City Council - Regular Meeting

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All right, everyone. Can you hear me? Okay, welcome. We're ready to start. Why doesn't it sound like I can't hear me? Can you hear me now?

Raise your hand if you can hear me. All right. All right. It just sounds really funny to me. All right. Welcome. Welcome to our city council meeting this evening. We're going to go ahead and get started out uh correctly. Um we did have the Reverend Jimmy Kesson coming to pray, but he's not here. So being that we need some really good communication with the Almighty, we have our communications director here who's David Cordderero who's going to pray for us this evening. Let us pray. Dear Lord, please provide to our elected officials. Please provide to those of us in attendance. Please provide to those of us on city staff the grace, the ability to listen and the courage to carry out our duties as best we can. and thank you for bringing us together in this very safe manner and for this wonderful reign that we have received in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, David. Incredible. I've asked Councilwoman Danielle Larkin to lead us in the pledge. Please rise. Join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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.

All right. Thank you. All right. To get started out uh before we get into our agenda today, um we have a little special presentation that I want to take the time to recognize a few people. So, can we go ahead and play that really quickly? Heat. Heat. Yeah, you Awesome. Give them a round of applause. We have these two incredible young ladies right here in the front. If you

guys want to come up to this microphone, I want you to introduce yourselves. Tell us who you are and tell us who your parents are so we can recognize them. And then I got a couple of questions for you and we want to recognize you right up to those microphones and you can just speak right into them. Yep. Go ahead. I'm Riley Cooper and my parents are Nathan and Tana Cooper. Um, I'm Ray Barrow and my parents are Nathan and Darly Barrow. Okay. So, now uh I call you Ray Ray. I guess that's what we're supposed to call you, right? Um, tell us um what event you compete in and what tell us about this video and what and the event that you competed in so everybody will know.

Um, so at the National Little Bridges Rodeo, I competed in goat tying, breakaway, barrels, and poles. And then at the biggest toughest, I competed in the breakway opening in the brow racing. Nice. And hey, that sounds better. Yeah. So in the little bridges in Oklahoma, I competed in barrels, poles, team roping, and goats. And then in the Vegas toughest, I competed in barrels. Okay. So tell us at the Vegas Toughest, I I was watching the video and I saw some of those checks. Tell us what you won and how you did there.

So, I won the world championship there for barrels and I won 23,500. Nice. Yeah. Give her a round of applause.

And um I also won the girl racing the 19 and under and I won 35,000 I think. And then on top of that, I also ended up third in the world in the breakaway roping. And so that added another like 6,000 I think to my oh 16. Just kidding. Uh to my check. So I came home with about 60,000 and a brand new car.

Nice. I I was I was going to ask what you drove here in in case you didn't mention the car. So that's pretty pretty incredible. Uh, so, so tell us what what is it that you love about rodeo and barrel racing and and poles and stuff that you do and breakaway roping? Both of you, one of you go and then the other.

Um, I just love the competitive aspect of it. It's super competitive, but it's also I also love the um the mind of it. Yeah, it's just you. You're just competing against yourself. I mean, obviously you're competing at someone else, but at the end of the day, you're really just competing with yourself and just growing every day. So, awesome. Uh, I think about the same thing as her. What's What's your ultimate goal? What What's your ultimate goal? What do you want to accomplish? Do you have a big dream? Um, I want to go to the NFR. Of course. Of course. I'd love to watch you. And I'm sure you want the same. Yeah. Or better.

Nice. Well, I just wanted to bring them in. I don't know if any of you seen that there was a couple of articles um in the u in the news about these two young ladies right here in St. George, Utah. So, I wanted to make sure we got them in here and recognize them. Council, do you guys have any questions for them? I have one question. Do you have Do you have one horse or two horses? Do you use like barrels, not breakaway, right? Or the same horse on the I use pretty much a different horse for all my events. And what? So those are your teammates, right? Yeah. And and do you take do you care for your horse? Yeah, I usually take care. And what about you, Ray Ray?

