City Council - Regular Meeting

tournament and their hotel nights spend just the same. Those are inexpensive and simpler logistic ways to build the base of our sports tourism uh portfolio. Um this one would be significantly higher. Uh there's a massive public safety burden, traffic burden for our residents uh once a year. Um it would probably require us to work together closely to say can we get the heart of ORM started in a way that we are excited about using it to present our city uh two years from now. May of 2027 would be the first year of this event. Um, we're still in the bid process. We don't have this event and we are still sort of internally negotiating how what does Utah County want out of this? What does Provo want out of this? What does ORM want out of this? Um, this is we're we've identified May as the potential target. The algo bloom that happens at Utah Lake is late summer. So, we would need to be uh late spring to early summer. uh that puts us in close proximity of UVU graduation, Ormfest, Memorial Day weekend, Utah Valley Marathon, and a number of other events that stretch our staff in significant ways. On the opportunity side, uh this is a prestige level destination event. This is something that you can use as part of the branding identity of Orm City. This aligns with our love of health and outdoors, exercise competition. It shows off there's every part of ORM is the best, but it shows off some of my uh favorite parts of ORM in terms of our natural beauty, our access to the canyons and lakes and everything like that. And if I had people coming from all over the world to be here with us, those are the places that I would want them to associate with ORM city. Uh I think maybe most importantly is this is a really cool opportunity for us to work closely with the Tourism Tax Advisory Board, Explore Utah Valley, the county, uh the Utah Sports Commission, and then our neighboring uh cities uh here in the valley on a project of this scale. Um mayor, I've already alluded to it, but you and I were able to u receive a couple of million dollars. you you were able to work with the tourism tax advisory board to bring that to Orem City and we were able to offset a third

of our cost of the improvements at Lakeside. Uh these are the same entities that control those funds. And so I think our ability to say, "Hey, we're here to participate and uh work together to bring tourists here to our city. uh is a sound investment in our future of that relationship to make sure that we are front of mind for them when it comes time to uh put funds towards Mount Tonogus and our entryway at the front of the canyon or to put uh funds towards our heart of or these other significant projects that we have. Um this is of course a win for our ORM hotels, our restaurants, our bike shops. Um you can talk about I mean prior to that really not done as ORM generates a lot or hotels represent a a bulk of the county's inventory for events of this scale and so yeah I think

so we've kind of been left out so this was an opt to put to put our best foot forward I think to to help them understand that we are a part of that ecosystem. So it's not a guaranteed, it's not a uh uh you know a contracted you know exchange of hey if we do this then you will fund that. Um but it is I think the room the table that we want to be sitting at uh is hosting an event like this. So uh just to reiterate back to that first slide the base of our parks and recreation recreation system is for our residents. When we then consider the small portion that goes to attracting outside events, uh we typically rely on youth sports for the bulk of that. An event like this would be one example of an event that could help us diversify. Uh it is an incredibly expensive event uh both in kind and cash and opportunity cost and is not without its logistical challenges. Um I don't think we should be married to this event or this company or this single opportunity. However, I think this is the type of thing that we would like your input on. Should we be considering and building out towards? So, uh, we're trying to work closely with Explore Utah Valley to get an answer back within the next couple of weeks. And so, we're not committed to anything yet. And I'm very open to y'all's feedback or your thoughts or your concerns and and how we can build something that we think uh best hits uh the high notes and misses most of the low notes.

So, would this be a an annual event? the hope that the that people would collect every year if it was contractually we'd enter into a three-year agreement up front and many places have hosted for years and years and years and which year would be 2027 uh so 21 months from now two years in a row or yeah for so if we were to submit the bid and get the bid we would for sure host 27 89

my experience with these Iron Man races they open up they fill you know, 55 weeks in advance. So, I mean, it's sitting on that kind of revenue, 78, $900 per assistant for an entire year. And so, I mean, they're huge events. Tell us how you would measure ROI on something like this. I know it's a little bit tricky. It's in relationships or it's in this or that. Like, do you have a sense of the cost benefit analysis?

You know, it's similar to how we have done the costbenefit analysis on a field. Uh I'm we started with field tournaments first for a reason. They are the simplest. So you know the tools we have to track the data that you see up here. How many people are coming? And the same data tells us did they stay here? Did they eat here? Did they shop here? And so this is how we wanted to build our base. This is probably the safest albeit smallest way to build a sports tourism base. We have found this. And so um we would be able to uh work with explore Utah Valley who has even better tools than we do. plus the internal tools we have to measure that success. Um, and then you know we'd have to rely on things like our uh design reports our uh net promoter scores afterwards to say is this worth it both for the participants and for the other 95,000 people that had a slower commute that Saturday morning.

Right. I think for us the big thing will be just being able to justify this to taxpayers why this is a good idea and how this helps our community. And the money doesn't come back to us as a city necessarily but it comes back to our residents, you know, business owners and that kind of Well, it comes back through hotel tax. So, yeah, hotel tax definitely comes back to our city or hotel. But it is less direct. We when Iron Man makes those dollars on the registration that doesn't come to us that

that's why cities build stadiums, soccer stadiums, right, to bring revenues through people to events. Yeah, I mean there's there's hotel tax, there's sales tax from the spend that goes on, but even bigger than all that, I mean, from my perspective, even if we just break even on this, it's a huge community to host the Iron Man in

where we would get to an ROI positive if we can use this to leverage getting um transient room tax dollars for like the heart of downtown or for arts projects like Tim Tempenus Park that's where it would become a hard dollar positive for the city and I leaned over to me the number communicated from Iron Man for this event would be an 11 million economic impact over the weekend. Now, several grains of salt that I personally believe some of those numbers come in really rosy um up front and and having been a part of the I hear the economic impact from a sports a soccer tournament and then we see the our numbers I think it's a massive I think it is millions of dollars of economic impact but um I would maybe just add my if if Brandon Nelson were here he could give us the real numbers uh you know cut those in half

breaks down and they have to go to a bike shop paranormal and get more parts or they have to go buy a new swimsuit cuz there's it doesn't work or whatever. There's all of that optional or you can't really count but opportunity. Chief uh Sanderson mentioned, you know, a entry fee of 6 $800,000. That is also the the level of economic opportunity you are presenting to the city with an event like this. This is a typically a high spender who would be eating and spending and vacationing well here in Orange City. Dr. races. They're all doctors. That's true. Do you have a sense of how like low their temperature is with regards to this?

You know, uh, Explore Utah Valley is the one managing a lot of it. So, I think they're looking for us to bring our temperature. We each bring our temperature back, but I've been on several calls with Provo City and aligning the race course and all of that. And I think what we're trying to do is how much we each want to uh leverage our financial participation and in kind participation to control. You know, I think for me I I I would love to make sure that the finish line is here in Oramm City. You know, that to me is a big really important part of why we would do something like this. This, you know, explore Utah uh excuse me, the Utah Valley Marathon also comes down our canyon, but I don't think that feels like Orm City one. It's one of Orm City's events. It's an event that we deal with the traffic on. Um, and so I would want to make sure that this one is equal. I want each of the entities to feel excited about it, but I would love to make sure that we are putting in the effort or the cash or something like that here.

Yeah. We basically brought this to the table to have, you know, Utah check it out. So that that's why we're feeling very involved in this happening. So So Bryce, you want to tell us why Iron Man would even want to be in our city? But what's the race lead? Um because Orm's the best and the races are all over, right? So

yeah, so there there is they left St. George uh in 2024. We've discussed with St. George why they left and you know there was concerns of the traffic and it's a pain and our residents are fed up with you know but they have 20 of these weekends a year. The same there's a marathon or a triathon every other weekend in St. So um they left Utah or excuse me they left St. George. Their next closest is Kenowick, Washington, Cordelane, Idaho, Phoenix, Arizona in January. And so I think there is a strategic need for them to put something in the inner mountain west as well. So I think we could make a a bid, but I also think they are asking us to go to the phone book to try to find them to call them out of the blue. They

say, Bryce, too, that St. George course is the one of the most challenging Iron Man courses that they actually host. And so they were losing, they were having a decline in their registration. And so financially they were looking for a different venue. Like said they reached out to us. That's kind of how this all started. St. George. They left St. George. There will be more than the Iron Man in 25 and 20. A bunch of times and if it comes here. Oh yeah. And I've had the day off. But he'll be back to work the next day.

You know what? But I'll have two weeks off. I would say the timing is also maybe aligning with with where we've been. I mean, Bryce talked about how we've turned more of our fields into multiport use to to attract more sports tourism here to the city. So, this would be further diversification of the portfolio. And we've had we we've seen from you greater interest in going after grants and and putting dollars towards trails and and up the canyon and everything. And so it seems timing wise that those interests are kind of aligning and coming together.

I think the rec commission was definitely on board last meeting. So about this it is big money. Well, I will if if feel free to reach out to me directly. Um I will continue to sort of work through the final numbers uh Brett and I on on what is this, you know, or council member Gail, you know, what's the ROI? You know, it's we're we're committing very real money and time upfront for potential economic impact. What number are we comfortable with taking that risk? I would reiterate, we feel that some of the money from field rentals, from increased sports tournaments could go so that this is not a general fund. I mean, it is general fund, but it's general fund money that is new because we have a grown sports field. So, maybe it is less risky than saying, you know, it's either this or, you know, a a project for public safety or something like this. Hopefully, we're able to connect it to the money from having tried this in other spaces. um we might not get this bid and this was all just a fun what if but we I think maybe based off of y'all's feedback exploring and maybe pursuing a a an event or two like this whether it's this one or a future one might be nice. Is that a fair

I like it. Sure. Why not? Why not? There we go. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Bryce.

Uh next up one point engineering project update. All right. I've been asked to provide an update on CIP capital projects and is a circuit. The sheet I passed around is just put together a quick list of project areas. Drive around and look at them or if you where they're at, that'll help you to see like number one there in the annual roads project. If you look at the the orange lines that represent all the projects, number two is micro, all the yellow. Then got all the numbers listed there. Uh then Ryan's going to touch on some of the bigger.

So what are the yellow lines? Yellow are microvicing treatment, surface treatment to seal the roads. Very thin surface treatment. Um picture here is of 800 South between Geneva and I-15 and one of the one of our most important responsibilities in engineering is to coordinate with public works and basically everybody in the city and just make sure that roads are not cut into. We can help it that we don't only cut into the roads right after they're put in or year after they're put in. So our job is to make sure and coordinate everything underground the utilities whether it's water sewer storm could be gas you know private utilities just notifying all the companies meeting with public works regularly just to make sure that um public works does a great job of planning these roads out. They've got a great five-year plan listed for all the roads every year. We've got $2 to $3 million of ruins projects that they're buying five years out. So,

we're trying to look ahead a year or two seeing engineering just to make sure that if we've got a bad water line, one of those roads that we get a waterline project the year before that. So, we met with public courts recently. We do CIP planning meetings and invite a representative from every department there to coordinate with us. And if there's money available, we'll try and help them. Um, all the utilities do a great job of coordinating. Tom Nison and his team in engineering do a great job of tracking that and making sure that if there's any utilities, we're trying to get them done. Don't want to cut into brand new roads, right? And sometimes that's why we wait on some roads. We won't complain about them, but we'll say we know of other projects coming, so sorry. We have to put up with them for a little bit longer.

Good example of that is 950 North.

950 North Falcon Road. I think that's item 12 on here. It's coming right there. It's happening. It's happening. It take me 11 12 years. No, no one knows. Took me 12 years to get my planes through elementary. But

be a little more patient. All right. So, there is a water lane trench patch right in front of the All right. And recently, Lance Excavation got that for about 3 million various areas throughout the city. and they work fast to get that in before their school starting links. Next one here's 800 East 400 North Oak did this project. This was long time coming. I guess was right away 15 plus years ago on the southeast corner. We ended up widening out there as part of our roads project. did a change order there and we coordinated quite a bit with each owner to get ements or rideway on the corners. Um, coordinated with public works, Taylor, Justin, and Erica did a great job putting this together and engineering. Uh, coordinating with Rock Mount Power, a contractor out Uh, it's

I think it's including the traffic flow there. Yeah, it's Councilman Spencer. This is kind of public works director's pet project. So, you're confident to be longer than 950 work. Really? Yeah. Then I feel better. Yeah.

Okay. No switch parks courts. This is a great location. I wish I lived in that neighborhood cuz it's just hidden. It's like tucked back up in there and it's a great facility. It's looks really nice with the black powder coat chain link fence and new lighting. There are two tennis courts there before. We've got a new playground. Uh it's all landscaped. We've got a tennis court and I believe four pickle ball courts. And then it's got nice concrete and access ADA access. So everything's all finished this summer. That was Park and Tennis courts. Parkin also did the contractor. They also did the Windsor Park Jazz Court and that one's turned out really nice. This this plan here shows different phases. The Jazz Court was the first phase. Our second part's going to be uh we've got one of our engineers working on the design for this, coordinating with Tyler Pay for pickle ball. Got new lighting uh for the courts and also the ball fields. They're doing a a lighting RFP we're putting together right now. And then got a storage restroom building that we're working on. It's a nice one. And

if you have any questions or anything you want to stop me, go ahead. This one's center street hawk pedestrian signal. Anyone can tell me what hawk means. I had no clue what it meant. It's the bonus points. But this one's currently being built out here by Skyline Electric. You probably noticed they've on boarding conduits. Over the years, I've noticed there's just a lot more traffic in city center park. There's just a lot more activities going on. Winterfest, Summerfest, food trucks, and there's a big draw from this neighborhood to the south with a lot of people trying to cross at 300 East. So, the location of this we thought be good right there in the middle of that parking lot. It's kind of m the middle of um Ozard city center is closer to northeast but this is lost drink. So that one is almost complete. Next one, wastewater use project was completed earlier this year by Cody Eker construction at this has also been something that been going on for how many years, Chris? 201. It's been going on a long time to get to a point where we like to have the wastewater is the outlet there to be reused in our parks. Springwater say sports park golf course. So they completed the section from this roundabout uh to the south and west of that elementary school out to Lakeside Sports Park. Same contractor Kodi Ecker got our sewer

replacement project. This is one that we coordinated with the Rose Project put in from around 900 West from Fort Mon to 6:30 North and Cody Kodiaker's been a great contractor and um did a lot of work for us on those two projects. street lighting project. If you look at your map, we've shown on there it's number nine and number 27. Yeah, number nine is the phase we completed this past year just south of Hillrest Park. And this picture location, this is at 14 South and 800 East. It's the southwest corner. That's just a before and after. And it's really nice to have those older poles moved and replaced so it's in the same location. Most of them are in different locations. We try and space them every 150 to 200 ft. This one just happened to be in the same spot. But um that project we did about 70 to 80 new lights south of Hillrest Park. Then so highlighted the areas there on the map. Um project 27 is phase five which we we're currently working on and require a few reason there's going to be probably around a hundred different residents that you need to talk to 100 different properties to get easements for conduit lights. So it's not an easy thing. It goes really slow but um the design engineers are doing a great job work really hard. So, Tiger, I have a question on on back on Windsor. Are we using the same contractor or is is it

going to be bid out again?

Uh, it'll be a bid process every time. Excellent. Chair Apple flooding station about a year ago last August pretty bad storm that flooded on Heather Road the Chair Apple neighborhood. You guys are familiar with that. A lot of the water will inundate this property through the parking lot there and go flow into that Chair Apple neighborhood. And that's just a a low spot there where kind of a flood a natural flood plane where the water is just naturally goes and then it flows between the homes. In that instance, that storm was a I believe a 50 or 100year storm that flooded dozens of basements throughout the city. And so this is one of couple projects. We've got more we're working on that put a little curve wall along there with deep sumps. Enel Construction did this and they're also working right now up in the chair up to put in sumps. So if you want to go check it out. Pretty fun.

