The City Council met in Work Session on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. in Room 326, City Council Office, City County Building, 451 South State Street.
In Attendance: Council Members Carlton Christensen, Kyle LaMalfa, Stan Penfold, Luke Garrott, Jill Remington Love, Søren Simonsen, and Charlie Luke.
Staff In Attendance: Cindy Gust-Jenson, Executive Council Director; Jennifer Bruno, City Council Deputy Director; David Everitt, Mayor’s Chief of Staff; Ed Rutan, City Attorney; Joanne Milner, Education Partnership Coordinator; Justin Belliveau, Redevelopment Deputy Director; Nick Tarbet, Council Policy Analyst/Constituent Liaison; Nick Norris, Planning Manager; Paul Nielson, Senior City Attorney; John Anderson, Principal Planner; Maureen Riley, Airport Director; Barbara Gann, Public Relations and Marketing Director; John Buckner, Director Airport Administration/Commercial; Lehua Weaver, Council Research and Policy Analyst; Jim Lewis, Public Utilities Finance Administrator; Jeffry Niermeyer, Public Utilities Director; Tom Ward, Public Utilities Deputy Director; and Sonya Kintaro, Chief Deputy City Recorder.
Guests in Attendance: Dr. Pam Perlich, Senior Research Economist, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utah; Darius Li, Research Analyst, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utah.
Councilmember LaMalfa presided at and conducted the meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS
#1. 2:10:13 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING FROM DR. PAM PERLICH, SENIOR RESEARCH ECONOMIST, BUREAU OF ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, REGARDING THE U.S. CENSUS SALT LAKE CITY 2010 CENSUS ATLAS WHICH ANALYZES RESULTS FROM THE 2010 CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING. View Attachments
Dr. Pam Perlich, Darius Li, and Joanne Milner briefed the Council regarding the Community Data Project and 2010 U.S. Census for Salt Lake City from a PowerPoint slide presentation. The presentation showed graphs and maps for each council district depicting age, sex, school age, retired, Hispanic, minority population, households, non-households, group quarters, and population changes. She said they were building a data system that used data from areas involving health, taxes, and education. Mr. Li spoke about unsuccessful applications for grants and other funding due to lack of community level data. Ms. Milner said to get the greatest return of investment, the City lacked the data of neighborhood indicators. She said it would be valuable to the City to invest in a central database.
Discussion was held regarding partnering with the school district, the fine-tuning of data to the granular and point level, and finding funding sources amongst other municipalities. Staff was asked to research information on past staff demographers such as when the positions were used, what the financial resources were, and when the positions ended.
#2. 2:41:34 PM HOLD A DISCUSSION REGARDING PRIORITY PROJECTS TO FURTHER SUSTAINABILITY. The Council has established seven areas of policy focus since 2011, including Sustainability and are highlighting projects throughout the City to further those seven policies. Priority projects relating to the Council’s policy focus on Transportation and Mobility will be discussed at a future meeting. Priority projects for Arts and Culture, Neighborhood Quality of Life, Economic Health of the City, Education, and Parks and Open Space were discussed at the February 19th, March 5th, March 19th, April 2nd and April 9th meetings. (Council Philosophy Statements) View Attachments
Jennifer Bruno briefed the Council with a handout and reviewed the sustainability philosophy statement and high-level bullet points.
Discussion was held regarding the focus of what Salt Lake City Corporation would do internally and externally and how to broaden the scope to include multi-family households and business use.
#3. 2:46:57 PM HOLD A DISCUSSION REGARDING THE FINANCING OF THE UTAH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (“UPAC”) PROJECT.
• The project will be funded through City and / or Redevelopment Agency (RDA) bonds; and
• The Council will also discuss a budget amendment to grant budget authority for this project.
View Attachments View Attachments
Jennifer Bruno and Justin Belliveau briefed the Council with handouts and a PowerPoint slide presentation on the key decision points. These decision points included the bond split between the City and the RDA to finance the project up to $116 million, the plan to service debt on these bonds, the budget amendment authorization which would establish the revenue and expenditure budget, and the use of surplus funds.
Ms. Bruno said one variable that could be controlled was the bond split and general fund contribution. She said the Council as the RDA board decided to increase the contribution from 80% to 100%. She said the Administration built in a minimum fundraising requirement to fill the gap. She said variables that could not be controlled but would affect the cash flow were the CDA development variable, the interest rate which affected the total amount of debt service, and private fundraising.
Ms. Bruno said staff consolidated the various scenarios based on the two key variables which would affect the repayment of the general fund. She said the Administration felt the ability to preserve bonding capacity was more important than the City being paid back immediately.
Discussion followed regarding the projection of the interest rate and rating factor, the receiving of $7 million in the next two years, the estimate of the interest rate if the RDA was responsible for 100%, and the CDA performance. Mr. Belliveau said it was not an all or nothing proposition. Councilmember Simonsen said this was being paid for out of tax increments and other sources and not the general fund. Ms. Bruno said this was the last opportunity for Council to determine what the bonds would look like. She said once the resolution was passed, it was the Administration’s function to sell the bond.
