City Council - Regular Meeting

And I believe Cody is trying to log in, so he will be here shortly. With that, we've got this. Hold on. Anyway, just to let everyone know, we have called a special meeting regarding that statewide ban that Governor Cox has initiated. He initiated the first one with Phase 1, and more importantly, Phase 2, which came into action. And it bans fireworks throughout the entire state. within state lands, unincorporated areas, and municipalities as well, with the exception of those planned firework displays that the city has to celebrate and allows for the fire department chief and the mayor with the council to create any area as an area where Fireworks are restricted to only, which means only in that area. So that is what we have come to discuss. And we have a deadline of June 30th at 5 PM, which is tomorrow at 5 PM, to notify the state of Utah what we would like to do in this matter. And to begin with, I have asked the city manager, Josh Bate, to open with a word of prayer, and then followed by a pledge of allegiance by Chief Watkins.

Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for this opportunity we have to gather tonight as a city council, as citizens and residents of this wonderful city to discuss the well-being of this upcoming holiday season. We're grateful for the opportunity to serve this public, to look out for the best interests We're grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy, for this wonderful government that we have, and the opportunity we have to participate in government. We ask you, Father, to please bless us this evening, that we might have thy Spirit to be with us, that we might have our actions guided and led by thee, that we can do what is best for this community and help support those in all that they do. Please bless our elected leaders. Let them know that we support them and that we appreciate the sacrifices that they give to us. They bless our troops and all those that defend this wonderful country. They keep us safe and happy and all those wonderful first responders, the firemen, the policemen, and all those that serve this community.

All right, come on in and welcome. We now have Cody Allen, Councilmember Cody Allen online, so he's joining us. We do have four Councilmembers here. So I believe what I'd like to do first is I'd like to turn the time over okay so i need an approval from for a special leader from government council go ahead say a motion for that so i'll move i have a motion from council member goodrich and a second from council member hancock any other discussions all in favor aye

Can you guys hear me?

We can now.

Okay.

Was that an aye or a nay? Aye. Okay, very good. Thank you. Motion approved. We are now in session, and what I would like to do, I'm not sure, Josh, would you like to open up with anything that you would like to say? What I would like to do first is I would like to HEAR FROM CHIEF ROCKWOOD AND CHIEF WATKINS, I HAVE SOME COMMENTS FROM A COUPLE OF PHONE CALLS THAT I HAVE MADE THROUGH TO MOONLAKE, AND I ALSO MADE A PHONE CALL TO STRATA, ALSO MADE A PHONE CALL TO THE HOSPITAL. AND IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING, I'M GOING TO ALLOW YOU TO GO FIRST, JOSH.

As you know, council, we've received this ban from the governor. As we get into this holiday season where we're looking at fireworks and we've talked to our police chief and our fire chief who will present their thoughts on this matter, we're grateful to the public that's come out to this as well. We just want to address with council that we have a list in front of you of approximately 40 communities and what they are doing throughout the state as far as this fire restrictions and what options we have. But at this point, we appreciate your willingness to listen to the public, listen to our fire chief and police chief. And if there's any questions you have as far as other communities, I don't believe Vernal, Ushane, or Naples is on this list. It is a list we have through city managers. So just to update that, Ushane City has instituted a citywide ban. So has Naples City. Vernal City is allowing it in specific locations. So with that being said, I'll turn it back over to you, Mayor. Thank you.

We'd love to hear from you, Chief Rockwood.

All right. So just so you're aware, about a week ago, we received a letter from the State Farm Auctions Office telling us that we cannot ban fireworks. This is prior to when the governor came out and issued his statement. I know Josh and Grant looked that over. Since then, the governor came out and issued his or ban, I guess you could say, and then requesting the municipality's follow-up. From my standpoint, if we ban them outright, then they're going to, people are buying them, have bought them, they're going to go hide somewhere to light them and we're going to have them in a field somewhere of bigger hazard than if we say, be smart or designate an area and allow them to be lit safely versus going out and hiding somewhere to light them.

Do you have an opinion as far as where?

I know one of my firemen mentioned earlier, maybe the junior high, and I said, I don't think the school district's going to allow us to use their properties. The city did one year do a ban and said you had to come live with the park. The problem we had then was nobody came up after themselves. So the city crew's got to go clean all that up. So do you really... zone around that that you can't land within so many feet of that. Other than that, as far as city limits, we don't have any land over an interface that we really need to be worried about.

All right.

So if you'd be comfortable with the sound that you're comfortable with, doing the option of within the city limits should be smart. Use common sense. Don't go to the Cottonwood Creek.

So the other part that I would add to that I asked Ballard's mayor yesterday what they were doing, and he said, we're going to let them light them, but they're going to know, here's the penalties, and they're going to make sure there are SIP penalties. You know, so we make sure there's a SIP fine that if we are called out, they're going to pay for the fire trucks and firefighters personnel. And he says, we're hoping people with that in the back of their mind will be smart enough to say, I don't want to do something dumb and end up with these fines and fees to pay for fire response. Based on the way you asked the question, yes, as long as we have those penalties in place so that people understand. And not to put more on the police, but if we do that, that enforcement falls to them because we have no authority to go out and issue citations. So it can come down to whether they are comfortable with that same thing.

