The City Council met in Work Session on Tuesday, December 9, 2014, at 5:00 p.m. in Room 326, Committee Room, City County Building, 451 South State Street.
In Attendance: Council Members James Rogers, Luke Garrott, Erin Mendenhall, Lisa Adams, Charlie Luke, Kyle LaMalfa, and Stan Penfold.
Staff in Attendance: Cindy Gust-Jenson, Executive Council Director; Jennifer Bruno, Deputy Council Director; Rick Graham, Public Services Director; Gina Chamness, Finance Director; Lynn Pace, Legal Advisor to the Mayor; Jill Love, Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff; Russell Weeks, Council Senior Policy Analyst; Nick Tarbet, Council Senior Policy Analyst; Alden Breinholt, Public Services Operations Director; Tara Olsen, Public Services Special Projects Coordinator; Michaela Oktay, Planning Manager; Tracy Tran, Principle Planner; and Cindi Mansell, City Recorder.
Councilmember Luke presided at and conducted the meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 5:06 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS
#1. 5:06:40 PM RECEIVE A WRITTEN BRIEFING ABOUT THE GOLF FUND’S LONG-TERM FINANCIAL ISSUES, AND DISCUSS WITH THE ADMINISTRATION POTENTIAL OPTIONS FOR OPERATING SCENARIOS TO HELP MAKE THE GOLF FUND FINANCIALLY SELF-SUSTAINING. View Attachments
No discussion was held.
#2. 5:18:36 PM RECEIVE A WRITTEN BRIEFING ABOUT A PROPOSED INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY FOR CITY PROPERTY AT 929 S. NAVAJO STREET. Currently, the County has a claim on part of the property, which is slated to be developed into a six-unit subdivision. The County also has a claim on property between Emery Street and Navajo Street that has been developed into the 9-line Corridor. Under the Proposal, the County would forfeit their potential ownership to the City for both properties. View Attachments
Councilmember LaMalfa requested this item be moved to a future agenda to allow for a larger discussion. He said he had concerns with future property use or an issue that could prevent title clearance; he suggested this process could also play an important part in that larger discussion.
#3. 5:16:58 PM RECEIVE A WRITTEN BRIEFING ON THE CHANGES THE COUNCIL ADOPTED IN MAY 2014 TO SECTIONS OF THE SALT LAKE CITY ANIMAL CONTROL ORDINANCES THAT GOVERN THE ISSUANCE OF MISDEMEANOR CITATIONS. View Attachments
Councilmember Penfold said he raised the issue last week regarding the issuance of misdemeanor citations and the appropriateness of this method. He said after research and speaking with County representatives who are part of the interlocal agreement, he was comfortable to proceed with the funding that fulfilled the contractual obligations with Salt Lake County. He said there might be an option to further explore whether or not to modify the misdemeanor citation.
#4. 5:07:12 PM INTERVIEW JENNIFER SEELIG PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HER APPOINTMENT TO THE CITIZENS COMPENSATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
Councilmember Luke said Ms. Seelig’s name was on the consent agenda for formal consideration.
#5. 5:39:19 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING FROM THE ADMINISTRATION ABOUT ISSUES AFFECTING THE CITY THAT THE STATE LEGISLATURE MAY ADDRESS DURING ITS 2015 SESSION. The Council will discuss coordination and communication about the City’s Legislative approach, including a follow-up discussion on transportation. View Attachments
Lynn Pace and Russell Weeks briefed the Council from attachments. Mr. Weeks said this could be the last opportunity for the Council to discuss and recommend potential issues for the 2015 Utah Legislative Session. He said the first four policy options on the transportation statement included direction from previous Council discussion. The Council determined to discuss the item on January 6, 2015 prior to the January 12, 2015 Legislative Breakfast.
The Council discussed landlord/tenant issues (inspection) and potential legislation regarding the Good Landlord Program, drive-thru considerations, and prison relocation process and sight elimination updates. Mr. Pace referenced the detailed response provided by Mayor Becker in opposition to the prison relocation sites within Salt Lake City.
