns, Randy A. Tom, Barbara Bruno, Pat Camel, and Kyla Topam. And we'll begin with a motion to approve the special meeting agenda.

The regular meeting. Regular meeting agenda. I move we approve the regular meeting agenda. I'll second. Motion by Randy. Second by Kyla. Kyla. I hat I. Barb. Randy. Jack. I and I missed the pledge of allegiance. So, let's do that next.

I aliance 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. Okay, we'll start with we'll start with general announcements. Do you have any general announcements?

Yeah, it's a Can you hear me? Okay. It's December, so we have our uh holiday schedule coming up. So, starting Well, the first one is tomorrow. We've got the Rotary Giving Tree Wrapping Party be held here in this room around noon. Um for those of you that aren't aware, this is for um this is a program that the Rotary Club has put on for the last several years. It's to help families in need. Um and so there will be gift wrapping and then those will be donated to children here in Zion Canyon. So looking for volunteers to help wrap presents um as part of our Joy to the World celebrations. Uh that will start this Friday. Um that is the light parade and the sweet social Friday the 12th at 7 p.m. Just to make note that is something that in the past has been held on Saturday. This year we're holding it on Friday. Um, so the uh parade will start at 7 and then the sweet social will be held here directly after. On Saturday, December 20th, we have the Wreaths Across America program held at the Jolly Gford Cemetery at 10:00 a.m. And then lastly, we have our New Year's Eve celebration held on Wednesday, December 31st here at the Canyon Community Center at 6 p.m. We will have line dancing, food, and live entertainment. Any questions? So, the parade starts at 7.

Pride starts at 7. Yep. Okay. Thanks. Any other announcements from town? No. Okay. Um, Superintendent Brady B, you want to give us an update on Zion National Park?

Ryan's taller than I am. Good evening. Um, as usual, start off uh quickly with our uh monthly visitation report. Um, November um we're pretty much even with last year. We're up uh less than 1% over last year and um sitting at 4.7 plus million uh through the end of November. Um, November itself was a was pretty much even with November last year, but our um year-to- date numbers again are pretty close to last year as well. Uh, projectwise, we continue to work on um the South Campground um rehabilitation project um shooting for completion in March of this coming year. And uh things are going along pretty well. Um if we're able to, we may try to get one of the loops uh open uh sooner than the than the other one. And uh um good progress being made on on uh loop A in that campground. Uh our sewer line project up canyon uh phase one is complete. That was from uh Zion Lodge to the grotto. um complete pumps are in place and waste water is flowing. So we'll uh be working on engineering uh for the next two phases. Uh those would be from um the grotto to uh weeping rock and the third phase would be uh weeping rock to the temple of sinava. Still a bit of a funding shortfall for

that third phase. So, um, we're working within the the park service and, uh, some of our other partners in trying to, uh, make up that funding shortfall. Uh, Congress is in session as you know, and I've been spending a lot of time this week uh on phone calls just uh providing information um about pieces of legislation that are uh before various committees and subcommittees. So, um we're hoping at the same time that they're working on the budget. Um, as you know, the current continuing resolution uh funds uh the government um including the park service through January 30th. So, um I'm sure they're working on that and hopefully we'll they'll get that completed and uh we get a full year appropriation before January 30th. Um happy to answer any questions you might have. Do you have funding for phase two of the sewer project?

Partial. Yeah. Uh some of that is state of Utah uh funds that um the legislature provided and u we'll be trying to match that up with some um legacy restoration fund, great American outdoors funding from uh the park service. But all of those sorts of things that are within the the within the park service budget of course are subject to getting um the budget passed. So yeah. Any other questions for superintendent? Thank you.

Yep. Thanks.

Next item on the agenda is council department reports. Any discussion of those? Yeah, I have a an update on one of mine. So, for the fire board, as we all know, we got a property tax increase and I've been reporting that we um asked for and got approved a sales tax bill that started in June. Um, so that we figured next year that we would have uh approximately $1.2 million to give back in property taxes from the 2.3 of the increase that we asked for. However, we just found out and we are going to have a meeting on the 15th on Monday. Uh and we are planning on increasing our budget uh to increase wages for our um for our firefighters, for the the whole department. The reason being St. George just raised their uh wages and we are really concerned that we are going to be losing people to St. George because of that uh they raised them significantly. So uh if we do pass this new budget which I'm expecting we probably will or this revised budget uh instead of 1.2 2 million next year coming back to all the properties that we increase taxes. We think we'll probably have that and have something like $600,000 coming back. Uh but again, it's a um it's one of the things that we want to keep this department operating, especially with

the people we already have. The only way we really feel sure we can keep those people is by raising wages and therefore modifying our budget to do that. Okay. Tyler, do you have anything to add to that?

Okay. I've got I I wanted to spend a couple minutes and talk about um I sit on the Washington County Solid Waste District Administration Board and um this past Monday, I didn't know Jennifer was going to be here uh tonight, but she gave a really good presentation on uh Republic Services uh their battery recycling program and just their recycling program in general. And um it's just kind of a great um reminder given the holidays coming up, you know, that uh we tend to recycle a lot of small batteries in each household. And and sometimes I think we tend to forget um how critical it is that we properly dispose of batteries. And uh Jennifer, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I heard that this past year um the dump trucks that uh are the garbage trucks that Republic uses. They had five fires um inside.

She said three three hot. Okay.