Um yeah, I have I usually take five horses to the rodeo. Um I have more than one barrel horse and yeah, they're my best friends for sure. I only ask those questions is because I think people love to celebrate this win, but there's a whole lot of work that goes on. 365 days a year for these two young ladies that they're riding more than one horse for different events and it takes a huge commitment on your part to be able to compete at this level. It just didn't happen for you and that you know your horse that well that you know what their capabilities are too. So it it just didn't happen. There's a whole lot behind this. But I just really congratulate you for your work ethic.

Thank you. Yeah. And give him another round of applause if we would. I want to come around right here and we'll take a picture and we'll have the council come in and get a picture with you. And um also wanted to make sure I in full disclosure is my niece's daughter. So I don't know what relationship that makes us. I am Am I great uncle? Yeah. Okay. All right. And super proud of that. Ladies,

I get it. What are you doing? Are you Where do we go?

Are we too short? Are we too short? That's a me. And if they need to run off, they can. I know they're very busy young ladies. They probably have soccer games and everything else today. Yeah. It's not just rodeo. Okay. Um where are we next up on the agenda? This is our uh because last week was the um New Year's. This is our first meeting of the month and on our first meeting of the month we have our uh open public comment period. So I just wanted to take a little moment here and talk about uh this uh open comment. This is an opportunity for for you to address the entire council. Um I wanted to make a little bit of an announcement as far as that goes. somehow in some way whether it was intentional or not some people in the public got the uh message that maybe we didn't want to hear from the council so or from the community and from the public. I I want to make sure that going forward we know that that is not true. We want to hear from you and this meeting is an opportunity for people to to come and address the entire council as a whole with some things that might be on your mind. Now there there are a few things that I wanted to and I want to read this uh um these rules and stuff. so that we can make sure we're all on the same page. The open comment period provides an opportunity for residents to share ideas, concerns, and feedback with the mayor and city council on matters related to city business. The mayor and city council strongly encourage public participation, and value hearing from the community. Community feedback plays

an important role in shaping priorities, informing decision-making, and strengthening local government. comments pertaining to an agenda item that includes a public hearing or a public input should be given should be given at the at that item is being as that item is being discussed during the meeting. So what we want to do is avoid having conversation with uh things that are going to be on the agenda so we can make it fair for those who might be here in opposition. Members of the public who wish to comment will be given a limit of three minutes per person just for the sake of time. The mayor and city council will not respond to comments or questions, but will take the comments into consideration for possible discussion at another time. Some very simple rules for making comments. You must be a resident of St. George. Public input shall not be allowed on any agenda item or or pending land use uh application. Comments should relate to city business. Speakers shall be, and this shouldn't need to be said, but uh speakers shall be courteous and show respect. comments shall not include obscene or profane lang language nor contain attacks on any individual. As always, this is not the only forum that you can put out uh some public comment or if that you want to address the council. We all have emails, phones, and you can also there is an uh email that you can send to public comments that will come to all of us and that's public comments at sgcityututah.gov. So, with that, we do have um if you want to make a comment, we do have you fill out a sheet so we know what you're going to comment about and that you are a resident of St. George. So, I do have quite a few of them up here. Uh so, I'm going to start start out with the first one that I have here, which is uh Soup Liyw. So, if you'll come up and address the council.

Um, thank you. My name is Sue Pilly White. I'm a St. George resident. Just real quick before I get started, if you came here to speak about or to speak or in support of open space and recreation, would you please stand up real quick? Thank you. I just I know that not everybody is comfortable speaking in public. So, I just wanted to to give everybody a chance to be acknowledged that way. Okay. Um, as I said, my name is S Lily White and me and all these other crazy people are here tonight looking for heroes. Okay. My true hope is that 30 years from now when I take my grandkids bouldering at Mos Valley, I'll be telling them that this place only exists because there was this mayor named Jimmy Hughes 30 years ago that stepped up and made sure it was protected. Or when I go mountain biking on the Zen Trail, it's still there because Natalie Larson worked and worked and worked to make sure that houses weren't going to be built on top of it. What we've been asking you for and what we're here asking you for tonight again is a crucial step to make that happen. But it's not an unheard of step. The community of Draper faced issues like we face now. And they set up years ago an open space and recreation committee. Because of that, even though Draper to us down here seems like just Salt Lake or Provo or something in between, it's world famous for its quality mountain biking. And we we would hope that if the city council doesn't know where to start on making an open space and recreation committee, a good start on that would be able to would be reaching out to people in Draper, other communities like Midway that have made similar communities and making and asking them how they did it. And um we also would like you to go further than that as well. Uh a committee in itself won't save Mos Valley, won't save the greater Mos Valley area. Um, it would it would be my hope that each city council member here

