City Council - Regular Meeting
Cedar City Council reviewed local homeless service levels, approved a fund balance policy, and discussed a new four-way stop sign.
About this meeting
- Government Body
- City Council
- Meeting Type
- City Council
- Location
- Cedar City, UT
- Meeting Date
- September 16, 2026
Published excerpts
Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.
95 sections (from 100 segments)
Yeah. I have it. I'm not very good at using it. Thank you for everybody being here tonight. We will start with a prayer from Councilman Cox, and then Amber Ray will lead us in the pledge. You're praying. That's what I have on my paper, so if she didn't talk to you, then... Let us pray.
Our dear and gracious Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the opportunity that we have to live in this wonderful community and to be surrounded by wonderful people and we're so thankful for the rain that has blessed this valley and the good that it does and pray that we will receive that that is necessary to sustain life and that we will be wise stewards in that which we do have. We're grateful for one another and grateful for the opportunity that we have to serve and pray that we will do those things that will be best for the community and those around us. We, again, thank thee for our bl
Thank you, Robert and Amber. Okay, are there any adjustments to the agenda?
I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, great. Nothing under the administrative side, so we'll just jump to our business agenda. So our first one is Karen Scherer is going to share with us our current service levels and mitigation funding status. So, James.
James said he was going to give the prayer.
James, just a quick question. Of all these numbers, what percentage of them are transient versus people in our community? that require this from a non-coin basis?
Well, I appreciate, because the conversation we had is similar. I think it's important for our community, for us to be transparent with, is we accepted this idea of us being the regional shelter city, right? That what are the benefits and potential challenges that that brings? And as a community, the community needs to understand what that is, and I think it's a very fair discussion that I agree that I'd love as much data as you can continue to figure out how to get on that to make sure that, because the reason I lean into that question is if there are people, if they're from here, to me if th
Well, it doesn't mitigate the need that those people from our side of our area have, but it does make a difference, right? It does make a big difference. To you guys, it's got to be transparent, I guess. But... I mean, there's gotta be ways to kinda focus on our community and see how we can reduce those numbers.
James, just for educational purposes, is there a term for a city where people seem to tend to gravitate to because they know there's good services? I don't wanna call it something that is not. Is there a term for that that you know of in your industry?
I just had one last question on this subject. In any of your funding or grants, any of that kind of stuff, is that ever a question that's asked? Like what percentage of people are local versus you think transient? Does that even come up when it comes on the funding side of things?
So this is an informal, in my mind, math, but I do homeless counts with you guys, and 80% of statistics are made up on the spot, so take that for what you will. I'm a data nerd.
So my point is that most of the people that I've encountered doing that with you for the last three or so years, about half of them have a tie here, and about half of them were going somewhere and got stuck here. They're on their way to somewhere, and so the ones that we've talked to in that process, that's kind of the two at least that I've seen.
Not to beat a dead horse, but case in point, there was a guy at the canyon that kind of crashed his RV, and he needs a welder. Now that the stock show's over, I might be able to take a generator up there and help him weld it up so he can get to his kids. I mean, he was up there in a wrecked RV because he couldn't fix it. So anyway.
So that was one question I had. When I was on the board of Canyon Creek, we were, really careful with the People that we had in the in the shelter for security reasons and so forth. So how do you manage? When you have such a high percentage of the people that use the services the security of those people that have gotten there as a result of domestic violence and
Is there like, let's say you put these six duplex units in there and as we were talking before, you've got showers and bathrooms and all of that kind of good stuff. Is there a time limit? I mean, how do you process people so it doesn't become like, hey, you know what's nice? Cedar City, they got these, you know?
I'll talk to you later about my next thought.
We can work on those details in committees and otherwise and nothing we can resolve in this Senate.
Mr. Jett and I are actually speaking next week about this. What is it?
James, on this money that you're getting, and I need to disclose, I'm actually working and helping them on this project coming out. Kent, you and Jonathan, if at all possible, we need to expedite a few of these things so we can get these things in the ground and get it going. We've got some road breaks we gotta put in, we got some street cuts, water lines and stuff that we have to get going and so we're going to be asking for a groundbreaking that's gonna allow us to do a bunch of grading so that we don't get caught in the middle of the winter. We don't wanna start at the end of October we nee
We do need to get permission from the property owner that is right next to you, just to the west. I think that's the women's crisis people. It's Southwest Behavioral Loans. We just need permission there to access through their property. We're good on that. Okay, so the other stuff, we just need to, we need to get this permit so we can get going.
