RD’s Moab City Council Meeting Preview 2020-11-10

[Editor’s note: Both Rani Derasary and Mike Duncan have graciously agreed to let MADAR reuse their regular email updates to constituents. Despite the overlap, we are running both versions of the MCC previews. Readers can choose to read both, either or neither of the previews.]

Here is a summary of what’s on our upcoming November 10 City Council agenda, plus some other items of potential interest. The Nov 10 meeting is mostly workshops and presentations, plus two closed sessions, and will include among other things: a presentation on the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) Regional Transportation Plan (many of you may have filled out their online survey recently – as far as I can tell it’s still open), a presentation on CARES Act Funding, potential awarding of the Walnut Lane Invitation for Bids (IFB) contract, and a resolution committing the City to help the County fund years 4-5 of a transit shuttle pilot program – should years 1-3 demonstrate that the program is viable. 

The 125-page packet for Nov 10 can be found here. If you prefer the 3-page agenda only, with links to packet parts, that is here. 

Tuesday, November 10 City Council meeting – 6:00pm workshop + 7:00pm main meeting – online only.

As a reminder of how/why we’re meeting electronically, the agenda notes “Consistent with provisions of the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act, Utah Code Ann. § 54-2-207(4), the Moab City Council Chair has issued written determinations supporting the decision to convene electronic meetings of the Council without a physical anchor location. Due to the health and safety risks related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and considering public health orders limiting in-person gatherings, the Moab City Council will continue to hold meetings by electronic means.” The public is invited and encouraged to view the Council’s meetings live (or after the fact) on the City’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl00z0Zgdmz4y1FoI0l7CJA. 

Citizens to be Heard options: The public can call in to our November 10 meeting, participate via Zoom, or submit written comments on any topic. Please note that if you’re calling or zooming in, you’ll want to do so at 7:00pm on Nov 10, as Citizens to be Heard is now at the beginning of our main meeting agenda. Use the link and/or phone number shown on the agenda here: https://moabcity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11102020-990. If you’d like to submit written comments instead, please fill out the form here before 7:00pm on Nov 10: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSctVokQ-Lj1eMAGSn1ZK1NhSlq0nEEKm-CpgSuUCswPpUOjQw/viewform?gxids=7628.

6:00pm workshop presentation

Update on UDOT Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). Per the agenda summary for this item on page 4 of our packet: “The UDOT Regional Transportation Plan is approximately 60% complete. The workshop will be presented by UDOT’s consultant project manager, John Nepstad of Fehr & Peers. He will present on efforts to date and it will be an opportunity for the City Council to provide input regarding the Plan.” FYI, on the agenda this item just shows as a presentation with no associated motion, but the agenda summary refers to “Discussion and possible action.” Since no action is listed, I’m guessing the latter was just a proofreading oversight. Likewise, the links for the RTP web page and survey on our agenda seem to take you to the City website home page instead; in case it saves you time, the RTP web site is here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c88e2a05a7e64d2ea5a646041d4e7975 and the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/C8CWF59.