would be losing as much sleep over this issue as I am and spend as much time thinking about it, talking to different people, and recognizing that on this whole issue, St. George residents stand to lose more than anyone else. Sure, it would be a blow to all Washington County residents if the greater Mos Valley area went away, but St. George residents in particular would be the ones that would suffer. our best bouldering, mountain biking, recreation right in town here would be gone forever and we would never get that back and we would kind of turn into a miniature version of Las Vegas. But but yeah, we don't want to do that. So, it's my hope that you guys can step up and please be the heroes that we're asking you to be. And we are all here because we want to partner with you in that. And again, we want to 30, 40 years from now be telling our grandkids the stories of this epic city council that stepped up and saved these areas and preserved the way of life that we love in St. George. Thank you.

Thank Thank you for that, soup, and thank you for uh recognizing all those who are here for for this same subject. All all of these cards are related to the same thing. So, what I would ask you as I call out your name, if if you have something new to add to that, that would be awesome. If you just want to say amen, that's okay, too. Or something brief. So, I've tried to go through these in alphabetical order, but I didn't get very far. But we'll start out with the next one and we'll go from there. Uh, is it Leo Borin? And we think you're all heroes, so you don't have to clap every time if you don't want to. I liked it. Yeah. Clap's more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Uh, so I was actually informed last night about this meeting and was told to inform you that I was a combat veteran and so this is kind of a big deal. I don't It's been a long time. That is a big deal.

Hey, um, and speaking of that, like I moved here right after the Marine Corps and I the first week I was actually not supposed to move here. I moved to I was going to California of all places and the first weekend I'm I was here I had some friends that brought me a mountain bike and I went to Bearclaw Poppy ate it on Clavicle Hill really hard. It was awesome and it was a great time. But over the years I became a guide. I became like I worked out there on Bearclaw Poppy. um met a lot of people who eventually moved here um through like work and stuff for the the Bearclaw Poppy and the Zen Trail and all these other trails and I mean the city and the BLM got that great parking lot area put together. So I have my kid here who's 11 years old who I have been lucky enough to take out their mountain biking and climbing and all kinds of stuff and so we've had a good time. He comes out every now and then. I still help guide with Paragon Adventures and he is lucky enough to come out and help and so he's part of this. So my hopes is like in the future um Mr. Hughes here and the rest of the council will get that committee that S talked about and we can have future so I could take my grandkids one day out there and ride with them and have a great time. Um and I know a lot of you grew up here. I don't know how many of you grew up here. No, Larson's did. I used to work with Brooke and and uh so like it's a big deal. Like I'm not from southern Utah, but it's a big deal. Like that whole area, especially that area, um super popular and it's amazing. It's amazing. It's beautiful. It's amazing. And it would be sad to see houses and stuff out there instead of people enjoying it. Um thank you for your time.

Thank you. And thank you for your service. Okay. Um, these next two these next two have the same address and the same last name. So, I'm assuming you're connected and it would be cool if you came up together. We have two microphones and introduce yourselves. Uh, I want to say Brandon and Kazayiah Goia. Did I say that right? You can correct it. You can correct me up here. You are connected right with each other. That's awesome. Come on up. Uh, Goa is how you say the last name. Goa. Goa. And how did I say your first name wrong? You did perfect. Okay. One of the few that's ever gotten it right. Thanks. Do you want to talk first or me?

Go for you.