Thank you.

I do have a question. I was thinking that if we do allow fireworks, which most likely would be restricted to an area, most likely Constitution Park in the parking lot, would you feel comfortable if we had And this might be a question that you can also answer, Chief Watkins. If we had a fire department on location, one, maybe two, reimbursed for their time, police officer on location reimbursed for their time, restricted to that area, we allow fireworks, supply maybe a basin with water where they can douse them, And a stipulation that if they do not clean up after themselves, I've been thinking about this a lot, if they do not clean up after themselves, we will not allow it the next day. That's kind of, these are kind of my feelings. I spoke with Moon Lake and they didn't think that it was a concern. They actually brought up, and this was, Yankton Johnson, he actually brought up the fact that it's like, I'd love to see the fireworks 250th anniversary. I do, however, understand that it is high fire danger. I don't want to say it all, but I don't want to say the fire comes from something else. Yeah, and he felt like his structures were mostly out of the way, mostly into the ground in that area. Strata did not They said if we do not get back with you and give you a text, then no concerns at the moment. And then I've been playing phone tag with Jim Marshall, so I don't have a view from the hospital. And then as far as citizens are concerned, I'm hearing both on both ends, probably three to one as far as allowing it in a restricted area to, I'm okay with banding it all together. So those are what I'm hearing.

So to answer your question there, about two days prior to the holiday and one day after, so that'd be four days. Our fireworks right now, I have 10 people that are going to be in town and committed to help set up fireworks for the city show. will be tied up from 5 o'clock until the show's over. That might just have them clean up and everything. So possibility of somebody being there that day is going to be because I already went through everybody and said, are you going to be available one day? Are you going to be able to be here? And they'll stand in line and help us out. As far as committing somebody the other three nights, I can't commit anybody right now.

I'd have to reach out and see.

Our problem would be right now where the fourth wall is.

Just going along with some of the things that you said, if we're restricting that only to the park, is that eliminating the possibility that people are sneaking off somewhere different?

I would actually say yes to that question because the last 3 nights I've heard fireworks and I'm waking up there.

fireworks and we're waiting. People are dying, we're just waiting for them to go in.

We just sit back and watch all around town because we can see the whole town. Why are we lighting everything? Just sit right here, you can see the whole fireworks show. So there are a lot of fireworks that go off in the town.

Maybe that's a good point too. Maybe July 4th, we

for us or any other questions I don't know if I have one specific name for fireworks in the city I can't tell you that

track down and investigate violations of fireworks, because it's usually dark, and they go off in the air. When they're in the street, everybody scatters, and we don't know which are who the bombs are or whatever, and it's really difficult. So on one hand, if you eliminate fireworks altogether, we shouldn't have them running around chasing. Hopefully, if you have a designated area, that may be alleviated, but we still have The ones going off that we need to go find and deal with on the 4th of July and the celebration, I have officers committed there. And if we have to have, so we have a regular crew that answers regular calls. And if they're not tied up in a criminal case, then they'll be running around the fire. There's chances that they'll be tied up. or two to a park or so. Could be a quiet night, could be. Don't know if that answers all your questions or makes it more difficult for your decision.

Any questions for Chief Watkins?

I just agree with his experience. He's going to have a tough time tracking people down and people are still going to light them off.

You usually see it from a couple of blocks away or something. They're lighting them off. Sometimes you can roll up and catch them lighting their hand and stuff. But it is tedious running around. We're going to have the fireworks go off in about a while, whether you have a designated area or not. So we're going to be busy. And I'm going to meet those officers running around a town in trying to deter any possibility of an edgy lot going up in flames and stuff. Now, those type of investigations are a little bit easier if you have a catastrophe or something like that. But usually, if you're just a little firework, somebody doesn't have a clue who's lit it. But don't investigate anything that comes up.

Okay. At this point, I believe what I would like to do is open it up for public comment. Each person has a maximum of three minutes. And normally we open it up for 15 minutes, but I will make exceptions if we need time even longer. But we will restrict it to three minutes per person if anyone would like to comment. I'll open that up now.

Step up to the mic and state your name.

Yes, step up to the mic, state your name. Okay. So I just heard from Jim Marshall, and he says he does not have an official statement from the hospital.

Sorry, I don't have anything against fireworks, but this looks like it's going to be a little bit intertwined. We've got unincorporated, but if we put a plant down on the city where you got a little bit more control instead of having the line created where you got a much higher danger of having a wildfire, which would be, I mean, we set up fireworks every year inside of our residential areas and we don't burn our houses down, right? I mean, I'm going to get into what he's doing. I'm just saying, logically, there's no more danger in the incorporated area this year than there ever has been in any other area, in my opinion. There are fields and there are places that probably wouldn't be a good idea. But I think the risk is more on pushing people out. If you started to enforce with those iron fists, They're going to go out in the end and look for any areas in the code. And there's sort of clean up. People don't clean up after themselves. They're never going to clean up.