What do you actually do with that? I mean what happens underneath the ground? to make a bigger hole for the water to go in to get into the system or so. First, we look at the wellhead protection zones. Around every well, we've got different types of zones to protect that well. We make sure we're going to put in a sump or injection. We want to make sure 250day zone is the closest one around well that they're not in that zone. If they're outside that zone, then we'll put in sumps. In this location, we put in 20t deep sumps to our standards about 11 to 13 ft deep. So, we went a little bit deeper. Then, we interconnected those with height to make sure they all they're connected together. Sometimes we'll do perforated pipe. And what that entails is um if it's a sump going down or perforated pipe, we make sure there's perforations and there are holes, they're circular structures. So water injects into and then we'll put 3 ft of gravel around that and around the bottom of it. And then we'll put fabric around that. So it it's basically just an injection point. Get gives water into the we do have a pipe system there that pipes out of that low point. It just can't handle a 100ear storm. Hopefully it helps. We're trying to This has been a great project I think for the engineers and you know for residents for the contractor just to try and help people so the basement don't 50 north.

There you go. Uh-huh. Uh the Oak Canyon, no junior high

and it's about 700 East. Lance excavation projects just over $3 million and they completed that very quickly. They're great contract. They are coming back as weather permitting throughout the winter and finish up in the spring with uh several different areas throughout the city mostly water and sewer. This project this project is part of one of our MAG projects and Murdoch canal trail crossing in our north 400 East and the long-term goal is to put in a bridge. Hopefully we can find some funding to do that. Even if we were able to get funding, it's still going to be a long ways out. So, we have come up with this plan to do some short-term improvements to hopefully make it safer and and um and it's currently being constructed right now. If you notice up there, we tied that. We did a change order with the Rose project did from state pulled the 1600 and added this into it to hopefully get it done here soon. As long as I driven through this roundabout.

Yeah, you can see in the aerial there on the right side is the old circle that in side of the round. So, it's quite a bit bigger than it was before. This one was I'd say at least five or 6 years planning and long fine trying to get this done. A great project. Uh, got to give props to Jerk Tech. He did a great job on this one just managing it. We had a bid item. It's a mag project and usually you're going to throw in there everything you can. bag pays 93% of this. So, we had construction management in there for like over $200,000. And we took it out because our construction engineers team said, "We can manage this." And they did a great job with making sure the grades everything flowed and everything was put in correctly and did a great job managing us. So, that was built by RC Enterprises. If I can jump in on that roundabout, if you go back to it, one of the great things that they do in the engineering department, I don't know if you realize it, but ORM pretty much has its own engineering firm. And so we work often on projects and we will uh often design a project or a project that we have with internal staff. We manage the construction process rather than having to go out and hire a third party to do it. It saves the city a lot of money. One of the interesting things they did on this, knowing this is going to be a it's not your normal roundabout. You've seen some around town. It's pretty big. It's pretty complicated. They actually went out and worked with

UD do to uh before construction began and final design to map out that buses could get through and things like that so that we didn't have any uh problems with construction in the future. Having Tagger and his team do what they do saves the city, frankly, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in the way they coordinate, the way they manage these projects. So, I didn't want Tagger to his arm patting himself on the back. So, I'm going to do it for what he he's doing. And it's okay if my arm gets hurt, but they they literally save us lots and lots of time, effort, and money with what they do and how they do it. But just for that one, just to to elaborate a little bit more on that, Ryan, we did work with uh quite a bit with Rocky Mountain Power. There's some aerial lines that went through that intersection, so we got those put underground. We worked with the church quite a bit. um purchased the home on the northeast corner, worked with UVU, purchased UVU property. All that took years to do that and there was a lot of coordination. And then we did work a lot with UTA. We had it paved and then you can see there's concrete islands as you approach the inter the roundabout. Got concrete medians. They were really concerned their buses were going to hit those turning. got those long we call those buses the

articulate articulated yeah 40 and they're really thinking these are tight and so what we did was we went out and sprayed them before we put the concrete in actually move the ADA ramps about 5t wider and we carved off make them round and okay let's go to the next one So yeah, we um were able to help UTA out. This one is a center street widening project working with Avenue Consultants currently to do the design. This is another MAG project from Geneva to life. Today I talk really fast. This is our 10 million gallon water tank from the air. This is what it ended up looking like. The actual actually looks like the design piece of fruit with the leaves. I hope you can see it. The twigs or the paths on the trail around it turned out amazing. If you can go out and walk around it now if you'd like. There is just one corner that's not finished. That'll be finished with the pump station project. These are some shots Lane took this week showing the play structures around the tank and swing set feature in the long corner. and some of the landscaping up against the neighbors to the west. Uh coming soon, starting in December, it's a pump station wellhouse. There's been some delays in procurement that has pushed us back and so they're working on those pumps, getting them ordered and getting them here. And these were what those structures will look like. The cabin has been stripped down and is ready to be reassembled when ad for it in the park which will come with this project as well. Uh city hall update. You've all seen it. Uh today we've had a lot of action. We've brought

in there's been a lot of fill. We're excited to see that. And right now kind of the deadline we're telling everyone is November 18th we're hoping to plant the freedom tree. So if that happens on November 18th at the council meeting, the freedom tree sits right here, then that means everything else around it's done. So they're going full speed ahead. Just a reminder of what it looks like. These posts are out there in the ground. And if you can see them, it gives you a good visual where the Freedom Plaza sits. Those are those poles right here and here. Um it's quite a large area. And there's still this seating area with the pergola to come out here as well. So, it's really going to transform the look, just the overall view of it with the landscaping and all the trees and vegetation that are still to come. We're sitting right in this little corner here. And the Freedom Plaza is right there. The pavilion location. We just saw this, so don't need to cover that, but December completion. This is before they moved in what it looked like. And then the fire training facility, Mark's baby, is going to be done in December. not holding my breath.

The two buildings up in the corner are done. Those are the burn buildings. This is the commercial structure, the residential structure. Apologize for the poor photography, but I didn't want to drive my car out into the job site. And this is the classroom building. Uh slow-mo on that project, but we're also held up by the Geneva Road project that has to run a storm drain line through our site. and they are down mobilized right now. You have synthetic base of that storm drain line that will run all the way to Geneva Road. And then you just went through this project. Uh can I ask real quick? So just to clarify again, we are anticipating that the fire training facility will be a revenue producing Yeah.

place because you're going to uh fire departments. Okay. for Judy.

Few things we didn't talk about with the public safety building, which is now the police building. Uh we'll be redoing our sign out front and putting new lettering up on that. By the library halls you walked by, it says public safety. It will now say police. Um a new roof was just completed on the building. They're putting Christmas lights on it right now as we speak today. Two new boilers have been installed and they're doing the pipe work on those. And then the new chiller is sitting right back there. The green box behind the track hoe. That chiller will be installed in October. So the roof, chiller, boiler, that's all being done outside of the contractor's scope. That's being done by our facilities team in house. And so that facilities team, if I can pat them on the back, Byron and his team do an amazing job. Our buildings up and going. So, at least hopefully we'll not have any more water leaking through the ceiling. And that's all we have. Any questions,

one minute early. That's a great presentation. Anyone who wonders what's going on in the dorm, we only made through about a third of the list. Uh I get excited about a lot of these things because a number of these things on the list are resident driven. Other words, there are things that residents are concerned about and and we actually hear them and they wind up on the list and they improve their community that way. So, I think that the fact that we were able to have that communication with our residents and it winds up on these list and then like I said, there's 33 on this list. So, there's very much going on stuff. Okay. Um, we might as well probably right. So, let's uh assuming it's here.

It's here. Open the door. Okay. So, hind door number one. Okay. Okay. So, if we can have a volunteer for the prayer blessing on the phone,

Chris is jumping for you to look at me.

Holy Father, we're grateful for the opportunity we have to gather, take of this food, and thank thee for it and for continues to do those things that we do within our city to serve and strengthen and lift the community. Bless the food to provide us energy and strength. Help us in our meeting and the council meeting all go. Thy blessings and care will be upon each of us to feel and know how we serve and lift and strengthen others is a source of uh help and blessing in our lives for service that we render plus privilege of uh working with many in the community. So grateful for this day. pray thy blessing upon it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Christmas.

Let's go ahead and restart. Same place he did. We're going to turn the bring us up with item 1.414 update.

Okay. uh mayor and council and last week uh you might probably did a presentation on 501c4s and what they are and the rules and regulations governing them. And at that time at the end of that uh presentation I was asked to uh come back and let you know how exactly other states have uh regulated. I think I mentioned at that meeting there were a couple states that did require them to disclose their donors in some circumstances. So I was asked to come back with additional details on how they do that and um so I've gone back and done some additional research in the last since that meeting and have found that actually there are quite a number of states that that do uh require 501c4s to disclose their donors in some circumstances. And the interesting thing is there there may be a couple states that directly target 501c4s, but mostly these regulations are are more broadly enacted requirements that that require any entity that makes political contributions of a certain type to disclose their donors. And those regulations just happen to catch 501c4s within their reach um as well as lots of other kinds of enemies. So, uh, I I actually found at least seven states that, uh, that have these kind of regulations. They're typically campaign finance laws. Um, for example, uh, New York, New Jersey, uh, let's see, um, Georgia, New Mexico, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts are all states that have enacted these campaign finance laws that, uh, uh, impose requirements for 501c4s to disclose their donors. Um, I'm certain that there are a number of other

states that do this as well. Uh I uh I basically found these seven states based on cases litigation that had taken place um where people had challenged the laws that had been enacted in these states claiming that they violated the first amendment right and free speech um and just basically uh ran out of time to go beyond just the seven states. But I'm sure there are many others that that do the same thing. So, uh, basically, uh, the these states that have enacted these regulations, they have kind of a common theme. Typically what they do these campaign finance laws, they they state that if a certain entity including 501c4 is that they expend a certain dollar amount a certain dollar threshold on electioneering or in other words communications that advocate for a candidate election or an issue on the ballot and they target the general public and that these communications are made within a certain time period of an election. uh very often that might be 60 to 90 days before an election date and if they then then the donors would be uh uh required to be disclosed the entity that makes those uh expenditures. So that might that might apply to things like if you're spending money on say a billboard or a mailer or a radio spot that's advocating for a certain candidate in an election or a ballot issue and you're meeting a certain dollar threshold that might be $3,000, $10,000, $15,000, then you might have to disclose your donors the contributed uh amount that needs a certain threshold. And that again

that would be any communication that costs money like emails, text messages, you also have to pay for those as a campaign. So it's kind of a campaign expense issue. So yeah, they they measure it based on the expenditure. So if you're spending $15,000 and you know, I don't know, maybe in a lot of cases an email is free. I don't know.

Okay. I don't know if you're doing mass emails maybe that costs. But yeah, you would look at the amount the dollar amount that you're spending to see if it meets that threshold. Uh so then again, there's also also thresholds that uh apply to the donors that have to be disclosed. That has been as low as $250 in one state that I saw, as high as $10,000 in another state. So again, these uh regulations vary quite a bit in their scope and application. Um, a common exception uh to these regulations are is that if a donor to a 501 501c4 specifically designated that their contribution was not to be used as part of a political campaign, then that donor doesn't have to be disclosed. So,

do they then show that that donation do they have to show a trail that it was used for a specific purpose then? Yeah, usually what happens is they they say that it comes from a segregated account. So you might have an account that's uh a 501c4 might have an account that's for political uh communications and one that's not that's going for the other purposes. So you might remember from last uh presentation 501c4s their primary purpose can't be political. They can it can be substantial but it can't be their primary purpose. So their definition of the percentage of a primary purpose typically they say over 50%.

Um okay so those are again the the the common elements uh that these campaign finance laws uh include to determine when uh 501c4 might have to uh disclose its donors. So again, each of these seven states, I happened to come across them because I was uh researching case law. And so that means that that these each of these uh campaign finance laws had been challenged and there had been lawsuits filed. And was interesting that the again the the claim of the uh the plaintiffs was that these laws were violating their first amendment rights. And uh in four of the cases the court held that the disclosure laws were valid. They were legal. They passed constitutional muster. While in two of the cases the court found that they were unconstitutional that they violated the first amendment.

And those were similar cases you would say. Yeah. Similar. I mean flipped. Yeah. They differed in some respects you know again based on the thresholds, the dollar amounts involved, things like that. Just identifying information. Yeah. of those kinds of things. But the arguments I think were essentially the same. I mean, they differed a little bit, but I think that the general themes were the same.

So, um, so, you know, it's not it's not a question that's um 100% settled out there in the legal world, but uh there's uh one of the cases, one of these seven cases involved the 10th Circuit, which was literally just decided a few days ago. And if I if I searched for it at our last meeting, I wouldn't have found it because it hadn't been published yet. It had come out in the in the uh days right after our last meeting. And it was a case out of New Mexico involved New Mexico law, campaign finance disclosure law. And uh the court in that case said that it was uh constitutional. And of course Utah is a part of the 10th circuit. And so that is basically the governing law in the 10th circuit right now. Um that doesn't mean that it's uh ironclad because somebody could raise a challenge that just changes the argument a little bit or maybe the law is a little bit different, you know, and sometimes a lot of times CA courts come to a different result when the facts are a little bit different or the application is a little bit different. And given the fact that there's some other cases that have still found they're unconstitutional, I wouldn't say that it's ironclad, but it's it's pretty it's pretty uh helpful. I guess you could say it. It it decides the law at least for now in the 10th circuit.

And is this this number seven where they're saying to contribute over 200 or more have to disclose. Okay. So that's the that's what has been kind of upheld by the circuit that

Yeah. Not not to get into the the weeds too much and maybe I shouldn't even go here, but technically the way and this is this again just kind of goes to show how the the facts in a certain uh case can differ and change the result. probably New Mexico's election law didn't actually cover a 501c4 because they basically were talking it covered entities whose primary purpose was to engage in political communications and by definition a 501c4 can't have as it primary purpose uh political communications or political activities but I included that case because the reasoning was essentially the same. So I think that probably even if the the law in New Mexico had included 501c board, the outcome probably would have been the same. But anyway,

happens if they exceed the 50% of 501c. So the IRS can revoke their tax exempt status. That's typical of the res. That's it. Yeah. They don't make them dissolve. What's that? They don't make them dissolve. No, not to my knowledge. I haven't seen anything that suggests that. Everything that I've seen suggests that the remedy is that the IRS uh takes away their tax exempt, which means they basically turn into a peck or a pack. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the the donations are not deductible, which basically kills it. Well, 501c4, their donations are not even. Thank you. That's right. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, but that's that's typically

So, um, again, I think what this shows is that, uh, the research shows that there are again a lot of states that have in the course of their campaign finance disclosure laws have required 501c4s as well as all other entities that engage in these uh, political activities, require them to disclose their donor. owners. Um again, significant number of court decisions have upheld those regulations and um and so my suggestion to the council is that if you're interested in seeing 501c4s uh be required to disclose their donors that that's something that we might encourage the state to pursue. I think this is something that is best handled at the state level for a couple reasons. I think that uh first of all, that seems to be how it's done nationwide. It's it's typically done at the state level. I think that having a a campaign finance law at the state level carries more weight, more credibility than than potentially a local law would have. I think the state is typically in a better position to enforce and to uh regulate uh these kinds of things. And again, you know, these these laws seem to be uh the subject of litigation quite often and so I think the state would be in a better position to handle any legal challenges that might arise from it. Seems to be an area that is uh a subject of litigation quite often. So

let me ask a question about that and then I agree that the state would be the best place that they're going to do some election control. Um, I just pulled this out is because this is what's going on in the in the Daily Herald. You know, it's talking about Warren's polarized municipal elections. It talks about dark money found. That sounds pretty interesting. Article about the dark money. There's no dark money found.

The point I want to make about this is so there's a lot of confusion. This is being talked about in our newspaper on a regular basis. You know the presidents are going what's going on here in this article they think but they don't even describe dark. So my question is what if um because the state you know we can take years or whatever to do all that if it even goes anywhere. Well, couldn't you just on the forms that we already fill out have something simple like another box added for candidates because we're disclosing it or contributions everything. So, you just check a box and say I have I have received dark money or I've received contributions from a 51c4. Uh I don't know if I have uh or I haven't. And we just check a box like that and then and then it's I mean we're not going into all the hassle of figuring this all out. We're just letting the residents know if the person says I received this or I haven't or I don't even know.

