City Council Announcements
March 7, 2000
A. Decisions, Feedback & Information needed by staff
1. LEGISLATIVE ACTION ITEMS: Does Council approve scheduling for the attached legislative action items for an upcoming Work Session in March?
A: All Council Members wanted to move the items to a formal agenda.
a. Council Member Keith Christensen would like to initiate the attached legislative action. He would like to request that the Administration provide analysis and options to the Council for the attached proposed rezoning request.
b. Council Member Dave Buhler would like to initiate the attached legislative action. He would like to request that the Administration re-evaluate sections of the zoning ordinance that relate to height regulations and established grade calculation and provide the Council with an analysis and options.
c. Council Member Nancy Saxton would like to request the Administration prepare an ordinance formally establishing the City Housing Trust Fund. See the attached memo.
2. PROPERTY CONVEYANCE: Does the Council wish to hold a hearing on either Property Conveyance detailed below?
A: Council Members had no objections to the property conveyances.
a. Attached is a conveyance for two easements for the purpose of building/maintaining a ventilation shaft and the building/maintaining and accessing an electrical conduit vault. Location is between blocks 75 and 76 (south of South Temple) on Main Street. Additional history and map is attached.
b. Attached is a conveyance disclaiming existing sewer and water easements relating to a request proposing to develop a large tract of land between I-215 and Redwood Road (1900 West between 17th and 21st South). The request is made by Essex Salt Lake Industrial Properties 1, L.L.C. The Administration believes that this development will encourage public way improvements within in the area. Compensation tendered is $0.85 per square foot for the subsurface area.
3. LIBRARY: The Salt Lake City Library System is inviting Council Members to participate in the Library's Favorite Poem Project. The project is an event scheduled for April 5 (a Wednesday) at 7 p.m. in the Main Library Lecture Hall on the third floor. Each Council Member is invited to join Mayor Anderson and others to read his or her favorite poem and briefly tell the audience why the poem is a favorite and describe any influence it may have had on one's life. To make sure that Council Members are listed in the program please let Council staff know by March 22 if you would like to participate in the program so staff can forward the information to the event organizer.
4. PROGRESS REPORT ON COUNCIL'S OPEN LEGISLATIVE INTENT STATEMENTS AND ACTION ITEMS: Attached is the Administration's Second Quarter Report on the Progress on the Council's Legislative Intent Statements and Action Items. Council staff has updated the "Open Items" spreadsheet with these responses, which is also attached. The Council may wish to consider the responses and indicate to Council staff if additional follow-up if desired. The Council may wish to consider whether the items in bold are "closed items" and can be moved off the "open items" list.
A: Council Members will E-mail staff.
5. WATCH COMMAND LOG: The Police Department furnishes the public with a daily "watch command log" that lists some of the more high profile crimes that could possibly be of interest to the community. Would Council Members be interested in receiving this information?
A: Tom said no, Keith, Dave, Carlton and Roger said they get updates from staff, and Van and Nancy said they would like to receive this information.
6. FEMA TRAINING OPPORTUNITY: Mike Stever, the City’s emergency management director, informed the Council Office that Salt Lake City has been selected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to participate in five days of realistic crisis situation training at the Emergency Management Institute at Emmisburg Maryland on May 8 through May 12. Salt Lake City has been invited to send 50 participants. Also invited are about 18 other emergency personnel from the Salt Lake City area representing utilities, hospitals, American Red Cross, etc. With the exception of a meal ticket costing $80 per participant, there will be no cost to the City.
The Institute is located about 90 minutes from Washington D.C. airports and about 10 miles south of the Gettysburg Battlefield National Park. Lodging is dormitory style quarters with single room and private bath. Participates will eat in a cafeteria. Mike Stever will arrange the air travel reservations to be paid by FEMA. Participate will need to leave on Sunday May 7 as the training begins at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, May 8. FEMA will provide a bus from the airport to the Institute.
In the past, participants have been from several different cities. FEMA is now trying to do this training with one city at a time. Rocky Fluhart has been to this training and is planning to go again. The Administration is being careful not to send all directors and deputies in case there is a real emergency while participates are out of town.
Council staff asked why FEMA doesn’t come to Salt Lake City to do the training. Mike Stever said that more instructors and speakers can be used if the training is at the national center. In addition, if the course where locally held, some participants still try to do their jobs resulting in missing certain sessions, taking a long lunch to do city work, and answering cell phone calls and pages.