So that's it. All right. For the record, that is Dwight Huber, by the way. Any other comments? If you will say your name as well.

Council Mayor. my name is brady coleman i'm with dinosaur diamond industries here in town we're actually producing the fourth of july event here at constitution park this saturday and we're we're really looking forward we've got some exciting things planned for the evening and we're definitely looking forward to the firework show at the end of next cap off the 250th independence day celebration i know there's definitely concerns and and like you said i mean It gets hot and dry every summer. That's nothing new, but with the amount of wildfires around the state, it is something to be concerned about. And I appreciate you guys taking your time today to get something sorted out that works for. For us residents here, and for the safety personnel and all you guys that work to keep us safe. So I just kind of wanted to stand up and say, I'm. I'm definitely in favor of doing something responsible. I really like the idea of making a designated firework zone up there at Constitution Park with our other fireworks. If that's something that the police and the fire can approve and that sounds something, I guarantee you guys are going to have hands full every year chasing down fireworks. That's probably not a fun job, but... think if we can encourage our friends and neighbors and community to participate in a fun event and keep things safe uh we can do what we can to minimize fire so i'm i'm happy and hoping to do anything i can to help the city or any of you guys so if there's something i can do to help please let me know and we look forward to seeing you all up there at the park on the fourth of july so thanks for your time thank you oh and i apologize I came from running around in the park. I don't mean to be so casually dressed for this. I do own a tie.

Would anyone else like to... You mentioned you might want to... Would you like to step up? Sure.

It sounded like you were voluntold.

My name is Carrie Leighton. I do think it's important that if it's minimized to an area, because yes, people are going to go out and do what they want. But if we can show them that we're trying to give them an area where it can be safe with them. I did some very small math. And just within the Cottonwood Fire, the Cherry Fire, the Iron Fire, The amount of land that they've burnt is equivalent to roughly 41, um, Roosevelt city's limits burning down just within the three major fires. And I love watching fireworks, but at what point are we willing to risk personnel's life for them? Um, I think there's many ways to celebrate the 4th of July. There's the parade in Gullah, there's the vernal parade, barbecues, concert, just spending time. You don't have to see sparkly things in the sky to have a good time.

Thank you. So that was kind of general. Try to get your opinion of You would be in favor if it was restricted?

To an area or honestly just... Or none at all? Yeah. So that's where I was going at first and then them saying that people would just go out to other areas. But I feel like even leaving it open, people are going to go to other areas as well.

Any other questions? Thank you for your time.

Hi, my name is April Merrill and we're in a severe drought. Our fire danger is extremely high and we have several active fires burning around us right now. The Horry, Colorado fire has already taken the lives of three firefighters and that alone should remind us how real the risk is. Fireworks aren't just a celebration. They're an ignition source. One spark of these Conditions could cost families, their homes, their safety, their lives. And if a fire does start, the city could be responsible for the cost of fighting the fire. The money we could save and use for something else that actually benefits our community instead of putting us at risk. I love fireworks as much as everyone, but this year is different. This year seems more dangerous. And this year requires more responsibility on our part. So I'm asking the city council to choose safety over tradition. We can celebrate in ways that do not put our community, our firefighters or our resources at risk. And, um, one other concern that I wanted to express is I was up at the animal shelter today for a minute and they are beyond capacity. So every year, we have tons of animals. And I wanted to ask what the plan is. If there are wildfires, were there a capacity? What is the plan for the animals that will be needing to go into the shelter? And what would those costs look like? Who's going to pay for those? So I have a lot of concerns. And I think that if we did a very controlled firework area but even on normal years we're on our roof with our hose hosing our roofs down because fireworks are landing on our roofs so we're normally at risk that this year where is the water going to come from to put out those fires like do we have water we do not have any water restrictions at this point okay we do have the water So you can put out my house, put something? Yeah.

Well, I don't want to sit at your house.

I don't want to sit either. I don't want to take too much time. But yeah, I think if you had it in a very controlled area, that I could support that. But I think that we just have to step up our game this year, and people need to be more responsible than we've ever been before.

Do you have any... Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you. You're fine. I did want to say that if we do not have a restricted area that allows it, then it goes back to the deadline tomorrow and there's completely no fireworks discharges at all other than the fireworks the city has after 4th of July.

And that would be fine with me if responsible, trained professionals can light fireworks in a controlled way, then I support that. But I do not support my neighbors.

Yeah, that would be bad.

Remind us what part of the city you live.

I'm in Meadowbrook subdivision. And where is that town?

I don't know.

All right.

Any other questions for us?

OK, sure. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions or concerns? No. I know Grant kind of snuck out on us right there. Go ahead. You bet. Thank you, sir.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Russell Grant. I, after hearing everybody speak tonight, I just want to say thank you to everybody for expressing concern. It's a very active fire season. Obviously, we all need to be very careful. I love fireworks. It's the 250th anniversary of America. I'd sure like to see the city be able to do them in the park. And I think that having a controlled area is a good idea, especially with the dump station where everybody can just automatically put them out. It ain't for breeze to pick up and something empirical flying off. So I do think that the controlled environment is a good idea if we're going to do it. Now, checking the weather on my weather app, it does look like there will be low winds, clear skies, and no storms forecast for the 4th of July for your consideration. Thank you.