So like these batteries heat up and and so they can cause fires and um um and I think in our extreme uh heat that we experience in the summer that really compounds the issue. But um she talked a little bit about a a packback program and um uh I thought it was really interesting that this is something that the town can participate in it. Rick, I know that you already made a call and a bucket is on its way uh to the town, but the five gallallon bucket that you're looking there uh in the middle kind of what we're thinking about talked to Ryan a little bit about this is that we'll place that somewhere maybe at the community center, maybe at town hall, somewhere where residents will have access to it. If you want to go and and dispose of your small batteries, you can do that. Um, residents can participate in this program as well as the town. But basically what it is is that when that bucket is full, comes with the shipping label, you return it. Can you open that up? Just click on that. Um, and this kind of gives you an idea of the size of the buckets that are made available and what it costs to return them. And then a new bucket is sent to you with another shipping label. Um uh one of the things that I didn't realize is that Home Depot actually has a battery uh uh disposal area or I guess it's like a repository where you can take your used batteries and leave it there. And so an option for the town or any resident is that if you wanted to collect your batteries and just take them to Home Depot and put them in their recycle bin, that's an option. Jennifer said she was actually working on a a list of other businesses in St. George

where you can take batteries and um and she hoped to have that available in February so we can share it then. Uh but I just kind of I thought it was a great presentation. If you want to get up and add anything to it, you are more than welcome. And uh but it it was it was a really good reminder importance of how we dispose of items in our households. more detail about how that happens. We're donating public services. One time you can drop off your light batteries and so out batteries and return to being brought here to the town. Thank you and jumping on this right away. And the other thing you mentioned too that, you know, we often just don't think about, especially this time of year when we're getting all our Christmas lights out, the LED lights that we plug in and they're not working. There's a proper way to dispose of them as well.

Yeah. And you can take those LED lights also to Home Depot and the Lowe's. But we also have a program for light bulbs also that you can get and you can order this yourself. Can the light bulbs go in the battery bucket? Okay. Only batteries. Okay. Okay. I don't have any light bulbs.

No car batteries. No scooter batteries, no hoverboardies can go into this. They need to be taken to an auto retail places like that and they'll tell and you're going to give us a list in February of where it recycle paint you as paint, right? Well, yeah, if you would mention the hazardous waste disposal date and uh that was good, too.

Washington County land has two hazardous waste clean. You take it off to them for free. Okay. April 18th of 2026 and then October 17, 2026. and it's on their website also but Sherwood takes paint that I confirmed today

and then that gets shipped off up north and it's incinerated. Correct. Yeah. Correct. Paint is the national company that takes All the batteries go to universal recycle technologies and they're broken down.

No, it was great. I appreciate your presentation. Thank you. And we'll have to get got a question. I was just gonna say we need to get an email out or something about this. Thank you.

So, do you have a flyer that you can have sent out now or you want to wait till February till you get the list? Yeah, we have everyone and we'll get them out via email.

Okay, great. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is community questions and comments. If you have a comment, a question for staff or a comment, uh, state your name. Make sure you've signed in at the back so that Robin can get the right spelling of your name. And please limit your comments to three minutes or less. Good evening, council. Suzanne Elger. First things first, I want to do a little rumor control. Yes, our house is for sale. We are headed back to Chicago and we're going to trade Mountain Views for Lake Michigan views. We've loved living here, but family calls. Secondly, another rumor is confirmed with item B3, the resignation of Rick Wixom. I also heard a rumor you, Rick, have another job and are not retiring. Is that a true statement?

I'm retiring from the Utah State Retirement System. Have you secured another position? No. Yes.

Thank you. I have a question why item B3 is not not is on the consent agenda. Typically, there's no discussion of a consent agenda item. This item warrants an open discussion, especially given the drawn out end date of February 10th of 2026 and the opportunity that the town has to fill a pivotal position. By allowing the town manager to stay in place, the council, all of you miss the opportunity for each of you to truly understand what the job entails and therefore find the best possible replacement. Why is this item included as a consent agenda item? Mayor Bruno, I understand you set the agenda. Why is this

this comment period? This is a question. Why is this item on the consent agenda B3 that allows no discussion? It can be discussed. Someone could pull it out of the consent agenda if they'd like to, but it seems pretty straightforward that if Rick is resigning, we have to accept his resignation and we are beginning the process of replacing him. Okay. Thank you. At the candidates night in October, two of the council members indicated a lack of financial literacy. Mayor Bruno, what training have you scheduled for the entire council to increase the council's financial literacy?

We may disagree on that one, but I don't have any training scheduled at this time. Okay. Thank you. In December 2024, the town retained the services of Reese CPA for auditor services. Was the audit conduct? Rick, that's a question for you. Yes, the audit was conducted. The annual financial report is due within 180 days of the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30th. Has the town manager presented the annual financial report to the council? It'll be January. It'll be in January. Why is it not on this agenda? Because it's been on the December agenda since December of 2020.

Okay. Thank you. In the December newsletter, Mayor Bruno, you wrote a column about the election and community that discussed negative campaigning. The hypocrisy of your column was not lost on many of us. There is a significant and growing number of us who have questions and concerns about the town's decisions, and you seem unwilling to engage with us. We are frustrated with being ignored. What can we do to gain your attention and have productive conversations that require you to respond to the unanswered questions and concerns?

I respond to every phone call I get. I respond to every email I get and I can't do more than that. I'm I'm open and available. Let me say that as a council member serving under you, that was not my experience. You did not return my phone calls. You did not respond to me. That's not true. One last question. Why was Pat Campbell removed from the housing committee?

Because we made changes to the housing committee. We we decided to appoint Kyla. We haven't been moving the items forward and we mixed it up a little bit. Talked to Mr. Campbell about it. He didn't seem upset about it and I put him on emergency operations as is my prerogative. Okay.

