City Council Announcements
March 4, 2008
A. Information Needed by Council Staff
1. This year, the Mayor is presenting his budget to the Council on Tuesday, May 6th. This leaves only 2 regularly scheduled meetings in May in which to hold all department briefings. The Chair and Vice Chair have recommended holding a meeting on the last Tuesday in May, in addition to starting all of the regularly scheduled meetings in May and June at 2pm, until the budget is adopted. This would give the Council 5 meetings in which to have department briefings and handle unresolved issues to balance the budget (the budget must be adopted on June 17th).
Is the Council ok with this approach? Yes
2. Søren Simonsen has requested that Jill Love, Council Chair, add a letter of support from the council for a federal appropriation request for the next phase of Parley’s Trail. The Pratt board has reported that PRATT is in the process of coordinating applications for federal funding through the offices of Senators Hatch and Bennett and Congressman Matheson for future non-funded construction, including the stretch between Hidden Hollow and Roper Yard where the trail will be in the corridor with the planned trolley line. PRATT is requesting a letter of support from the Salt Lake City Council. Attached is a printout from PRATT’S website to provide the Council Members some background information on the project. To find out more information, visit www.parleystrail.org.
A draft letter of support from Council Chair will be made available to the Council for Tuesday night’s meeting.
Is the Council interested in providing PRAT a letter of support? Draft letter is attached. Does Council approve of the letter? Ms. Gust-Jenson asked Council Members to provide comments to staff before the end of the evening so it could be signed tomorrow.
3. The Downtown Alliance is extending and invitation to Council Members to tour the possible sites for Public Market to be located in Salt Lake City.
Are any Council Members interested in this tour? Council Members wanted to see if another date could be arranged.
Additional Item: Ms. Gust-Jenson said the Administration offered to provide an update to the Council on the changes they are making in Community Development, specifically in Planning. She asked if the Council wanted that on their next agenda, in small groups or some other manner? Councilmember Simonsen suggested have a work session briefing due to the amount of public interest. The majority of the Council was in favor.
Additional
City Council Announcements
March 4, 2008
A. Information Needed by Council Staff
1. Please refer to the attached letter to Rocky Mountain Power regarding the underground bids for the Emigration-McClelland transmission line construction project. More specific language about the alternatives the Council would like Rocky Mountain Power to explore for the Emigration-McClelland project was added to the letter after approvals were attained for the first draft. The additions are highlighted in yellow in the attached letter.
Does the Council approve of the changes to this letter? Yes
Additional Item: Ms. Gust-Jenson said staff listened to the Council’s discussion on Leonardo and circulated an e-mail to the Council. She said staff received comments from Council Members. She said Councilmember Garrott's comments enhanced the letter but did not materially affect policy. Councilmember Simonsen and Jergensen said they had not had time to review the changes. Councilmember Simonsen said he was concerned about the accuracy of one statement regarding ongoing operations and funding. He said one of the Leonardo partners is a City agency (Youth City program). Ms. Gust-Jenson said Global Artways needed to be added. Councilmember Simonsen said maybe language just needed to be added stating “with the exception of programs which were already funded by the City”. He said he did not want the letter to be misinterpreted that the City was not going to be funding Global Artways. Ms. Gust-Jenson said this was not a rush so we can add that and anything else Council Members wanted.
March 5, 2008
Ms. Alene E. Bentley
Customer & Community Manager
201 South Main, Suite 2300
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Dear Ms. Bentley:
On behalf of the Salt Lake City Council, I would like to respectfully decline to proceed with the underground construction project as currently bid for the 138 kV double-circuit transmission line from 1040 East to 1900 East along 800 South/Sunnyside Avenue. Unfortunately, the Council does not having a funding mechanism in place for a project of this magnitude at this time.
The Council understands that Rocky Mountain Power has missed the construction window for completion of the Emigration-McClelland line conversion project this season. You have indicated, instead, that construction could begin in either September 2008 or February 2009. The Council is not satisfied that the current proposal is in the best interest of the neighborhood, and it is our hope that we can continue to look for alternative solutions for this particular project, given the construction schedule as identified above. During this time prior to construction, the Council requests that we explore a range of options, from more aggressive conservation and alternative energy delivery to possible rerouting or partial underground installation of portions of the line that pose the greatest impact. Our residential, business and institutional partners all seem equally committed to finding a more appropriate option to meet growing energy needs without sacrificing the health, safety and beauty of this neighborhood.
I would like to express appreciation for Rocky Mountain Power’s willingness to work with the Council on this issue. We look forward to a continued dialog with you and I am hopeful an acceptable solution to this project will be found.
Best wishes,
Jill Remington Love
Chair, Salt Lake City Council
JRL/sc
cc: City Council Members
Mayor Ralph Becker
Esther Hunter