Thank you. I will say that it was nice to see the volleys covered in snow this morning. I can't remember June 29th that I saw blue tires, volleys covered in snow. It's been a long time. So this is kind of how I envision this firework season. So let me back up just a little bit. The Governor Cox's office has issued the ban, and with this ban, it is July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th in restricted areas or in municipalities. That is firework season. Upon completion of the 5th of July, it will be reevaluated for the 24th of July fireworks season. And then they will go from there. But this is kind of just to let the council know how I'm feeling. If we allow fireworks, one, it would be restricted to Constitution Park. And the reason that I wanted People get very territorial, and it just helps keep the peace. I think with a lot of people going to one area, I think Elbow to Elbow are kind of like fishing on the salmon fishing up in Alaska or something. You have about 40 people in 100 yards. So there's that. Restricted to Constitution Park parking lot. Which parking lot? THE SOUTHERN PARKING LOT BY SOCCER FIELDS. I THINK THAT WOULD BE PROBABLY THE BEST AREA. I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS ALL WEEKEND LONG. THAT WOULD BE THE BEST AREA.

ALLOW PARKING THERE, PARK ELSEWHERE AND USE THE PARKING LOT FOR FIREWORKS?

YEAH, I THINK ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ROAD WE CAN ALLOW PARKING THERE. THERE'S A PARKING LOT ALREADY THERE. But I think we really need to the residents of Roosevelt would be on their best behavior.

We typically have a lot of that taped off though. Not only for your guys's fireworks show.

Yeah, Mayor, if I can make a comment, too, for Dustin. He called me earlier today. He couldn't be here tonight, but he was concerned as long as they stay in the parking lot. They had issues last time where they creep out on the baseball fields and the grass, and it just made a mess all over, and it was hard to clean up. So his concerns was just keep it in the parking lot, period. And we could tape it off. I have it marked up.

Are you thinking this is for the days outside of the 4th, not the 4th? Because I don't know that we're going to want that happening the night of the 4th. I'm getting to that point. Oh, okay. Sorry. Jumping ahead. I'll wait.

Restricted area. Parking lot only. Police presence. Fire department presence. an area where they can dump their fireworks to completely put them out, and if we need to have a dumpster there, I mean, everything is thrown away. If there is not cleanup by the residents, I would suggest that we close it and have that ability to close it the very next night. The 4th of July, I would also restrict to the celebration only. We could use the parking as well. So I think you strictly, well, you would have that blocked off or partial.

Well, with the new fields now, we use it for parking because parking is rare up there. And so we do need it for parking. But you're not going to have room for personal fireworks.

Yeah, that's why I would restrict it to... So what that would allow would be fireworks on the first, second, third, and fifth. And then we re-evaluate it as well afterwards. The reason I say possibly putting a place to dump the fireworks, put them completely out, put them in possibly a dumpster. Even if we have a dumpster fire, it's restricted to the dumpster. I BELIEVE THAT'S WHAT I HAVE PUT OUT THERE AND I DON'T KNOW IF THE CITY COUNCIL WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST ANYTHING.

NEW UPDATES?

YOU SAID FIRST, ABOUT TWO DAYS PRIOR TO THE HOLIDAY AND THE AFTERNOON.

SECOND, THIRD, AND THIRD.

Did you have something you'd like to present? Yeah. Are you able to remember his password?

36.080 is a prohibition of fireworks for Roosevelt City that was adopted in 2024. So what we need, if we're going to allow them, is actually not a restriction, it's an exception, because right now they're banned citywide under all circumstances. What you're suggesting, Tommy, we can easily put into the document I sent earlier as an exception. With one exception, and I'm still trying to figure out if I can think of a way to make this work, but allowing it for one night to see how things go, and then if it's not cleaned up to the city satisfaction, then prohibiting the next. I'm not sure how to structure that because it's so subjective. I think we need to do either we're going to make an exception to our ordinance and allow it for the days that you specified or that we're not. Because the only way I can think of that would really work is if the city council met again after the first night and then made a decision whether or not you were going to allow it on subsequent nights. So my suggestion would be this is a copy of our current ordinance. My suggestion, if this is the direction you want to go to make an exception and allow fireworks at fun, on the three nights that you specified. And then if it's a problem, then maybe next year we don't allow it.

Maybe we follow the state and revise it for the or revisit it for the 24th of July.

And we can always change our ordinances. Like I said, this was adopted in 2024. So December 3rd of 2024. The way that it Okay, there wasn't a lot of discussion when it went through. And I remember thinking it was kind of interesting because I expected that there would be. But this was a suggestion made in the template that rural community consultants, I never remember their name. When they put the packet together, this is one that they included in the packet for the city to consider. And we ended up adopting it. I don't remember. there being any discussion specific to this ordinance.