Thank you very much. Hello, Darcy Carlson. Uh, I would like to direct my comments uh first to Robin. I want to congratulate you on your promotion to town clerk. I know you are ready and will do a great job. So, my best to you there. And then my next comments I'd like to direct to Rick and just sincerely thank you for your several decades long service to the town of Springdale. I would imagine having worked with you for almost nine years that there is a sense of bittersweetness to a certain extent but I'm sure a huge amount of relief as well. And I recognize that because it really is a thankless job and we have a tough community. And I really appreciate as as a staff of a prior staff member your kindness and responsiveness and your dedication to the position. I'm just really grateful for all that you did for the town. You will be part of our history forever. Hopefully that will um make you make you feel really good. And just personally, I really want to thank you for our relationship. I I greatly value our friendship and you are a tremendous um supervisor for me personally. I I will always value the fact that you allowed me to be the person that I am. Um you didn't stick me in a box. I don't do good with status quo. uh I don't do good in boxes and you protected me to make sure that I I stayed within statutory guard rails and

I always appreciated how well-versed you were in ordinances whether they were the town of Springdale or the state of Utah. So I'm just really grateful for our relationship and I certainly hope that that will continue. Um I am just disappointed that I was never able to have a beer with you. I really wanted to because you're a lot of fun and I, you know, kind of wanted to see how much more fun you would be if we had had a beer together, but you know, maybe another time. Another time,

another time. So, um, again, I just really want to wish you well. Um, continued success and, um, thank you again for your service. Good evening. Can I hand you guys something? Is that cool? Appropriate. Okay, there we go. Excuse me. I Well, I know what the protocol was. I want Sorry, D on my best game tonight. My name is Clifford T. Roseman. I'm a resident here as most of you know. I want to thank you for your time today. I'm here today because of the ongoing conditions created by the Red Cliff Lodge. Uh they are directly harming residents and businesses and the character of our town. For months, we I have uh exactly for eight months have documented repeat violations of the basic community standards. These include industry grade lighting installed after the remodel. Let me be specific here. 925 lights were installed. Some mount mounted as low as 15 ft. These lights shine directly into the homes, the businesses throughout the night, disrupting sleep, disregarding property management, altering the nature and environment that visitors come to

experience here in Zion and Springdale. We have also recorded unscreened trash sanitation issues and noise disturbances from the buses left idling with generators running at all hours of the night, some at 24 hours with allowing people to sleep inside said buses. These are not small oversightes. These are ongoing practices that impact the health, safety, and zoning issues here in Springdale. In addition, residents officials have sought to clarity or cooperation from management that have met with inconsistent statements, delayed responses by them, or outright refusal to engage in constructive solutions. This breakdown in trust and resolution even more difficult. I want to emphasize that all of this has been through documented timestamp photographies, written reports, multiple filings with the town, the police, code enforcement. This is not a speculation. This is an abusive pattern. What I'm asking today is it for a simple consent of informance enforcement, excuse me, of the standards that protect this community and a clear directive requiring these businesses to comply like everyone else does. certain expected expectations, excuse me, that every resident and responsible business owner follows. Springdale's beauty, livability, reputation depends on fairness, accountability. Residents should not have to fight year after year or in my case, month after month, eight months for basic, quiet, dark skies, honest dealings from the business that work with us. I thank you for listening to me and what I'm asking for is if I could possibly at a future time spend more time with the council

deeply going into this and hopefully getting a better resolution. Thank you. Any questions from you all?

Nope. No, we we have been updated on the status of all of these violations and um I'm sure that Tom has shared those with you as well. Uh no, yes and no, but more no. Some have. Yes, your honor. Some have been uh remedyed, specifically the um they had seven shipping containers, these big huge shipping containers. They have been removed from the property. There's still a shopping list as of oh two days ago. Uh the town enforcer came over. He goes, "Where are we?" And I updated him. There's about eight stuff. But it's just their blatant and I'm a land owner and I own hotels in our groups. Their blatant disrespect for whether it be Tom or whether it be Jeff or myself to remedy it. You know, we're all we're all here to work together. And their attitude is unless we're cited or indicted literally. I got the quotes from the vice president, but not tonight. I won't take any more of my unnecessary time tonight, your honor. we won't do anything. This was been their response. We tried a lunch like, "Hey guys, let's just just take care of you don't you don't put soiled beds and leave them out in the in the uh public area. God knows what and then the rats come and what have you and on and on. It's very specific on your page one that I presented to you with the pictures and and Jeff has gone down there. I'm not speaking on his behalf, probably 20 times. And Tom has listened to me till the cows come home probably a dozen times in eight months and they just flat out ignore it. Their contempt and disrespect is not only palatable shouldn't be doing business. But let me make this last statement if I may, your honor, which is I'm not after the Marriott. Marriott owns it at the end of the day. The the the remedy here is real simple. This is a management company from California called a zoo. They've gone through four managers. So Jeff will come down with a citation or Tom will do

his job and the guy's gone. It's just excuse me, you know what? What are you guys doing? I don't mean you all. So I think a clear action and a message. They've gotten no violations. They've gotten no letters from the city when you said some of the actions have been taken. There's no documentation on the city's part. So that's what I'd like to do at a later date versus taking everybody else's more time today. Okay, Cliff. We'll we'll follow up and thank you. Thank you, Paul. And good good holidays to everybody.

My name is Jeff McKe. I'm a resident and an employee of the town of Springdale. Mayor, members of the council, town employees, there's a few of us here. uh neighbors. Uh so a town official recently asked me, "Why do you still work here?" That's a good question. And I said, "Because I promised many that I'd fight to make Springdale better for all, not just for the chosen few." Utah is an atwill employment state. That policy was never meant to control or intimidate. But some claim to have heard concerns from either HR professionals even attorneys that they can often lead to arbitrary decisions without due process. Many will agree that at willill implementation needs more oversight. So what are the odds of Springdale is immune from issues? In my opinion, zero. Here's reality. Citizens naturally presume that those elected to local office or who manage our town operations and services possess the ethical maturity and moral compass to exercise power with restraint. Choosing fairness and the preservation of individual liberty over unchecked use of every technical authority the law grants them. Well, a whispered rumor, true or invented, is all it takes to put someone on probation. Kill a race, switch the position, excuse me, the position or fire them outright. No proof required, no accuser name. Well, many town town leaders have contracts or police have have their own protection. Rank and file employees have only at will.

