Council Report
by Brian McNary
Sunset in Toquerville by Lori Cole
Well, I drew the short straw for March. As the council breezed through the business items, I was thinking my luck had changed for the better. That thinking left the tracks like an East Palestine freight train when the discussion began on item 8.
The meeting began at 5 PM. Unbeknownst to me, the meeting time had changed due to a closed session regarding land use issues and/or water rights. I did note that because of the agenda’s structuring, there was no time allotted for open, public comment.
A public hearing was listed on a preliminary plat application. There were no speakers. The item was taken up then as part of the business agenda. Thus, in good chronological fashion, my report will start with item 1.
Business Items
Item 1- Widening the roadway to 66 feet to enable the 14,000 auto/truck trips per day that are expected as the 200 acre Solara development begins.
The Solara development is about 2 miles southwest of the parcel of land that was proposed for the now-defunct ARC (Athletic Recreational Complex). It is on the other side of I-15 towards Leeds.
Here’s some additional background. The for-profit ARC was proposed on BLM land, which is what made it legally questionable under federal land use laws. The ARC proposal was for the BLM land to be acquired by Toquerville, and the private parcel would have been acquired by the investment group (Frank Tusieseina and Aaron Tilton) for Zions Landing Resort.
The Solara development is on the private parcel that would have been Zions Landing Resort.
This 200 acres of private (parcel 3151-A-1-HV) can be found on this Utah State Parcels map.
The preliminary plat was approved.
Item 2- Discussion regarding a generator for City Hall. No action taken
Item 3- Discussion and “possible” action on the RFP for legal services. I’d like to offer an opinion and my observations here. An RFP is a Request For Proposals that is noticed and advertised in various ways. It announces a scope and body of work (the project) and solicits bids. It can be written narrowly to minimize applicants or written more generally to attract more applicants. The Toquerville RFP was 5 pages long and asked for 5 years experience along with a number of other qualifications.
Hiring a city attorney is a big deal. City attorneys often act as “defacto” councils when offering advice which is heavily relied on by city staff, council members, and the Mayor. City attorneys are also very expensive.
Selecting an attorney is a process that should be entirely contained within a closed session as qualifications, hourly rates, conflicts of interest, and over all workability are discussed by a group of council members and the Mayor. It is a personnel matter and protects the integrity of the process.
The council/Mayor selected acting attorney, Matt Ekins. It is unclear to me what the hourly rate is but I think it is in the neighborhood of 325 an hr.
Item 4- City cemetery clerk and burial of indigents. Washington County has a plan for this.
Item 5- Waiving floodplain permit fees for Shangri-la residents to connect to Toquerville water. Approved.
Item 6- A $280,000 supplemental agreement for Stanley Engineering for the Toquerville Parkway project. Approved.
Item 7- Change order for 113,984.00 to Landmark Engineering for the Toquerville Parkway Project. Tabled.
Item 8- Grading ordinance amending and restating TCC 10-18B ordinance to modify the grading process.
This was a lively topic that covered, according to my calculations, 1 hr and 53 minutes. Council was discussing the grading of pads, exposing dirt and sand, and developers who simply leave these pads without building anything on them for years. They become an eyesore for residents, subject to wind and water erosion.
I think everyone in the room became involved in this discussion except us. Around the midway point to the end- people became a little irritated. But this is the process. It isn’t always quick or pretty but residents should appreciate the time and the passion the council used here. In the end, the resolution to amend the ordinance passed 3-2 with instructions to change a few items in the ordinance.
The meeting adjourned a little before 9 PM.