8 25 2009 Monroe City Council Meeting Minutes

Written by Emalee Curtis

MINUTES

MONROE CITY COUNCIL MEETING

AUGUST 25, 2009

7:30 p.m.

1. Mayor R. Kirt Nilsson

The regular meeting of the Monroe City Council was called to order by Mayor R. Kirt Nilsson at 7:30 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Council member Troy Torgersen. Prayer was offered by Treasurer Allison Leavitt.

The minutes of the August 11, 2009 city council meeting were reviewed. A motion was made by Council member Monroe seconded by Council member Ogden to approve the minutes of August 11, 2009 city council meeting with the following corrections. All were in favor. Motion carried.

Minor grammar corrections on pages 1,2, and 3

The minutes of the July 14, 2009 city council meeting were reviewed. Page 7 had not been revised so minutes were tabled until next meeting.

The minutes of the July 28, 2009 city council meeting were reviewed. A motion was made by Council member Monroe seconded by Council member Torgersen to approve the minutes of the July 28, 2009 city council meeting. All were in favor. Motion carried.

Present:

Mayor R. Kirt Nilsson

Council members: Troy Torgersen, Warren Monroe, Lamar Ogden, Ed Oldroyd

City Treasurer Allison Leavitt

City Public Works Devin Magleby

Council member Jean Vigil and City Recorder Emalee Curtis were excused from tonight’s meeting.

Citizens:

Valyn Leavitt- Central Utah Health Dept.

Chad Hunt- Richfield Reaper

Doug Gadd

2. Citizen input

Buddy Qualls, Utility Board Chairperson, reported tonight on business conducted during the Utility Board Meeting tonight.

For the past few meetings the board has been discussing and reviewing the cost of the filtered water that is delivered to the South Monroe Culinary Water Company. A tour of the treatment plant was given by Water Superintendent Rodney Wanlass and Public Works Director Devin Magleby to board members and Mathew Mills. The purpose of the tour was to explain how the plant works and how much water is being treated. Then a review of this years operating expenses for the plant was done and presented to the board. The cost per thousand gallons was about 15 cents for fiscal year ending 6/30/2009, and this is what we are currently charging them. Therefore, the board decided to leave the rate as is and we will review costs in August following the end of each fiscal year. If costs have changed then a rate change will be discussed and acted on.

3. Business

(A) Valyn Leavitt - Sevier County Substance Abuse Project

Valyn has come here tonight to inform the city of the upcoming Sevier Valley Substance Abuse Conference that will be held September 12, 2009 at the Sevier Valley Events Center. The Sevier Valley Substance Abuse Coalition is concerned about the increasing drug, alcohol, and pornography abuse. Especially the abuse of prescription drug, this is on the rise in our community.

This year’s conference will consist of an adult session in the morning and a youth’s session in the afternoon. A Richfield’s Got Talent contest will be held, a family concert, as well as a dance later that evening.

Ms. Leavitt is asking for the support of our City Council with this program. Council agreed that this is a worthwhile program and will include the flyers and information about the up coming conference in the city newsletter, which will be sent out the first week in September.

(B) Newsletter articles

Those wanting an article in the newsletter should have them to Allison by August 31^st. Council member Torgersen would like past eagle projects recognized. This will be done, along with a standing article in future newsletter to acknowledge current eagle projects.

The above documents were approved and signed by members of the council.

4. Staff reports

Public Works Superintendent Magleby reported that he has been in contact with Hales Sand and Gravel about work on the parking lot next to the library that was damaged by Valley Builders during construction to the elementary school. Layne Torgerson from Hales Sand and Gravel felt like we could patch but then do a complete overlay of the parking lot. As soon as Devin hears back from Layne with a quote he will contact Valley Builders and see what can be worked out.

Raymond Jensen currently owns a lot in the Hot Springs subdivision. His lot is located on 420 E, before he can obtain a building permit the road needs to be brought up to city standards. He is asking for permission to meet the standards of the current road instead of today’s standards. Council members Monroe and Torgersen feel like today standards must be met. These standards have been put into place and to deviate from them here and there would be a mistake. Magleby will contact Mr. Jensen and inform him of the council’s decision.

5. Department business - reports and concerns - Law enforcement concerns

Department reports:

Council member Ed Oldroyd - Streets Department - Weeds - Equipment

Oldroyd and Magleby went for a ride around town to see if the extensive weed spraying that Green Valley Lawn Care was hired to do was working. It appears that it is working and worth the extra expense. Different kinds of spray have been used in different areas and it appears that sureguard has worked the best on puncture weeds. There is an ongoing problem of rocks in our intersections, the broom that we have used on the bob cat seems to work well. This summer we have leased a broom, Devin will look into the cost of purchasing a broom.

There were two leaks detected last week to the penstock these have both been repaired and taken care of.

Questions were asked if when Devin did the future road map for the county if 300 E was extended to the canyon road. Devin will check on this and report to council at next meeting.

