City Council Minutes 1/5/21

TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
JANUARY 5, 2021

Members Present:
Connie Archibald
Lyle Holmgren
Bret Rohde
Rick Seamons
Lyle Vance
Roger Fridal, Mayor—excused
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Linsey Nessen, City Recorder

CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP

Mayor Pro-tem Holmgren called the January 5, 2021 City Council Workshop to order at 6:02 p.m. The meeting was held in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Mayor Pro-tem Holmgren, Councilmembers Archibald, Rohde, Seamons, and Vance, City Manager Warnke, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Public Works Director Paul Fulgham, and Treasurer Sharri Oyler (arrived at 6:04 p.m. and left at 6:28 p.m.). Also in attendance was Police Sergeant Brian Crockett. Mayor Fridal was excused.

1. Review of items listed on the 7:00 p.m. agenda

In attendance to discuss the parameters resolution of the bond was the City’s bond council Aaron Wade from Gilmore Bell, as well as the City’s municipal advisor on the bond issuance Alex Buxton from Zions Public Finance. Manager Warnke said this is a resolution that sets the upper limits of the bond issuance that the City would consider accepting. Due to the nature of the bonding process and need for a quick turnaround to act on some of the proposals and approve final terms, the Council delegates that authority to a working group. This provides the general framework in which the Council is comfortable authorizing the bond. Members would be Mayor Fridal, Councilmember Vance, and myself. We will keep the Council posted through the process. Engineer Breinholt is in the midst of preparing the construction documents and would like to go out to bid January or February. We hope to award the bid in March and begin construction in April with project completion slated for October. Homeowners would have all of 2022 to connect to the system.

Mr. Wade said under State law the Council is required to adopt a resolution approving the issuance of bonds. The Council approves maximum parameters and establishes designated officers. It goes over the various terms of the bonds, rates, discount, publishing a notice and calling for a public hearing to give citizens a chance to voice their thoughts or feelings on the bond. He then explained what the bond is for, as well as the debt service, and cost of issuance for professional fees associated with the bond. Your appointed officers would select the purchaser and approve all items included in the bond purchase agreement. The actual parameters are that the bond is not to exceed $5 million. We set that higher than anticipate to give flexibility as needed for market conditions. A maturity of 16 years, discounts no less than 98%, the interest rate cannot exceed 3.5% and you can choose how quickly you repay these bonds. The Council will hold a public hearing on February 2, to gain public input on the mater. Lastly, by adopting this resolution, you are not locking yourselves into having to do this. The City could choose not to move forward at any time.

When asked about the interest rate, Mr. Buxton said we anticipate the rate to be below 2%. We will take the lowest that is available and provide multiple banks the opportunity to submit a bid. We will analyze those terms to get the best deal and proceed with someone depending on that review. It will be another month before we can lock something in, but I am preparing a request for bids and will give purchasers two weeks to prepare something. We will do this with the help and direction of the City. As the borrower you have the ability and authority to structure it anyway you want. Manager Warnke said for our last bond we did not pay interest for a year. Mr. Buxton said we could do it that way and defer principal for a year to get things built out. We could even adjust the parameter to 17 or 18 years. We can change any of these parameters very easily. As long as we stay below the maximum we are in good shape.

Councilmember Archibald asked if the bond could only be used for water. Mr. Buxton said it needs to be spent for a specific purpose so whatever the project outlines is what the money has to be spent on. We can keep the language broad so there is some wiggle room within the project. Last time we discussed the bond being $4.8 million, but it was decided to bring $400,000 to the table and trim that down to $4.4 million. I hope citizens realize you are trying to bring it down as low as possible to complete the project. Councilmember Vance asked if we can pay the bonds off quicker. Mr. Buxton said it is doable from a legal and bond side, but it all depends on what terms the bondholder you select provides. That is a discussion we will have to have—how flexible do you want the terms and how much is it worth? Those are decisions the Council will make. As we get those bids and do the analysis, I will put together a summary of those. Manager Warnke said the environment is such that bids might come in high or low. Does it make sense to go through the process of getting bids before we lock into the actual borrowing amount? Mr. Buxton said we have wiggle room, but it does make sense to wait for a firm bid. Most purchases are flexible in adjusting the amount. We do not want to estimate low and then have to redraft. We would set it high and then get it all done in one. I like the option of 17 years if we are delaying payments. However, private purchasers like to see 15 years or less. We can adjust the request for bids to do a 15-year, but also do a 17-year. We will not lock anything in with anyone until the City feels great about what we have. Manager Warnke said last time we tried to make more frequent payments, twice a year in order to keep the interest as low as possible. Mr. Buxton said we can do semi annual payments—two interest payments and one principal payment a year.