No, my end remark on this, Mayor, is it goes along a lot along with what Councilman Phillips had to say. You know, being on this committee, in our lives, we each have our own passions and things that we choose to do, and there are people in this town that this is the passion they've chose to take on, and I'm so grateful for that, because it's not something that I see and deal with in my everyday life, right? There are people in this town who this is what they care about the most, and this is their every day. They wake up, they eat, sleep, and drink helping homeless people, and it's so awesome
Okay, number two is to consider the appointments to our newly created Cedar City Cares Committee, so Pam Brannan, Tim Marriott, Craig Corey, and Cleve Weaver as the citizens' appointments, and then Councilman Schmidt, as we talked about last week, will serve as the.
Mayor, I have a request for two other people, but do I need to talk to you later about that?
Well, so the bylaws you passed have five, Now, there's a lot of people that will get engaged in this organization, subcommittees.
Oh, yeah. So city staff, we can talk about who to help support the organization from a staff standpoint. Yeah, but that's just something we can talk through administratively.
I'll get with you later, but there's two that we need. Okay. Any of these people here?
No, I've talked to all of them. They've all accepted it. But each of them had commitments for a variety of things. So Tim lives out in the Iron Springs area by the elementary school. He works for the school district. Okay.
Can you give us a little brief on each one of them?
So Pam's the only one that I don't know really well. She works at the university. I asked Mindy Benson, President Benson, to, okay, you probably know more about Pam than I do.
So in general, the way I approach this and these appointments was I tried to identify the three largest employers. So, the university, the school district, and IHC. And to get it started, I thought it would be good to have somebody from those organizations kind of represent, because they'll help the largest number of people have access to get them involved to kind of launch it. The bylaws, of course, didn't require any member from any organization, but I thought that would be a good way to approach it in the beginning. So that's where those three. So Craig Corey works at the hospital. He's the
Yeah. Okay. Mayor, with that, I move that we put that on consent. Second. Second.
I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Great, thank you. I am super excited for that organization to kick off. I think it's gonna do good things. All right, Jeff.
Yeah, I've personally learned one thing. If I'm at the landfill and I see that truck roll up, I get out of there.
Yeah, perfect. Mayor, I think it's great, and the prices are close enough, but I'm a big fan of Cummins Motors. They can work on them right here. Steve can work on them, no problem. Keep your parts, and it has a better suspension system anyway. So I make a motion to put this on consent for next week.
I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Great.
Next one is a public hearing to consider resolution approving budget amendments for 26-27.
She's always good at making nice PowerPoints.
It's a rollover. So are we going to use it? Yeah. Yeah, for cameras. Yeah. That's what we're buying with it is the camera. In-car.
Oh, so this is the revenue. The other ones were the expenditure side. This is where that revenue, where all that's coming from.
So we have found the product? I mean, we found the cameras, we're good to go?
I'm great for that. Them fire guys, they make their money.
This is a portion of the pod. Are you hiding, Jonathan?
So these have to be done before the big project?
We don't have a choice. Yeah, the chlorination is a mandate, right? And the revenue from the 3000 North project, that actually started out in the 25, it was new in the 25-26 budget. Wasn't it a rollover this year also? We didn't add...
Is this the project that you did put out a request for qualifications and only got back one or two or so? Yes. So now my understanding we're putting it out for open bid?
Cool. Good deal. Thank you. Thank you, Jonathan. Thank you.
Yeah, do we know about this project? I'm sorry, Jonathan. Go ahead, Paul.
Are you going to fill the whole end at the top?
So we're taking $74,100 from that other. How much was total was budgeted for that detention basin property that we never purchased? That'd be curious to see how much is sitting there.
I was hoping you were going to tell us you'd found some old project.
I was hoping this was some, you know, million-dollar project we budgeted years ago and never did. No.
Entertain a motion. Oh, sorry. We've got to have the public hearing first. Unless there's any questions from council. No. If not, I'll open the public hearing. Anybody that would like to speak to our budget adjustments, you're welcome to.
And no, you can't have the $900. Technically, it's there.
Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and entertain a motion.
Motion and a second by Councilman Schmidt. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Fantastic. Next one is to consider resolution adopting Cedar City fund balance and reserve policy.
Waldo. Yep. I think this is brilliant, by the way, Terry. Not only do I appreciate the way you put these complex things into real layman's terms so that a mere mortal like I can understand it, but also the thought process that went through it. So you, your staff, and Paul as the city manager, I'm sure he had a lot of input This is terrific in my opinion. And I know we have to vote on it next week. But there's just one suggestion I wanna make. I think it was like four or five slides back where if we get cattywampus with the reserves that there will be a plan that will be developed and discussed
Absolutely, I think that's a great suggestion and I'll make the make the change And you know mayor I hope you don't mind that I'm throwing you under the bus on this one makes sense because our the ordinance talks about how the Budget comes through the mayor anyway, so it makes sense to align that language to match the current process.