Council member Lamar Ogden - Water Department - Irrigation Department - Garbage - Landfill

Ogden had a meeting on the irrigation project. Darren Robinson, from Jones and DeMille, asked contractor Ron Foster about problems concerning time frame with the project. Mr. Foster assured those of us at the meeting the deadline would be met. Project inspector from Jones and Demille, Jason Brown, met with the contractor and stated that they are making some headway. The work is slow but they are progressing and appear to be doing a good job. Mr. Foster stated he could bring in additional help to speed the project along but this would cost the city more money. Council member Torgersen, stated this is not how it works, if the project is not completed on time then the contractor will pay liquidated damages that are set in the contract.

Rod Wanlass, Water Superintendent, has been concerned that communication for scheduling of where they were going to be working next for blue staking purposes has not been very good, however, it seems to be getting better and he does not feel like he is being jerked around as much.

Council member Jean O. Vigil - Library Department - Utility Board - Fire Dept. - Sr. Citizens

No business tonight.

Council member Warren Monroe - Electric Department - Mosquito Abatement

Monroe shared information on an article he read about IPP being selected as one of five electric companies located in United States and Canada to do a study on carbon capture emissions from coal fired plants. This could mean power cost increases.

Reported on the UAMPS annual member meeting at Midway, he just recently attended. Points of interest he would like to share with the council are as follows.

* World wide oil discoveries are only 1/3 of what we need. Worldwide and U.S. oil production is declining.

* More & More of the oil is heavy sour oil, costs more to produce & refine. Natural gas is a good fuel for generation. (Our best bet for now and in future, however can Natural Gas supplies keep up)

* Power generation has gone down since 2006, due to cooler summers. 2000 cool, 2002 hotter, 2004 cooler, 2006 hotter, and 2008 cooler.

* CO2 is not the only green house gas. Carbon capture is expensive.

* Efficiency improvement in generation has a cost, but also a benefit. Most net results are positive.

* Many states now pay a premium price for power, their % increase for new regulations is small, as compared to our %. Our average cost is now @ 6 cents kwh, with new regulations it could go to 10.5 cents kwh.

* Electric mass transit is more economical than gas, as well as cleaner, but we will need more generation capacity. The savings in gas will pay for more power plants, and new technology is critical. Energy storage technology is important for our future. Nuclear generation is critical for electric transit.

* Geothermal heat pumps to heat/cool buildings is up and coming. Buildings are the single largest users of power in the U.S. Residential 60%, Commercial 40%.

* Ground source heat pumps cost more going in, but long term energy saving can be worth it. Each site differs in drilling through rock more expensive than excavation.

* U.S. population 5% of the world, but we use 30% world resources, and generate 30% of waste. Conservation is critical to sustain ability. (Recycling works)

* Large scale hydro generation is pretty well built out. Optimize all resources and conserve, conserve, conserve.

* Nuclear power has high up front costs, mostly permitting costs and time, also water usage is a concern. Rocky Mtn. area will need more generation by 2015 to 2017. Educate the public.

* Bob Bennett wants 100 new nuclear generating plants by 2020. Governor Herbert wants a balanced resource mix, including nuclear.

* Sustainability of public power requires good planning and follow through.

* Maintain a healthy balance sheet for your utility, and always look to the future.

Ted Rampton- from UAMPS feels we need to educate our representatives on our feelings with the climate control change bill they feel like this is not good for our country. Allison will send the attachment from this email to each of you so that you can read through it and decide if you feel like we as a council should insert the city name and send it to our representatives in Washington.

Daniel went to a conference on light efficiency, Warren has not had a chance to visit with him since he returned for an update on that meeting. But would like to ask Devin what was ever decided on the lighting for the tennis courts, Devin would like to talk further with Daniel but was with the understanding that what we have is not adequate. Because of cost maybe, we can do one-half one year and the other the next.

Council member Troy Torgersen - Parks Department - Cemetery Department - Planning Commission

Torgersen asked Devin about the GIS equipment that was possibly for sale. Devin told him that it fell through the people who had it decided not to sell.

Began discussion on adding to our community center a gym, such as what Annabella City’s. We may not be able to do one big project, but maybe on a smaller basis we could accomplish this.

The Cert Trailer is being built and should be here soon.

Local baseball league has asked for help in installing a home run fence for the north field. Troy informed council that the city would purchase the fencing and poles. He will follow up with Emalee on this.

Mayor R. Kirt Nilsson - General administration

Public Power will be held on September 14, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at the Mountain View Park. Representative from the Neighborhood Watch will be there with a table set up to distribute information concerning their program. Asked Troy to reserve UDOT’s barbeque grill for use in cooking hamburgers and hotdogs.

6. Adjournment

A motion was made by Council member Ed Oldroyd seconded by Council member Warren Monroe to adjourn. All were in favor. Meeting adjourned.

Approved this 8^th day of September, 2009

_________________________________

Emalee H. Curtis, City Recorder

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