They already list where they're coming from though. Yeah. I mean a couple things. Number one, a 501c4 is not allowed to make a contribution campaign contribution to a candidate. They're only allowed to make indirect They're only allowed to participate indirectly through what we call independent expenditures. So that's what that's what I'm saying is they would a candidate would identify if a 501c4 is using money to help influence their campaign from other expenditures and they could say I don't know or uh yeah and again you know the the the word independent means that they can't have coordinated those expenditures with the candidate themselves you know they couldn't have done it in cooperation or collaboration with the candidate.

Let me throw out something else then. So this survey somebody in the paper did seems to be back to a final. We don't know because we don't know. Um but that would, you know, affect races. It would affect certain candidates depending on which side they're on on that. So that would be a way that that would be affecting things and a candidate could say yes, I benefit from that or I don't know. Yeah, I'm giving them a ton of latitude. I'm just trying to have people identify Yeah. if they're receiving any of this help or if they're not because going back to what the residents are saying right now we're just in this mush of what is dark money.

Yeah. So right now as you know candidates are required to uh disclose all of the contributions that they've received all the donations they've received as well as their own expenditures and and in kind including in kind. Yeah, that's correct. Um, and so, you know, to go beyond that, I think would be kind of ambiguous, a little bit difficult for a candidate to disclose. Has somebody else, you know, advocated or spent money to help my election? You know, they may not know. They may not I don't know. That that's a difficult question.

That's why I'm saying just say yes, no, or I don't know. Well, at least you're acknowledging that, you know, that way a candidate is acknowledging what they think is going on. Yeah. And and it might require them to do some research, you know, who's spending money, who's putting billboards up on my behalf, or who's putting a radio ad out on my behalf, and what's the nature of that? I mean that that would it would impose that additional burden on what happens once and you say yes what's that

if it only has to happen one time to click the yes box you don't have to indicate every you don't have to have knowledge search

right yeah but you yeah an email if seen a a flyer on a doorstep or there's been a text message from a 501c4 then I think that's what you're talking about right I'm just saying I mean we do you know two or three different disclosures for the C course campaign so you just have these three boxes along with all the other stuff you're disclosing on there just that's no or I don't know but at least you're acknowledging so it's not this you know mysterious who knows what it is but at least each candidates acknowledging, yeah, this is being a spin on my behalf or no, it's not.

And I think it comes back to what we said in our very first meeting. What are these 501c4s primarily used for? You can Google it and it says primarily for negative campaigning. You know, that's why it's the dark money because it's the who who no one has to put their name to it. Is that true or is that just something that Google came up with? I mean, I Google stuff all the time and it's not always accurate. Is that true? Well, it was from the civics project. Once they Google it, it was from the call the civics project. So, I I don't know. I don't have any information or data on that one way or the other. We have three minutes to decide.

I think we if we don't I would be in favor of an ordinance that um you know, minimal whatever the check box. I wanted more than that, mayor, but I guess I could I could go for that. I just feel like there needs to be some kind of disclosure. I know a number of uh years ago, Mayor Brunst when he won, there was a significant amount over $100,000 that came from the National Association of Realators into that campaign. And when that was disclosed um vote disclosed, it made a difference. the voters um didn't appreciate, you know, that because it was disclosed to them that it came through the National Association to the Utah Central Association to the Utah County Associate of Realtors to the to that particular candidate. Um and the scuttlebing, you know, everything is we just want to know so then we can decide. So, you know, to me it's just about transparency. It's not about saying uh I mean I like these specifics actually here but I think that that's kind of a a big key. Um

well and I guess my point is I think what I suggested is the be all and end all. I'm just saying if the choices are we don't do anything or the choice is we have the state do it and maybe it takes two or three or five years. This would be a stop gap until somebody else does something more meaningful. but just to to just to try and bring some, you know, organization to this so people can understand what's going on. In favor of it,

I mean, can we add a box of one? I mean, if it's if it's a check box, if it's three if it's three boxes and you check it, I don't think there's no harm, no foul. You know, if you have an I don't have a problem with that. you know where the money's coming from.

Technically, they're not not even a point. Just you're acknowledging so residents can look at that and they can say this person says that they're they are accepting it or they're not. And if somebody is accepting it and they're not checking the box and that becomes an issue, but we're not saying that it's, you know, there's not a penalty, there's not this. This is justformational and it's actually trying to candidates to provide that information. I don't think it's in the form. No problem. If it's a check the box and no problem.

I mean, okay. So, I talked with the people that you're talking about after our last money and I'm like, so what's happening? Why are we hearing this word dark money? Are you involved in any dark money? And this is this basically they said all of our donations are fully disclosed. There's no dark money. Um, stronger Together Community has never contributed to political campaigns or candidates in ORA. Stronger Together Community intends to contribute to political efforts and it was organized to maintain and direct their members efforts to support local schools and community groups. So is that the 501c4?

Yes, that's the 501c4. And to me it feels like we're much to do about nothing. I mean they've done nothing illegal. They've done nothing wrong. They've commuted the comm created this organization to help direct the members of members efforts to support local schools and community groups. You know where the survey came from? Yeah. Came from the the other one the pack that did that.

Yeah. So, but let me ask you because there was an event this week where it was a meet the candidates event and tacked on to that event was bring a can of food, bring something for the food pantries which is the mission of the 5014 stronger together community. So, there is one example of an inind campaign event that they have done. You're assuming that anyone anyone's candidate it was they weren't invited. I wasn't invited to it. Bring some donations to help the poor. You can do that too.

But I don't I'm not going to speak for them, but I don't think in any way was that done to support a candidate. You bet it was for any campaign. You bet it was. There were four candidates that were um encouraged to come. They didn't invite all the candidates. Only four. My guess is that will show up on our political donations form for their pack. Your guess, but you don't you don't know either, right? I don't. That's why I'm bringing this up. That's why I'm wanting to know what's now so we can have that transparency. We'll know when their donations are reported. I I haven't seen I've looked into this and I haven't seen any evidence. How can you say you've looked into it? They have. They don't have to disclose it. Ask them. You ask them. Okay, that's fine.

But what evidence do you What evidence do you have that they've done something? I have no evidence. I haven't accused them of anything. I think you're in the city last time that we filed incorrectly. That was completely false. You filed incorrectly. The lieutenant governor made you well it made you include the inind donations on your last one and some of those donations were made in May and June before the first disclosure was required. So it was done incorrectly then. Well that's that's news to me because back to Teresa she said everything was fixed. So my point is

no no I'm not going to let that end with that. That's not what happened. that was that the stronger together in kind donations were not were not disclosed during the 2023 elections until December. You made it sound like that we had filed. No, I didn't. So, roll the tape. I said I'm not blaming. I had people calling me and asking me roll the tape. They can call you, but roll the tape. There was there was confusion that came from that. I can't help if they don't watch the video. Can't help if people understand the difference between a C3 and a C4. And that is it in another meeting. So they have to watch the meeting. Okay. But I feel like we're using our political influence to chase conspiracy theories that have

There is no conspiracy theory here. And I'm sorry Tom said that last week. This is not this is a desire to establish more transparency in ORM because we have a brand new political entity called the 501c had in ORM before. It's not transparent or conspiracy anything. There's no concern. There's I mean, we've had picks, we've had packs, everything's fully disclosed. Uh well, from the outside, it looks like we're using our political influence to go after an organization within the community, and that's not a great use of taxpayer funds. Don't tell what we're doing. We're doing there's a new entity in in the in our course. There's never been a problem before that's injected into or politics ever. It is not part of or politics.

No, it very much is. But we can't tell if it's pack. or they haven't filed any reports. We don't know. We don't know what. And so we're just trying to figure out. Yeah. I mean, it was claims of dark spent less than 2,000. Let me clarify something. Claims of dark money. There's no claims. I'm saying the dark money. So, what were the what were the little piec you're interrupting? The dark money label is a known label for 501c4. I'm not accusing anyone of dark money. I'm just saying that's what 501c4s donors are referred to as dark money. That's

not all 501c4s. That's a definition that has been brought up in the campaign to try and No, no, no, no. It was I'm telling you nationwide. I'm talking about locally here. for the handout that was given when all the meet the candidates that's because dark money handed to every person who contributed having the state look into that is excellent with the state it is not the flyer that was why why would so back so hard against having a box on a thing that says I'm using 501c4 money or I'm not or I don't know none of them can use 501c4 money they can't get money directly to candidates benefiting from it sure they can see just that there are ways that they support candidates in elections.

Yeah. Through independent experience, but they can't give it to the candidates. And we're not talking about that's not what we're saying. They're using it to said that in other ways to to show that what they want. I feel like we're on a witch hunt. We have no evidence to suggest that we need to look. This is not about that that group. Tom was the one who brought up that last group. He he brought up their packact 100%. He he talked about their pack and that's part of the confusion. They have a pack and they're being used single pack. They have a 501c4. The minute that 501c4 became apparent in our community, people started talking about 501c4s are often called dark money organizations nationally. It I mean all you have to do is our residents what

it's one of the first thing that comes up resource. This is not like a mystery or a conspiracy. This is the question that we have a new entity that's involved in politics and we should be able to recognize where that money is being contributed to.

So why not add transparency to that particular entity as these states that are doing this? We are saying as a municipality, we feel like we would like to just ask them to report when they get donations, submit a report and disclose where that comes from and not submit a report in December after the election is over. Do and and maybe put this $250 like New Mexico did. you know, I my issues I I don't think we have time to solve all these problems now, but I would like to see a longer term solution. And so that's where I go back to just a simple I'm benefiting from this or I'm not or I don't know.

And so I mean quite honestly want the discussion to stop. We have we present a solution. And I have it in my estimation of all the what hour and a half of city resource time in our split session spent on an entity that has not uh had any issues and you haven't have any claims that they've done anything wrong. But your suspicions of dark money have brought us to a point where we're wasting a lot of resources in this. It's not suspicions. Once again, can I please state that again? It is a definition. I have no sense of pushing an issue as an election reciting a definition a well-known definition. It's not the definition.

And you know what? Doesn't matter. A the how many do you want? I mean, it's you. So, you keep pushing this dark money. They're calling it a dark money. The dark money issue is something that you into. I'm not It came up. You were the one who said it came up. The residents brought it forward. So, we're responding to the residents. Who? Which residents? some res. There's one right here. Yeah, this is the res. And you know what? That one's on the other side, right? We got them on both sides. Money found that. That's probably brought up because dark money was discussed in two or three of our other work sessions that we've had. So, well, dark money found. I mean, this is this is this is a great discussion, but we are 10 minutes late already for our council meeting. So, do we want to continue this? Are we going to get to somewhere constructive or can we push?

Yeah, let's decide if we want to put the boxes on there. I have no problem putting a box on it because it's it's easy doing the transparency with the box. Being transparent. So it's a simple solution. There's no legislative anything. It's just a simple solution. It adds transparency. I do not support it at this time. I might in the future, but today right now in the heat of the moment, I do not support it. What the heat of the moment? What what we've been talking about council meeting first time I heard this. My feeling would be I would support Steve's council and his guidance. Let the state deal with it. Um, no. I'm I'm not in favor of any action. I'm going to disagree that that's what Steve said.

So, Chris, where are you at? I'm not in favor of anything this time. So, the four of you who are on the one who's donated to this organization, let's just clarify this. That's nobody's four of you who have donated to this uh organization and whom your last campaign gave you $24,000 in in donations are now voting against a donated to a C4. I haven't donated to a C4. I've never donated to a C4 donated to a C3. You guys are pulling in the C3. You're you're accusing us of accusing them. And so they're mushy. All these guys reported their stuff.

Totally. They even asked they did it. They even asked them for their bank statements and they showed it to you. Right. So there may I make a motion that we adjourn this meeting and go into a regular schedule. I second. I Yeah. I think the mayor as the one running the meeting gets to decide if the money's the better. You don't just do it by a motion and four won't have to take the motion on the floor. Stephen, you want to question? the mayor does need to recognize somebody to to have the floor to make. So I think what we do I mean it's mean from what I'm seeing um it's a 4-3 vote against of course as well as

so we can continue this conversation another time when we have more time on because we're out of time. We don't even have time. I'd like to make a motion that we um You haven't been recognized just like we had. Can I make a motion before I'm recognized? Technically, no. Technically, the mayor needs to Would you recognize I'd like to make a motion that we um review this in our city council meeting? Can we do that? How do we How do we now pull this up on our next So, so sorry, I I may have misled a little bit. So technically in a work session we're not supposed to make motions or make decisions on final

actions recommendation. You can give you can give directions. You make procedural motions like adjourn to the the regularly scheduled meeting. Um but you can give direction like you've said we want to do put this on a box or we don't want to put on a box. You can do that but not through a formal motion. And okay so then maybe our next meeting can we put on the agenda for our next meeting? That's my motion. on our city council agenda for a vote in our next meeting. I will give Jen to leave about it and then we can vote on it as a council officially. I'm fine with it. Whatever. I'm fine with it too.

Four don't want to do it. Well, the you four don't want to have another discussion in public. have used so much staff time and resources. No, there's no staff time and resources. It's not about that. Steve has spent how many hours working on this, but that's what we do, right? This is in the expense of how many other things. Let's move on to the I mean that's a strong argument. Um anyway, I think we'll adjourn this making progress. Make sure everyone understands where everyone's at. Um let me ask a question. Did we take a vote? I mean, I guess it's 4 to3 city council agenda. We don't vote in here. Well, it maybe been put on the agenda, maybe won't

maybe will, maybe won't. So then how does that get decided? Tom, mayor prepares an agenda. Two weeks, four council members can give direction to staff to either put something on the agenda or to not have something on. So if it's not on the agenda, then we know what four. We have three who want to put it on the agenda. Yeah. I'm satisfied with that hour. Okay. So, we need to move forward. Um, so they're right behind us. They've been waiting. Yeah, they've got another meeting to go to. So, we're putting them in a little bit of a jeopardy. Are they in front?

Yeah. So I guess we'll introduce you guys and I would encourage everyone to class

and uh step back and to have healthy debate. Um but we've got some things. One of the things we're going to do is have a uh a I'm gonna read a statement on Charlie Kirk and we're going to have a moment of silence and then we're going to move on to the rest of things because unfortunately what happened in our city is something that want to recognize. So anyway, we'll adjourn this meeting. and I've been for city Terrible.

Maybe you want to start training. Iron Man. Happy to be on the uh the spectator seat. There you go. Don't take my cupcake.