The Administration would like to include one or two Council Members in this training exercise. Attached is some additional information. Please note that this course occurs during the time when the Council will be reviewing the Mayor's Recommended Budget. The Council will receive the Mayor's budget on May 2. Those attending the training event will miss the Council meeting on Tuesday, May 9 and the RDA meeting on May 11. Please contact Gary Mumford if you are interested in attending this training event.
A: Council Members were not interested in the long program out of State, but said they would be interested in a shorter program held in the City.
B. Council Office Policies
C. For Your Information
1. WORK SESSION: The Work Session scheduled on March 9 has been cancelled.
2. MEETING NOTES:
a. OPEN SPACE: Attached are the minutes from the Feb 23 Open Space Committee Meeting.
b. QUALITY GROWTH: Attached are notes from the Feb. 9 Quality Growth Meeting.
3. INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS:
a. FOLLOW-UP REVIEW OF FRIENDS OF TRACY AVIARY’S CASH HANDLING AND MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT REPORT: The objective of this review was to determine if the findings and recommendations cited in an August 1999 management letter were implemented and resolved. There were significant improvements in the accounting and cash handling operations. Additional work is needed in the documentation of job responsibilities, supervisory review of the daily cash reconciliation, and safeguarding of unused supplies. Better documentation of the Aviary Board minutes is needed to evidence the Board’s review of all financial reports and strategic plans, including periodic discussion and assessment on the quality of the Aviary’s internal controls. Two recommendations were not implemented. Those are an audit recommendation that the City obtain commercial insurance for the bird collection and a recommendation that City Code 2.22 (Tracy Aviary Board) should be repealed or a disclaimer inserted to prevent confusion. Regarding commercial insurance for the bird collection, the city affirmed its earlier decision to self-insure against losses to the bird collection. With this decision, the follow-up audit recommended that the Board re-evaluate the Aviary’s cash reserves to ensure sufficient funds are available to acquire new birds. The audit estimates that approximately 60% of the bird inventory will need to be replaced within the next four years due to age. The current reserve is $2,000 and the current value of those subject to replacement by the Aviary is $200,000. Regarding repealing City Code 2.22, the City responds that the existence of a formal management agreement between the City and the Aviary precludes the need for a City ordinance. The audit recommends that to eliminate any possible confusion and maintain current records, the City should repeal this ordinance as soon as possible. The complete audit follow-up can be e-mailed to Council Members upon request.
b. POLICE DEPARTMENT’S CASH RECEIPTS AND REVENUE AUDIT: The Office of Internal Audit performed a follow-up review of recommendations made in its April 1999 audit of the Police Department’s cash receipts and revenue audit. The objective was to determine whether the findings and recommendations cited in the audit report were properly resolved.
The follow-up review indicates that most (14 out of 19) of the audit recommendations to address the original report findings were not implemented or were partially implemented. In some cases this was due to budgetary constraints (i.e., a recommendation that bulletproof glass be placed in the Service Desk Window in the Public Safety Building; a recommendation to restrict access to keys for evidence room would require double staffing).
Some recommendations were not implemented due to current City Code restrictions. For example, one recommendation relating to the E-911 surcharge indicated that the City should conduct audits of telephone and communication companies that have a license to conduct business within the City; this would require a revision to Salt Lake City Code 5.04.210 (911 Emergency Service Fee) which has not been revised. Another recommendation was that the Police Department modify the Burglary and Robbery Systems code to provide more stringent punitive penalties for false alarm responses; this ordinance was not updated. Police Department management presented its research on intrusion, robbery, and panic alarms to the Administration for final review and decision. Potential savings from electing to discontinue responding to all intrusion alarms and enhanced pricing for false robbery and panic alarms will save the City approximately $491,000 per year.
Recommendations that were implemented include installation of a fire extinguisher in the Narcotics area; installation of a panic alarm at each employee’s desk in the Evidence Room; training bulletin to all officers discussing proper control and processing of property entered into the evidence room, including cash; and balancing procedures are documented for both Evidence Room and Service Desk activities.
The complete audit follow-up can be e-mailed to Council Members upon request.
D. Meetings
ANNEXATION SUBCOMMITTEE
Tuesday, March 7 at 4 p.m.
North Historic Room
BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE
Thursday, March 9 at 4 p.m.
Historic Room
AIRPORT SUBCOMMITTEE
Thursday, March 23 at 4 p.m.
Historic Room