That's what I thought, and I think, I mean, the way the budget process went this year, I wasn't here before on other ones, but this was painless, in my opinion, the way you guys presented that budget. So, Great, put another thing on your calendar.
So, and you may have specified this, and maybe I just missed it, but so is your proposal, Terry, that only if we get above the 35%, like we did this year, that we would move the money over to the capital? Or if we got above 25%, that then we would move anything over 25% over? 25, right?
Well, the maximum is set by the state, which is 35%.
We can choose if it's between that 25 and 35, whether we leave it there or whether we move it.
So that was my question. So the policy doesn't state, obviously above 35 it has to move. But anywhere between 25 and 35 will make the decision together on, hey, we're at 32, let's move this or whatever.
Since this one is a money one, I'm just going to make sure. Is there anybody that came tonight to talk about this? I'm always open to public putting input on the work meeting if there is. Okay.
Second. I think Councilman Cox beat you all. You were trying to get into minutes. All in favor?
Actually, he should be the one to second it because he's the only accountant here, right?
Last one is to consider the installation of four-way stop at the intersection of Cody Drive and Legacy Ave. Before I turn it to Kent, it is interesting because we were talking of is this something that council should really have to decide on or can engineers just make a decision if a stop sign is needed or not? And our current policy or ordinance requires you to decide if a stop sign goes in anywhere in our city. That's good.
So I agree that I think this is one that, well, I think it's one that you can still move forward. But if, If an engineer decides there should be one, I don't know why we need to decide if a stop sign should go in or not.
We'll just scratch off our phone number.
So we're adding that to the ordinances to maybe look at, is this really an issue that every stop sign should be approved by council or not? I don't know.
Well, we use the same criteria to determine if there is one, right? We do traffic studies and go through the whole process.
It's an engineering question. Sometimes you can add an extra one that an engineer might not think is necessary because public says, hey, I want to slow down traffic in this neighborhood, and we agree.
And so we could initiate a traffic study and run it through the process, right?
So this one started because of a public that there's some here tonight that called me and asked about it. And we went through the process to have Kent evaluate it with engineering standards. And here we are, so Kent, do you want to give us your thoughts on this stop sign? Can you make this a little bigger, Kent?
This is the one that People that lived there brought a couple months ago, I think, talking about this.
Okay, so that's the summary recommended. Any questions for Kent from the council?
Do we have money? No. I'm sure we have money in the budget to cover this or in our new rainy day.
I know there are some here that wanted to come and if you just wanted to listen or speak to it, you're welcome to come and say anything if you want to.
And the feet are from Cody, just exacerbations too.
Oh, we got another one coming. Fantastic. You sat through the meeting. You might as well say what you want to say.
When we put the four-way stop, we naturally will stripe the crosswalks, not necessarily flashing lights, but at least the crosswalks would get put in, or is that not true?
Stop bar meaning the white line that says stop right in front of it?
I'd like to make that part of that consideration.
Just to make sure, though, if you're going to make, as you talk about this, to make official motions on it, There's striping for the crosswalk, which is cheap, easy, no problem, but the flashing light part is a second to that request.
Yeah, well, the one over there by Cody Drive by the ballpark, where they put the light where everybody ran it for the first year before they realized that there was a stop sign there right before the ball field.
Yeah, that's different. That's recognition of some extra signage and flashing lights before it, but a permanent crosswalk signage is different.
We could put the Public Works Department, we could maybe put their... boards up, message boards up for a couple months or something like that.
I think this is the flavor of the council. They're probably in favor of it as well.
Paul was just saying that's the fix. Just cut the tree down. No way.
Mayor, unless there's anybody else. Go for it. I would move that we put this on consent, making sure that we also include the striped crosswalk.
And a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? So what that means, just so you know, when it goes on a consent agenda, the council's basically decided. So it's moving forward.
If we do this, then Chief Adams, if we put the stop signs up there, I would like to see that relatively enforced pretty strongly, and that doesn't mean just educationally. That means giving them tickets to get their attention.
We will need your assistance. Let me just say something about that. I got pulled over on Fiddler's Canyon by a very polite officer officer of our police department, and I was on a call with a bishop, and he heard that, so he stepped back, waited until I was done, I had already pulled over, and he just looked at me and he said, we're just trying to educate you so you don't go above the speed limit, looking at the school and everything. That stung more than a ticket, to be quite frank. He was overly polite, and he was like, just looked at me in the eye like saying, really? You are doing this?
Like he was disappointed in you? Yeah. He gave you the mom guilt. I felt like father being disappointed in me.
Catch me, you know, taking cookies when I wasn't supposed to, right? So I don't know that a ticket is always the answer.
Thank you. Okay, well, that's our agenda.
These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.