The City Council met in Work Session on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. in Room 326, Committee Room, City County Building, 451 South State Street.
In Attendance: Council Members Lisa Adams, Erin Mendenhall, Stan Penfold, James Rogers, Luke Garrott, Charlie Luke, and Kyle LaMalfa.
Staff in Attendance: Cindy Gust-Jenson, Executive Council Director; Jennifer Bruno, Executive Council Deputy Director; David Everitt, Mayor’s Chief of Staff; Margaret Plane, City Attorney; Lynn Pace, Mayor’s Senior Advisor; Debra Alexander, Human Resources Director; Jodi Langford, Human Resources Program Manager; David Salazar, Human Resources Program Manager; Nick Tarbet, Council Policy Analyst; Michaela Oktay, Planning Manager; Everett Joyce, Senior Planner; Jeff Snelling, City Engineer; Paul Nielson, Appointed Senior City Attorney; Nora Shepard, Planning Director; Lehua Weaver, Council Policy Analyst; Sean Murphy, Council Policy Analyst; Mary DelaMare-Schaefer, Community and Economic Development Deputy Director; Maureen Riley, Department of Airports Director; Marco Kunz, Assistant City Attorney; Dave Korzep, Airport Operations Superintendent; and Nicole Smedley, Assistant City Recorder.
Guests in Attendance: Connie Linardakis, Citizen's Compensation Advisory Committee Chair.
Councilmember Garrott presided at and conducted the meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 2:09 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS
#1. 2:08:59 PM RECEIVE A WRITTEN BRIEFING ABOUT A RESOLUTION THAT WOULD EXTEND THE DEADLINE FOR A PROPERTY OWNER TO MEET THE CONDITIONS SET FORTH IN ORDINANCE 18 OF 2013 PURSUANT TO PETITION NO. PLNPCM2011-00203. The property owner requested a zoning change in 2012 for properties located at 545 and 555 West 500 North, which the Council granted with certain conditions, including completing street improvements in order to dedicate a street to the City. The applicant for those zoning amendments is requesting a 12-month extension in order to obtain financing and satisfy the conditions of the ordinance. (Petitioner – Marie Ginman)(Item G2)
Written briefing/no discussion was held.
#2. 2:09:15 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING FROM CONNIE LINARDAKIS, CHAIR OF THE CITIZEN'S COMPENSATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE CCAC'S 2015 ANNUAL REPORT. The report includes information and recommendations pertaining to the compensation levels of the City's employees, executives, and elected officials, and is presented for consideration each year during the City's budget review process. View Attachments
Connie Linardakis, Jennifer Bruno, Debra Alexander, Jodi Langford, and David Salazar briefed Council from attachments. Discussion included wage benchmarks that were above/below market; 3% merit increases for outstanding performers; pay for performance environment; not looking at local market data for Police; homeless services being unique to Salt Lake City Police/Firefighter positions; Regional survey for Police/Firefighters; fighting fires in high-rise buildings being unique to Salt Lake City; gender equality; Union’s; compensation package; communicating the value of the entire package to the City’s employees via pay stubs; and an assessment of living wage.
Council requested the number of minimum wage employees employed by the City. Ms. Alexander said she would return with that information.
Straw Polls:
•Support of a living wage analysis next year. All Council Members were in support.
•Support to explain in detail pay for performance implementation strategies in next year’s report. All Council Members were in support except Councilmember Luke who was opposed.
Councilmember Luke expressed concern about quantifying performance in certain positions. Ms. Linardakis said pay for performance is not going to be in every department, only departments where goals can be set.
•Support for police/fire survey to include analysis of job complexity including a discussion with Union representatives to determine criteria up front. All Council Members were in support.
•Council support to revise paystubs to include transparency regarding total compensation including benefits package. All Council Members were in support.
#3. 3:05:00 PM RECEIVE A FOLLOW-UP BRIEFING REGARDING THE PROPOSED STANDARDS FOR GROUND MOUNTED UTILITY BOXES PURSUANT TO PETITION NO. PLNPCM2014-00193. The new standards are designed to provide reliable utility services to the community while also ensuring that the aesthetic quality of the City is preserved. The proposal would streamline the approval process for boxes located on private property, in alleys and smaller boxes in park strips. Related provisions of Title 21A, Zoning, may also be amended as part of this petition. (Petitioner- Mayor Ralph Becker)(Item D2) View Attachments
Nick Tarbet, Michaela Oktay, Everett Joyce, Jeff Snelling, Nora Shepard, and Paul Nielson briefed the Council with attachments.