Well, that's not the actual. So, probably everywhere

or look out on your PC. Test test. Test. Test. stomach. They didn't Like this is

I'd like to call this meeting to order and welcome you all to our city council meeting tonight. We apologize that we're running a little bit late. Uh we had more to talk about in our work meeting than we had time to to complete it. So I apologize for that. We'll start out with an invocation uh from Spencer Woolly and a pledge of allegiance from Rayen Woolly and Chris Kilpak invited these folks to come. So if you'd like to introduce them. Thank you very much mayor. So, uh, the the Woollies are a wonderful ORM family. Been here long long long time and they raised their family here and, uh, Spencer Woolly is a business executive in the healthcare industry here in ORM and he and his wife Railen have raised their families here. Uh, good friends. Just wanted to have an opportunity for them to participate in this civic opportunity to help all of us begin our meeting. Thank you. Our father in heaven, we begin this armed city council meeting this evening addressing thee with gratitude for this wonderful place in which we live, this world, this country, this state, and this city. We're grateful, Father, for the freedoms that we are blessed with, the freedoms to worship, act, speak, and do as we may without fear. We're grateful, Father, for those that lead this country, that lead this state and this city. We pray that thy spirit may be upon them. We pray that thy peace may be upon them and all of the citizens of this city, of this country, state, and world. We're saddened, Father, by the events that have occurred in our city recently with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And we pray that peace may be found, that understanding may be found, and that evil things like this may not happen again in this world, in this city, in this state. Now, Father, we invite thy presence into

this meeting so peace and understanding may occur. That those that want to speak may speak their minds the way that they wish so that the words they say may be understood. We pray that those of the council may be able to understand and speak also with words that can be understood. We pray for peace in the hearts of the leaders of this world, the leaders of this country. We pray that they may be guided to help this world be a better place. We pray that we as individuals and citizens also may be guided so we may make our individual places and this world a better place as well. And this we pray for in the beloved name of our savior, thy son, even Jesus Christ. Amen. Please rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance 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. I've got some things I'd like to share with you. Um, after we had our last council meeting, I had no idea what was going to happen in our city in the following weeks. And just going through that experience with all of you um has been unbelievable. We had our uh candlelight vigil that we put on uh for the city uh so we could come together and that came together in about 7 hours

and I know some of you attended it. But that was probably one of the saddest uh feelings I've ever had in my life to look out on that crowd of about 3,000 people and have them see their faces and see what they were going through. And so we've we've talked about this a lot. Um I actually after this I met with the all the mayors of Utah County and we actually all came together in a statement that we put out to the media and that was really something to see a group of 22 um of our mayors come together for that. I'm not going to read that tonight because I that's out there, but I've just got some comments I'd like to make myself to share with you. And then I'd like to ask for a moment of silence after I do that. Charlie Kirk was taken from us while doing what defined his life, speaking openly, engaging in dialogue, and trusting in the power of pers persuasion over violence. His murder reverberate reverberated around the entire country and actually around the entire world. But it shook to its core. Charlie Kirk was a husband, a father, a friend, and a man who believed that freedom of speech and the free exchange of ideas were sacred to the American experiment. I never had the honor of meeting Charlie personally. Yet, I cannot ignore how many lives he touched here in Utah and across the nation. I've spoken with many residents who heard him at Utah Valley University. Students who followed his work and families who admired the strength of his convictions. Even for those who of us who only knew him by his reputation or watched his videos online, his passion and presence left an unmistakable mark. Charlie built his life around the conviction that words are stronger than weapons. From a young age, he chose to

dedicate himself to the work of persuasion. He founded an organization called TurningPoint USA that grew into one of the largest student movements in the country. He traveled to hundreds of campuses, large and small, because he believed that the future of America would be decided by how young people understood freedom and responsibility. He could have chosen to speak only to friendly audiences, but that was not his way. Charlie stood before crowds that often disagreed with him, and he welcomed the challenge. He trusted that truth presented clearly and courageously would always speak louder than intimidation. That courage was not bluster. It was rooted in his faith, in his belief in the American founding, and in his love for family. Charlie often spoke about his wife Erica and their two children. For all his public work, he never let anyone doubt that his most important role was at home, was as a husband and father. Those who knew him best will tell you that his energy, his drive, and his sense of mission were all shaped by the love he carried for his family and his country. What made Charlie so distinctive in our public life was not just his ideas, but his willingness to live them out. He believed in civil discourse at a time when our culture often dismisses it. He sat down with opponents and critics not because he expected to convert them in a single conversation but because he believed that listening and responding with respect was itself a form of victory. He understood that freedom means little if we refuse to engage with those who see the world differently. That's why his loss is so painful. What happened in Orum was more than the murder of one man. It was in fact on the freedoms that sustain us as Americans. The right to speak, the right to assemble, and the right to disagree peacefully without fear. Charlie embodied those freedoms. He demonstrated

that a free people must rely on words and ideas, never on violence or threats. His death is a reminder that liberty is always fragile, always in need of defense, and always worth the courage it demands. As a mayor of Oram, I carry the sobering responsibility of her residing over a city where Charlie's life was tragically cut short. For days after the attack, we worked around the clock with law enforcement, the mayors through the valley, and with federal officials. Many of us slept no more than three hours a night, driven by the urgency to see justice done, and to bring peace to a grieving community. The responsibility has weighed heavily on me, but nothing compared to the weight carried by Charlie's wife, his children, and his family. If our sleepless nights helped bring his killer to justice, then every ounce of that effort was worth it. ORM is family city USA. We are a place of faith, resilience, and unity. We are more familiar with parades and festivals, with concerts, and Friday night football than with national headlines of violence. To have Charlie's life end here cut us deeply precisely because it felt so out of place in a city like ours. And yet perhaps it's fitting that his life and his example are now linked to a community that defines itself by family. For all his public work, Charlie must be proud of being a husband and father. The best way we can honor his legacy and his memory is to carry forward the values he lived by. to teach. Let us teach our children that disagreement is not a cause for hatred but an opportunity to learn. Let us show them that persuasion is stronger than intimidation, that respect is stronger than contempt, and that life itself is sacred. Let us model it in in our own lives, the courage to speak with conviction, and the humility to listen

with grace. Charlie Kirk lived boldly and he died as he lived, engaging the next generation in dialogue. His example will not fade. If we choose to follow it, his influence will continue to shape families, communities, and this nation for years to come. May God bless Charlie's family. May he bless the people of Orum. And may he bless the United States of America. Thank you. If we can just have a moment of silence. Thank you. All right, maybe we should just all go home now. Um, we're going to go to item 7.2 two. And these are remarks on the Constitution from Bill Pearson, Post 72, Quartermaster.

How y'all doing, Chris? How you doing? Hey, I'm Bill Johnson from prior service. I've been 34 years with the Army. You need to speak into the mic. talking to the mic. You can't hear me. Other people watching.

Okay. How you doing? I'm Master Johnson, retired, United States Army, 34 years, and I I'm here. I'm going to talk to you about the oath that we all take. How many here are prior service? You guys, thank you. I got something for you guys. Thank you, sir. So in the military we take two different oaths. There's a commission officer oath and there is the enlisted oath. So the oath of the listment when a soldier takes it, it's not just for their three years or six years. It is a oath for life. So when we all take an oath for whatever positions we're in, it's not temporary. That's forever. And so when I take the oath, and so I took the enlisted oath. Let me get my glasses on. And the enlisted oath is is I state your full name. William Johnson do solemnly swear to affirm uh that I support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me according to

regulations and the uniform code of military justice. So help me God. And that is something that we all take. And I think it's something that I don't think a lot of people take. Whatever oaths they're with, I don't know if they understand that's for life. And that's to support and, you know, do what we have to do that is right for our people. You know, our law enforcement, they take an oath. It's an awesome oath. And that's that they're there to help us. we're and we're all here to support our friends, our families, whoever needs help. And so that's what I'm here to talk about and I think uh you all understand that it's pretty important to people like me. And so I'm part of the American Legion Post 72 and we still go out and we do a lot of volunteer stuff, support. Uh I work at ORM Lowe's. We go out and help a lot of disabled vets. Lowe's pays for us to go. I would do it for free and I've done it for free. And so anyway, thank you guys for your time.

Thank you.

I will say that I think it's interesting that this is a very short oath of enlistment, but this is the oath of enlistment and that the number one thing in here is I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That's pretty significant. Let's move to number three. 7.3 Constitution Month Awards. Pete Wolfley, if you'd like to present those.

Okay. Thank you, Mayor and Council. As you know, September is Constitution Month. And here in Orm, we this is our third year celebrating it. And one of the things we've done each of the last three years is have a Constitution Month art contest. And so we have a couple of winners here tonight. And so we want to bring them up one by one and celebrate their art that celebrates the Constitution. So the first family is the Hunaker family. If they're here, would they please come up? Come on up here, kids, and stand off to the side here. So, we have Nathan, Hannah, Walter, and Abigail. And what I appreciated about their art is that it celebrates our first amendment, the freedom of religion. In some countries, art like this wouldn't be allowed. Come on up, kids. And so this uh who did the one the house or the church on the right on the left here? Oh, wow. Good job. That's an awesome picture. And then who did the one on the right here? Good job. Let's take a look at the other art. Uh here's two from maybe the older kids. Okay, these are awesome. So, congratulations. We have a certificate for you now and then we'll mail you your cash prize. So, thank you so much for participating in awesome job celebrating one of the most important parts of the Constitution. Our next our next winner is Melody Crockett. Is she here? Peter, make sure they know we're going to have a photo at the end, so they should stick around.

Yeah. Don't get too comfy. We're going to get a photo. Uh, and I think you're a two-time winner, right? You've done this before. So, I feel like your art skills have come a long ways in a year, and this is an amazing uh thing that she Melody painted. Um, do you want to talk about it? Tell us what your inspiration was. No. Well, regardless, it's great. So, thank you very much. Good job. And then our final one is Shauna Sters. Is she here? And I feel like we can't let you off as easy as the kids. So, do you want to tell us about your piece?

Yeah. Um, so the moment that I got the call, I had a daughter at UVU that she works there and she was going to go and another daughter who was on lockdown. And it was such a beautiful moment to know that even when things are really scary here, they're really not because we are in the hands of a God who loves all of us. And so this one is titled A Patriots Homecoming. And if you notice the people coming, it's all kinds of different experiences on earth who gave their life for a country and a cause that was greater than themselves. And I don't know, just I I I love this country. I love God. And I know that we're going to be okay. That's all.

Okay, let's let's have all of our winners come up and we'll get a picture and then uh thank you for participating in this. I feel like art is a great way to express these strong feelings that we have for our country and for the Constitution. So, thank you all. I'll just come out here in front. We'll have the council stay up top and you guys be down on the bottom and I'll grab my camera. Yeah. Come over this way a little bit. This way. A little bit more. Okay. Here we go. One, two, three. Okay. Thank you. And congratulations. Thank you, Pete. And thank you to the artists. And uh all the art was great. Uh that last painting is incredible. So that just captures so much. That would be awesome. Let's go to item 7.4. Here we have a legislative report. We have two of our representatives that are going to join us for a moment here. Uh Lisa Lisa Shepard and David Shallenburgger. And we've just invited them to give us some updates on what they're working on uh and anything that affects them. So

yeah, thank you. So, ORUM has four representatives up in the House. There's 75 of us. And uh, Representative Shepard and I are two of the freshman group, the largest freshman group to go in in the last 20 years. So, and we are unique in that we are the only representatives to represent both ORM and Provo together to spill over into both of those cities. So, we're excited to be here tonight. Um, I wanted to just take a minute and introduce myself and my first session. So, I grew up here in ORM. I have six kids. They're split between ele the Foothill Elementary and Canyon View Junior High. Uh will be future Tigers hopefully. And uh um I we just finished our first session. Our session is in January through March. Covers 6 weeks, 45 days. Goes very fast. During that time, we voted on like 800 bills. So, it goes fast. And uh um about two weeks in, I got an email sort of funny. I got an email saying, "I'm so disappointed in your vote. I in your in your district. I'm so disappointed on your vote on this. I thought you were going to be more moderate. Look like I'm going to have to find somebody else more moderate next time." And then about three emails later, I got an email that said, "I'm so disappointed on your vote on this bill. I thought you were going to be a lot more conservative than you are. I'm going to have to find someone a lot more conservative next time." So, that was sort of my introduction that you're not going to make everyone happy. And hopefully those two votes cancel each other out. Um, but our first session we were encouraged to really focus on getting to know the people and the process. It's like drinking not just from a fire hose, like from three fire hoses and a lot of information. Uh, but we I feel like we did some productive stuff. I with some of my bills, I was able to help work with our uh emergency dispatch in Provo and help pass a couple bills that help streamline and make the 911 dispatch

center more efficient and cooperate more statewide with more of our uh emergency resources statewide and uh help make that a better uh unit there. So, super excited about that. And some as I look forward into the future, some of the things I'm really starting to focus on are our uh water resources, uh our transportation. I'm working with MAG right over here that helps plan the roads and the uh works with UD do across the state. I'm working with the water resources, helping with the Great Salt Lake and the Colorado River. And we're blessed to have the Central Utah Water Conservation District in our city. So working closely with them and and I know you guys have worked uh with them on their project that's going up here on the mouth of the canyon and big project. So thank you for your help on that. Um, and then uh just the growth of our our cities, cyber security, data privacy. I've learned that with our cyber security here in Utah, we have 1.5 billion attempts to penetrate our network systems across the state every single day. So, so it's crazy the amount of stuff that So, lots of issues going on. But that's just a glimpse into one of the some of the stuff we're working on. One of the areas I've talked with mayor Young about and with uh council uh member Jenuel is our wildlife management area up here in the temp foothills. Uh is one of the as we go through the legislative process, we pass our bills. Sometimes they're great. Sometimes they need tweaking. This was a comprehensive bill, lots of information in it. Part of it needs tweaking. And we all realized this once we started seeing signs pop up saying you need a fishing license to go hike up here and like wait a second that doesn't make sense. So, uh, been working with, uh, Senator Stratton, who's also

from ORM, on tweaking that portion of the wildlife management bill so that we can keep hiking, biking, uh, using their foothills, the areas around the state, but also uh, be educated and use those areas for wildlife when they need to. This is specifically a a cared spot in the winter for the wildlife to come down and use that as a nesting area. So being able to use that as a multi-purpose area. So sort of an area that touches ORM but is also impacts and uses many areas throughout the state. So excited to work with you guys as we move forward. I'm going to turn the time over to Representative Shepard and let her uh talk about her stuff.

Thank you, Representative Shalenburgger. He's an awesome rep. You guys should be happy to have him. And I am honored to serve Southwest Oram and our shared constituencies because you're all citywide, aren't you? That's right. So, we have shared constituency there. House district 61, the or borders would be if you were standing at the southwest corner of the mall and you looked all the way down University Parkway and then also all the way down State Street. Everything in Oram that touches the light is in house district 61 plus most of the lake and a great section of West Provo. So being a freshman, wow, that's quite a you guys understand it when you were here first, right? You get it. But what I love about your organization here is that you have maybe two months, two years to talk about an issue. We get about 2 minutes on the floor and it is pretty crazy I guess would be the best way to put it. I serve on law enforcement and criminal justice. Thank you to our ORM city police and our welcome to our new chief. And I also sit on government operations for the interim committee. And I am on revenue and taxation. And so I get to look at all those fun things. I know I'm missing some committee that I'm not telling you about, but there's lots of them. One of the favorite things I'm getting to do right now is be on the organized crime committee and get to take a look at what's really happening. And I don't think it's that pretty to be honest. And we have concerns right here in Utah County, even in our city. So I just want you to be aware of that. My eyes are watching for these things and I'm happy to partner up with Orms Police and Provost Police because I represent both cities. As Representative

Shaburgger mentioned, there are three top bills in my view last year. I would say that my bill that I passed is probably number three. And that bill, of course, I'm going to say that right. I'm not going to say it's the best bill because I'm going to tell about the top two bills and then I'll move on. My bill is one that each one of you that filed this year, you recognize that you had to submit a conflict of interest statement prior to your actual filing or at the exact same time. Right? And that was my bill. And the whole purpose in that is because I believe and so do my colleagues cuz we voted for it. Just about all the way through the House was unanimous and there were two senators that voted against it. But everyone else thought that transparency in elections is important and especially that if you have a conflict of interest, shouldn't the voters know before they elect you instead of 30 days after? And so that's something that you know that I am it's very important to me that we are very transparent as candidates as well as as elected officials. Uh the number one bill that I believe was was firefighters and protecting our firefighters and their cancer and the ability for screenings and treatment. That's I believe the number one bill we passed. number two bill, which I am once again getting the hair standing up on my arms just thinking about it, was one of the first votes that I can that had any significant wow moments for me, which is when Representative Gwyn sat there in front of the committee, law enforcement committee, and asked us to pass a bill that if you're caught with, is it a gram? Now, I'm forgetting the number. a significant amount of fentanyl, you're going to prison. And that to me is extremely important knowing some of the things that that I know and that your police force will know here that happens in Oram. And I appreciate the fact that we live in such a safe community despite a few events

that have happened that are devastating. I really appreciate that. And just want to also report that I went to a public safety conference just recently and with Representative Glance Clansancy, if you know who Representative Clansancy is, Pervo detective and some others. And it is just great to be able to go and just look at what's happening and ideas that we can pass to them about what we're doing right here in Utah and what maybe we can learn from them. Thank you.