Doesn't sound like liberty. Doesn't sound like justice which we pledge allegiance to or even the oath we take to the constitution. It feels like rule by fear to too many of us. Some will argue it's legal and it is seems like a pretty good policy for those at the top. Twice in recent months, I've asked the leadership to launch a truly independent anonymous investigation with ironclad retaliation protection. Both times the answer was we need specifics or details first. Respectfully, that demand guarantees silence, not input or safety. I made a fair offer because I I really don't have any skin. I'm doing this for others, not merely myself. If no one comes forward under real protections, I'd no longer pursue this matter. I made that talk offer twice. In my view, every response I've received from the mayor, council, and management only proves why employees are terrified to speak out in many cases. The good news, Utah municipalities can create advisory civilian review boards to promote transparency and handle complaints. While state law limits their power, they still provide a virtual community voice on fairness and anonymity for all employees. So why why do so many public employees stay silent even when they see clear wrongdoing or perceived wrongdoing in Utah in a small town in the small county environment especially in southern Utah as it turns out the networks are extremely tight everything is connected

so because they're so tight Anything less than bulletproof outofstate third-party anonymity is treated by employees as no anonymity at all. They know that even an anonymous report to state agencies carries an unacceptable risk of retaliation. It may be inadvertent, but there's that risk. It up. Sure.

That's why Spring NES is on advisory oversight committee ASAP. I honestly can think of I can't think of a single reason not to change my mind. Thank you. Any question? I didn't think so. My name is Elizabeth Cutler. I had not planned to speak tonight and I don't enjoy being in front of people speaking. But when I heard Mayor Bruno say that she responded to every email, I just want to you to know that two and a half years ago, I wrote an email to her which um she responded to by saying she couldn't discuss things with me because it would be exparte. Uh couple of months after that, I wrote an email to her to which she never responded. In the last six months, I have written multiple emails to her and have never received a response. I just think I needed to have that on the record.

Thank you. Anybody else?

Okay, next item on the agenda is Inter Mountain Health annual presentation and that's Patrick Carroll, MD, the chief medical officer. I think we have a a slideshow. Is that Did that come through from from Christa Hinton? Thank you. So, thank you first for for the opportunity to be here. This is one of my favorite things to do to be able to attend. Thank you. to be able to to attend uh city council meetings um and county commission meetings to share what we're doing at the hospital because at the end of the day, this is not our hospital. This is not my hospital. This is your hospital. Um we I speak for our entire um staff at St. George Regional Hospital. We feel a deep responsibility to meet the healthcare needs of the community and we want to do that. Um, and we're always open to feedback to be able to to do that that better. Um, I want to start with a a video.

Nearly 50 years ago, Inter Mountain Health began their journey of providing a model health system to residents here in Washington County. We have established a strong foundation of excellence. right here at St. George Regional Hospital. Whether it's simply birth where women can plan for an individual birthing experience in one of our beautiful birthing suits or inpatient rehab where our specialists focus on helping patients recover their independence after a stroke, brain. I just broke it again. Or spinal foot injury with personalized treatment programs

and even robotic surgeries where we can exercise extreme accuracy and precision in performing our surgical procedures. The exceptional healthc care at St. George Regional Hospital has led to us being ranked number one in the nation by not one but two separate healthcare organizations. The first is the Vizant Award where we were ranked number one in the nation out of 177 hospitals in our cohort. And the second is Fortune's Pink AI 100 top hospitals. We're committed to providing the care for you and your family so that you can live a healthy life.

The southern Utah area is growing at an incredible pace. That means our facilities need to grow to meet those needs. The new surgical tower expansion will add four new operating rooms and create additional space for our central processing pre and posttop teams. We couldn't be more excited about Inter Mountain strategy to increase primary care in Southwest Utah. Earlier this year, we opened the Washington Fields Clinic and in May we had our groundbreaking ceremony for the Desert Color Primary Care Clinic. Our future lies with our children. At Inter Mountain, we are committed to providing care that meets the needs of our youth. This includes our new youth day treatment center which opened this year. We provide partial hospitalization to adolesccents who can receive treatment for behavioral health needs.

Immune cell therapy is opening up incredible avenues in the field of medicine. St. George Regional Hospital is the first in our nation to expand immune cell collection for CARTT therapy. During the collection phase, patients are saved about a week of travel and time away from their support system. We're bringing innovative cutting edge technologies to St. George Hospital. Things such as trans catheter tricuspid valve replacement. Intermounted Health was granted early access to utilize this minimally invasive option, providing faster recovery and better outcomes for patients.