7:00pm Main meeting

• COVID-19 Updates (under Administrative Reports portion of agenda). There are no pages in our packet for this item, but often City staff, the Mayor and/or Southeast Utah Health Department or Moab Regional Hospital staff offer an update with the latest information on the pandemic, as well as an opportunity for Council to ask related questions.
• Presentation – CARES Act Funding. There are no pages in our packet about this, but I believe City Manager Linares will be presenting information on where we stand with Act funding to date.
• Walnut Lane IFB award. This is on our agenda as a briefing and possible action. As you may recall, back at our October 13 Council meeting, City Senior Projects Manager Kaitlin Myers delivered to the Council a recommendation from the IFB (Invitation for Bids) Selection Committee, which had reviewed 9 bids we received for the construction, delivery and installation of manufactured housing units to replace several trailers at Walnut Lane. At the October 13 meeting, the Council requested that Myers return with information about equity needs, and how this would fit in the City budget. We’ve since had meetings October 27 and November 4 about phasing options, manufactured vs modular vs stick-built/site-built housing, financing, etc. We’re being asked on November 10 to move forward by awarding a contract for the first 8 units to modular housing contractor IndieDwell, the company the IFB Selection Committee recommended we work with for Phase 1 of the 3 anticipated phases at Walnut Lane. There’s a summary of this on pages 89-90. The packet contains numerous additional related documents as follows: estimated project schedule (p80); project cost estimate/PAD phasing estimate (p81); IndieDwell Phase 1 cost breakdown (p82); draft Phase 1 park utility cost estimate (p83); PAD 15-yr bond & construction loan spreadsheet (p84) + PAD development spreadsheet (p87); sales tax revenue bond amortization schedule (p85) and amortization scheduling tool (p86); a drawing of the phasing plan for Option A (p88); the rankings for the 9 bids we received back inSeptember (p91); and IndieDwell’s IFB proposal and related questions and answers (p92-121).
• Proposed Resolution 44-2020 – a resolution regarding the City of Moab’s commitment to funding years four and five of a “Recreational Hotspot” Transit Shuttle Pilot Program. This item is also on our agenda as a briefing and possible action. The agenda summary on page 122 explains why the City and County are considering making a commitment to jointly fund years 4-5 of the transit shuttle pilot program (a maximum of $500,000/year), should pilot program years 1-3 prove the shuttle to be viable. (Program years 1-3 will be funded by UDOT.) You can read the full resolution on pages 123-124.
• 2 executive (closed) sessions. FYI there are 2 closed sessions scheduled at the end of our meeting. While these are not open to the public, I can tell you one is a “strategy session to discuss reasonably imminent and/or pending litigation,” and the second is “discussion of the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual or individuals.”
  

That’s it for our November 10 City Council meeting, except, aside from what’s listed above, the meeting will contain standard items such as: reports from the Council, Mayor, City Manager and selected staff – this time the Finance, Public Works and Engineering departments; approval of 5 sets of minutes – this time for October 13 (covered on pages 5-24 of our packet), October 20 (p25-52), October 27 (p53-58), October 30 (59-78) and November 4 (p79); Citizens to be Heard (please see Zoom, phone, and form link options for this above – you can make comments on any topic); and payment of the bills. 

Miscellaneous other items

City Hall & some other City facilities to remain closed to the public while Grand County is under the Governor’s High Transmission risk level for COVID-19. See the City’s November 6 press release here. City Communication and Engagement Manager Lisa Church informed the Council last Friday that “Most City facilities will remain closed to the public as long as Gov. Gary Herbert keeps Grand County in the “high transmission risk” level. City staff continue to work, either from their offices or via telecommuting and community members may do business with City departments by calling the appropriate department for help. Those phone numbers are included in the attached news release, which I sent out a few minutes ago to local media. This information will also be posted on the City’s social media and website this morning.”

COVID-19 latest numbers locally – Per the Southeast Utah Health Department (SEUHD) web site Sunday night, Grand County has now had a total of 168 positive COVID-19 cases, 31 of which are active. 1 of these individuals is currently hospitalized. Grand, Carbon and Emery counties all remain at the Governor’s “High” transmission level, the most serious of the three levels (more info on State site here: https://coronavirus.utah.gov. Grand County’s average percent positive tests over the past week is 9.8%, and the number of active cases per 100,000 people is 317.5. Please visit https://www.seuhealth.com/covid-19 for more detail. •

Expanded MRAC hours – In case you missed the Nov 6 posts on City’s Facebook pages, the Moab Recreation and Aquatic Center (MRAC) just announced: “We have extended our hours! We will now be open until 7pm on all days that we are open.”

That’s it for me. I hope you all have a good, safe coming week.

Rani Derasary, Moab City Councilmember