RD’s Moab City Council Meeting Preview 2021-05-25

[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.]

Our next City Council meeting is this coming Tuesday, May 25. Please note the Council is meeting in person at City Hall again. That said, I shall personally apologize for not being there in person: I will be attending via phone as I am out of town helping my mom with a move. A summary of what’s on the agenda follows.

Tuesday, May 25 City Council meeting – 7:00pm, in person at City Council Chambers, 217 E Center Street, Moab). Please note that you are welcome to attend this meeting in person at City Hall; masks and social distancing are required. Should you prefer to follow the meeting online, please tune in live (or after the fact) on the City’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/MoabCityGovernment.The 342-page packet for May 25 can be found here: https://moabcity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05252021-1042?packet=true. If you prefer the 3-page agenda only, with links to packet parts, that is here: https://moabcity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05252021-1042. 

Here is a breakdown of what’s on the May 25 agenda:

Citizens to be Heard (CTBH). With the return to in-person Council meetings, you are welcome to come to City Hall at 7:00pm May 25 to speak in the Council Chambers as you used to. If you’d prefer to submit written comments for CTBH, please fill out the form found here prior to 7:00pm on May 25:https://bit.ly/citizenstobeheard. Please limit written comments to 400 words.

Key administrative and department reports. I usually just note this at the end of my meeting minutes, but as there appear to be some related packet pages this time, I wanted to point out that at the May 25 meeting it looks like we’ll be getting updates from: the Acting City Manager, Engineering department, Finance department,and City Attorney. Our packet includes standard financial reporting, presumably from Finance Director Billingsley, capturing: the first quarter of our 2020-2021 budget year (our year runs July to June, so 7/1/20 to 9/30/20, covered on pages 4-45 of our packet); then the first half of the year (pages 46-87, covering 7/1/20 to 12/31/20); and then the first three quarters of the year (pages 88-129, covering 7/1/20 to 3/31/21). Per the agenda, the City Attorney will speak about ebikes. 

Approval of a special event permit for Scots on the Rocks (SOTR). This item is on our agenda as a briefing and possible action. Many of you may have attended this event in past years in November at the Old Spanish Trail Arena. Event organizers have applied to hold it this year at the City ballfields, on September 17-19. Please see extensive details on packet pages 130-172. As noted in the agenda summary, the City Council reviews new “Level II” events, which this one qualifies as, given that it expects to draw more than 200 attendees per day.

Proposed Ordinance 2021-11: adopting the Pay Plan Schedule and Appointed/Exempt and Elected Salaries. The Council held a public hearing on this ordinance at our last meeting, and it’s now on the May 25 agenda as a briefing and possible action. As explained on page 173, each year compensation ranges for City staff, plus the salaries of appointed and elected officials, are set via ordinance. The associated ordinance is on page 174. The proposed pay plan, which includes a 1.8% Cost of Living Increase (COLA), is on pages 175-176 (and apparently duplicated on pages 178-179). Page 177 (duplicated on page 180), lists salaries for the Mayor and Council, and what Planning Commission members are paid for attending their meetings.

Letter of Support for the 2050 Moab & Spanish Valley Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) dated May 4, 2021. The agenda summary on page 181 explains that UDOT (the Utah Department of Transportation) is requesting letters of support from agencies who participated in the generation of this RTP. The RTP itself spans from pages 182-260, should you be interested in reviewing that. The draft letter of support is on page 268. Note that appended to the City’s letter is the City’s March 2021 Resolution 08-2021, stating the City’s position on bypass alignments and support for pursuing alternative tools for downtown Main Street traffic mitigation (pages 269-272, apparently duplicated on pages 261-264). Grand County’s similar resolution asking for removal of the Moab bypass from the RTP recommended project list is on pages 265-267. A vote on the City’s letter of support to UDOT is on the Council’s agenda for May 25.

Award of a drilling contract to Beeman Drilling for Replacement Well #12. Pages 273-275 explain that the number one priority project in the City’s culinary water fund Master Plan and Rate Study is replacement of an old well dubbed Well #4. Apparently Well #4 has not been used for years, was old, shallow and drilled using old technology. Our recent Culinary Water Bond budget included funds for replacement, thus the City recently invited bids from contractors interested in drilling the new well. The lowest of three received bids came from Moab’s Beeman Drilling, and staff is recommending that Council vote to approve the drilling contract to Beeman on Tuesday, in the amount of $318,720.

Proposed Ordinance 2021-06: an ordinance approving a Zoning Map Amendment for property located at Parcel #01-0001-0173, approximately 398 Kane Creek Blvd, Moab UT 84532, amending the subject parcel zone from RA-1 Residential-Agricultural Zone, to R-3 Multi-Household Residential Zone. This is another item on our agenda as a briefing and possible action. The applicant is requesting rezoning this near-10-acre parcel from RA1 to R3. You can read about this item in detail on pages 276-331, which include: an agenda summary offering more background and an explanation about related sewer issues; the draft zone change ordinance; associated maps, including one showing surrounding current zoning; comments submitted to the Planning Commission’s May 13 public hearing; and the City’s related RA1, R3 and PUD (planned unit development) code.

Interlocal Cooperation Agreement (ILA) between Utah County and Moab City for the administration of the 2021 Municipal Election. Council will be briefed on this May 25 and we’re being asked to vote on the referenced ILA. As you may recall, Council has been getting briefed on “ranked choice voting” and whether we would like to join communities in Utah trying it out as a pilot for our next City election (November 2021). As the Grand County Clerk does not currently have the ability to run an election including ranked choice voting, we’ve been considering partnering with Utah County to do the City’s fall election. From what we’ve been told, partnering with them this time will be cheaper than holding a conventional election via Grand County. Please see packet pages 332-342 for more information.

Executive (closed) Session. While this part of the meeting will be closed to the public, I can tell you it will be a discussion of the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual or individuals.

That’s it for our May 25 City Council meeting, except that aside from what’s listed above, the meeting will contain standard items such as reports from the Council and Mayor, and payment of the bills. 

I usually add some other items of interest, but as the past few weeks have been an especially heavy time for a lot of people I know, I’m gonna leave it at the packet for today. I hope you and your families – human, pawed and tailed alike – are well. 

Rani Derasary, Moab City Council member