MD’s Moab City Council Meeting Preview 2021-05-11

[Editor’s note: Both Mike Duncan and Rani Derasary 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.]

You can write City Council (anytime, on any subject): citycouncil@moabcity.org

Regular session starts at 7 PM:

Citizens to Be Heard. You may use CTBH to comment on any subject. We are receiving public comments by phone and online through Zoom. Citizens are limited to two (2) minutes for comments. Dial: 669-900-9128     Meeting ID:  881 7007 6617    Passcode (if needed):  925249 Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88170076617?pwd=avzjrvi5rhpxnunpundyyxmzdfl5ut09

Please note that when joining the meeting, you will be placed in a waiting room and will be added to the meeting by the moderator. Your comments will be recorded and on YouTube. If you’re youtube’ing, be aware this stream can be seconds or minutes behind real time. This is a big source of confusion if you’re also doing CTBH via Zoom, which is real time!

To have your written comments considered for the Citizens to Be Heard portion of the electronic meeting, please fill out the form found here: https://bit.ly/citizenstobeheard You must submit your comments by 7:00 PM on the date of the meeting. Please limit your comments to 400 words.

Public Hearing for the City of Moab’s Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget. The material in the packet is quite detailed. Ben Billingsley, our new Finance Director will hopefully give the Public Hearing audience, as he already has Council members, a more digestible, user friendly version. Most departments are still running at smaller budgets than they did pre-Covid. We won’t actually formally adopt a budget for some time yet.

Adopting the Pay Plan Schedule and Appointed/Exempt and Elected Salaries. The Public Hearing covers this topic too. 1.8% COLA for staff. If adopted, the Mayor would make about $39K, counting salary and benefits. The biggest benefit is health insurance which may be taken in cash. Council members would make about $32K, same deal. Planning Commission members receive $75/meeting.

Staff reports: (Expect at least 30 minutes…)

• City Manager Updates
• COVID-19 Updates
• Police Department Update
• Engineering Department Update
• Public Works Update
• Finance Department Update

Mayor and Council reports: (These (6) reports typically take at least 20 minutes…)

Approval of Minutes (brief)

Bird Scooters, e-scooter pilot program. More discussion and possible action. I’m hearing a number of concerns about scooters: They’re treated like bicycles by law. What I have yet to hear is how scooters will make the town more enjoyable, an asset rather than a concern. But apparently state law precludes us from imposing unreasonable conditions, which would prevent our just saying No thanks, Bird. It’s another example of the state preventing local control.

Mike Duncan, Moab City Councilmember