I didn't know exactly how the city council meetings go. I didn't know I would be publicly speaking to you. But, um, I guess the most important things I'd like to say is I'm from Cedar City. I was born and raised there. And six years ago, I moved to St. George. And I never thought I would say it, but I'm a proud resident of St. George. Um there's a lot to love about this area. And um compared to other places I've lived with great outdoor recreation, what makes it special is that outdoor recreation is so accessible and it's easy to get to. And I bought a house a few years ago. And I specifically chose to live there because it had close access to their river trails that are beautiful way to get around town and because it's close to Bearclaw Poppy and it's close to Zen and it's close to Moe's Valley and it's something that's really valuable that we we take our kids to go to those places. When my siblings from Salt Lake come down, we go to those places and we try to access it frequently. And um I appreciate the efforts that have been made to make the Zen Trail accessible now with the construction there and I would just like to see those efforts continue.

Um I would say on on my part, I think that the city of St. George does a lot of things right. Um one of which is like, you know, we have a couple of kids. The park and recreation has been phenomenally run and developed. Um, but we would like to like we're not I hope that people don't get the feeling that we're like anti-growth, anti-development, anti-housing. I'm sure there's a handful of people that are. We are not necessarily against that or what we would hope is that there's a little bit of some forward planning and maybe this committee comes and helps like maintain the reasons why people want to move here, right? So the people that move here in the future like because they're going to keep moving, we're going to keep developing. We're not naive. if we know that's going to happen, but maybe we do it in such a way that we maintain the things that people want to move here for in the first place. Um the things that we, you know, we take our kids out to these areas and we teach them how to have self-confidence, how to do hard things, how to grow as an individual. Um things like values that are important to us. It's not just about the recreation, it's about the personal journey and the growth. Um, and so we just hope that maybe you can put this committee together and we can do things in the best way possible is all that we're asking. So, thanks for your time.

Thank you. Thank you, Todd. Oh, do I want to say Goss? You can correct me. Got it right. Oh, nice.

I'm Todd Goss. Um, I'm the owner of Paragon Adventures. Moved here in ' 92 when St. George had about 16,000 people. Um, we've been running Paragon since 1994. Since 1994, we've taken over 30,000 visitors out to the Gap, Zenwall, Bearclaw, Poppy. When those people go out there, they're blown away. They're getting less and less blown away. They see the development. They see the hilltops get uh houses and stuff on them. It's not what it used to be. I don't expect that it would be, but you guys have a huge amount of experience behind you, uh, behind me, um, that you could tap into to help set that stuff aside. Um, that's all they're asking for is to have a voice in a committee that would help you guys put together some kind of a reasonable plan. And I know you may not have the power to to set it aside, but you can certainly make your voice heard, and that's all we're trying to do. So, I would ask on behalf of those 30,000 people, some of whom moved here because of the outdoor values, um, that you consider this this committee. Thanks,

Tasha Griffith. Hello. Uh, my name is Tasha Griffith. I'm also here in favor of the Open Space and Recreation Preservation Committee. Uh, I'm a born and raised resident of St. George, graduated from Pine View High School, and recently completed my master's degree in environmental management. um being able to walk out my backyard and really enjoy the desert and build forts and find lizards and um experience the the outside really put me on the career path that I'm on. And I really want to make sure that these areas are protected for future residents and people growing up in St. George. Um, I've seen the growth over the years and recently travel and leisure ranked St. George as the number one place to live in Utah. Um, and the growth can be really exciting, but I think it's really important that we have a committee that is highlighting um and putting together a plan how to protect these areas at the same time that we're thinking about growth in a more strategic smart way. So, appreciate the work and I'm looking forward to being involved um as this committee as it's put together. Thank you.

Thank you, Cal Hogard.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Um I'm a retired city manager and because of that I kind of pay attention to what's going on here. We've moved here coming up on almost a decade now to St. George and uh so I pay attention to your struggles with transportation and growth and water and so forth. And I'm just here tonight to let you know that there's folks like me out out there that still support and strongly support the deal that had been put together on the North Corridor. And the the reason I uh want to say that is because I know it's important for you to hear that uh some people support the effort that you've undertaken on this. I think the best deal was and the best uh uh approach in the interest of the city was what uh the north corridor in exchange for the zone six. Um and I'd hate to see zone six go a different direction. And so I I would advocate doing what you can to preserve that but also with the priority being that it could be put forward as a mitigation for the north corridor. And I appreciate your efforts in that regard. Thank you.

