•A.     Meeting Called to Order - Invocation by Invitation; Pledge of Allegiance

 

 

               March 2, 2011 work meeting minutes; and

               March 2, 2011 executive meeting minutes

 

 

 

Mayor Wilson: Public Safety, HCAC, Confluence Park, Water, Sewer Board

Jensen: Historical Preservation, Youth City Council, Solid Waste

Justice: Planning Commission, Homeland Security/CERT, Confluence Park, ZC3

Beecher: Beautification, Economic Development, Trails Committee

Stratton: Utah Shooting Sports Park, Public Works, Fire District, Sewer Board, Zoning

Howard: Mosquito Abatement, Recreation, City Festival

 

In compliance with the American with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodations (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) during this meeting should notify Kyle Gubler, City Recorder, (435) 635-2581, at least 48 hours in advance.

The undersigned City Recorder does hereby certify that the agenda was sent to each member of the governing body, sent to the Spectrum newspaper, 

posted on the State website at http://pmn.utah.gov, posted on the LaVerkin City website at www.laverkin.org and at the City office buildings

111 S. Main and 435 N. Main on March 11, 2011

Kyle Gubler, City Recorder

 

Present:  Mayor Karl Wilson; Council-members:  Scott Stratton, Doug Beecher, Phil Jensen, Hugh Howard; Staff:  Kyle Gubler, Lloyd Watkins, Troylinn Benson, Katie Wilson; Public:  Linda Fowler

 

Council-member Ray Justice was excused.

 

•A.    Meeting Called to Order - Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance by Scott Stratton

 

• B. Consent Agenda: (Items on the consent agenda may not require discussion. These items will be a single motion unless removed at the request of the Mayor or City Council.)

 

               March 2, 2011 work meeting minutes; and

               March 2, 2011 executive meeting minutes

 

 

 

 

The Mayor met with Hurricane and made the committee.  The water will be paid by share of use.  Costs have gone down and may renegotiate the contract later to match usage.

 

 

 

Mayor Wilson tasked the staff to look at the ordinance and the fee to see if it is in line.  He told her of other constituents that complain the law is not harsh enough.  He also informed Mrs. Fowler that the animal control contract with Hurricane has been cancelled and LaVerkin will be managing the control starting July 1, 2011.

(Mayor Wilson combined items 1 and 2 together in the same discussion)

 

The filter station needs an enclosed structure to protect the controls.  After speaking with all the council members, Mayor Wilson found they are all in favor of this structure.  He is asking for approval for use of money from the Capital Fund to pay for this.  There was no objection from the council.  If more money is needed he will bring it before the council again.

 

Mayor Wilson asked each Council-member individually if they will approve a raise in taxes.

 

Phil Jensen:  He will not support a tax increase or vote to approve it.  He does not believe it is a good time to be raising taxes and he cannot justify it considering people's finances.

Hugh Howard:  He was of the same opinion as Phil Jensen.  If they must go through the pain of a tax increase then they should make it worth it so they will not have to raise it for the next couple of years.  He will not vote for a tax increase.

Doug Beecher:  He does not want to raise taxes either, but they have already waited to do many projects and he doesn't believe it will be any better next year.  He believes it is a matter of "when" they'll raise taxes and not "if".  He would like to look at each item and make every function run by volunteers only.  He is willing to give up his council wages.  The taxes would raise an average of $60-70 a family and he believes people could find it.  He was willing to raise taxes because they need to find the money somewhere.  Now they need to find a Plan B.  If they don't raise the taxes then he would like to look at each line individually to determine what to reduce.

Scott Stratton:  He was of the same mind as Phil Jensen and Hugh Howard.  He will not vote to raise the taxes.

 

Mayor Wilson stated that La Verkin is a bedroom community.  He reminded the Council that the Cops Grant will go away this year and that Law Enforcement is $420,000/year just for police which is what the citizens wanted.  He also reminded the Council that the Streets have already been put off.  Seal coating the town will take 5-7 years and that does not count the roads that have already deteriorated and need to be replaced.  They've been budgeting $50,000 per year but with the price of oil going up it could take longer.  The street repairs will get them by but they have already lost Silver Acres streets.  Fifteen percent of the city's streets are lost and may change to 40% in the next couple years.  He can cut back in Parks but he doesn't want to go backwards, but to just maintain. 

 

Mayor Wilson has only spoken of the basic services in the General Fund.  He thinks he can maintain what we already have.  He spoke of the fund balance and how he can make the decrease in fund balance work.  He will use some of the surplus to make things work.  The Mayor would like to fix the roof on the white chapel because with a new roof they can make the building last longer.  He will be sending a letter out to the community concerning the transfer of funds ($26,000 from Fund Equity to Administration).

 

The Irrigation Fund was used on the new filter station.  He doesn't believe they budgeted enough on depreciation and it will only buy a couple of years.  The Water Fund carried itself.  And he cannot pull anything from the Drainage Fund.

 

Mayor Wilson will make a few adjustments to the tentative budget and bring it back to the Council.  Council-member Doug Beecher would like to look at it before he brings it to the Council again.

 

 

City Administrator, Kyle Gubler - He passed out the Administration Report to the staff and Council and went through it.

 

Public Safety, Chief Lloyd Watkins - He has put the statistics on the city website.  In the past 2 months, with adult probation and parole, 2 are out of prison for sex offenses and live in La Verkin.  More felons are coming to La Verkin and suggested checking the sex offender registry often for changes and updates.  Mayor Wilson commented that we live in a different time than when the Public Safety budget was only $80,000.

 

Director of Operations, Derek Imlay - Mayor Wilson gave him the night off.

 

      Mayor Wilson took this time to compliment the crew who has worked above and beyond to get the city's irrigation working.  Everyone on staff was pitching in to get it all worked out.

 

Treasurer, Troylinn Benson - there were 98 door hangers and went down to 10 shut-offs this month.  Still haven't heard from 2 of them.  She congratulated Mandi Woods on her wedding.

 

Mayor Wilson: Confluence Park meeting was held today.  They have been working with State Forestry and Fire and getting a lot done. He will be speaking at the Tree City USA luncheon in Springdale in April about the progress in Confluence Park. The Sewer Board meets next week.

Phil Jensen: He spoke about the white chapel and the historical preservation.  He has an idea that they may be able to get funding from grants for the building if it meets certain requirements.

 

Ray Justice: excused from the meeting.

 

Doug Beecher: nothing new to report

 

Scott Stratton: nothing to report

 

Hugh Howard: nothing to report

 

Mayor Wilson spoke a little concerning the House Bill 477.

 

 

Minutes taken on behalf of the City Recorder by Katie Wilson.