Thank you. So, if you guys have any questions, we'd love to talk with you. I know we're already behind schedule, so we'd love to talk with you offline. I'd like to point out that uh in the house chambers, right above the speaker, it says Vox Populi, the people's house, right? The people's voice. And so, uh we're excited to continue to work with the entire city council, with the city manager on issues that are important to Utah and really the people here in this room and with our city. So, if all you guys have issues, please let's talk and see what we can do to make this a better place. So, thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Lisa and David. We appreciate you guys coming and updating us. And you will you will be hearing from us going forward is because we always have things we're working with the legislature on. So, thank you. Okay. Next up, we've got item 7.5. This is a report from the Library Advisory Commission. Bryce Merrill Mayor, Council, thank you uh for your time today. Uh I'm joined by Katrina Britner, who serves as our library advisory uh commission chair right now. And we have uh several other of our members uh with us today. If in fact if you don't mind asking them to stand just so they can be recognized. Christine, Lorraine, Nancy, Angela, and Karina are all with us today.

And Matt. And Matt. Okay.

Uh we have had an incredibly busy year uh at the library. It's just been an awesome experience and I am extremely grateful for the advisory commission that we have right now. They've guided us through a couple of major decisions as we have adjusted budgets. We have looked to increase uh specifically one of the biggest things that we have done is look to increase our collection development budget and uh increase the investment in our digital library resources. Uh it's not as simple a process as it seems as we look, you know, how do we allocate these uh tax dollars and make sure that we're delivering the impact. And so we've got an incredible advisory commission. Um I'm just going to start with a a brief overview video of what's been happening and then I'll turn it over to Katrina for a few more comments after that. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music]

[Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music]

Um, also would like to thank the library staff that we that we work with as a commission. and Bryce Merryill um some of the others and forgive me if I'm forgetting them. I don't know if people are here but that have come and helped educate us on the commission as to what's going on at the library decisions that have to be made and there's there is a balancing act that goes on there for sure. Um so I just I feel I want to give a shout out to um Julie Heckert, Jamie Bartlett, Chiron Butters, Meg Flenders Pay, Mike Smith, Shannon Montes Deoka, and Holly Greersonen. Um hopefully I didn't forget any but they are they have been key in keeping us up to date on what's going on in the library and especially we've been impressed as we've seen what's going on and they are still functioning. They are keeping this open for the patrons of ORM to come in. Um and just to give you an idea this is just this week what you can find at the library. puppets, story time, music and move movement, toddler tales, bouncing babies, or dew quentos. You can watch Superman 2 if you feel up to it. There's a clinic on costumes and cosplay. You can learn about radon risks in your home and home safety. There's a Lego lab. You can also watch a movie, The Conversation. I think that's from the 70s. Go to the Common Threads art show. And you can go to a comedy show. That's just this week at the Orum Public Library. Um, and I will close just with saying again, thank you for supporting the library. We know this is such a key. Um, it's really kind of the heart of ORUM here. And Mary McNeer, who's an author, she said, "Libraries are the heart and soul of the community of any community, excuse me." And then uh, our David Lank at Lanks, who's a scholar, said, "Great libraries build communities." I feel like the Orum Public Library is

fulfilling that and and exceeding it by far. And those of us on the council or the commission have um just enjoyed watching the library grow and watch as you saw the numbers there, patrons are are coming in higher numbers, there's more activities and um we just appreciate the the support that we receive. So, thank you.

Thank you. And I just I I have to give a shout out because this is I mean you're seeing what's going on in the library right now which is amazing. I mean just watching that video but to understand what these guys have done is off the charts. Uh just just a couple years ago, two and a half years ago or whatever, there was a time when there were a lot of uh there were articles being written in the newspaper about problems with the library. Um, we did a we did a a survey of our entire workforce to find out how happy they were and how engaged they were and and across our entire city, those servers came out extremely positive. The one that lagged a little bit was the library. And so we were in a different place with our library two and a half years ago. And so what we decided to do was we decided to take Bryce who was over our rec center who was setting records with our rec center as being one of the only well I think the only u governmentr run rec center in the state to actually make money which is unheard of. Uh but to take Bryce who was doing that there and task him with revitalizing the library and so Bryce being Bryce he decided to figure out best practices. decided to take a group of leadership from the library, go look at other libraries, look at what they're doing, what their most exciting, their best practices were, and bring that back to ORM and incorporate that. And so, where we're at now is these guys have done a phenomenal job. I mean, you just saw this presentation. Uh, our library is a happening place. There's a lot going on. Uh, we're on our path to being one of the best, most exciting libraries in the state, and you guys are doing a phenomenal job. So, thank you. Can I say something too? So, um I got to serve one year with Bryce as our new library director and truly an amazing um

individual. Um and as the mayor said, just thinking outside the box as to what libraries could be and searching and and looking for, you know, those opportunities. And that went along with the mayor who challenged, you know, Mayor Young challenged Bryce, you know, and all of our department heads to, you know, make your department the best. We want to be the best with the focus on our Family City USA motto. And it's just an an incredible organization. Now, as I've seen you work and and create all this, I got shifted to some other commissions and committees and uh no longer attend that um library commission. But to see what you've done to bring our community together and to have the library be such a positive, happy, happening place, I just truly truly appreciate that cuz my love um has always been my dedication, my service for 25 years in the community has always been for children and um libraries. Always had my kids do that. So, thank you Bryce for that. And Katrina,

may I just also just mention I'm I'm also now currently serving on uh that uh library commission and have the privilege of watching the efforts. I I know that Bryce is a great leader, but a great leader and he's great followers and also those that build it and his team that I've witnessed uh those on the library commission and all of the librarians and all of his staff there at the library are exceptional in what they do and they put out uh extra effort and and talent. And so I'm just very grateful to see the innovation, the uh thinking outside the box and then creating this um synergy that is beyond each individual to create this amazing effort now that we call our ORM library and and you're setting records. You're exceeding all expectations and look forward to a super bright future. Thank you for your great report. Thanks for the service the commission offers and all of the staff there in the library. Wonderful. Thank you very much. Thank you, council.

Okay, moving on. Item number seven, 7 7.6, a presentation on the top places to work from a Amy Peterson, our HR manager, and Jennica Jones. Thank you, mayor and councel. Um, in May, the city part partnered with Intergage, a workforce research firm, to conduct an anonymous employee survey measuring workplace culture and engagement. Earlier this month, ORM was recognized as one of Utah's top workplaces, ranking 49th in the large employers category. We're proud to report that ORM is the only city to receive recognition in this category. This award is based entirely on employee feedback with scores benchmarked against data from 30 million employees over 19 years. Recognition is awarded only to organizations whose employee feedback exceeds the national benchmarks. Here are some of the highlights of the survey results that demonstrate the strength of ORM's organizational culture and employee experience. 81% of employees highly recommend working at the city of ORM. ORM is in the top 2% for employees seeing professional growth and opportunities. This is this distinction was earned in large part due to the city's investment in giving our employees the training and education needed to excel in their fields as well as encouraging employees to get certifications and attend training as part of the hybrid step program. Top 1% for caring and supportive managers. Top 14% for innovation and support of new ideas. 86% of employees feel their work is meaningful. When employees were asked what three words best describe our culture, the top answers were friendly, fun, and positive. We thank you for your

incredible support of our employees and investing in programs and professional growth opportunities that are helping the city of ORM employees be the best they can be. We're very proud to have received this recogn res recognition and will never stop working to make the employee experience here in ORM even better. Thank you. One, two, three. [Music]

Form just keeps doing more and more and more amazing things. Now we've got Jennica back to introduce our new new youth CA council.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. We are really excited to be here tonight with some of our youth council members and we'd ask if you're here to come up to the front of the room. We have more than this and uh over 20 youth council members this year. Unfortunately, a lot of them are very involved in a lot of activities and so not all of them can make it tonight, but we are very fortunate to have all of them here with us. And go ahead. Don't be shy. Yep. Everybody wants to see our faces. Um, so these are all of our youth council members are from all of our local high schools. They're all ORM residents in high school. Um, and they have all demonstrated a strong commitment and desire to serve our community. They're very eager to learn about the workings of the city and to build meaningful friendships and relationships with their peers from different schools. So, at their first meeting earlier this month, the ORM Youth Council brainstormed ideas for their mission statement, which will focus on leadership, community, and service. We're excited to see them get involved in the community as they volunteer in various city events, attend local officials day at the state capital, and take the lead in several service projects. We can't wait um for you guys to see what they'll accomplish and learn this year. And we're also, I'll add, grateful that we are able to serve with council members Gail and Labson on the on this youth council. And it's great to have them and their support. Um, and we are now going to have our city recorder conduct a swearing in ceremony for you guys. Um, and then following the swearing in, they'd love to take a photo with you as well. All right, this is very exciting. Okay. So, raise your right hand and you'll just repeat after me. I state your name, do solemnly swear that I will support, obey, and defend

the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the State of Utah and the laws and ordinances of the city of Oram. I will discharge my duties of my office with fidelity. Good job. No, you're okay. Three, two, one. Okay, we'll move on to personal appearances. And just so that you understand, we're later uh after the personal appearances, we're going to have a public hearing. And that public public hearing is going to be about a proposed amendment to adjust require the requirements that allow single family zone properties in certain circumstances to be developed as multif family. So if you're here to talk about that then you can wait till the public hearing. Um and so I'll just let you let me know if you're going to hear for the public hearing instead. Um, this says, "Please do not state your address or phone number at the pulpit." Interesting. We used to always have them do that.

Who changed the form?

Okay, they've just changed the uh Yeah, never mind. All right. So each each person who comes up, let me just read this. Time has been set aside for the public to express their their ideas, concerns, and comments on items not scheduled as public hearings on the agenda. Those wishing to speak are encouraged to show respect for those who serve the city. Comments should focus on items concerning the city. Those wishing to speak should have signed in before the beginning of the meeting. And please limit your comments to three minutes or less. We'll start out with Michael Lee. I have two items. [Music] Um, first is we're excited. I live in the Sunset Heights neighborhood and we're generally very excited about the completion of the Heritage Park. Um, it's pretty amazing that you've been able to adjust the height of it so as to thread that needle high enough that you've got the drainage and low enough that it's not objectionable. Actually, a lot of my neighbors find that it's too high, but too late to talk to you about that. Um, there is one concern as we see lots and lots of rocks. In fact, both my comments have to do with rocks. Uh we're hoping that some of those rocks get covered up with grass or some other other type of play surface and we don't know if that's going to be the case, but that's kind of we went back and looked at some of the renderings that were done and uh realized that you've got a lot of uh concerns to be able to make that happen. So you you don't have to comment on

this. I'm just saying if you have a chance to put in we're hoping it becomes some grassy areas even if it's artificial uh and some play surfaces which the plans do call for. Second item uh and this is kind of an unfortunate one. It has to do with the Lumen company installing fiber throughout the various neighborhoods. My relationship started out in a very rocky way with them. Um, and it started out unfortunately about the same time that the incident at UVU happened on the 10th. So, everybody was pretty nervous and I discovered two men in my backyard and I said, "What are you doing in my backyard?" Luckily, there was no violence and police had didn't have to be called and they introduced themselves what they which they should have done at my front door instead of in my backyard. I that's number one thing I want you to know and I've had conversations with members of your staff about this. The communication between the community and them I think has been very poor and luckily nothing happened as the police were searching for their suspect. Um they meaning the subcontractors of Lumen have told me that their intent was to dig four or five holes in my yard including around the roots of the large trees and being Tree City USA in addition to Family City USA. I did my part 30 years ago and planted a whole bunch of trees, the roots of which are within the uh public utility easement.

Uh they asked me about about that and I said that that the holes that they intended to dig would damage my trees uh if not kill them. uh and they advised me of their what they called rights by law to do exactly that. Uh but they would repair any damage done. Now, keep in mind that when I planted those trees 30 years ago, Michael, if you could kind of wrap it up because we're getting we're past three minutes

time. Okay. The point is you didn't have to and you don't have to now take all comers who want to put things into that otherwise filled public util utility easement. As far as my yard is concerned, it's full. It's full of a lot of rocks which makes it impossible for these companies and future companies. I'm told there could be 30 or 40 more companies, all of whom may want to put things into that public utility easement. At some point, the owner of the easement, which is the public, and the administrator of the easement, which is the city, needs to say the utility uh is no longer needed or isn't needed. In fact, they asked me, "Why do I feel this way?" And I said, "I'm an investor along with the rest of the city in Utopia. Why don't you use Utopia?" They made a business decision. And I said, "Well, you know what? I've made a business decision, too. I put $3,000 down on Utopia to bring it to my house uh many years ago, and I am not going to make use of your utility. that will undercut the city's ability to repay the bonds. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Michael. Bren, could you just give a brief summary of what we're required to do and how this works with this public utility? Uh yeah. So briefly the um the predecessor of Century Link had a telecommunications uh uh agreement to to to use that existing POE that was first entered into in like 1935 or 1938. And so then Lumen recently acquired that that right. So, it's a it is a right that they have to to use that easement. If I guess if there's a a future brand new uh uh private utility provider that that would want to come in and use the easement, then this current city council could make a decision on that. But as far as Lumen or Centry Link, they already had that right. So we can help manage though as well and hold them accountable to construction standards and you you but also the public can contact our um engineering division to help enforce the the guard rails and regulations that do exist. But that's about the extent of what we can do.

Can I respond? That's up to the mayor. Another minute. Would you give me another? Yeah, I mean we're we're well past your time. I'm sorry. We were when we started. Well, I know, but you we we we've given you about three minutes. You were supposed to have three.

This is very very frustrating because uh I have tried to talk to your legal department. I have talked to your community development department and to your engineering department, but the general feeling is we can't do anything because of this uh existing uh agreement. However, the Supreme Court found in 19 uh uh 2023 to uphold the doctrine of um Okay, I'm I'm sorry. We we we've got to keep going, but if if you'd like to talk with Steve, I'd invite you to share that.

So, yeah. So because we we I mean I I think we've explained oursel and we just have to continue on otherwise I mean we'll go all night but I appreciate it and feel free to reach out to our legal thank you. Okay, next we've got Jonathan Wagstaff,

Waco, Three-Mile Island, Sandy Hook, Watergate, Coline, and now Oram and UVU. Once obscure names have a way of becoming deeply associated with tragedy, I fear that this has happened to our community of ORM on the national stage. The Wikipedia page for ORUM now prominently features a section on Charlie Kirk's assassination. National news coverage literally the reporting put UVU on the map next to their coverage. Even after community heals and overcomes a tragedy, continued negative perception can have a large impact. A 2015 economic study concluded that the Coline property prices were 10% lower due to the lasting stigma even 15 years after the tragedy. This translates to less business, less vibrancy, and less tax revenue for our schools, university, and neighborhoods. ORM shouldn't be in denial about the infamy and stigma that are now associated with it, unfortunately. nor should we resign ourselves to assuming it is inevitable. There is an opportunity for ORM to brand itself in a way that turns stigma into distinction. Perhaps the best example of this kind of transformation is the Nobel Prize. The Nobel name is a name that should have gone down in infamy for the destruction from dynamite but instead is associated with scientific distinction and praise and peace. Rather than shying away from the tragedy, ORM should fearlessly push to become the center of dialogue and discourse. ORM should do this in two main thrusts. First, it should bestow the ORM award for dialogue. And second, it should start a public holiday called dialogue day. The city council should be the body that selects nationally recognizable recipients much like the Nobel Peace Prize recipients are selected by members of the Swedish

Parliament. This award could be your most impactful act as a legislative body and your legacy to direct a revitalization of discourse. Our nation used to have a robust culture of debate from Jefferson versus Adams to Lincoln versus Douglas, but today we have Marvel versus DC and Star Wars versus Star Trek. To say the least, the quality of our public discourse has fallen. Conversely, dialogue dialogue day would be a revival of public discourse and bridge building. Boston and excuse me, ORM could be central to this new dialogue day. Much much like Boston and Chicago are for St. Patrick's or New York is for Thanksgiving, ORM can be the birthplace of dialogue day. Just as Galveastston was for June Junth and my hometown of Spokane was for Father's Day. Dialogue Day could be celebrated with participation from individuals and businesses by decorating bridges, sponsoring debates, hosting block parties, and holding interfaith discussions. On a civic level, ORM should petition and propose to host national debates and present the ORM award. Our community has a choice. We can spend years memorializing a tragedy only in sorrow and stigma. Or we can memorialize by bravely moving forward using that moment as a call to action. Mayor and city council, I ask you to join me in making this a reality by establishing a committee to make a dialogue day and the ORM award for dialogue. I believe ORM has the courage to choose dialogue day. Thank you.