There was a lot of discussion about a lot of things in that one. I think that one might be a little too strict for us in a normal year.

And we can always go back and change it, but it's what we've got right now. So from a liability standpoint, I have no problem with you making the exception that you said. But would recommend that it be limited to a or a couple of locations, not to just try to lift it citywide under a resolution.

That's it. Any questions from ? No, I agree.

I agree with the council person, council member Goodrich, probably to revisit that ordinance to some degree.

Yeah.

But we'll do that at a later time.

Unless you have any questions, those would be all my comments.

Thank you.

At this point, I would entertain.

I'm just going to ask a couple things. I think the park's great. I'm just wondering about that parking lot versus maybe the one down by the playground, just where there is that open dry land to the east of that parking lot. Is that a concern for you?

I thought about by the playground, and you have at least by the skate park, There is less brush than by the playroom because we have the open field south of the church and the trees, which is why I came up with Constitution Park. There aren't any trees or shrubs right there that add fuel to the fire. I kind of did it by a process of elimination And I thought that was probably the most logical place to write off fireworks.

Lee, do you know what restrictions there are countywide? Like, are there unincorporated restrictions?

For the governor's order, anything unincorporated is fine.

Okay.

So as of now, you know, somebody mentioned, well, they'll go out in the county, but not in the city. Well, it's the same argument.

I didn't know that Scott Allen gave me a call last week, and they were banning everything. But, I mean, Altamont is a little bit different than what Roosevelt would be, and you could almost stand in anywhere in Altamont and throw a rock in Haven. So there's steel to be had just about anywhere in Altamont. But they have banned some of it. The only downside that I can think of as far as restricting it is other areas are restricted. So we might have an influx of people coming to watch fireworks or like fireworks.

I keep going back and thinking what fire chief Lee and police chief Watkins stated that. And then now, seeing that we have an ordinance that's already banning them, if you look back the last couple of years, it didn't seem like that ordinance really changed people's behaviors to a great degree. But I'm kind of thinking of... creating an exception similar to what some of these other communities have done, where they allow fireworks within their city limits, but they create fire restriction zones. There's been a couple of zones that have been mentioned tonight already. You've got the properties near and around the City Creek areas, and then you've got properties near Southtown that do have a lot of fields, vacant fields that could catch fire. My thoughts are going back to creating an exception to that ordinance, allowing it within city limits, but creating specific zones such as Cottonwood Creek or the South Town Zone. It's kind of a fire restricted areas and allowing people to still celebrate with those certain restrictions. It's just an impossibility to ask for the fire department and the police department to run around and chase down these Lighting fireworks, whether there's a ban in place or not.

So, are you saying instead of doing the park things that you can do it in these areas, but we're going to not do it where there's these areas that are like, yeah, we create fire restriction zones.

That would be on a map that we would publish. We would notify the communities and be smart and be responsible. You happen to be in this zone. We encourage you to not. To abide by the fire restriction zone comes the park light fireworks. or go to a neighbor or somebody you know that doesn't reside within that fire restricted zone. I think we're just putting a huge burden on safety response and police departments in that stretch when they're gonna see three days worth of fireworks nightly. After listening to the chief, both chiefs, and looking at what some of these other communities have done, it seems like a... a reasonable course of action to me and something that we can put in the exception of the ordinance that we currently have in place.

But those are my initial thoughts listening to this tonight. I just wonder how hard it's going to be to police those areas. Like, if we do it at Constitution Park, you know, anything outside of their restricted area. But if we have several areas, that makes it harder for you guys to watch those several areas.

That was probably twofold. You restrict it too much, they're gonna be squirted out somewhere. And possibilities are gonna be everywhere, and we're gonna not accomplish anything. If you get designated areas in the city, Bernalpuff, I believe, has a designated map that they have. I can see people who want to modify works, modifying to the safe areas, and we may not have as big of a problem.

I don't disagree counseling cloud. I think that. You'll have a little bit of both.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a work in progress. Whatever we end up doing.

We, if we went that way, is there are there areas you would be comfortable saying these areas in town would be okay and let's. These just with your experience, I think.

they've got all the fields around there, where you're used to it, where the fields are right there beside that, then we'd have to kind of look at it and say these areas for sure. Talking back there, I don't know if it's true or not, but if we did say camp here, here, and here, it might be easier to place than if we're saying you have to be right here and they're trying to place the whole rest of the town. Right, right. Versus policing just the way they are supposed to be.

Right. I think that gives people a little bit more freedom to celebrate and allows you a little bit of a scope, an area to focus your efforts.

Yeah, we have to kind of look. I mean, I don't know if anybody else has anything top of their head that they can think where we might say can't be limited.

I'd say the gulch, where we always have issues. The whole Cottonwood Creek, all the way from the north end to the south.

Would it be fair to add something as far as fires caused by those areas? I don't know if there's a fine or if you pay the cost of what it takes to put it out. I hate to say that, but somebody's had a bill for a million dollars.

That's what penalties or fines do we have in place currently in the ordinance?