Discussion was held on changes made by the Administration (see Attachment B-Page 2) based on Council discussion/requests from a prior meeting. Discussion was held on utility box esthetics/leveling. A majority of the Council was in support of requiring utility boxes to be level within 15%.
Councilmember Adams suggested requiring contact information/phone numbers on boxes and encourage ad campaigns to advise people to call and report issues/damage.
Discussion was held on special exception criteria found in Section 21A.40.160(F)(2)(b) regarding submitting evidence that showed why “another location” was not practical to provide service. A majority of the Council felt the language needed to be better defined/tightened to require utility providers to show why a chosen location was the only practical option and exhibit evidence why larger boxes were necessary.
Discussion was held on identifying/capturing existing facilities that may not have gone through a permit process. Mr. Snelling said his department was in the process of researching/inventorying every box located in the public right-of-way. He said the process included owner identification and condition assessment. Council Member’s comments included requiring utility owners to provide a complete infrastructure inventory, find better uses for City resources than driving around looking for utility boxes, and the potential to require all boxes not captured by a permit to go through the current permit process.
A majority of the Council was in favor of the Administration’s recommended changes with the exception of the following which needed to be pulled for further discussion/review: annual inspection/inventory reporting requirements, potential clarifications to “special exceptions review standards”, incentivizing smaller boxes, post-installation obligations, potential to require permit renewals/amortization (timeframe to be determined), and notifying requirements relating to adjacent property owners when installations were proposed on private property.
Councilmember Garrott said this was on the formal agenda for
consideration.
#4. 4:33:03
PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING AND DISCUSS THE
NEXT STEPS FOR THE 2015 PRIORITIES IT ESTABLISHED AT ITS RECENT PLANNING
WORKSHOP. The priorities are:
•capital improvements;
•economic development;
•the City’s urban forest;
•impact fees; funding for the goals and projects in the West Salt Lake Master Plan; and
•exploring bonding options for recreation needs in the City - this would include improvements that are needed in parks, golf courses, trails, and other open spaces. View Attachments
Lehua Weaver, Jennifer Bruno, Sean Murphy, Amber McClellan, Nick Tarbet, Nora Shepard, and Mary DeLaMare Schaefer briefed the Council with attachments. Comments included Council approval of how staff would divide projects, workload issues, Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects, funding/process changes, define meaning of CIP projects/plans, West Salt Lake Master Plan implementation, economic development strategy, General Obligation Bond process/ballot, Urban Forestry priorities, impact fee issues/study, and inter-related responsibilities between Council/Administration.
Discussion was held on the Urban Forestry component/priority. Councilmember Penfold said he was interested in how to restore/increase funding during the budget process (long-term mechanism) and a legislative component regarding requiring commercial plantings (potentially through ordinance) in City developments. Councilmember Mendenhall said the Council needed to convey its idea/intentions for this priority to the Administration. Additional comments included to plant more trees than were being removed, Administration wish-list, tree inventory, significantly increase requirement for landscaping/trees for commercial/residential developments, potential urban forestry commitments to open space, long-term funding, fee option/tax assessment funding, Citywide asset, potential to use impact fee/bond funding for trees, part of reinvestment in redevelopment project areas should be tree plantings, long-term commitment, maintenance/infrastructure issues, support for large canopy trees, potential for fruit trees/urban food, partnerships, educational opportunity, outdoor education, provide input on guiding policy document, create Council sub-committee to work with Administration, and increase on staff workload. Ms. Bruno said staff could send suggestion/comments to the Administration which could at least get conversations started. Councilmember Garrott asked if Council Members supported that suggestion. No objections were raised.
Discussion on the Westside Master Plan included framework for general plan implementation, create new processes, rezoning issues, identify funding resources, coordinate with Administration, use Redevelopment Agency (RDA) in plan implementation, develop effective mechanism in communicating during implementation process, determine priorities, dedicate resources in a concentrated area, and systematic plan implementation.