Thank you. Tyler, I can't quite read your last name. Haroldson. Haroldson. Okay.

Um, my name is Tyler Haroldson. I'm a resident in Vineyard. Um, I'm here to talk to you about a street 400 South that is part of it is split between Vineyard and ORM and part of it is all controlled by Vineyard. Um, it's not a safe street in not just my opinion, it's empirically not a straight uh safe street and my ask for you is to um help to make it safer. Um, I think the best route would be to either give full control of the entire street to vineyard. That's what I would prefer. Or to uh have Vineyard give their section to you so that I don't have to go to two councils to get any decision made. As I'm sure you all know, it takes a while to get things done with one council. It's that much harder with two. Um in October of 2022, I don't know if you're aware, but October is year-over-year the most dangerous year for uh month for children as far as uh traffic deaths. Um it in October 2022 a sixth grader was crossing in a crosswalk um and his name was Ryder. He got hit by a car. He cracked his skull skull fracture was bleeding out of three parts of his brain sort of like a stroke. He had um blood vessels in his brain burst but he's a sixth grader and it they burst because of the car. He was lucky because he lived. A year later, in October of 2023, um a 17-year-old named Sienna was on a run training for a half marathon. She was struck on the same section of the same road and did not get so lucky. She died. Um I came to the council. I don't think it was in this room. Um and I went to the vineyard city council as well. here. I was told that you would uh speak to a vineyards mayor and and get a solution going and there I was told that well I

was told a lot of things there. Um two years later the street looks exactly the same. Um I'd like it to not be the case anymore. October's coming up on us. Hopefully it goes like last year and and no one dies, but I'm worried because it's the exact same design that there will be a problem. Some friends and I went uh one of my friends has like a speed recorder. We clocked people. It was like maybe a quarter of them were going the speed limit. We clocked someone going 46 in a 25 zone. It's between the the two sides of the street are a park and an elementary school. Um so I think that the city should put in traffic calming there. Uh, Strongtowns is an organization that has a lot of suggestions on how to do that, but you can put in cones, you can put in these temporary type of things. They're very inexpensive. Um, I know my time's running out. In in short, my recommendation would be to either have one city control the entire road, so you don't have to get two people, two councils together. And my other suggestion for whichever city controls it is to get your experts together and have quick and cheap solutions put up. See how well they work and um if they're not working, change them till they do. And when they do work, then you keep them there until you can get the funding to get permanent infrastructure. Thank you.

So Tyler, if you'd like to talk to Chris Shery, he's on our over the traffic team. He's just right there. He raised his hand. Okay. Okay, that would be your direct conduit to move this along. Okay, thank you.

Okay, now we've got two people here. It says 16 plex. Are you actually here for the public hearing? There's uh So, okay. So, there's Dick Dick Acer Asim Allen. Dick Allen. Yes. 16. Okay. And then there's also Rick Jes. So you guys can go in the public hearing. Next we got Heather Fry.

Hi, I'm Heather Fry. I live in Oram. since 2007. I begin my comments with a heartfelt thank you to the ORM staff and leadership who in less than nine hours pulled off the amazing gift of the candlelight vigil in to honor and mourn Charlie Kirk. Your efforts are deeply appreciated and could only have been accomplished because of the committed and caring leaders and staff that we currently have in Oram. Mayor Young, Oramm City Council, ORM staff. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I follow up with a riddle. What has a beginning, a middle, and an end, but is also infinite? Time. This past July, a Facebook post on the city of ORM government page asked for submissions to name the large clock outside city hall. Over 85 comments later and now nearing the end of September, I, Heather M. Fry, submit a request for consideration directly to our city leadership. Please name our clock Charlie. Charlie Kirk began his mortal journey in 1993 in Illinois and tragically it ended here in Oram on September 10th. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3:es 1-8, it speaks of a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn. And Orm has been mourning. What better representation of life moving forward

than ORM's newest timekeeper? There are many that believe that death is the end. I believe differently. Death is not the end. Charlie knew it wasn't the end. It is my sincere hope and prayer that ORM will do all it can to commemorate Charlie Kirk by naming our city clock Charlie. Thank you. Thank you. Next we've got Tammy Moore or unless you're here for the 16 flex. Okay. And then we've got Evan Thcker. Hello, my name is Evan Stacker. Mary Young, thank you for your words about Charlie Kirk that you spoke earlier tonight. I appreciate that. And thanks also to Miss Fry who just spoke uh on Charlie Kirk as well. Thank you. Regarding Oram City, I just want to raise one point of concern and one point of thanks. First, my concern about political campaign signs hung on the canal fences in Oram. I've learned that the canal company sent a letter a few weeks ago to all candidates running for office requesting that all political campaign signs be removed from the canal fences. I've noticed that many canal fences remain decorated with large prominent political campaign signs for some candidates, including Young, Millet, Spencer, and Mulestein. This may be nothing more than a small and insignificant oversight on the part of those candidates and their campaign teams. And my concern may perhaps be a petty thing. However, I wonder if the disrespect and disregard shown to the canal company by those candidates leaving their signs up might translate into a general strategy of governance in ORM that involves disrespecting and disregarding reasonable requests and

points of view of companies, organizations or individuals operating in our city. I worry about that. In contrast, political campaign signs for some other candidates, including Mccandas, Mikum, Mortimer, and Molton, are conspicuously absent from those canal fences. I see this as a signal of those candidates respect and regard for the canal company's reasonable request for no signs to be hung. And I'm encouraged that those candidates leaving their signs unhung there might translate into a general strategy of governance in ORM that's based on respect and regard for companies, organizations, and individuals in our city. My hope is that respect and regard will rule the day when it comes to ORM city leadership. Second, my thanks for some recent action from a city from the city council uh regarding city grants that I believe is very positive. I recently learned from counselors Millet and Spencer. Evan,

you've been here three minutes. Oh, it says 56 seconds. Oh, okay. Keep going. No worries. No worries. Sorry.

Uh, so I learned from councilors Millet and Spencer about uh that our city has a grant writer. Unfortunately, I don't know her name right now, but who has been successful in securing grants totaling millions of dollars to support city projects in the past year. Kudos and congratulations to our grant writer. Uh I had asked councilors Millet and Spencer if there were some information about these grant getting uh efforts that could be posted publicly on the city's website for any interested citizens to see. Sure enough, within a couple of weeks uh after my request, this information did appear on the city website in the transparency portal and councelor Spencer emailed me to let me know. Thank you. Uh, thank you to councelor Millet and councelor Spencer for listening to my feedback and for arranging for that information to be posted publicly. I appreciate it. Uh, may I suggest for the council's consideration that in addition to the information already posted, you consider adding a few notes about specific purposes and projects for which that grant money has been used or will be used. I think that additional information would be great for us to know about. Thank you very much and I appreciate the opportunity to speak about my opinions here.

Thank thank you Evan. Say let me let me clarify a few things to help you understand better. Evan, so as long as I've lived in Norm for 35 years, uh political signs have always been on the canals. There's never been a controversy. There's never been a question. It just seemed to be a controversy this year when certain candidates got their signs up early and and then it became an issue because from what we were told by the canal companies when we asked them when they called was that they had been called repeatedly and harassed and harassed and harassed about the science to where they finally threw up their hands and said we just don't want to be involved in this. And so that was caused by certain people on a certain side harassing the the canal companies. And then taking another step to help you understand the canal companies are not all owned by one canal company. So the signs that were in question that the canal company asked to be taken down after they were harassed, that's one canal company. There's multiple canal companies and the other canal companies are just fine with the signs. So that's so we're not disrespecting or disregarding or disobeying. We're we're following exactly what we're supposed to follow. So thank you.

Yeah. And actually four years ago, I called the the water master and asked permission. And he said, "We really don't care. We've never cared. We just don't want you to block the gate. We want to be able to still have access to the um canal." And there were signs on the canals two years ago by candidates you know people who are sitting at this dis here and um I am aware of Doyle Mortimer's sign on a canal right now. So I, as the mayor said, it really depends on the water master and the canal company and the permissions there. And it's really unfortunate that this individual was called by supporters of a certain candidate, called by supporters and harassed um and to the point that she threw up her hands and said, "I can't do my job cuz too many people are calling me to tell me to take down the signs." Um, and it was asked, "Well, why?" And and she said, "Because they don't like the other candidates." So, you know, I it's just dirty politics. I'm not quite sure why, you know, we this is getting to this level by some campaigns, but as the mayor said, the signs were removed from the canals that um this poor woman um got the phone calls um from. So, just for some additional context there, cuz you know, you really need to hear the whole story. But, thank you for your concerns. Thank you for your Thank you. Uh, last up on our list is Steve White. Okay, you're here for the hearing. Okay, we'll move on then. Thank you. Okay, we'll move to item number nine. We've got a schedule uh a public hearing. This is for an ordinance. It's a request to amend the text of article 22-21 special exceptions for multifamily dwellings. The proposed amendment adjust

the requirements that allow single family zone properties in certain circumstances to be developed as multifamily. And Jared, if you'd like to present that. Thank you. If if the applicant would like to come sit up at the table, you're welcome to to take questions.

Good. John, mayor, uh members of the council, thanks. Um and as you as you mentioned, this is a text amendment request by Mr. Zumb Brennan who's joined me here at the table. Uh an amendment proposed to article 2221 of the city code part of the zoning ordinance. Um this is as you said a special exception for multifamily dwellings and for those multif family dwellings to occur in residential single family zones. So it's a little different than just straight multifamily. Um just a couple of things as background. Purpose of that article is stated as the purpose of this article is to allow the development of multif family dwellings on vacant lots adjacent to existing multif family dwellings

subject to the standards of provisions contained here and again this is for multif family dwellings in uh res you for just one second our monitors are not on is that a quick fix Pete or they've not been on the whole meeting or can we take like I don't know mayor what how much how many slides do you have in your presentation like eight Okay. Well, should we just Is it a quick fix, Pete, or should we just all turn around? I'm fine. Turn around. Five minutes if we can take a look at it. Let's just turn around. Okay, we'll be good.

All right. The backs of your heads all look really nice. Just in case you were worried about camera stuff. It's looking good. Okay. So, and then again, just another note so you know, this is um a special exception and special exceptions are reviewed by the board of adjustments in a public process. So, anyone applying under this rule under 2221, um that review would happen by the board of adjustments, not by the planning commission or staff. It would be a different public body. Um something you should know. Um so, this is Mr. Zumbrenan's property. The the text amendment is the result of his desire to develop this property. Um give me give the address, right? Is it 9?

It's at the intersection of 975 North and 100 West. So, just north of Macy's. and uh and when when you need to speak. Okay. Um so this is the property. Um it's just over an acre. Um there's some when it uh when a subdivision is performed, a little more land will come into it and make it just over an acre. Um it's part of a large uh block, the way we define blocks in this ordinance, and that has given rise to some of the requested amendments that he's making. Uh I wanted to go over some of those. The first part of that ordinance is the purpose. The second part of article 22:221 goes over which properties are eligible to be considered. And again, what they're being considered for is being allowed to be developed as multif family even though they're in a single family zone, R six, 6.5 or 7.5. Uh they they're supposed to meet these different um requirements. 50% of the front and side property lines adjacent to or across the street for multif family dwellings. Lots oriented the same direction as an adjacent multif family dwelling. The lot. This is an important one. Item three, the lot between 8,000 and 20,000 square feet. Um, widths are normal. Lot not previously having been developed. Lot doesn't contain any structures, not part of recorded subdivision. And then importantly, the last one, item 7, lot in existence on or before November 1st, 1999, and not subdivided since then. Um, I wanted to point out three and seven because they come up later on in the things that he's requesting amendments to, excuse me, amendments to. Um item B and C are ways that you can become eligible. Um and that is to in the first instance on underm B if your lot is surrounded on all property lines including across the streets by multifamily non-residential commercial development and then again your lot complies with A3 and 7 which are those requirements that it be before 1999 and that it be between those area of 8,000 and 20,000 ft. Or you could qualify under C. Uh your lot could be located on a block where all other lots are multif family. Uh and for this section, a block is defined as an area that is completely surrounded by public

streets. And then again, you need to comply with A3 and 7. Uh you need to be in those size ranges. Um his proposed amendments are to item C and to some other items, but importantly to item C and to item A. The first thing that u Mr. Zumbren would like to see amended would be the size requirement. This would allow um this amendment would allow the lots to be between 8,000 square feet and 48,000 square feet. that would include a lot like his that's just over an acre. Um the second part of his request has to do with what gets considered eligible. Um again as you me as we saw in C the lot would need to be located in a block where all of the properties are multif family and we would say at least 75% in this amendment as it's proposed. And then for this section we added under the next item an kind of a writer onto the to the statement. For this section, a block is defined as an area that is completely surrounded by public streets. However, if the block on which the lot is located on which the lot is located is greater than 10 acres as his is, then at least 75% of other lots within a contiguous area of at least 300 ft drawn on the block and around the lot must be occupied occupied by multif family dwellings and then again complying with A3 and 7. Does that make sense so far? I know it's kind of it's all new, so you have questions feel free to interrupt me. Okay.

Only I'm reading it online that you had sent out. The red line is the only changes. The other is already law. Is that correct?

Yes. Correct. This is already 2221 exists. The only the only thing that's being proposed are these changes. So, we already have a rule and I I appreciate it, Councilman McDonald. The the the rule as it exists is written very narrowly to say if you if you have a property, I'm going to paraphrase what I assume to be the thinking when it was written. you have a property that was um in a multif family developing area and the city had come through at some point in the past and reszoned everything to single family and you're the leftover lot surrounded by all these other already developed multif family lots. Well, let's go ahead and let you develop multif family as well. What's the what's the point of of trying to say that's got to be the only single family house on this whole block or in this whole area? This is a proposal essentially to widen that eligibility standard. That make sense? But it already exists. It's just very narrow. Um the other changes that Mr. Zumbrenan has proposed have to do with um sort of outgrowths of the first proposals. Again um his right now it's 20,000 ft or greater or sorry up to 20,000 ft². So this line should read 12,000 ft up to 19,999 ft². Um if lots are greater than 20,000 ft, he would propose then uh a density for it because it doesn't have one currently because they stop at 20,000 ft². If you have 8,000 ft, you're allowed two units under this standard. If you have 10,000 foot lot and you meet those other standards, you get three units, 12,04. Uh what Mr. Zumbren has proposed is that if you had 20,000 ft² or greater, you get one unit for every 2,950 ft. That's about 14.75 units per acre. That would accommodate the the plan that he had been working on that was 16 a 16 unit complex. So then again um he's proposed a additional wording that would allow a 5% density bonus if you do u better architecture if you do better building materials etc. 2x6 walls energy efficient windows and then uh the last thing is an architectural inclusion. There are some architectural standards included in this 221. If

you're approved by for a special exception by the board and you get to build a multif family unit. Let's say you get to build a 3plex. There are architectural standards that say you have to use these certain materials. You have to have uh things like that. Um his would include wood and fiber cement board in the allowed materials list. They're right now they're not there. Stone, brick, etc. Again, those are kind of the those are the main points of his proposed amendment. Uh this is his property again. And then just to illustrate the reason for the block and the 75% according to the definition of blocks in the code, I hope you can see that white cursor moving around. His block extends much further than you would think. So you picture a block being something like this, but there's no street enclosure there. So his block goes all the way down to State Street in some instances and then further further north. It's fairly large and that's why the 10 acres are larger. uh that's an attempt on his part to limit the the impact or the the sort of effect on other properties aside from just his own. So there you go. Um

you have any questions? It's not the So the block goes to State Street. It doesn't stop at a change of um like the commercial um right the zoning doesn't a significant change of zone is not in this law.