We have current fines. We do, and we've got to just follow those. To change them, we have to go through a public hearing. It's just not time. Those are already in place, and it's fine for us to remind people that those are in place, but we've got to follow what's there at this point.

Do we know what those are specifically?

It's class B misdemeanor. And so the potential criminal penalties would be up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. But then there's also restitution, which would cover our cost of fighting as well as any damage. And there's not a limit on the restitution other

Those are my thoughts, mayor on this matter.

I'm waiting towards what Bo is saying as well. I think it's going to be easier for the police and you will have less people sneaking out into those unincorporated areas as well. I think overall that gives us the safer.

That for the whole community, but I would suggest that if we do make a map that it be a large amount of fine print. Someone like me. So I don't have to wear a magnifying glass or anything.

One suggestion with that, due to the governor's order and our current ordinance demands it, recommendation to council would be that council does approve those exceptions based off the map that the fire chief and the mayor get together to, for specificity purposes, draw exactly where that map is so we can submit it tomorrow by 5 p.m. to comply with the governor's order. But that way, Mayor, you and the Chief can get together and draw exactly where those zones are based off Council's motion tonight, should that be the route you go.

Okay, thank you. With that, I would entertain any other questions or a motion.

Any thoughts, Rowdy?

I just worry that, I mean, it's obvious that we've got to get this done quick. And are we going to be too hasty and light something on fire that we shouldn't? I mean, it sucks to look out there in the sky and see smoke and ash all day long. So I think whatever we do, we need to be strategic on this map. I mean, there's a couple of these towns and stuff that's 200 feet from an open space. I don't think that's enough. With the wind we get, we got to be strategic in where we're allowing fireworks. Because I know the forecast says it's not going to blow, it's going to blow. The wind always blows out here, especially during firework time. So just for me, I mean, I just think we need to be careful. I think the zones are good, but I think we need to be looking over them and making sure they're strategically placed.

Maybe draw a brighter brush stroke than a smaller one.

Right. And I don't think we need a lot of areas where we can light them off. You know what I mean? Like... Like we said, the south area down, that's scary to me because a little bit of wind, you can light everything on fire down there.

My name is Kelly Kingman. So living in south town, I took a picture tonight. So our community, where we live, borders a really big field that's open, wide open. And then John Booner's field. And there's fireworks. have some zones, but I don't know how to police that down there because there's so many, and I don't know how they get the word out this fast that you can't do here and you can't do there. Just because I know that, I mean, in New York's past, our south town is just loaded with people, and it's loaded with fireworks. But both sides of those fields, if they blow up, the houses on the side will just build mountains and burn the house right down. So I know that's a big Not a ton of brush, thank goodness, this year. But it's a big open field, and it'll just go east. It's in your neighborhood, it's where we're shooting off to.

I do agree with you, Kelly. Yeah, I mean, it seems really quick for us to be setting up zones to be doing this. It might be easier, as quick as it is, to be, hey, this year it's Constitution Park. From here on out, we're going to update the ordinance and figure out the zones.

I mean, we love the fireworks. I just don't know how they

Oh, there's something they don't like. Work gets out fast. Thank you. Thank you, Kelly.

I agree with you, Councilman Clowder, as far as that goes. Do you think that the chief can be strategic in... Right lining these zones, because we've had this, apparently this ordinance in place in 2024. You've mentioned that it's been quite the fireworks show down there. And I see it too, all over town.

And I also think that it's going to be an education process and a little bit of a... Yeah, I will admit, I did not know that we had a ban on fireworks. And if you were to ask anybody in Roosevelt... Even saying no is not going to be on fireworks. I'm sorry, you were going to make a comment? No, you had your turn.

I just think that it's not the citizen's job to police our neighbors and let them know which areas are no-firework zones and which ones aren't. And I think it would just be ridiculous to be like, hey, let's get this word out to the whole town. And all someone has to do is say, oh, I didn't understand that. You guys weren't clear enough. That's all they're going to have to do is say, oh, I thought you were saying South Town was a safe place, so I drove down there and lit my fireworks. So I don't think we have time to do zones. I think we need to just say everybody knows where the park is at, and that's the only safe place. That's my thoughts from Robin Downer. Thank you.

Could we designate more than one place? Like the two parks? I think that you're going to have a lot of congestion. You're going to have a lot of trash. I think that you're going to have some other celebrations of different sorts going on in those designated zones.

The problem is we only have two parks and the other one is limited on... Parking as well.

Do you have a lot of baseball games and stuff going on this weekend?

That's going to be conflicting. I'm not so sure that there is. Is there a time to softball tournament this weekend? There's no baseball.

There's no youth anyways. There may be an adult one. I don't know for sure.

Sometimes we host the youth tribes for the July softball tournament.

we answer this too for festivities this weekend i do know that the tribe dustin said the tribe is going to have some teams playing over the weekend up on the ball field and then we have the color on friday night they'll have about 100 people or so up around the soccer field volleyball has their all-night volleyball tournament around the soccer fields on friday night so there's a few things happening both friday and saturday so

Cody, you've been quiet.

