2020-09-17 Moab City Council Special Meeting Preview

Good afternoon all. I just got an email that the City Council will have a special meeting September 17 related to the work the Arches Hotspot Coordinating Committee has been doing, so I wanted to pass that on, along with a few additional items that may be of interest.

Thursday, Sept 17 special City Council meeting – 12noon-1:00, online only

This 34-page meeting packet just posted here. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but wanted to give you a heads up in case you want some time to review it. The agenda says the meeting will be a “Council Review and Discussion of Arches Hotspot Coordinating Committee’s Draft Off-Main Street Parking Concept” and comprises 2 items:

1) Off-Main Street Parking Concept Presentation – City Engineer Chuck Williams; and

2) Presentation of Survey Results – Communications and Engagement Manager Lisa Church.

I don’t see a Citizens to be Heard agenda item for this particular meeting (presumably as it’s a short meeting and discussion), but as ever you can email the Council with any related input at city-council@moabcity.org. You should be able to tune into the September 17 meeting on the City YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl00z0Zgdmz4y1FoI0l7CJA. 

Other Items

West Nile found in Grand County.  In case you missed this, per the Southeast Utah Health Department (SEUHD) Facebook page Sept 8: “Grand County, UT – West Nile virus has been found in a mosquito trap near the North end of Moab. Please take extra precautions while outdoors by using mosquito repellent, wearing long sleeves and pants, and making sure to have good window screens or use a screened tent if sleeping outside.” SEUHD posted a press release with this, which I will attach below. 

Update on MRAC pools. Several of you had inquired with City Council and City staff about the possibility of the Moab Recreation and Aquatic Center (MRAC) keeping the outdoor pool open longer. I wanted to let you know that we did discuss extending the dates the outdoor pool remains open, as well as more lap swim at our last (Sept 8) Council meeting. To that end, FYI Council got this update email Sept 9 from Assistant City Manager Castle: “We are able to extend the outdoor lap swim to the end of September. I want to thank Stacie Sheets and Patrick Baril for working to accommodate this request, and I hope this helps with some of the constituent concerns the Council has received. I have cc’d Lisa so that we can advertise this on our City webpages.” Thanks to all who made that possible!

FYI the Council meeting conversation September 8 covered several aspects of the aquatic center (indoor & outdoor pools, outdoor pool staying open through September, added indoor lap swim in October – if I understood correctly, and associated costs – worth listening to to better understand costs), so let me give you that link so you can listen to it yourselves. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEoMa60ax4g and you’ll want to scroll to the 1-hour, 13-minute, 30-second mark (1:13:30) to get to the segment on this, which occurred while we were discussing the bills. (MRAC-related discussion went on about 10 minutes, until 1:23:15 mark.)
If helpful, here’s a post from the City’s main & MRAC Facebook pages on the Fall 2020 schedule, posted Sept 9 I believe: “Beginning tomorrow, the MRAC will be implementing new hours for Fall 2020. The major changes will be extended lap swim times most days and a 3:15 start for open swim on most days. The new hours will be: • Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday: Mid-day lap swim 11:00-2:30, Open Swim 3:15-6:00; • Sunday: Mid-day lap swim 11:00-1:30, Open Swim 2:00-5:00.” That post included a graphic with the schedule, which I’ll attach as well.

Latest info from Chamber. In case you aren’t yet on the Moab Chamber of Commerce’s email update list please consider these items in their latest email. As a reminder, contact Chamber Director Laici Shumway to get added to her email list at: director@moabchamber.com. Chamber’s FB page: https://www.facebook.com/MoabChamber/

• Shop in Utah grant funding opportunity (act fast!). It looks like you likely need to act today on the grant.
• UDOT highway widening update
• Grand County’s small area plan survey for 313/19.