We continue striving to fulfill our mission to help people live their healthiest lives possible. So, this is pretty pretty personal to me. Not because this is where I work, but because this is my community. Um, I grew up in a little town some of you guys may have heard of called Canab, Utah. And what a great place to grow up. Um, we could debate whether it's the number one best city in the in the state or the number two behind Springdale. I don't know. We could for a different time. But it's a wonderful wonderful place to grow up. And then my family moved to Cedar City. I never thought I'd be in St. George because Cedar High School and Dixie High School are deep rivals. Um it was the big city to me and coming back to a to a wonderful town like Springdale makes it St. George feel like the big city again to me. Um our our goal is to be a model health system and that means we want to be able to take care of patients every patient. Um, I'm I like to say I were not interested in doing wallet biopsies at the door. What that means is I'm not interested in checking to see what insurance somebody has, the ability to pay. Our goal as a hospital and my commitment as the chief medical officer of the hospital is to provide care for anybody that walks through our through our doors. We're able to do this in part because um because of our nonprofit mission. This is something that's that's core to who we are and um and I'll go through some of the some of the numbers as far as how we how we do that here in a few slides. We don't do this for the recognition

but sometimes that follows. A couple of things that we're in incredibly proud of. Um the number one Vizant ranking. Vizant is an organization throughout the nation where we're able to submit our data and we get compared to other hospitals across the nation. Last year there were 195 hospitals in our cohort the size of hospitals that that we are and St. George Regional Hospital finished as the number one hospital out of 195 hospitals. Last year we finished the number one hospital out of 177 hospitals in the nation. Um that doesn't happen by accident. That happens through a lot of dedication and hard work. not by me but by the nurses, the respiratory therapists, the um the housekeepers, the food services, people that are coming in day after day after day. It reminds me of what um a story that uh was once told where a government official was visiting NASA was walking down the hall and I ran into a janitor. Tell me, tell me what you do here at NASA. And the janitor very proudly and appropriately said, I help put men on the moon. What I ask of our new in new employee orientation is every member that works at every caregiver that works at St. George Regional Hospital for Inner Mountain when they're ever asked what they do. I want them to say I help save lives because without every single person doing what they're doing, we don't save the lives that need to be saved. That's what leads us to being the number one hospital in the nation. Um we recently were awarded magnet status. That's the highest nursing um nursing honor you can get and recognizes a place that n nurses want to work. A few facts. I can provide some uh some sheets for the for you all council members with this this information, but 71,000 uh independent ER visits last year. We

delivered nearly 3,000 babies. Um we're knocking on the door of that 3,000 3,000 number. And as the community grows, I expect at some point we'll we'll hit that. 20,000 inpatient admissions for at least one night. We have a medical staff 835 physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants. Um, and the bottom number is is an important number, but more so than the number is what it means. $29 million in annual charity care. And I'll go through a little bit more of where kind of the breakdown some of the breakdown on that. But we're committed to taking care of taking care of our community. We live here. These are our our friends, our neighbors, our family as well. Um touched on a little bit of that. I didn't touch on the surgeries. So 16,000 surgeries performed um last year. That's that's a lot of a lot of surgeries. You may recognize some names or faces um of our board. The our executive leadership team at the top and then the our board of trustees at the bottom. We've tried to be very deliberate in having representation throughout the throughout the county, not just people that live in live in St. George. Um, so no presentation is good without a teeter totter on a slide. As a not for-p profofit um healthc care system, we would if we weren't not for-p profofit, we would have paid over $4 million in property tax. That's a lot of money. That's that's a lot of benefit that we're given. we have to provide at least that much in value. And so we decided to give to make sure that we're providing at least $4 million in in care to the community. But we decided not to stop at five or six or 10. It was almost $30 million last year. That includes um direct donations

um to different different organizations like the Dove Center, like Switch Point, um financial, you know, cash donations. So these organizations can can help our community and help keep people healthy so they don't need to come to the hospital. That includes the doctor's volunteer clinic both in in cash donations, but also in uh in labs and x-rays that we do at no cost for patients that otherwise wouldn't be able to get that get that care. Again, keeping p patients healthy, keeping our community healthy, and ideally out of the hospital. We've got a strong commitment. So, every year we do a community needs assessment. Some of you may have received that that survey to fill out so that we can understand from members of the community what the needs are. Please let us know if you feel like we've gotten this wrong, if we're not meeting meeting those needs. The number one, this has been the case for several of our um of our questioners and surveys is improve mental health. Um, one of the things that we've done is we recently opened up a child and adolescent partial hospitalization program so that our the children and adolescence in our community that are um facing significant mental health care needs can come and get intensive therapy along with their families so they can heal from those things and learn coping mechanisms and strategies so they can um so they can be healthier and candidly to save their lives. um housing stability, financial security, food security, these social drivers of health. Um every patient that comes into our hospital, we ask them about the social determinance of health and pair them up with resources so they can um so they can get the those uh take advantage of the resources that are available. We know that if people have housing insecurity, food insecurity, they're more likely to not have good health. And so this is really important. If we're truly if we truly care about health care, we need to care about the drivers that are they're helping keep help keep helping to keep people

healthy. Um increased access to care. I mentioned the diagnostic vouchers for places like the doctor's volunteer clinic and then prevention of childhood injuries and illness. Um uh we um focus on the children's justice center and support children's justice center. It's uh heartbreaking that that needs to exist in our in our community, but it's a really important resource. Um injury prevention, community safety. Um here's a breakdown of some of those some of the the gifts to the community and how we how we do some of that. Um and then some additional groups. You may recognize some of these that I haven't mentioned. um Utah Tech University through education, Utah Food Bank, um Washington County School District Health Access Project, and and others. We have a um um an individual that that his primary job is to make sure that we're providing for community need. If there's things in the in the town of Springdale that um where there could be a benefit, um please reach out to us, let us know. Let's have those conversations so that we can support your community indirectly or directly as well. I love being being part of the community. I appreciate the opportunity to to come and present. And again, this is this is not my hospital. This is truly this is your hospital and we feel a deep responsibility to to meet the needs of healthcare in the community that we serve. So, thank you.

You um any questions for Patrick before we have him sit down? Thank you. And if I may, I'll just hand give you guys these uh data data sheets.

