RD’s Moab City Council Meeting Preview 2021-09-14
[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 Tuesday, September 14. Here are details, as well as information which may be of interest about police ride-alongs, the 2021 mayor/Council election, and the Moab Monster Movie Mash film competition.
Tuesday, September 14 City Council meeting – 7:00pm, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 217 E Center Street
You are welcome to attend this meeting in person at City Hall. Please note that masks and social distancing are required. Should you prefer to follow the September meeting online, please tune in live (or after the fact) on the City’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/MoabCityGovernment.You can find the 24-page packet for the September 14 meeting here: https://moabcity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09142021-1074?packet=true. If you prefer the 2-page agenda only, with links to packet parts, that is here: https://moabcity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09142021-1074.
Here is a breakdown of what’s on the relatively short agenda:
Citizens to be Heard (CTBH). You are welcome to come to City Hall at 7:00pm September 14 to speak in the Council Chambers in person. If you’d prefer to submit written comments for CTBH, please fill out the form found here prior to 7:00pm on September 14: https://bit.ly/citizenstobeheard Please limit written comments to 400 words.
Presentation: Grand County School District update. While there are no pages in our packet on this item, presentations are normally about 10 minutes, and it appears this will be an update for Council on current happenings at the school district from its Community Coordinator, Amanda Knill.
Walnut Lane updates. As explained in the agenda summary on pages 20-22 of our packet, staff will be updating Council on property management, budget information, and progress related to phase one of the Walnut Lane redevelopment. Staff is specifically interested in how Council would like to proceed with the bidding process for phase one: whether we’d like to use a “design-build,” or “design-bid-build” process. The agenda summary goes into useful detail about the differences in these approaches. Pages 8-19 appear to be the PowerPoint slides that will be used Tuesday night, and include useful graphics identifying the pros and cons of design-build versus design-bid-build. This item is on our agenda for discussion and possible direction to staff.
2021 Class C roads update. This item is on our September 14 agenda for discussion and possible action. Page 23 explains that the State of Utah allocates Class C road funding to cities to help them pay to maintain city roadways, curbs, gutters and sidewalks. If I understand correctly, the amount of money a city gets depends on the type of road surface one has, combined with how many “street centerline” miles of road one has in city limits. Cities should increase the number of miles on record with the State every time that mileage changes, but the City of Moab has not done so since 2009; we’ve apparently had 26.11 miles on record since that time. If the Council adopts the updated map of Class C roads on packet page 24, we will be able to include the additional 1.38 miles of road the City has become responsible for since 2009, putting a new total of 27.49 miles on record with the State Department of Transportation. Thanks to colleague Karen Guzman-Newton for her tireless pursuit in getting this belated update taken care of!
Executive (closed) session. While this last item on our agenda will not be open to the public, I can tell you it will cover two topics:- a strategy session to discuss reasonably imminent and/or pending litigation; and- discussion of the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual or individuals.
That’s it for our September 14 City Council meeting, except that aside from what’s listed above, the meeting will contain standard items such as: reports from the Council, Mayor and staff (this time with staff updates from the Acting City Manager and Sustainability Director); approval of minutes (this time for our August 24 meeting – covered on pages 3-7 of our packet); and payment of the bills.
Miscellaneous Items of Possible Interest
Sign up for a ride-along with the City Police Department! Last weekend I spent 5.5 hours on a ride-along with Moab City police. I’ll report on this experience in greater detail on September 14, but wanted to encourage all interested residents to sign up for a ride-along! The opportunity to spend that much time with a local law enforcement officer can be very helpful in providing you: one-on-one time to ask questions about law enforcement; the chance to see what happens on an average patrol day in town; and the opportunity to learn about the varied background experiences and interests that staff bring to the job. Anyone can do a ride-along, but you will need to fill out paperwork for a background check before you can go. Please call 435-259-8938 to request a ride-along application!
2021 City Council Election – potentially useful tools. If you’re like me, it can be challenging to find comprehensive info in one handy place about the 13 candidates running for mayor or City Council this fall. Here are some places I’ve been going to learn more, should this list help any of you:
- City 2021 Election pages – you can learn about:
- how to register to vote and/or check your voter registration status;
- the new Ranked Choice Voting system we’ll be using in November’s election;
- find out when to expect your ballot in the mail, etc, here: https://moabcity.org/236/Election-Information
- a list of the declared candidates is here: https://moabcity.org/586/2021-Declared-Candidates.
- And, FYI, if you’re someone who likes to review candidate financial disclosure forms, a page has been set up for those here, though it looks like initial reports are not due until October 26: https://moabcity.org/525/2021-Campaign-Finance-Disclosures.
- Articles about candidates. Here are links to recent articles about candidates from our local papers, the Moab Sun News and Times-Independent:
- “2021 candidates for city council” Times-Independent: https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/2021-candidates-for-city-council/
- “2021 candidates for mayor” Times-Independent: https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/2021-candidates-for-mayor/
- “Meet the candidates: Moab mayor, two council seats up for election in 2021” Moab Sun News: https://www.moabsunnews.com/news/article_0dbe287a-003f-11ec-9f6a-8f96de3097d6.html
- What will the next city council do about housing in Moab?” Times-Independent: https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/what-will-the-next-city-council-do-about-housing-in-moab/
- “How much time will the next mayor spend on the job?” Times-Independent: https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/how-much-time-will-the-next-mayor-spend-on-the-job/
- “What city council candidates want to do about Moab’s low wages” Times-Independent: https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/what-city-council-candidates-want-to-do-about-moabs-low-wages/
- “Mayoral candidates reflect on Moab’s priorities” Times-Independent: https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/mayoral-candidates-reflect-on-moabs-priorities/
Moab Monster Movie Mash Film Making Challenge. In case you missed mentions of this, the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission is looking for filmmakers interested in participating. I know how creative a lot of you are, so please check out the websites for more details: http://filmulate.com/
That’s likely enough for now, so I’ll leave it at that! Please let me know if I can be helpful with anything.
Rani Derasary
Moab City Councilmember
About Author