Do you have any thoughts? I've been jumping in and out where I haven't had great signal, so I don't want to start the conversation over again, but I feel like my views are very similar to Councilman Flower, and my concerns are similar also. I don't know what it is. It's not a great SITUATION THIS YEAR.

NEW SPEAKER I DO BELIEVE IT'S TOUGH TO POLICE ANYTHING THAT WE DO, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE OUTSIDE. IF YOU DESIGNATE AN AREA AND THEN YOU'RE TRYING TO CHASE PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT IN THE AREA, IF YOU OPEN IT i think you'll have fireworks in the restricted areas as well i still kind of come back to restricting it to an area where we can at least somewhat control it i don't think we need to be out into every neighborhood controlling fireworks and hopefully this would allow for it but i am open um i'm open

just some other suggestions that you could have. One is the city office parking lot here. Two is the parking lot at the pool. And three, probably the best other suggestion, is at the golf course, only in the parking lot, not the golf course itself. Because we do put a lot of water around that on the grass. We would have a problem containing people, but that parking lot might not be a bad spot as well, if council did want other locations.

I'm liking that idea if it's other location. I just kind of have this hard time thinking everyone in town is going to fit in that one parking lot at the park and have that be sufficient for everyone.

What part of the parking lot here at the city?

Just right out here front where everybody, public parks out front because you have the building on one side. It's not huge, but it does give another option.

So here, the golf course, and the pool, the parking lot.

Do we police all four locations?

I don't think you got to clean up all four locations.

I'll deal with that quickly, Chief. Thank you. We're going to be chasing around fireworks around the city, no matter how we got this. And what makes it most difficult is, is I've, I've had before you said that one area, you know, okay, we'll let them off there. That's it. Where it come from was like, you know, five block area. And then it started and then everybody looks at it and goes, well, everybody else is doing it. So I can do it no matter how you cut it. It's an unfortunate nightmare. Um,

i guess where i'm heading is i'm going to need all the manpower to try to subside that what's going on outside it doesn't mean another area that i just had thought about that i had i i did not express earlier was that we restricted time all of our parks close at 11 anyway and i was thinking that maybe we allow fireworks from 7 30 to 10 30 parks close at 11 and That gives them half an hour to clean up. I think clean up is a big thing for me. I mean, I can't even get guys at work to replace some rolling toilet paper, so.

Yeah, it's going to be a mess to clean up. up to the mic.

My thoughts for the last little bit is are we taking on a city library? I mean, I'd like to see everybody have a great time and do the fireworks and do whatever. But if you, or if the city's Steps right into the tracks of the governor and says, I mean, this is an option. I'm not saying, I'm not lobbying one way or the other. Just saying that if you step into those shoes with the governor, you don't have any liability issues. You have a little protection from the angry residents. That's what the government has already agreed. And I'm just saying that there isn't something to consider. It takes the council and the police and fire departments out of the equation. I know that's not what people want to hear.

Thank you.

So Dwayne is talking about more go with what the government says then? I just wanted to make sure I understood what- In a legal sense. Yeah. Sorry, I thought you had more to say than that.

No, just one. Thanks. Brett, do you have anything?

Well, from a liability standpoint, prohibition is the greatest protection, but it's also the most restrictive for the citizens. During my time here, we've not had big issues with fireworks. The city, as has already been discussed, is in a little bit different position than the unincorporated areas because past City Council has done a fantastic job in Roosevelt of acquiring water, which makes things sort of greener here and we're less affected by the drought because the amount of water that we're able to bring in. So in short, Absolute prohibition is the easiest to defend for me, and so it's the lowest level of liability. But if you want to allow it, I've drafted a resolution while we've been sitting here that I think we could use to allow it, restricting it to whatever zones you choose. The three that I've penciled in, but it's easy for me to change if you want something different, is Constitution Park, the Aquatic Center parking lot on the west side of the pool and the front parking lot. I was thinking east side and saying west, but it is the east side parking lot. And then the parking lot here, and I put in as they're marked, so I think we should, even if it's just cones or something, it should mark the area where it's allowed. That there is some liability chances are probably low if you allow the restricted. Those 3 or other places.

Oh, Mary, I think we're left with an unpopular choice here. But I, I'm good with the. Designating, like, the 2 zones, 2 areas, like, the parking lots that was mentioned, but I would like to work more on doing like a. You know, a South town zone fire restriction for a later time, updating the ordinance. And working towards that to educate the community that. You know, fireworks are prohibited in these. you call them fire restricted zones fire fireworks restricted zones something that nature because there's i mean you're right you're not going to get a lot of people knowing where these zones are at but i think regardless you're going to have people lighting fireworks off all over the city it's a little bit easier when you encounter them

deal with it by telling them, hey, you can still do it, but run up to these places. We can just use it that way instead of zero, what we're doing at all.

I think I'm OK with the additional parking lots.

Yeah, I like that, too.