Thank you. Clint Hansen.

Yeah, thanks also for letting me speak. Um, we moved here about three years ago and the reason why we moved here is my wife's had seven back surgeries, so she needed to work move to someplace warm and dry. St. George fit that, but I needed mountains. I needed mountain biking. I needed rock climbing. So, we found St. George after about a six-month um track. because we moved here from Minnesota and I specifically moved over near zone six because that's exactly what I wanted. So, it would be a travesty to see that destroyed and would love to see and be part of that committee. Thanks. Thank you, Olivia K. Hi, this is my first city council meeting, so I didn't actually know I was going to speak when I filled out that card, but I just came to echo what's been said. We do need to preserve our lands. We need a committee in place, and it would be a shame to lose what brings so many people here. Thanks.

Since this is your first meeting, so far so good. Yeah, give it a nine out of 10. By the way, this is my first council meeting as a mayor, so we're in the same boat. You're doing great.

Thank you, Fallon Row. Hi, thank you guys for doing this and allowing public comments and congrats on your first meeting. I am the vice president of the St. George Climbers Coalition. We're a nonprofit here dedicated to um preserving access, conserving lands, maintaining safe trails and climbing areas and trying to get the community together. Um the president Todd Perkins is also here today. Um and we are in favor of this committee. We work with Desireat a lot and we just really want to see our open spaces and our recreation preserved for future generations. I've lived here personally for 5 years. I've been coming here to the area for 10 years to climb. And the only reason I moved here is the easy access to hiking and rock climbing. That is everything to me. I've guided with Paragon. I've guided with Southern Utah Guiding. I love this community. The climbers here care a lot. And I know all the other folks here care a lot, too. Whether they're mountain bikers, hikers, and so on. So, it would be great if you guys could do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Kurt Soroid.

I might have butchered that even though I've said it before.

Well, you did. All right. Um, well, good evening and happy new year to Mayor Hughes and the city council members. And I have to say, I like saying Mayor Hughes. That's a good thing. Uh, my name is Kurt So and I'd like to speak as as well as urge you to create that citybacked open space and recreation preservation committee to help lead efforts to protect open space and recreation areas in the city, especially greater Moe's Valley area. I believe this is very important to our community. I'm an outdoors hiker and climber, probably the oldest one in this room, actually. I live in Bloomington. I visit hike and I climb in Moe's Valley and Zen Trail as well as other areas near Bloomington. When I'm out in these areas, I meet people from out of states, from all states and many countries actually. The area is very serene and peaceful and free of development. I love being in God's beauty in such a special place. I go out there with my grandchildren, children, and friends. I don't know how many of you have been to Moe's Valley, but I would encourage you to go there. And by the way, I'd be happy to take any of you out there sometime. The only council member that has an excuse tonight right now would be Michelle Tanner. I don't think she's ready to climb rocks right now. We need a city council to become an active supporter and help save this area from development. Every time I go to Moe's Valley, I see more roads and homes being built. I would strongly urge you to as a city to not just discuss this issue, but take action now before it's too late. This area is a true gem that God has created for us to enjoy his handiwork

and to share with all who come here to hike, climb, and bike. God bless you all. Let's do this. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Don Spriggs. Don Spriggs.

Hello. Um, my name is Don Spriggs. I grew up here. I absolutely love St. George and what it has to offer. Um, I think this is a pretty crucial time as we're making these decisions with our de development and how fast everything's changing. Um, I think a committee kind of being rooted in preserving what makes St. George so special could really benefit the long-term effects of what we do. You know, these decisions are going to have dramatic changes on the preservation of these areas because once you take them, you're not getting them back. So, um, I appreciate all of you guys and what you're doing. I think it's really cool to see how much you guys do care about our lands. Um, so I just appreciate that and would really like to see a committee built on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Travis Stole.