2. CLOSED SESSIONS: No closed session was held at this time.

a. Strategy session to discuss the purchase of real property when public discussion of the transaction would disclose the appraisal or estimated value of the property under consideration or prevent the public body from completing the transaction on the best possible terms; and/or
b. Strategy session to discuss the character, professional competence or physical or mental health of an individual; and/or
c. Strategy sessions to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation; and/or
d. Discussions regarding security personnel, devices or systems

The meeting adjourned at 6:59 p.m. by consensus of the Council.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Mayor Pro-tem Holmgren called the January 5, 2021 City Council Meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was held in the Tremonton City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Mayor Pro-tem Holmgren, Councilmembers Archibald, Rohde, Seamons, and Vance, City Manager Warnke, and City Recorder Nessen. Also present was Department Head Public Works Director Paul Fulgham. Also in attendance was Police Sergeant Brian Crockett. Mayor Fridal was excused.

1. Opening Ceremony:

Mayor Pro-tem Holmgren informed the audience that he had received no written or oral request to participate in the Opening Ceremony. He asked anyone who may be offended by listening to a prayer to step out into the lobby for this portion of the meeting. The prayer was offered by Councilmember Vance and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilmember Archibald.

2. Introduction of guests:

Mayor Pro-tem Holmgren welcomed those in attendance.

3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.

4. Approval of Agenda:

Motion by Councilmember Vance to approve the agenda of January 5, 2021. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

5. Approval of minutes – December 15, 2020

Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the minutes of December 15, 2020. Motion seconded by Councilmember Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

6. Years of Service Award

a. Mary Summers, Senior Center – 15 Years

The Council thanked her for her service to the City.

7. Public comments:

Resident Paul Fowler asked about notifications when there are changes in Tremonton. I lived in another community and when they had a change that affected property owners they would get a letter explaining that. I have never seen anything like that here. I know my neighbors and I have not been notified of the pending changes that would greatly affect our home. I know we put legal notices in the paper, but the local newspaper is not really the newspaper anymore and that is not an affective way for people to find things out. I got information for this meeting from BRVNews’ Facebook page, which is more helpful. How do we make sure people get noticed that big changes are coming? I would like to come and listen even if we do not offer an opinion. Manager Warnke said no formal annexation petition has been accepted by the City—it has been filed, but was deficient according to State law. We have talked about it in meetings that they want to do a PID, but the Council has not accepted the petition from the applicant yet. Once the City accepts that it would go to a noticing period. Mr. Fowler said this would change our lives and property values so we wondered why we had not heard from the City. We would like to see what is happening so we can get along better rather than the surprise element.

Resident Daniel Reott addressed several issues with the Council. The parking spaces at Soda Fixx are dangerous I wonder if they should be switched to parallel parking instead. There are potholes in several roads that have not been fixed. That is a cheap and not time consuming thing to do. Flooding of water and sewer systems has damaged several homes, but no compensation is being put into people’s hands that were affected by those things. I, along with other people, have not had our trash picked up because it was not done properly in their eyes. That is laziness and I do not understand why that is happening. There needs to be more snow plows. There have been a lot of accidents due to snow on the road when it could have been taken care of if more snowplows were out. I realize there is a system for people to voice their opinions, but there are a lot of people who feel their opinions do not matter and their voices are not going to be heard because of their position in the hierarchy of things. I used to be a drug addict so I met and spent a lot of time with people who are good, but the system is setup so they cannot even get treatment at the health department unless they have a court order, which means they have to be charged with something first. That bars them from getting treatment unless they are labeled a criminal. Many renters will not rent to those with a criminal background so where does this leave them. I have come here to be a voice for people who feel like they do not have a voice. The Council thanked him for his time and asked him to leave his written comments with Recorder Nessen.