Regarding the fundraising requirement, Ms. Bruno said the parameters resolution that Council was considering to adopt required $7 million be raised prior to the sale of the bond and $3 million be raised over five to eight years.
Councilmember Penfold said direction was given in a previous meeting about on-going funding for the art-accessibility program and he asked if the direction was factored into the long-term repayment plan. Mr. Belliveau said the transmittal included thoughts on how the program might be funded on a recurring basis. He said options included an initial allocation of $150,000 for naming rights, 1% of resale of naming rights, or an allocation of income from the theater. He said it was premature for the Administration to make a specific recommendation. Ms. Bruno said the Council had a say in two potential areas of surplus funds; the debt service and operating income from the theater.
Staff was directed to have the Administration recommend what they would do with surplus funds.
By straw poll, the Council voted to support the Administration’s recommendation to preserve bonding capacity and take longer to pay back the City.
#4. 3:23:04 PM RECEIVE A FOLLOW-UP BRIEFING REGARDING A REQUEST TO AMEND THE ZONING OF THE REAR PORTIONS OF TWO PROPERTIES LOCATED AT 834 AND 836 SOUTH EDISON STREET FROM SR-3 SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT PATTERN RESIDENTIAL TO D-2 DOWNTOWN SUPPORT. The request has been made in order to allow Epic Brewing to expand their brewing operations. The current zoning would only allow residential uses and not allow a brewery or other commercial uses. Although the applicant has requested that the property be rezoned to the Downtown Support (D-2) zone, consideration may be given to rezoning the property to another zoning district with similar characteristics. Petitioner: Epic Brewing LLC,– Salt Lake City Council; Petition PLNPCM2012-00114.
(Item C3) View Attachments
Nick Tarbet, John Anderson, Nick Norris and Paul Nielson briefed the Council with handouts. Mr. Tarbet said Council was interested in Administration pursuing a development agreement with the applicant. He said Council had outlined a landscape buffer, appropriate fencing to deflect lighting from delivery trucks, clear property line delineation, and ensuring the homes were not used to support the business. Mr. Nielson said the deed showed the driveway parcel was owned by R. Wagner Jones and owners of Epic Brewing. He said Mr. Jones indicated he had no problem with the rezoning of the shared parcel as long as he would retain access to the entirety of the parcel.
Councilmember LaMalfa said he wanted another work session to discuss the development agreement before a vote took place. Discussion followed regarding the City’s ability to track and enforce development agreements.
#5. 3:50:35 PM RECEIVE BRIEFINGS ON ITEMS RELATED TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2013-2014 ANNUAL BUDGET. THE BRIEFINGS INCLUDE BUDGET PROPOSALS FOR DEPARTMENTS, SEPARATE FUNDS, AND OTHER BUDGET RELATED ITEMS.
a. Mayor’s recommended budget relating to the Department of Airports for Fiscal Year 2013-2014. View Attachments View Attachments
b. Mayor’s recommended budget relating to the Department of Public Utilities, including the Street lighting, Water, Storm Water and Sewer Utility funds, for Fiscal Year 2013-2014. View Attachments View Attachments
Maureen Riley, Barbara Gann, and John Buckner briefed the Council on the Airport recommended budget and the public engagement program of the terminal redevelopment project with handouts and a slide show.
Discussion followed regarding the number of enplaning passengers, the decrease in ground transportation fees, the status of negotiations with airline agreements, the use of certain materials from the Airport into the new Airport, the integration of the Airport TRAX line, the possibility of changes in future air travel, maintaining successful and easy accessibility and movement through the Airport, the effect of airlines over-booking flights, and the effect of the FAA furlough.
Councilmember Simonsen asked Airport to meet with Sugar House merchants to discuss the terminal redevelopment project.
Lehua Weaver, Jeff Niermeyer, Jim Lewis, and Tom Ward briefed the Council on the Public Utilities recommended budget with handouts and PowerPoint slides.
Discussion followed regarding retirement factors, seasonal employees and the Affordable Care Act, forecasted rate increases, replacement of water and sewer lines, pipes and mains, water breaks, the water shed acquisition fund, and the status on the replacement of burned-out street lights.
Councilmember LaMalfa requested a further briefing in another work session.
#6. 5:00:28 PM REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INCLUDING A REVIEW OF COUNCIL INFORMATION ITEMS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. View Attachments
See file M 13-5 for announcements.
#7. REPORT OF THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.
No discussion was held.
#8. 5:05:04 PM CONSIDER A MOTION TO ENTER INTO CLOSED SESSION, IN KEEPING WITH UTAH CODE § 52-4-204, FOR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES:
a) Discussion of the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual, pursuant to Utah Code § 52-4-205(1)(a); and,
g) A strategy session to discuss deployment of security personnel, devices or systems pursuant to Utah Code § 52-4-205(1(f).
Councilmember Love moved and Councilmember Penfold seconded to go into a closed session for the purposes to discuss personnel issues and security issues. Council Chair LaMalfa called for the question. A roll call vote was taken, which motion carried. All members voted aye.
The meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
This document is not intended to serve as a full transcript as additional discussion may have been held; please refer to the audio or video for entire content.
This document along with the digital recording constitute the official minutes of the City Council Work Session meeting held April 23, 2013.
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