Discussion on economic development included develop strategic plan, give policy statement to Enterprise SLC, opportunity to research development trends in warehouse industry, successful neighborhood nodes/clusters, return on investment for types/sizes of industry, market analysis, best practices study, strategic plan, and potential for Council direction/input. A majority of the Council was in favor of having Enterprise SLC work with the community to prepare a report for Council with the understanding that Council would be ready to respond. (potentially July or August).
Discussion on CIP and General Obligation bonding included Council Member participation in district-wide plans (resources needed), bond proposal driven by Administration, opportunity for Council input early in process, build community-wide coalition to ensure success, involve potential users from the beginning/community engagement strategy, intense staff workload/resources, obtain Administration’s engagement strategy, include CIP/Masterplan outlines, and provide inventory of projects to be presented to public.
Discussion on staff workload included desire to be proactive rather than reactive, not to over-promise and under-deliver, lost efficiency bouncing from project-to-project, dedicate time for bond through October, Council’s base workload, impact of urgent items, existing versus new priorities, identify unnecessary items that could be removed from task list, eliminate staff analysis of some planning transmittals, potential to link/process items together, lethal force issues, prosecution of sexual assault cases, Council audit, apartment licensing/inspection program, franchise/digital divide initiative, campaign finance reform, determine allocation of staff resources, housing issues, air quality, outsource workload, add staff, and clearly define tangible outcomes. Ms. Gust-Jenson said council feedback/direction was needed on many of the items listed above.
Discussion was held on prioritizing the 101 proposals identified on the Council’s priority list. Councilmember LaMalfa suggested forming sub-committees to clearly define tangible completion steps for each project; those without tangible steps would be removed from the list. He said the Chair and Vice Chair could then choose which items would be worked on and which ones would be deferred.
Councilmember Luke suggested having Council Members chose ten projects from the list (after removing the top six) and then work on the three with the most votes. He said remaining items could be referred to a sub-committee for further refinement. A straw poll was taken on Councilmember Luke’s suggestion of choosing 10 items from the list (items 7 thru 101) with a majority of the Council in favor. Councilmember Garrott said additional discussions would be scheduled to discuss process/priorities.
#5. 4:10:48 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ON PLAN SALT LAKE, A CITYWIDE MASTER PLAN DESIGNED TO CREATE HIGH LEVEL POLICIES AND VISION THAT WILL GUIDE THE COMMUNITY FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS. (PETITION NO. PLNPCM2011-00682) View Attachments
Item removed.
#6. 6:08:36 PM HOLD A DISCUSSION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION THE EFFECTS OF RECENT LEGISLATION ON THE FUTURE OF GROUND TRANSPORTATION SERVICE IN SALT LAKE CITY. The briefing will include discussion on termination agreements between the City and two taxi cab service providers. View Attachments
Maureen Riley, Marco Kunz, Dave Korzep, David Everett, Larry Bower, and Margaret Plane briefed the Council with a PowerPoint presentation and attachments. Comments included taxi staging area/queue, potential fee for user access, control dwell time/access on airport property, information booths, limited complaints, new State legislation/implications, on-demand service, no contracted service providers, provide Citywide service, transportation network companies regulated by State, City still allowed to regulate transportation providers accessing airport, insurance limits set by State on all ground transportation providers, potential ordinance amendment, potential recommendations from Administration, de-regulated market, May 15 statute implementation, evaluate public accessibility needs/concerns, track specific airport providers, market disruptions, be prepared to take action after evaluation period, cost/equity issues, continued need for taxi companies, and existing ADA service providers.
Councilmember Garrott asked when the Administration might come to the Council with potential recommendations. Mr. Everitt said barring an emergency, they would continue to evaluate the market including impacts of the new State law and potentially come to the Council in 9-12 months. Council Members expressed interest in having the Airport collect data on citations/trip numbers on various service providers such as Uber & Lyft, taxi companies, limousines, shuttles, etc., provide a list of officially registered providers, offer customers various modes (text, FaceBook, etc.) to provide feedback, ensure ADA accessibility Citywide at equal costs, and utilize “Secret Shopper” program to add a fare survey component.
#7. 6:39:21 PM INTERVIEW COLLEEN KUHN PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HER APPOINTMENT TO THE PUBLIC UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE. (Item H2)
Councilmember Garrott said Ms. Kuhn’s name was on the Consent Agenda for formal consideration.
#8. 6:41:48 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 15-5 for announcements.
#9. REPORT OF THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.
No discussion was held.
#10. (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 6:58 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 March 24, 2015.
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