8. City Council Business

a. Discussion and consideration of approving the November Financial Statements

Motion by Councilmember Vance to approve the November Financial Statements. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

b. Discussion and consideration of approving the November Warrant Register

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to approve the November Warrant Register. Motion seconded by Councilmember Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

c. Discussion and consideration of adopting Resolution No. 21-01 adopting the 2020 Bear River Region, Utah Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan

Manager Warnke said this is a regional plan put together through the Bear River Association of Governments and covers three counties (Rich, Cache, and Box Elder). Each entity within those counties has individual sections that relate to hazard mitigations. The plan identifies the hazards along with some working goals and objectives to overcome those. The City is not required to adopt this, but it is important to adopt a plan for purposes of getting pre and post disaster mitigation funds from federal government.

Motion by Councilmember Vance to adopt the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmember Rohde. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

d. Discussion and consideration of adopting Resolution No. 21-02 approving a:
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF TREMONTON CITY, UTAH (THE “ISSUER”), AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF NOT MORE THAN $5,000,000 AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF WATER REVENUE BONDS; FIXING THE MAXIMUM AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF THE BONDS, THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF YEARS OVER WHICH THE BONDS MAY MATURE, THE MAXIMUM INTEREST RATE WHICH THE BONDS MAY BEAR, AND THE MAXIMUM DISCOUNT FROM PAR AT WHICH THE BONDS MAY BE SOLD; PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLICATION OF A NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING AND BONDS TO BE ISSUED; PROVIDING FOR THE RUNNING OF A CONTEST PERIOD AND SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING DATE; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION BY THE ISSUER OF AN INDENTURE, BOND PURCHASE AGREEMENT, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS REQUIRED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH; AUTHORIZING THE TAKING OF ALL OTHER ACTIONS NECESSARY TO THE CONSUMMATION OF THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED BY THIS RESOLUTION; AND RELATED MATTERS.

Councilmember Rohde said we do not want to ask for more than the $4.4 million and ideally we are going after a 15-year agreement. If we need to spend more money to accomplish our goals does that come back to the Council for an approval or is that done by the officers? Manager Warnke said the documents delegate the authority, but Councilmember Vance and Mayor Fridal are there. We would keep you involved in the process and would send out the analysis that Mr. Buxton completes. This just allows us to move forward without holding an official public meeting in order to finalize the term. We have to meet the debt coverage so technically your authorizing permits us to accept terms up to the parameters. Councilmember Rohde said I am uncomfortable with that. I am great with this if we do not have to increase the rates anymore than we have. Manager Warnke said you can set any parameters you want, but time is of the essence and that could delay the process. However, we want you to feel comfortable about how we proceed. It was suggested the Council take this to a public hearing on February 2.

Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the resolution as written. Motion seconded by Councilmember Vance. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – nay, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved by a 4-1 vote.

9. Calendar Items and Previous Assignment

a. Review of calendar: None.
b. Review of past assignment: None.

10. Reports & Comments:

a. City Manager Reports and Comments

1. Update on the status of acquiring properties for City use

Manager Warnke said we did close on a few property transitions that we have talked about in the past. This is the equalization basin for the secondary water system. The next parcel is north of there in the same coordinate, which will be for the storm drain basin and park (5.5 acres). There is also a 30-foot corridor that parallels I-15. It enters into the park along the central canal all the way to Rocket Road. Those transactions are now complete.

b. Development Review Committee Report and Comments: None.
c. City Department Head Reports and Comments: None.
d. Council Reports and Comments

Councilmember Vance asked about the sewer plant. Director Fulgham said it is coming along and things are getting better.

Councilmember Holmgren asked about their policy on snow removal. Director Fulgham said during the big snowstorm our guys were plowing all day. It just gets packed on the road and once it is we need temperatures and tire traffic to help it come loose. We still have some issues with parking on the road during snow removal.

Councilmember Rohde gave an update on the issues at West Liberty Foods as it relates to residents nearby. He said they put new paneling up where that fire happened and the noise is a lot quieter now. I hope they will address the other issues this spring.

11. CLOSED SESSIONS: No closes session held at this time.

12. Adjournment.

Motion by Councilmember Vance to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by Councilmember Seamons. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Holmgren – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.

The meeting adjourned at 7:51 p.m.

The undersigned duly acting and appointed Recorder for Tremonton City Corporation hereby certifies that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes for the City Council Meeting held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.

Dated this 19th day of January, 2021.

Linsey Nessen, City Recorder

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