Hi. I'm also here to uh urge the city council to develop that committee for protecting open space. Um when I go to Moe's Valley and and go to go bouldering and climbing, I see people there from around the world as the other gentleman mentioned. I see families there just going on a hike. I see um individuals climbing, biking, um enjoying themselves. It's a special sacred place to a lot of people. And um I know it's not a simple issue. It's not just a a decision of the the city council or the mayor with Silta and all of the other things that are involved, but people love St. George because of the incredible access to incredible recreation and of course they need places to live, but let's figure out how to do that without destroying our sacred places that we love to go to. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, don't judge my alphabet skills. This one came in late. Uh, Christian Harris.

Sorry, my handwriting is pretty bad. I was in a rush job. No, it's awesome.

As a St. George citizen and climber, I look forward to seeing the action that you, the new city council and new mayor, will take to protect the outdoors. I'm from the east coast, a place where enjoying the outdoors often means a 2 to six hour drive and limited opportunity for recreation for all. Todd Goss's point earlier about people moving here hits close to home for me because Green Valley Gap was the first place I went climbing and was a massive part of why I moved here. I started a business in St. George with my friend who is also a St. George climber. We donate to protect for these areas. We have Zion National Park license plates on all of our fleet vehicles and we contribute jobs to the local economy. I spoke for the first time to a governing body the last time we came to a city hall to advocate for a committee for the protection of the Zenwall Green Valley Gap in greater Moe's area as well as other crucial areas for climbers, hikers, cyclists, and all outdoor enthusiasts. I am speaking now to new and veteran members of the city government to ask that a committee to protect these spaces be created for the benefit of all St. George citizens. Thank you. Thank you, Liz Peterson. Is this where I talk? Okay. Hi. Um, I'm Liz Peterson and I'm a current student at Utah Tech University. And what sets apart this university from all the other universities in Utah and I mean nationwide is the recreation we have here is the mountains, is the red rock. And I could have really gone anywhere. I was lucky in that aspect. But I chose here for the nature. So seeing that go away would be a major loss to this community and it would really drive people away. So I urge you guys to protect that and a committee would really help that. So thank you.

Thank you Linda Wallenfells. Did I say that right?

Hello. Um I'm Linda Wallenfells. I've been a resident of St. George homeowner for 30 years. I raised my kids here. I'm proud when I go different places to tell people that I live in the city of St. George. And I'm here also to support the formation of a committee to support open space. This committee, you guys have a generational opportunity. This land, the Zen Trail and Most Valley, zone 6, it's a unique piece of land and it'll be heartbreaking to see homes built on it. Um, I recreate out there frequently. Um, I love that area. We have names for specific parts of the trail, specific rock features. I have friends that come from out of town specifically to ride these trails. And if these trails disappeared, it would be criminal. So, you guys have an opportunity to move forward with this. If it's gone, it's gone. And it's on your guys' plate this year to form this committee. Thank you.

Thank you for that. And I'll and I'll just say that's our last one just as we got to W. Um I just want to say I think there's a lot of I think the council all I can speak for them they all understand the value of all of our outdoor rec recreation opportunities especially Moles Valley. So, you got a lot of support there and thank you for your thoughtful comments tonight that I believe are very helpful and we will take those into consideration as we move forward in in figuring out how we can best address not only Mo Valley but some of our other open space issues. So, thank you for that and the again the thoughtful comments. Rest of our agenda, John.

Okay. Item number three is consent calendar. There's two items on the consent calendar this evening. These are administrative in nature. staff has reviewed them and recommend approval. However, if the council would like to remove any of these for specific consideration or discussion, we can accommodate that. Otherwise, staff recommends approval. I'll make a motion to approve the um items on the consent calendar. I'll second. We have a motion uh by Natalie, a second by Steve. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I.

That was close. I almost said I. So, thank you. Motion passes unanimously. And that's it. That's our agenda, right? Yep.

Nice. So, you all just got to attend a complete city council meeting. Look at that. This is how they're always going to be with me here as the mayor. They're going to be short like this. Uh, couple of things. Do we have any Yeah. Campaign's over now. We don't have to make promises. Um, do we have any appointment appointments to boards? I don't think we have any. No. U reports. Let's just go with reports. Let let me just go ahead and start out with um one thing I did meet with. And is Brian still here? Brian, come on up while I'm just saying I did meet with um Liddell Lob uh with uh Dixie Power and they did bring us in a uh customer rebate check. As you know, part of St. George is part of the Dixie Power area, and I'll let Brian talk about that, but we do have some customer rebates just like every other residential customer because they are a co-op. So, they brought us a nice little check and want Brian to talk a little bit about that relationship and power.