That restricts it, for the most part, ALSO AREAS THAT RECEIVE WATER DAILY, AND I THINK THEY WOULD BE EASILY DEFENDABLE AS FAR AS IF YOU HAVE A SMALL FIRE OR WHATEVER, I THINK WE COULD QUICKLY PUT THOSE OUT.

DO YOU WANT TO HAVE THE GOLF COURSE PARKING LOT?

I'M WORRIED ABOUT THE GOLF COURSE PARKING LOT BECAUSE IMMEDIATELY NORTH OF THE CLUBHOUSE IS A HUGE OPEN BUILD THAT HAS it has grass it has plenty of fuel and i'm not so sure i haven't feel good about the belt course but i would i think the addition of of the pool in roosevelt city i think i think i would be okay with that further discussion

I'd like to bring up something. Why are we considering doing it at all? The reason why, I've been listening on the phone on YouTube. My name is . The reason why I say that is what I'm hearing on the phone watching it on YouTube is a lot of indecisiveness. The right decisions are always the toughest decisions. If you like one thing, it's going to be everywhere. on through every town because it makes it okay. It's like it's stuck on the interstate. And once people start taking an exit, they start using other lanes and start making that exit because it's human nature for them to follow that. And if you start one place, it will not be just here and it will not be just there. And as many people as in this community, you can't get them to go down to these places and fit and do what you're wanting to do. on the fires we have currently. If we start something out here, anywhere up on the hill or anywhere, we don't have any help. And we'll be zero contained wherever we're at here. So the right decision is the toughest one. And this is only the 4th of July. And up to the 5th, we have a little protection by the governor, right? Saying, hey, he said, well, that opens it up to the 24th still, you know, and to see how things go. But right now, if we have anything, it's on us. And I heard about talking about the liability as well. That liability in my hands. It falls on the guys that make the decisions here tonight, not on whoever knows and does whatever. And I wouldn't want that liability sitting in your guys' chairs. What we already have going on in the state. Zero containment in the bay. is enough to hold yield as just a regular Joe over here. I know I live by the golf course. We've done some things like do mortars and different things to the years illegally. And we're on top of homes that had things in there, rain gutters and different things. And we've caused problems just as regular citizens in our community on good years. So we're kind of asking for a mess. I'm just not sure that we want to do that. I wouldn't normally come down and say anything, but it just sounds like a lot of indecisiveness, and that means you're trying to make a really hard decision, and it's going to be a good one. And you have a lot of people mad, but that's a lot better than being in the situation that they're down in Beaver, Eureka. We live in the farm country. We can burn a lot of ground down, and we don't have the resources, and we won't have the help if they're up there fighting those big fires, trying to get those people back in their homes and save Utah, because if it keeps burning... It's going to ruin a lot more of our state, and we don't want to be the ones that are on that. That's my opinion. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm ready to make a motion. I will make a motion that we create an exception to our ordinance for the Constitutional Park and the Aquatic Center parking lots for the public to utilize and celebrate the Fourth of July and to light their personal fireworks. Do you want me to add an extra language to that, Grant or Josh?

I'm comfortable.

I'm okay with doing that here as well, but I think those. 2 areas would be space wise would be enough. So I didn't have a limit trash pick up and things that we've got to deal with.

Do you want any time restrictions or. Just limited to those areas.

So, I didn't have a reminder that the park closes at 11.

Yes, that's supposed to be the aquatic center.

So, I was just asking Josh if we use that.

once the yeah doesn't the 11 o'clock comply to the old part as well yeah i think rowdy said there is there a noise ordinance in place past a certain time so i didn't have a motion to allow fireworks

Marking lot and West side parking.

Any further doing that 2nd, 3rd and 5th. Not alone for me, what do we decide on that? Because.

Hi, yeah, we probably have a 2nd, 3rd and 5th, right? Because the. At least for the constitutional park location, because you'll need. That day to set up right in that space. Yeah, we start.

There's a moratorium. For both places.

Edwin, did you?

I'm just going to make sure that there's no reservations due on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So that parking lot should be available as well.

Perfect.

Yeah, the motion would just be for the 4th at the constitutional part to the moratorium. Yeah, the moratorium. Sorry. Yeah.

Okay.

I'll second.

Okay. I do have a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Fine. Motion passes. So just to reiterate, we do have fireworks at Constitution Park parking lot and at the pool on the west side of the pool and park restrictions to 11. second third and fifth um i think we allowed it for the west side parking lot as well is it second third and fifth just the constitution the fourth is allowed correct correct yes okay with that i do have um josh josh has an item for us

Yes, yeah, we're going to discuss the character of personal confidence.

Okay. I'll make a motion to go in closed session for that purpose.

Okay, I have a motion to go into closed second and then second and I believe it's your own fault. Yeah.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Come back. Yeah, do you want us to adjourn now? So when you come back for a turn. Yeah, I agree with that.

With that, I thank you all for coming. And I appreciate your opinions and your input. And if I may put it out there myself, you're welcome to contact me any time, email, in person. I don't think my wife would appreciate you showing up at my house. My cell phone as well. So if you'd like to call me, contact me anyway, you're more than welcome. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, how are you? Good.

Yeah, they got .