Right. The way that this law is written, the way that the article is currently worded, a block is enclosed by completely enclosed by public streets. And in some cases, that's nice and simple, like right here to the east of his property. Boom. Nice little block, tight, easy to identify, etc. But you can see just in the same area, this because this street doesn't go through, this block extends further east, and some of them get really large. We have some blocks in the city under this definition that are 20 plus acres. Um, so That's the reason for that language. The only one we're talking about, I mean, the heart of the beast is this.

Yes. This is Mr. Zumb Brennan's property if uh it's kind of complicated to do like looking uphill. Correct.

Okay. Okay. Go ahead. Anything else? Just to clarify. So part of what this these changes are doing is it's redefining what a block a city block is.

Um well yes and no. Article 2221 has its own definition of what a block is. Um we tried some attempts um looking at different definitions for blocks and there's no real good way to do it um with without being ambiguous. Um and with code we try not to be ambiguous. So, we left the definition of block in place and added that however rider instead. Um, that allows you to say, well, if you're a block that's really large, let me go back to this which that writer whiplash conveniently applies to this development that he's trying to Yes. So, this block here

uh yes, that it's written it's written largely from from his point of view. It's it's Mr. Zrennan's amendment proposal. It's written for his point of view. this block right here, for example, you can look at that block and say, "Okay, if I'm if I'm applying for if I'm a vacant lot on this block and I'm applying for this exception and I'm the only lot left on the block that's not developed, are all of the other block are all of the other lots uh developed in multif family? Yes or no?" And it's easy because there's seven or eight of them. Easy to count them up and see what it is. In Mr. Zumbrenan's case, there's a host of non-commercial properties on the block. there's a lot of uh residential and there's a mix of single family and multif family. So his proposal is to say well if 75% of it is multif family is that good enough to allow me to do multif family? That's why I say it's it's an expansion basically of the eligibility rules. Sorry. No, go ahead.

Oh right. So right here I'm sorry. Right here is east. Correct. Yes. And those are single family. These are single family. Yes. and to the south to the north R. The north or multif family. Is this zone R8? Currently R six. R six. Okay. Thank you. And I appreciate that. My staff report actually says it's R8. Those are the evil pitfalls of pasting and copying. Sometimes uh it should have said R six. And then are both sides of that block to the north multifamily? Um the north side. The north side and the south side. The north side is multif family as well. Yes. Okay. And by multif family, town homes, duplexes,

there are duplexes, town homes, uh both. Okay. In that little block there. Yes. What is that rooftop to the south? To the south here. Yeah. This is a single family home. Okay. So, we got two sides with single family homes. Yes. Okay.

And then I I apologize. I should have said I'm sorry, Councilman. Go ahead. Um the I I neglected to um tell you at the outset the planning commission did review this in public hearing as required. They uh continued once or twice to make to make some adjustments u to reduce ambiguity at that ambiguity and that kind of thing. They did recommend denial of the text amendment. I'm supposed to make sure you know that going into the public hearing. So go ahead. So if we amend this uh 22 whatever it is 221. Thank you. Uh it it doesn't just apply to this parcel. It applies to every parcel in similar situation. Can you help us

apply to every Yeah, it would it applies generally across the zone to every parcel that meets those standards. Yeah. That any any property that would meet those standards as they're defined. Uh and in the 665 6 R six, R65, and R75 zone. Uh if it meets those standards, they're all eligible right now under the rules the way they are. the ones that are eligible are eligible. This would just expand how many properties there would be. Mayor, if I may,

I can't remember a time when we've used this uh proced this thing that's on the books right now. I can't remember using if we did, I missed it, but I can't remember ever applying this current law. Do you those who have been on a little while, Dave, do you remember this coming up or or No, because there hasn't been anything like that. Yeah. Well, that yeah, even without the amendment, I don't remember ever applying that. Right. I mean, but I think I think the concern on the planning commission was um doing a text amendment specifically for him and it is for the whole city. So, that's the variable I think that the city the planning commission had a problem. So,

Mr. Zumbren wanted to respond. Is that all right at the moment? Yes. Do I push?

You're already on. Okay. So, this this amendment was used in in 2000. If you um No, I'm I'm I'm going in chronological order. If you see down on the street below, that's 9:30 North. There's a little upside down L in the center of that street. That's that is a like a storage unit. And that's part of the reason that the definition had to be 75%. as well as the the single family home that has um a a big huge two bay garage. And then the red roof there is was used for um animal husbandry, mainly sheep, by the uh the person who built built out that property. So, next to the upside down L there there's to the east or to the right of it is a property that was developed in 2000 which is a non-stacked forplex and then um the the next time it it was amended in 2008 and then so the block north that you can circumn the um the southeast corner of there had a a little single family home and that was taken down and uh a three-unit condominium um was constructed at that time in 2008. So, um, as far as I know, citywide, those are the only two uses in the last 25 years. [Music] Thank you. Do we have any questions or do we want

to open the public hearing? Okay, you don't have any comments. We'll go ahead and open up the public hearing. And those of you that wanted to say something on that, feel free to come up.

My last Yeah. Come coming up if you want to make a comment. Did you want to um Did you want to let Mr. Brennan make more comments before the public hearing comments or or did you have more that you wanted to Well, I want to kind of set the stage for the need for this. Yeah. Yeah, he should go first. I I thought you were done. I'm sorry. Yeah, if you'd like to go ahead.

Okay. So, um yeah, ORM is named after Walter C. Oram. And um so he was the president of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad. And um Oram in an effort to grow decided to name the city after this guy hoping that they would get a railroad stop which was critical in the time of the railroads. Um it actually didn't work. and and and I'm it's kind of interesting because it's not on it's kind of disappeared. It's not on the website that ORM didn't get that, but um so ORM is desired to grow from the very get-go. And I'm a fifth generation Provo native. And so my great great grandparents were uh assigned to settle in Provo. And so I I've seen a lot of things happen here in my 64 years. And um I recall the the debate in Provo about um the University Mall. The uh the first mall in the state of Utah was the Cottonwood Mall in Salt Lake County. And then the Woodbury Corporation who built that one wanted to build one down here. And so they obviously wanted to put it in Provo and a lot of people were against it because they didn't want the congestion and and um so basically Provo said we don't want it. So ORM said we'll take it wanting to grow. And

so several decades later, Provo realizes that it was a mistake and then they try to build a mall in the East Bay area. And um it's hard to be second when you're um trying to compete against someone who's well established. So again, um, ORM had a growth mentality at that time and, uh, something's changed and and, um, it to me it's become kind of extreme to the to the other side. But anyway, so I I graduated from Provo High and and um, to me it was natural. I just applied to BYU and I went there. I didn't realize how hard it was to get in even back then. But I got in and then um as I saw classmates getting married, they would move to Orum and live in a forplex because it was affordable. And with that affordability, then they could decide to have children and start their families before graduating to make their their big bucks that they expected to make. So affordability is is a crisis in today's uh world, at least in the United States. Um as long as you became a single family homeowner precoid, you're probably doing okay. Low interest rate, locked in, and for someone trying to get in, it's virtually impossible. And um this crisis is affecting people in a very um impactful way. Uh channel 2 did a story about the high cost of living is forcing hundreds of Utons to surrender their pets. A growing number of Utah pet owners are being forced to give up their

pets as the cost of living in veterinary care continues to climb. The human the humane society of Utah reports a 480% increase in owner surrendered pets so far this year compared to the same period in 2024. From January through August last year 154 animals were surrendered by their owners. This year the number has jumped to 900. It's horrif It's a horrific decision made of love and desperation, says Julie Uvalda, director of the Humane Society's pet resource center. Wolvad said, "Petss are family and giving up a pet is often traumatic, especially when it's a person's closest companion." When you are watching a growing grown man cry in his truck in the parking lot after having to surrender his best friend, you realize how devastating this is. High housing costs have become the most common reason Utons surrender their pets. According to the Humane Society, rising rents have made it harder for pet owners to keep animals and many landlords now charge monthly pet rents or expensive pet deposits. A lot of people just can't afford it. So, they're very very much impacted um because we don't have enough housing. And the motivation in doing this amendment is to add a little bit. Um most of the the cities in the county have had a dramatic increase in the number of of multi-unit housing and I'm trying to build that quality housing which is uh town homes. Um, I don't know if you um recognize Susie Wells, but she was she was the she's the widow of Jack Welch, who was the CEO of General Electric. Um,

one of the most dynamic uh, business leaders this country's ever had. But um anyway, so she she um wrote an article that was in Forbes magazine and um she in here she notes according to Harvard researchers nearly half 45% of young adults between 18 to 25 think their mental health is harmed by an over an overall sense that things are falling apart. The sense of powerlessness to push back against the climate change to deal with the effects of the political environment like diminished public health and gun violence and most notably to make enough money to support lifestyles, family, housing and a future has led to an erosion of institutional trust. Unlike baby boomers who embraced existing institutions to get rich and live a comfortable life, the younger generation do not feel that institutions which are perceived as cumbersome, hierarchal, and a source of inequity and discrimination can improve their situation. When combined with the economic realities Welch identified there where hard work no longer guarantees advancement to help explain why more than 50% of young people fear they will be poor poorer than their parents during their lifetime. Unlike previous generations who could reasonably expect home ownership and financial security through steady employment, younger workers face structural barriers that have fundamentally altered career perspectives. And I would add the AI phenomenon that's happening now has created um has has accentuated that concern for younger younger people. And I would note and I don't just sorry just to kind of speed things up.

Yeah. So I think you're painting the big picture of housing affordability is a problem right now. U and we and we are very very aware of that. So, if you could kind of get to the points about this project and and why this should be changed throughout the entire city.

So, Jared and I sat down uh had an an appointment and and reviewed the maps that the department produced and we came up with it. There was realistically maybe six uh properties that would take advantage of this proposal. And my personal feeling is is that with with all the multi-unit housing stacked units and town homes that have been built throughout the county that it's it's been 5 years since ORM has done one unit or one project and that was the Ivory Homes project down by the mall. And so,

and you're talking about new projects because there have been apartments being built uh all along the last four years from previous projects that were approved uh previously. So, there there I mean if you go drive down the mall, there's there's been all kinds of things built. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm just saying to characterize it, there hasn't been a single one built. No, there's been hundreds and hundreds built, but they were hundreds of units probably in that Ivory Homes project next to Costco. So, um, but those were approved prior to this to your point.

Yeah. But anyway, um, I just have an overall feeling that there needs to be some flexibility for specific situations and, um, that's what this text amendment, um, is is all about, trying to help that affordability issue and adding to the housing. So, um, I appreciate that. Jen, you had a comment? I just have some questions, actually. How many units can you build without the amendment change? Zero.

Well, no, it's it's zone R six. You can build home. Well, the the dimensions of the property

the dimensions of the property are basically uh 335 ft long and 150 ft. So, it's, you know, it's a rectangle, and those dimensions just simply don't work to do anything that's similar to what's to the east uh on the the the lots that are on um 100 West. It It's just It's just not really um functional. The other issue is is that I don't believe someone would want to pay $800,000 and live next to a a forplex that was built in the 70s. It's just it just that it's kind of doesn't seem marketable. And um the town home project would be a a transition property from the forplexes to the single family to the east.

Can you tell us how you arrived at 16 units? And uh is that the maximum? Is that the ideal? Like how do we get to that? Well, I had I had started to develop this property under the State Street Improvement District Canyon Crossing and um then the moratorium was put on place and so I had um done engineering work had engineering work done and had um plans drawn up for these 16 units to meet that criteria. I'm still able to do essentially the same project because it's on a corner with with with complying with the standard setback. There was a different setback standard for the state street improvement districts, but um it's still basically still the project still works um with the modifications that I'm uh suggesting in this amendment.

And they're town homes. Are they for sale or for rent? the I will market them when the market is good when when interest rates have recovered and all of that. So, initially to um what what my what my goal is is to do lease to own options with people and once I get a a large enough group then then separate the units into their own legal description and then um sell them to those people that uh

and Jared you maybe you can help clarify this. If we vote on this amendment, sorry, say we vote on this and say we approve it, we can't actually hold him to that because this isn't a plan or anything. This is just an amendment change. This is just the amendment. Yes. Thank you. And if I'm understanding this right, this won't even come to the city council for approval. his project with this change. It would go it would go first to the board of adjustments to the board of adjustments to be reviewed to see if it's eligible to be developed as multif family and then it would go through the DRC and planning commission for approval for the project itself. It would never come back to the city council where residents could then

this isn't the kind of project you would see again. It would be developed under the existing zoning R six but as a multif family if this were passed. Oh, I guess I'm sorry. I was talking about the 16plex. Yeah, the No, the 16plex wouldn't come to would never come to the city council. Okay. So, I've got a question on uh to follow up on Jen's question was she asked you how many homes could you put on the that your lot at R six single family homes. I don't think they'd be 800,000 on R six, but it would probably be two on 100 West and then three on the remainder.

So, you can do five you can do five homes. So, why why wouldn't you do that when it's sewn that way? Cuz it doesn't pencil or what? It's nothing about penciling. It just it's the the it just doesn't blend into with it. What's there's a neighbor across the street. But my my question is we have over and over developers come and say it doesn't pencil because to me it's greed. It's money. Right. So the consistency of the the neighborhood is what I'm worried. We need to keep that integrity. And that's why I like And that is multi that's multi-unit is the integrity of the neighborhood. No, it's not on the on the west side.

The east and south are single family homes. So my thing is if we're all about our six everything virtually everything north and west and south is multi-unit. Well, the they're fourplexes, not 16 plexes. That's the difference. It's not a Well, it's basically uh three three buildings, two five unit buildings and one sixunit on an on an acre, which should be five homes. Okay. I think we just open it up. Any other questions before we open the public hearing?

Well, I think I'm equally concerned that we're switching it from R six from single family to multifamily. And I think my guess is that's what most people are going to hear be here to talk about, but I'm not in favor of moving forward with the proposal.

Yeah. And my concern is this will not come whatever project comes for this particular ordinance. If it fits this, which this sounds like um a big change for that neighborhood, it will not come to the city council for residents to then come and have an opportunity to speak for or against. So, I just really feel like that we're kind of taking away resident feedback and resident opportunity to be engaged in their community and to voice get their voice, to give their opinion. those city council.

Okay, let's go ahead and open this up to the public hearing if anyone would like to make a comment. You want to you leave that Oh, yeah. up. Um I can you I don't I don't know why I don't have the feed anymore. There we go.

There's a green light. Is that it? Uh I'm Dick Allen. I live at 975 North 40 West. Uh straight east of the project just uh there's 100 West. Uh we live just east of there. The other night uh or twice in the last month. We have gone around or somebody has a friend of mine has gone around and the streets from Main Street to 185 West from 8th North to 12th North. Every street in there. We've gone in and we've counted the cars, the trucks, the pickups, the trailers, everything that's on the road. Not in parking lots, but on the road. Uh there's 230 cars, trucks, trailers, motorcycles, and whatever one night in that area on the road, not in parking lots. There's 276 vehicles the other night that we had out on the road. This this is a mess on congestion down here. Uh I I don't know how many of you have driven along First West or even gone down to 185 West. You can't drive through there because there's cars and trucks, pickups, work trucks, trailers, so forth on both sides of the road and it's hard to get through. And he's talking John's talking another 56 cars in this complex. Is that correct, John? I think it's 52.