Thank you very much. Next item on the agenda is the consent agenda which includes a review of the monthly purchasing report minutes from November 12th, 2025 and November 18th, 2025. Approval to accept the resignation of town manager Rick Wixom effective February 10th, 2026 and begin the recruitment and hiring of a permanent replacement. Ratification of the recommendation from the planning commission for Jennifer Mcola as chair and for Terry Kruski as vice chair for 2026. Reappoint of Terry Krishki as planning commissioner for a three-year term expiring January 2029. Request for blanket approval for up to event permits in 2026 for the Benton Spur Association Incorporated. Request for blanket approval for up to 10 single event permits in 2026 for the Spotted Doc Cafe, Inc. and request for blanket approval for up to six single event permits in 2026 for the Zion Brewery LLC.

I move to approve the consent agenda. Second. Motion by Jack, second by Randy. I hat I. Barbara I. Randy I. Jack I. Okay. Next item on the agenda is the approval of the 2026 public meeting schedule. And that could have been in the consent agenda, but I wanted to make sure everybody was okay with a change from the normal schedule. So Robin, that was in November. Is that right?

I didn't so many mics. So, Veterans Day is a holiday um in November and on that November town council meeting, it actually falls on a Wednesday. So, we propose moving it to Thursday if the council's um all right with that option.

Anybody object to that? I just wanted to make sure everybody understood that so you don't miss it and don't have any big vacations planned. Okay. And then the other um item is that OPM training or excuse me OPMA um open public meetings act training is uh usually at around the end of January 1 of February. Um Rockville has graciously um given us the opportunity to be let off the hook and they're going to sponsor it this year. So they're tentatively scheduling that for February. It does not show on our schedule just yet because they do not have a date. Okay. You'll get that out as soon as it's sat. Absolutely. That's great that they're doing it though. Yes.

Okay. Are they inviting Virgin and other communities? Yep. Yep. Good. Okay. Next item on the agenda is consideration and possible approval of an amendment to the Springdale parking application pilot program agreement between the town of Springdale and Utah Tech University. And the contact is Garen Breck. Do we not need a motion for the last item? Do you think we need a motion? I don't It could have been in the consent agenda, so probably not. Okay. So, let's have a motion to approve this public meeting schedule. I move that we approve the 2026 public meeting schedule. Seconded.

Motion by Kyla, second by Pat. Kyla. I Barbara I. Randy. I Jack.

Okay. Garen. Thank you. Um, as you probably read my staff report, I did make an error. We did start the um, pilot program in 2024 was mid year of 24 if you remember. And we just didn't get enough time to really test it good enough. So, we pilot um, program agreement with UTU for the year of 2025, which expires here fairly soon. But it has been working fairly well. We're getting about 40 to 50ish% usage, which started out to be 20, less than 20, and now we're we're moving up. Um we're really happy with the partnership that we've had with them. We just like to continue it for um a period of three years just so that we can adjust to technology. We're going to try and move into maybe some texting, text to pay, and some of those other options. Uh my goal is to take a few kiosks off the street as we kind of start evolving the more the mobile app portion of this if it gets approved.

Will the two methods stay concurrent for a while or Yeah, we're still What's the plan? Yeah, we still have a generation or two that like to like to manipulate with the like to interact with the machine rather than do a mobile app version. So, um we'll stick with a combination of both for a while. Uh just off some of the machines, the kiosk, those those actually cost us monthly. So the signs and the QR thing doesn't it's it's per transaction. So we'll end up saving some money doing that as well. Are you just in the generation that has gray hair? I'm part of that. I'm one of those that would rather hair. Yeah, I tried to cut some of that gray out of my hair today.

Weren't those going to need a great big update soon? Yeah, we we started the program in 2027, so they're nine years the machines themselves are 20 or are nine years old. Um they slowly, you know, have issues. Um we we fix them and bandaid them and they work well, but some some of it and we we kind of can we kind of run into this with the QR system, too. It's it's as good as the cell service. And on those busy busy weekends like Memorial or Labor Day and sometimes Fourth of July weekend when there's just a lot of people here then we we kind of run down the the cell service with that. So there's a little bit of give and take with both of them.

Are instructions how to use this in multiple languages? Yeah, the QR the QR system. It's actually um hooked to whatever their phone is talking to them through. That's how it translates. Any other questions for Karen?

I I do, Chief. Um not so much the program itself, but some questions about the contract perhaps. Um at the beginning of the main contract, it it doesn't read as an interlocal agreement, should it? And and and the reason I bring that up is it um in texts it says the town of Springdale where uh and the Utah Tech University where whereas in other interlocal agreements is always says town of Springdale, Utah such and such an address. Utah Tech this address. Shouldn't Shouldn't I think the addresses are lower though, aren't they? Sorry.

Are you asking about the addresses or just the interlocal agreement wording? I probably should refer to Greg since um this was actually the pilot program agreement. This can we put it up on the screen or this was the pilot program agreement that it was just modified to make it a three-year term. So this is something you guys have already approved in the pilot program portion

town of Springdale where Arkansas Utah where if you scroll down there's addresses there I'm not I'm not understanding your question interlocal agreements it usually puts that at the front side. Well this is this this is just an agreement between the town and the university. So, shouldn't that be in there? I'm I didn't catch the first part of it. What should not what be in there? Shouldn't it be specific about the town of Springdale? Like, are you saying it should say the town of Springdale? Utah uh the specific address Utah Tech University specific address.

Well, I think there are the addresses are later in the agreement. I mean, it it I don't know that it matters whether you put the addresses at the top. It identifies who the parties are and the addresses I think are in the notice paragraph later on. We can certainly add them if you would like. It's fine. It's observations I'm making. Yeah. You wouldn't typically see the address in that opening paragraph. I in some agreements a local agreement you do.