Councilmember Mendenhall said a new item to add to the list related to Administrative Rules Review authority and draft legislation regarding oversight being expanded relative to Local Historic Districts as well as emissions testing. Mr. Pace said he became aware of that after the fact but was informed the proposal was to create a state level administration review body that would review claims of improper ordinance application. He clarified all cities have an internal review process and the intent was to insert the state level review between that process and a formal court process. He said the committee conducted vigorous dialogue but did not vote and he would continue to follow the item. Councilmember Mendenhall said this also involved community ability to post signage and expressed concern for inability for those signs to be removed without some type of oversight requirement.
Councilmember Garrott inquired about Utah Transit Authority development near transit stations; he inquired about proposed legislation to require inclusion of income targeted affordable housing elements. Mr. Pace said he was not aware of this issue but would pursue information.
Mr. Pace requested the Council forward items for specific legislative considerations.
#6. 5:35:46 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ON THE PLANNING DIRECTOR’S REPORT TO CONSIDER ESTABLISHING THE YALE PARK LOCAL HISTORIC DISTRICT. Local Historic Districts are designed to maintain the historic character of a neighborhood by protecting historic features and preventing out-of-character alterations. The proposed boundaries of the Local Historic District are generally from the east side of 1300 East to the west side of 1500 East between Gilmer Drive (1000 South) and Yale Avenue (1075 South). View Attachments
If the Council finds the reports complete, the Planning Division will continue with the local historic designation process which includes community outreach, public hearings before the Historic Landmark and Planning Commissions, and an evaluation of property owners’ support. (Petition No. PLNHLC2014-00410)
Nick Tarbet, Michaela Oktay, and Tracy Tran briefed the Council from attachments. Discussion followed regarding the length of the process, with Ms. Oktay stating it had taken time to work through the process and identify issues.
A Straw Poll was conducted with unanimous Council acceptance of the report and to allow Planning to move forward with the Local Historic Designation process.
#7. 5:58:12 PM RECEIVE A FOLLOW-UP BRIEFING REGARDING BUDGET AMENDMENT NO. 1 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014-15. Budget amendments happen several times each year to reflect adjustments to the City’s budgets, including proposed project additions and modifications. This amendment contains a number of proposed adjustments to the Fiscal Year 2014-15 Budget, including funding for: View Attachments
•A pilot program to keep the Downtown Main Library open 24 hours a day;
•Additional police presence Downtown during the holidays;
•Staff to handle increased installation of fiber networks in the City;
•Conversion of Additional City fleet to electric vehicles;
•A program to harvest fruit from local fruit trees;
•Maintenance of protected bike lanes; and
•Purchase of unused golf course property to be maintained as open space.
Jennifer Bruno, Jill Love, and Gina Chamness briefed the Council from attachments.
Discussion followed regarding allocation of additional police funding, how resources would be deployed to address hot spots of citywide crime or where those locations would be, and extension of overtime budget for foot patrol. Ms. Love said Administration preferred the first motion because it provided additional time (three months versus three weeks) to discuss the second motion and to consider budget needs.
Inquiry was raised regarding specifics on what officers would be deployed in what locations, with Ms. Love stating it provides four additional officers, 12 hours a day, on public property in the Rio Grande area. Discussion followed regarding how measures of success could be determined. Ms. Love said the hope was for more patrol during a busy time of year in an area where there were issues/challenges. She said a measure of success would be whether people felt safer, there were fewer complaints, less problems, whether police presence actually reduced illegal activity, and ultimately, whether to include this in the budget long term.
Inquiry was made as to whether the Police Department was fully staffed or had current vacancies. Ms. Chamness said she was unsure but could prepare information for consideration at the next meeting.
Ms. Gust-Jenson clarified without a budget opening the funding could not be continued beyond the proposed three weeks.
Discussion followed regarding the Library 24/7 funding proposal. Councilmember Garrott suggested committing the library to respond on a quarterly basis relative to neighborhood quality of life issues, noise, increased crime, how to measure neighborhood impacts such as trash, or measuring 911 responses. He said this could become an important part of determining whether or not to continue the pilot.