But that's all inside.

I understand that. I understand that. But if they're all inside, what if somebody comes to visit the people in there? Where are they going to park? They're going to park on the street. And you've got 56 more cars in out on the road in congestion. We're afraid somebody's going to get really hurt and it's a real concern to us. John to me had a great suggestion when we were talking today. We need to do something with the parking on 100 west and 185 west. Why can't we restrict one side of the street no parking? That would definitely help. I think that was a great idea that he had. Whether or not he gets this, I still think the city ought to do that on those streets. Um, I I just think that we're we're really concerned about the more cars down there and if he puts town houses in there, you're going to get families and they're going to get a lot of some kids and that's more kids to get across the street and go to the school. Uh, because that's kind of close. They won't get bust that close. More more kids out on the road. And that's a real concern, I think. Um the the congestion is is my biggest concern. Uh more cars. Uh I I think it would be nice to have a really nice facility sitting down there to offset some of that other stuff that's down there. It's a It's really a mess in a lot of that area and uh it's kind of shameful to all of us. Um but I think a a nice looking complex that John would build there would look good, but I'm questioning if the looks right there

is what we're really looking for right now. Thank you. Do I have to give my address? Okay. I'm Steve White, uh, former and maybe future city council candidate. Um, good evening, Mayor Young, council members, city staff, fellow residents. Um, so I want to talk about this respectfully, share my perspective as a concerned residents resident. Um, I urge you urge you to reject this. Um, ORM is Family City USA for a reason. Our safe streets, strong neighborhoods, our families. But now more than ever, I think we kind of all realize just how precious and bow built these things are and that we have to work hard to protect them. This proposal puts those at risk. On the surface, it looks like a technical adjustment. In reality, it's spot zoning. It's crafted to benefit one project while setting a dangerous precedent. It more than doubles the maximum lot size for exceptions. 20,000 to 48,000 square ft. Uh no citywide justification. Why 48,000? There's no study, no analysis, just a number that happens to fit one landowner's parcel. That isn't planning. That's favoritism. Um second, uh it could pack, you know, like you said, 16 units onto a single lot. Um adding cars to already clogged streets, draining schools, um neighborhood uh utilities erodess our neighborhood character. Our identity is not boxy town homes,

apartments squeezed into single family zones. Our charm and our identity is open spaces, treelined yards, kids and families playing outside. Um, it's what makes our city special. We don't need more density that erodess our soul and in invites more deterioration of who we are. Finally, residents have spoken time and time again and against higher density housing. Ignoring that is not leadership, it's disrespect. I'll say it again. So there's no misunderstanding. Stop. Stop overriding our voice so developers and landlords can profit. I want you to put residents first. I urge you to pause the zonings and exceptions like this. If density is to be addressed, let's do it citywide through a transparent resident driven plan. Not peace mill that favors. Not peace mill favors that undermine trust. Neighborhoods aren't loopholes. They're where our families live and learn. Build their lives. Please protect them. Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh my name is Rick Jeskey. I live at 908 North 100 West. Right down uh from the right down from that side of there. Um I've lived in that house since 1991. So, I'm at the bottom just above the mayor's head right there in that little brown house. Yep, that one. Um, so right Kitty Corner from us, there's that is 134 West. Uh, when that was developed, they had enough property there to do 5.6, 5.7, I can't remember exactly, but they named it the Blackhawk subdivision after Pete Peterson, who was a Blackhawk Indian, who lived in that long 2acre lot that's right there just south of Mr. of Brennan's property. Um, so they named it the Blackhawk sub Blackhawk subdivision to kind of gain favor with Pete. Pete's no longer here with us. Even with that, they tried to put two forplexes in there originally. Um, rather than holding them to the 5.6 as a neighborhood, we were all in favor of nicer units. Give them the increase up to six. It's been good. Um, it's a it's a nice development, but even with that, with only six units on there, there's still a lot of cars that are on 930 North and then parked out on 100 West at night. So, if you go down the street now, further to the south, there's those white uh town homes that are along there. I'm not sure the name of that development, but at night, there's a lot of those people who are also parking out on the street out on 100 West that street. I mean, years ago, hindsight, it would have been great if it were wider, but it's not. Just out of just habit, when we there's cars parked on both sides, it's not uncommon to pull up and find a spot, let somebody come through. We treat it like a onelane bridge. I don't know, somehow everybody knows that's how you do it. So, um, it would be really great to have something

done there. I agree. um five, six units, whichever uh would be nice, especially if that would have, you know, whether it's a little culde-sac or something like that where the parking is actually in the property and it doesn't spill out onto the road. I think that's a biggest concern. Traffic is tricky, so it's going to increase anyway, but I think it's the the overnight parking and some of that. I think that's the biggest concern. And if you change this, you could affect other properties in ORM unknowingly that uh like you said mentioned would you wouldn't be able to have meetings that uh affect those neighborhoods. So thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Crystal Mulestein. I live close to this area as well and I echo what everybody else has said. The parking on that street is pretty ridiculous and it's a onelane road for all intents and purposes if you're trying to drive on it. Along with that, I feel like it is not within best zoning practices to change the definition of a zone to fit a project and that sets a really bad precedent for the future. Um, potentially opening a can of worms that you can't put back. So, I would urge you not to approve this zone change. Thank you. I'm Tammy Moore and um I've lived in ORM for 35 years. Um I'm grateful to members Len Millet and member Dave Spencer for who's come along with us from the neighborhood meeting last year and also came to the recent planning commission meeting concerning this code change issue. Um, I appreciate you going that extra mile and I thank uh Tom and Jeff. Um, we've been texting and emailing about this situation and I just recently brought member Chris and member Jen on board just a day ago. So, um, anyway, uh, I oppose this code change. problems I see with this particular code change is that 800 North is a corridor to Vineyard and to um the Heber area and both of those areas are growing. Um my husband's and I sometimes take the back roads to avoid 800 North there and um I think in the future that we don't want to build too much onto 800 by 800 North. I know on the U dot plan there's no uh

in the next 25 years there's no expansion shown on there. Uh I think most residents would use 800 North to get to the freeway and possibly down if they're going to shop south of there. Uh I know apartments are necessary but I believe we're tipping the balance between homes and rentals. I think we want to keep ORM as a family place. We need good quality of life. Uh we don't need to stack apartments or lose that quality. And I would rather drive an hour to go see my family and have the quality of life here. Uh if this change is approved, it opens the door for unknown number of other developments. I feel like we need to be careful with what we have and be good stewards. Thank you for what you do and how you serve our community and please help us protect our neighborhood.

Thank you. Do we have any other comments from the public? Okay. If not, we'll go ahead and Oh, one more.

Hi, I'm Stefan Zumbrenan. Um, uh, John's my dad. I don't want to confuse anybody about any of that stuff, but I'm also born in ORM Community Hospital. I'm a Timberwolf. I graduated from um Timogs High School and I can't afford to live in ORM. I have a wife and two kids. I am a master student at UVU. I work at Primary Children's in Lehi and work all the way out there, but I live in Springville. And it is just so difficult to be able to say that where I live, where I grew up, isn't affordable to me. It is so difficult. And we see so much disgruntled Gen Z's, which I am, not being able to afford and live life the way we want to and have families and be able to be successful and have that peace that we really want. And Charlie Kirk spoke about this saying things that, you know, prosperity doesn't bring what we're having right now. If people were happy, if people were feeling like they could have a slice of life, just a piece of it, then we wouldn't be seeing the type of anger and frustration that we see in the younger generation. My hope is that although this is a project that you know I stand to benefit in some way that we can be forward thinking about thinking about the future generations. We can either try and build an opportunity for people who live here or we can just throw it away and have our

families live in Eagle Mountain in Ngden and in Santa Quinn because we can't afford to live here. Um, most of all, I'm just hoping that we can find a solution where we can not have schools closing here. We know that that's happening. Windsor was on the chopping block because of enrollment. We see these things happening here in this community. Also, under the current law as it stands, there isn't a single property in the city of Oram that would qualify for it. With this new one, as mentioned, it was six. So, when we're talking about a wide range of of properties being able to be affected, it's just it's not necessarily the truth. And currently, there is no property that is allowed to have any kind of um uh amendment uh use that way. And so, thank you.

Thank you. Okay, we'll close the public meeting and bring it back to the council. Anyone would like to make any comments?

I'll go first. Um, thank you, uh, Mr. Zumbren, for being here. Thank you for your interest in developing in ORM and John, thank you for your your words. Um, and everyone else that is here that has commented, thank you for your your perspectives. Um, I'm familiar with this area and I'm familiar with the people that live there and um, I understand the importance of having apartments. We've lived in apartments. I think probably every you start out there. Um, it's an important part of life. Um, but in my feeling um, the thing that this neighborhood needs is stability. Um, and I feel like that stability would come from single family homes. And uh I also am concerned about the unforeseen consequences of a city-wide change that this would that this would cause. So I'm uh I'm not in favor of this proposal.

Thank you. Anybody else? I

I can make a motion if unless there's somebody else want to speak. Uh, I I thank you all for being here. I I this I'm really conflicted on this because I think what uh John and Stefan said is true. I think we need places for our younger families to be. I think we need opportunities for them to build equity. I think we need places for them to grow their families um on on the one hand and I think that actually needs to be higher priority than it is for us here in the city. And I think you spoke to that and you spoke to that as well. On the flip side, I think we have neighbors here that are really concerned about the traffic patterns as as it relates to ETH North or as it relates to their own particular neighborhoods. I think that's something that we have to be aware of and and pay attention to as well. And I actually have heard in their comments that they do want to see something happen here that maybe this this isn't quite the thing, but they do want to see something happen here. So, I'm optimistic that in the future there we will come to a place that makes more sense for the neighborhood and to help solve the housing affordability things, but I I just don't think we're quite there yet. Okay. Oh, may I? Okay. So, yeah, once again, thank you for everyone. I know this I've been in those seats and it is very hard from both um seats, all of the seats. Um so, I appreciate you're being engaged and coming here tonight. Um I'm very familiar with this area. In fact, that's how I get to Macy's is I drive from my house on 100 West to go kind of the back way. And it definitely is a onelane road. you you're I'm always very nervous if I meet someone on the way. Um if them they're going to take off my rearview mirror or something. Um so I and there's I do have some some concerns um about this. I'm not hearing my focus on the city council regarding housing to be sensitive to this argument of you know your generation not being able to have a home is what we and I've been pushing in the meetings that I've been in and with legislators and even with the governor um a legislative policy

commission that I serve on is owner occupied housing opportunities and I I'm hearing that there is not an appetite well this is first of all this just a a text change. This is an ordinance change. But I'm also hearing there's not an appetite by this developer to do a deedrestricted owner occupied houses. And if we don't start um going down that path to where we are giving that opportunity um to our young people to actually build equity and personal wealth through purchasing if all we're doing is building rentals, we're not going to solve some of these problems that you're talking about. That's that there's two different kinds of affordable housing here. One, some that you own and some that you're just completely the rest of your life living and renting. So, um I'm uncomfortable with changing an ordinance um for a specific project. Very uncomfortable with that. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that it takes away the resident option to then if there are projects put under this ordinance, there will not be an opportunity as a resident to come and explain to the council how it would impact them and their neighborhood because I'm a firm believer that there's property rights on both sides of the fence. the vacant lot, the owner of that lot, and also the people who have been living there have property rights that need to be honored and respected. Um, so I guess my my my point really is I I I would love to see um R six development there and to see those homes be sold um for your generation to purchase uh and start establishing families here in ORM. And to me, that's um that is the higher priority in our city right now is to create opportunities for owner occupied housing. So, yeah, that's my opinion.

Yeah. No, yeah. No, I'll I I'll just say something real quick. Or you want to say something? I can if you'd like. Well, I'll make a motion, but I I'll I'll I'll say my two cents and you can.

Thank you. Um, I appreciate your time and your your your drive to keep coming back and uh trying to get your project moving forward with the states master plan unchanged. Um, but my feeling is we have to keep the integrity of our neighborhoods. It's zoned R six and it needs to stay R six cuz that's what it is. And that's what I believe that you could do some really nice homes with R six and it should pencil and we'd have six new homes in Orum. Thank you. Thank you. And everything's pretty much been said. I I'll just give you kind of the big picture from my perspective. When we talk about we need to do this one off or that one off, uh, and we're 95% buildout and we're one of the densest cities in the state, you have to take a step back and say, what do you want your city to look like? Because let's say we move forward and and in the name of affordability, we approve another thousand units. Well, now all of a sudden, our our streets are more crowded, you know, or we we can't get where we're going. the street that you're talking about that that's a virtual onelane street even though it's supposed to be two. I mean, we're going to make that worse. You know, we talk about putting 53 cars on a lot in the middle of what sounds like you can't even drive on. It just it just doesn't make any sense because let's say we had a thousand homes, we put them on and then we have the conversation 3 years from now with someone who comes in and says, "We need to stack more to make it more affordable." Well, it's not more affordable. The denser it gets, the more expensive it is. Anyway, it's it's just a a road to nowhere. And so, at some point, you have to draw a line in the sand and say, what do we want our community community to be? I mean, we're at 42% rentals. Is that okay, or do we want more? And so, I think what we've heard from the residents is that we've

got enough traffic, we've got enough density, and we just need to improve the quality of life and and somehow deal with this traffic. uh at this point and and the solution is not adding more density. So anyway, that's my take. Okay, mayor. I'd like to make a motion that the city council deny the request to amend the text of article 22-21 special exception for the multifamily dwellings. Second. I I I I I I

Thank you. the resolutions tonight. Thank you for coming. Let's move on. Uh we've got item 10, which is financial information. That's just forformational purposes only. Uh it's available on request. Item item 10.1, monthly financial statement. And then item 11, city manager information items. So Bren, if you'd like to let us know on that.

Just real quick, we put on your uh desks the uh latest citizen budget and that's uh available hard copies at our help center uh for any citizens interested. And there's also an online version available. Um, as you know, we we love that this version because it makes the budget more accessible and transparent. Um maybe just to put a a bit of a book end on uh on the moment of silence and the different topics that have been brought up today. I'll just read just a portion of a of our city um Facebook post on the uh taste of ORM event. Uh where wherein we posted the taste of ORM event has always been envisioned as a celebration of culture and connection. We're not hosting this event as a distraction, but rather as a chance to gather, find strength in community, and lean on each other. This will be an opportunity to connect, support local businesses, and find a much needed moment of peace together. Just want to report back to you briefly that uh we very much delivered on that intent and I just had really rave reviews from the businesses that participated, from uh the residents that came and and enjoyed that event. And uh and we we had just um we had ticket sales that were beyond our our wildest hopes and this was the first time we did this particular event

and beyond some of the vendors abilities. a lot of them ran out. It was fun to see that. So, it was wonderful that it was successful on a fiscal basis, but it was just so wonderful to just see so many happy faces that were brave enough to get out, get together, and prove that ORM is Family City USA, and we are about you, unity, and peace and coming together and finding strength in each other. Thanks. And and to have good music on Friday and Saturday. Now there you go.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Bren. Yeah. The taste of Orm was amazing and it well I look at it like our farmers market which has grown immensely this over the last year year and a half and now it's the biggest farmers market in the state. So Taste of Orum it was a success it first year and I expect there will be many more to come. So awesome job. Can I just ask one thing? So, it um is it accurate that if you find stray tickets in your purse or in your wallet that you can go donate them to the Gold Star family monument? That is correct. We would still honor that. Yes. Okay. Cuz some of us um had eyes bigger than our stomach

and have a few tickets left over that I'm going to be donating. Okay. Would somebody like to make a motion to adjurnn? I move that we adjurnn. there. Okay. A second. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Sorry, you're right. Okay, I forgot we're doing that. I move that we adjourn to a close session in the summit conference room to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation, the character or professional competence of an individual or the purchase or lease of real property. I second that. I I I we're adjourned. Thank you for coming.