In some agreements we do. I don't know that there's I mean you just need to have a in any contract there's it's it's advisable to have a section that has addresses and other means of providing for the parties to provide notice to each other. And so sometimes you put the address in the opening paragraph and then later on in the notice section it says send it to the addresses set forth in the first paragraph. In other agreements, you can down in the no section like it does in this one. You just skip past it right here at the bottom of page two.

Yeah. So, we do need to add email addresses in in there. We didn't, you know, put the one here because of the forthcoming change. So, that will need to be added. And then the information for the university representative. But further down on page one of the main document, it talks about seamless integration. Um, so my question is scope of work. Does it spell out the cooperation Utah Tech must provide to configure and test that integration or is it just we trust that they'll do it?

Probably more the latter. I mean, I I had the similar observation when I went through this. I mean you know a lot of the the scope of work document has you know technical terminology and things that you know to some degree we've relied upon the the staff's understanding and familiarity and expect them to to feel like this language is sufficiently clear in terms of what their mutual expectations are. If there are, you know, if there are sections that you think could benefit from more clarity, we could certainly consider modification.

I've got some further down. Also, the line directly above section two, it says is property configured. That's properly configured. Correct. Directly above section two park at Springdale. The second sentence up from that parking management software is no. Oh, prop. as properly. Yeah. So, there's a typo.

Um, further down in the marketing and advertising promotions, it talks about that Utah Tech will provide marketing and advertising services. Uh this would be page two of the main of the first document would be under the park at Springdale support services

further up there it is marketing advertising promotions. Um how do they do that? Is there like a deliverable list of people they use of frequency? Is there coordination? Who pays for that? Do we pay for all that? And how how often do they update the marketing? I think if you go to the the the scope of work document I think specifies what?

Okay. Yeah. I I'm not sure. So if if again we reviewed the agreement from the perspective that we did. If you think it might be worthwhile to, you know, provide more clarity. My understanding when reviewing this is that you know the parties now had some period of time working together and were comfortable with that relationship and that this was the scope of work was something that they mutually prepared and there was an understanding or mutual recognition that but if you think that we could that needs to be clarified further we can certainly do so

or certainly who paid for it I mean if they decide they're going to mark so many times do we pay for that that would be under it would be us. There's a there's a sentence in there if you read that that there is no um um outward money from UTU, right? I read that. So, this would be us marketing this service, which that's kind of an open-ended thing. Whatever they market, we pay for. Well, they're not actively marketing it if that's what you're asking. Maybe they maybe that's saying they provide the materials to market it if we wanted to. They would they they would probably help us come up with that if we wanted to.

Uh technical support and training. It says provide technical support to Springdale employees. And what kind of support is that? Is it phone support, chat line, web stuff? Is it just to teach us how to do it? What does that mean? Yeah, they've been very um great at the customer service side. They built the the system kind of around us and what we needed. Um so it's been over the phone. It's not been chat or a web accessible like if the thing goes down on a Saturday, we can call them up. Yeah, they've been really good. We've had very limited interruption. Honestly, it's been the self-service has been our

under tech and data security. It reads that Utah Tech will not collect more data than what is necessary. Um, but it doesn't address if they overcolct or over retain it. Um, and it doesn't explicitly state that all parking transactions data and user data belongs to Springdale or or does it somewhere that I'm missing?

Well, I I mean, the observations that you're making, I think, are appropriate. It's it's a it's a general agreement. it. We could certainly go into a lot more specificity on each of these elements. And and again, we didn't do so in our initial review based on my understanding that the parties formulated the scope of work document and then just asked us to look at the the more of the structure of the contract to make sure it had, you know, all of those provisions in it. But if if there's concerns about and and the points you're making are, you know, appropriate and and and could be a concern if if if this wasn't a a contract partner with which the town had past experience and was comfortable. Um, but if there's any question or concerns, I think it's always appropriate to, you know, be more more detailed than less detailed and we can happily go back through and work with uh the chief and the university representatives to, you know, to specify add more detail to each of these uh deliverable items. So there's, you know, more of a, I guess, a checklist of exactly what they'll do and when and and all that if you'd like.

Further down, it talks about Utah Tech shall return a fee of 35 cents per vehicle transaction. What is a vehicle transaction? Is that every time somebody drops money to the machine? Is it It's not the machine, it's the QR. So when they scan the event per day. Yeah. So when they scan the QR code, they're able, it's pay by plate, so they put their plate in and they choose for the day or half day or whatnot. And that is per transaction. This is a three-year agreement, correct? And but no provision for inflation addressing future price adjustments. There's no no provision in there for that. Otherwise, it's going to be 35 cents a vehicle regardless for the next three years. That's that's their fee.

We pay them. Yeah. during the term of the agreement. Had a question about the GAP compliant. It says we need to be GAP compliant, but it doesn't say anything about Utah Tech having to be GAP compliant. Are they? I would assume so. It's a government, you know, entity. But if they're not GAP compliant, then then then our audit system won't work, right? Um, no. We get the town's independently audited. So, and according to the GAP standards, they're applicable to government have to be GAP certif GAP compliant at all. Well, the town has to be and and Utah Tech doesn't have to be.

I I assume that it does. It's a government entity. I'm certain that it does. Yeah. It doesn't say that that they should be. I just an observation. Um, one or two more things and then I'll stop this. And this is the thing that concerns me the most is either party may terminate the agreement without cause upon 90 dates of written notice. But Springdale will continue to utilize the parking application until the termination date. So the first question I have is doesn't mention termination for cause. So what if it's a data breach? Are we required to keep using this even when there's a data breach? Nope. What does it say that in here?

Well, if you you can always terminate a contract for cause. This is giving you a mechanism to do so without cause. Yeah. Wait. So there's no no specified language for cause. We just assume that that that will happen.