Yeah. So, that's loud. Um, yeah, we work really well with Dixie Power. We love those guys. uh Colon had come by and dropped off as members of the co-op with all our uh utilities and facilities in the Dixie Power Territory. Part of what they do is when they have made enough, they give a rebate back to their customers because like us, they're nonprofit, but they can have a little bit more income made, but then they give that back to their customers and we got a chunk of that back on a check that they delivered to the mayor. Um, one of the cool things about Dixie Power is how much we work together. Recently, one of the things we accomplished that didn't really get a lot of news is between Dixie Power and us, uh, created a 138 transmission loop together where essentially we're sharing our transmission lines together that creates a whole bunch better redundancy and saves us both a lot of money. So, it's one of those great things that we have such a good working relationship, we can make that work really well.

Thank you for that, Brian. appreciate you and that I just wanted to highlight that that we do have a good working relationship with Dixie Power and we did get a little money even which is always good. So for that that's my reports. Steve, start with you. Uh met with uh Dustin and Paul from the airport this week. Uh we are 80% complete on the west taxi way. So, we should be very close to having um the taxi way done so that we can start uh we can add 38 uh hangers uh for general aviators out at the airport within the next few months. Natalie,

it was a beautiful prayer over the city on the first. It was well attended, I think. And our interfaith council does so much for our community and really our whole county. And then the Sunbold meetings are going extremely well. You will see earthwork being um moved. There's just a lot going on there. The energy department has taken down the power poles or the light poles that were there. We appreciate the collaboration. What was that? Just got louder. The collaboration within the departments to get it done, but it's it's we're meeting weekly and it's going well. That was loud. Danielle. Whoa, it did get louder.

Yeah, I was going to bring up the prayer over the city also um this year. It was right before the prayer over the city. Uh Jeffrey R. Holland, who was a um general authority for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but also grew up in St. George. He was best friends with my husband Darren's uncles, Daryl and Dale Larkin. So, I've heard about him my entire life and known him um just as a son of St. George. So it was really beautiful because they were doing his funeral procession right before that and then everybody went in you know a lot of people who were there went into the prayer over the city and that prayer over the city if people don't know um is our interfaith council like Natalie said but Natalie do you remember um how many members maybe 28 different churches 28 something to that effect maybe Kurt knows Kurt how many members how many churches really

Kurt gave one of the prayers um that day, but it's really just such a beautiful example of how St. George comes together, how people work together despite their differences. They come together and um build a community and it's an awesome experience. And then just our Super Bowl, our annual Super Bowl is held by our art museum every year. It's Friday, February 6th. And usually you have to buy the tickets in person, but we now have modern technology and you can buy them on our city website. So if you go to sgcityutah.gov, the tickets are $20 until January 16th and then after that they're 25. But it is one of the most fun things that we do every year. It's at lunchtime. You buy a ticket, you come and they uh have a bunch of ceramic bowls that have been thrown by community members. So you get to choose your own ceramic bowl to take home. They give you soup and bread sticks and there's live music and you get to see the art museum and it's just a lot of fun and a great fundraiser for the um St. George Museum of Art.

Michelle, no reports. Nice. Thank you. Hey, one more thing. Since you bring up Elder Holland, I just want to let Chief Whitehead know that so many residents of our city have reached out to me to say how well you executed that you and your officers that procession and it just seemed to go seamless. But I have had several residents reach out to me to say that how well that was handled by your group. Agreed. Thank you. John, did you have anything else to add? No, I do not.

Okay. We do have a couple of items left on our work meeting agenda. So what I do need is a motion to adjourn from city council meeting and reconvene in work meeting. Is that okay, Ryan? Okay. So I need a motion to that effect. So moved. Second motion by Steve, second by Danielle. All in favor say I. I.

Nice. So let's go back to work meeting. Thank you all for coming. How many We got a little more in the back.

Christine, thanks for doing