#8. 6:15:39 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ABOUT A PILOT PROGRAM THAT WOULD ENABLE PUBLIC SERVICES TO CLEAR SNOW FROM THE STREET TO THE CURB BY RESTRICTING PARKING ON PRE-DETERMINED CITY STREETS, FOLLOWING HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS. Restrictions would limit parking on certain streets to one side of the street from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. curing a “heavy snow alert,” which the City anticipates may happen two-to-five times a year. The City would provide impacted property owners as much notice as possible during a “heavy snow alert.” View Attachments
Alden Breinholt and Tara Olsen briefed the Council from attachments and a Power Point presentation. Mr. Breinholt discussed the pilot program to solicit additional citizen feedback and input, including visits to community councils as well as collecting feedback from the public on Open City Hall. He said a significant change was to reduce the number of events wherein a restriction would be put in place; previously, there was a restriction any time snow was on the ground and this would help reduce the events from 20-30 annually to 2-5 depending on the season. He said the program would be pilot with no enforcement and many public notices on vehicles, etc.
Discussion followed regarding how residents would receive the heavy snow alert, with Mr. Breinholt stating notice could include mailed postcards, vehicle notices, door hangers, educational outreach, signing up citizens on the alert system (i.e. slcgov.com/snow). The Council discussed how to evaluate the success of the pilot program, how to enforce due to non-compliance, how the project could be expanded if it was successful, how to increase citizen notice sign-ups, what streets were chosen and why, etc. Councilmember LaMalfa expressed concern that the variety of methods would not cause citizens to proactively sign up and opt into communications as well as the need to account for who is signing up and in what location. Mr. Breinholt said Staff had spent less than $3,000 with indirect costs and were trying to make the program as successful as possible using in-house resources.
#9. 6:10:50 PM INTERVIEW THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF THEIR APPOINTMENTS TO THE TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD:
•Jeff Dixon (not in attendance)
•Tyler Fisher
Councilmember Luke said Mr. Fisher’s name was on the consent agenda for formal consideration.
#10. INTERVIEW LISA HARRISON PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HER APPOINTMENT TO THE UTAH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER ADVISORY BOARD.
Item not held.
#11. 6:13:14 PM INTERVIEW JOHN MABEY PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE METRO WATER BOARD.
Councilmember Luke said Mr. Mabey’s name was on the consent agenda for formal consideration.
#12. 6:45:07 PM REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INCLUDING A REVIEW OF COUNCIL INFORMATION ITEMS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. The Council may give feedback or staff direction on any item related to City Council business.
See file M 14-5 for Announcements.
#13. 5:20:28 PM REPORT OF THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.
Discussion was held on how pieces of the Hoberman Olympic Arch were stolen from the City’s storage yard.
Mr. Graham said Engineer David Erickson worked with the City during the dismantling process and was currently conducting an inventory to document what was missing. He said the smaller pieces that could be lifted by Staff have been removed and taken to a warehouse facility; the remaining large pieces that required a crane/hoist to transport would be moved in the near future so that all the materials would be in a locked warehouse. He said according to Mr. Erickson, the missing pieces would probably have to be manufactured but could be replaced. Mr. Graham said the police investigation was ongoing.
The Council expressed concern regarding previous robbery attempts at this location. Mr. Graham said there had been a history of people wanting to retrieve their vehicles from the impound lot and Staff had taken measures to secure fencing, cameras, and lights. He said he felt this location was a secure place. Inquiry was raised as to why the pieces were not considered “art” and better guarded. Mr. Graham said the impound lot was the most accessible location, the arch had been outside in the elements from the day it was built, and Staff honestly felt the location was secure.
The suggestion was made to offer a reward for the pieces to be returned. Mr. Graham said there had been casual discussion with the police investigation but no formal action at this point. Further discussion followed regarding timing to move the pieces, whether or not the press coverage had increased the potential for robbery at this location, etc. Mr. Graham summarized there was probability the parts could be replicated as well as a plan to find a public location and put it back up.
#14. (TENTATIVE) CONSIDER A MOTION TO ENTER INTO CLOSED SESSION, IN KEEPING WITH UTAH CODE § 52-4-205, FOR ANY ALLOWED PURPOSE.
Item not held.
The meeting adjourned at 6:49 p.m.
This document is not intended to serve as a full transcript as other items may have been discussed; 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 December 9, 2014.
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