If if Yeah. Anytime there's a breach of an agreement, you can always you can always terminate an agreement if if there's a breach of it. regarding termination. Uh this would be number five on page three of the of the main agreement. Uh let me find it here. That termination, the 90-day termination by certified mail or by email and that the deactivation would would occur three days after the mailing. But down in section 10 says Springdale should return full ownership and all the rest of that. But it says by certified mail. So on one section is C certified mail andor email, but the other section says certified mail. So shouldn't it

tell me the other section where you're referring to the notice section? First section is uh I see the termination number five. Yeah. Let me just find the rest of this here. Method of notice number nine. Whenever this agreement shall be required or permitted that notice or demand be given shall be delivered by certified mail. So which is it? Certified mail or certified mail and email. Yeah, that should be corrected to be email in the second part. And it shouldn't be email, should it? Because how do you I mean email from the time I send it or could you could do it either way. should be should be certified mail. No,

not necessarily. I mean, you you can decide what you want to do in the agreement. Your your point about in the one paragraph it provides for optional certified mail or email and then in the notice paragraph it doesn't. That should be corrected. Yeah, those are all the questions I have. And number seven, indemnification. Maybe correct that misspelling on that. Yep. So, should we

let's just Well, maybe the chief and I should I mean I What how does the rest of the council feel about the the deliverable sections? Would you like to see more specificity with each of those items? And if so, I would suggest we table this and and provide that and correct these other issues. billings. I mean, I I think there's value in having more detail than not, you know, just in case you ever do have an issue. Yeah, I'd like to table it just for because there were so many inconsistencies and things to fix. So, I think that we should wait till approve it until some of that has been corrected.

Okay. And I apologize for the the spelling issue in the notice email point there. So happens a lot with everybody. But with with all of those things said, I think the program is very valuable and so it definitely should move forward. The program overall is excellent. Yes. Yeah. And it is it's a an agreement we're already in and we've approved but are extending. But I think that we should take care of those errors in the contract

and considering it was a pilot and now we're moving towards more of like a permanent contract or agreement then then we kind of close up these issues and agree on our deliverables and yeah. So, if if I assume the comments will be in the in the minutes, but maybe if Council Member Campbell, if you want to send me your email, if you have a list, that would be great. I'd appreciate receiving that and then I'll we'll work we'll put together a red line showing all the changes, I'll get with the chief and then maybe we send it back to you or to the whole council and get some comments and and then try to get this in a format that's more acceptable for the next meeting.

To follow the protocol, the mayor has suggested I'll send it to Rick. Would that be the best way to do it? And then Rick can pass it up. Got it. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. So table that item. Do we need a motion to table the item or Okay. Motion. Um, I move that we table the agreement for the parking QR codes with Utah Tech until um, council has had time to adjust some of the recommendations as discussed in the meeting. Second.

Got a motion by Kyla and a second by Pat. Kyla. I Barbara I Jack I Any other general council discussion?

I do have something I'd like to say. Um and just to make it clear it's a prepared statement I'd like to read. At last month's council meeting during her closing comments Mayor Bruno referred to the recent debate and stated the following. During the debate Mr. Benson quoted directly from the town manager's report that came only to council. I'm not going to ask how he got that and I want to remind council members that things that come to us as council members are for our eyes only and should not be shared. Mayor Bruno's comment begins at 25225 on the meeting recording for anyone who wishes to review it. In making this statement, Mayor Bruno suggested that a council member had acted inappropriately and violated a confidentiality requirement. For context, the mayor was referring to an email from town manager Rick Wixom, which was sent on Friday, October 10th, 2025 to council members, and it included six documents as follows. a water rates and depreciation, a sewer project update, a medical clinic update, a new town hall bubble diagram of a 15,177 foot concept, a proposed medical clinic layout diagram, and a conceptual site plan diagram for three buildings on the townowned Lion Boulevard parcel. The council member implicitly identified as responsible for sharing those documents was me, Pat Campbell. To be clear, information provided to town council through routine manager updates such as committee work summaries, project updates, and draft concepts are not inherently confidential unless it is clearly identified and properly classified as such under Utah law. Under the Government Records Access and Management Act, Grammar, a record status as public or confidential is

determined by statutory criteria and a formal classification process, not by the personal preference of the sender or any elected individual. A council member who receives an unmarked internal document or update is generally understood to hold the public record unless the contact falls into a legally defined category such as private, controlled, or protected. Under grammar, municipal communications are presumed public unless they contain specific protected information such as personal matters, active legal issues, or other content that is lawfully designated as confidential. These materials were not marked confidential and did not involve personal matters, active legal issues or any other information typically treated as protected under grammar. Further, confidential designation must follow grammar established procedures and be based on specific statutory criteria and exemptions. Unless a record is formally classified under those standards, it remains a public record and may be shared in accordance with the law. A simple eyes only label by itself does not change a record's legal status. Sharing routine committee and project related information with residents is consistent with Utah's emphasis on transparency and informed public participation. For these reasons, the suggestion that I engaged in improper conduct does not align with the legal framework governing public records and transparency in Utah. It does not accurately reflect the law or my actions as a council member. Transparency when exercised within the bounds of grammar is part of fulfilling the public trust. Characterizing such transparency as misconduct when no legal violation occurred is inconsistent with that framework. Accordingly, I respectfully request that the mayor, in the same public forum where the assertion was made, clarify the record

and acknowledge that no impropriety, misconduct, or wrongdoing occurred on my part or on the part of any other council member in connection with the sharing of that information. I'll think about that. I have a different opinion so I'm not sure. I'll give it some thought. Is there anything else? If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Move we adjourn. Second, Kyla. So, we've got a motion by Randy and a second by Jack.

Kyla. I Barbara I. Okay.