Minutes for 2007-12-18, Direct pdf link.
MINUTES
OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF WEBER COUNTY
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 10:00 a.m.
Commission Chambers, Weber Center, Ogden, Utah
In accordance with the requirements of Utah Code Annotated Section 52-4-7(1)(d), the County Clerk records in the minutes the names of all citizens who appear and speak at a County Commission meeting and the substance “in brief” of their comments. Such statements may include opinion or purported facts. The County does not verify the accuracy or truth of any statement but includes it as part of the record pursuant to state law.Commissioners Present: Kenneth A. Bischoff, Chair; Jan M. Zogmaister, and Craig L. Dearden.
Others Present: David C. Wilson, Deputy County Attorney; Dan Olsen, Clerk/Auditor’s Office; Fátima Fernelius, Clerk/Auditor’s Office, took minutes.
A. Welcome - Chair Bischoff
B. Pledge of Allegiance - Ernest Rowley
C. Thought of the Day - Commissioner Dearden
D. Consent Items:
1. Purchase orders in the amount of $90,665.56
2. Warrants #232467-232698 in the amount of $3,373,411.48
3. Minutes for the Special Meeting held on December 3, 2007
4. Reschedule regular Commission Meeting scheduled for December 25, 2007 to December 27, 2007, 10 a.m., and to cancel the January 1, 2008 meeting
5. Set public hearing for January 8, 2008, 10 a.m., to amend Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 23 Supplementary and Qualifying Regulations, Sections 23-8 Yards to be Unobstructed - Projections Permitted into Required Yards, 23-29 Large Accessory Buildings, and Section 23-32 Family Swimming Pools
6. Set Public Hearing for December 27, 2007, 10 a.m., to open the 2007 Budget for amendments
Commissioner Dearden moved to approve the consent items as presented; Commissioner Zogmaister seconded, all voting aye.
E. Action Items:
1. Approval of the Ogden/Weber Convention Visitors Bureau’s (CVB) 2008 Destination Marketing Plan
Sara Toliver, CVB President, asked for final approval of this plan. It had been presented last week.
Commissioner Zogmaister moved to approve the Ogden/Weber Convention Visitors Bureau’s 2008 Destination Marketing Plan; Commissioner Dearden seconded, all voting aye.
2. Approval of the Local Sales and Use Tax Ordinance for funding corridor preservation, congestion mitigation, and the expansion of capacity for regionally significant transportation facilities - Ordinance 2007-35
Douglas Larsen, Assessor’s Office, noted that the first reading of this ordinance had occurred last week. The majority of voters who voted in Weber County approved the related opinion question on the November 6, 2007 ballot.
Commissioner Dearden moved to adopt Ordinance 2007-35, Title 37, Local Sales and Use Tax Ordinance for funding corridor preservation, congestion mitigation, and the expansion of capacity for regionally significant transportation facilities; Commissioner Zogmaister seconded.
Roll Call Vote:
Commissioner Zogmaister aye
Commissioner Dearden aye
Chair Bischoff aye
3. Request on contract by/between Weber County and Ogden Nordic for Cross Country Track Grooming at North Fork Park
This item was held.
4. Interlocal Agreement with Pleasant View City for a Communications Tower - Contract C2007-278
Leonard Call, Information Technology Department Director, stated that this was to install a wireless communications tower on the City’s new pump house. The county had been experiencing problems with its current communication tower on the Fairgrounds and this will be an additional tower. This contract was in the amount of $600/year for a 25-year term.
Commissioner Zogmaister moved to approve Contract C2007-278, Interlocal Agreement by/between Weber County and Pleasant View City for a communications tower; Commissioner Dearden seconded, all voting aye.
5. First reading of Ordinance amending Title 25 of the Weber County Ordinances to require a monthly service fee of residential units connected to wastewater systems under the sponsorship of Weber County as the Body Politic
Weber County had agreed to act as body politic for a number of large underground wastewater disposal systems serving multiple dwelling units in the Valley. The county provided administration and ongoing operation and maintenance and had now calculated a monthly service fee. Chad Meyerhoffer, County Engineering Department, stated that this ordinance allowed billing those using the sewer systems in the Ogden Valley for current incurred costs as well as for a future maintenance fund. Mr. Meyerhoffer said that these fees would become effective once the homes were in use. He had given this proposal to a representative from each of the developments and some had asked if the fees could be added to their property taxes and whether the proposed fee was sufficient. Chair Bischoff said that Mr. Meyerhoffer had based the figures on costs incurred.
Commissioner Zogmaister moved to approve the first reading of the ordinance amending Title 25 of the Weber County Ordinances to require a monthly service fee of residential units connected to wastewater systems under the sponsorship of Weber County as the body politic; Commissioner Dearden seconded, all voting aye.
6. Agreement with the State of Utah for the 2007 FY Homeland Security Grant Program - Contract C2007-279
Lance Peterson, County Emergency Management, stated that the 2007 Homeland Security grant monies had been distributed and part of the process required State compliance. Mr. Peterson said that the six county northern region had received just a little over $1 million for 2007, of which Weber County would receive about $340,000.
Commissioner Zogmaister moved to approve Contract C2007-279 by/between Weber County and the State of Utah for the 2007 FY Homeland Security Grant Program; Commissioner Dearden seconded, all voting aye.
7. Consideration of County-sponsored Body Politic for Trappers Crossing Subdivision Wastewater Treatment
Curtis Christensen, County Engineer, stated that over a year ago he had asked the Commission to be the body politic for the Bison Creek Subdivision. The developers were going to improve a mechanical treatment system (package plant) and that process was still ongoing. Subsequently, two other projects had come in, of which one was the Trappers Crossing just above Chris’ Inn in the Ogden Valley. He said that the developers were asking the commission to temporarily be the body politic for an underground septic tank and drain field disposal system and had agreed that once the Bison Creek facility was operating that they would transfer their wastewater effluent to that facility. Chair Bischoff noted that the commission had received no information in their packets on this item and they needed to see the language of the agreement. No agreement had yet been drafted. Mr. Christensen said that it was a timing issue and the developers would like to proceed with this development before the Bison Creek facility came online. Commissioner Zogmaister asked when Bison Creek would be operational and Mr. Christensen said it was not known because the developers were still trying to get the approval. Once they received approval, it would take at least a year for construction. Paul Laughton, petitioner, stated that on June 13, 2006 the commission had agreed to be the body politic for the three developers working together (Bison Creek, The Rivers, Trappers Crossing) which had developed an agreement that they all would participate in the financing of the wastewater treatment facility and a culinary expansion from Eden Water Works. He said that his development had received final approval on 10/23/2007and secured financing in July. The three projects were on different time lines and he had been waiting for the others for about a year, thus he was asking for a temporary solution for his small development and would spend extra money to put in a temporary system and drill an additional culinary well on his property to ultimately be deeded to Eden Water Works. He assured the commission that he would participate with the Bison Creek facility. Chair Bischoff asked that a document be prepared and Mr. Laughton said that he just needed to know the commission’s intent. Chair Bischoff said that the commission would move forward with the contract as long as the agreement stated that the developers would connect to the Bison Creek facility as soon as it came online.
8. Amendments to the Weber County Retirement Incentive Policy
David Wilson, Deputy County Attorney, stated that this policy allowed the commission, at their discretion, to open a retirement window for employees qualifying for retirement. This policy had originally been put in place to encourage employees to retire who might not do so because they did not have a health care option after retirement. To qualify, eligible retirees must have 20 years of qualifying service, or 8 immediate years of service if an elected official. This policy provided for five years of health coverage, and the price of the county’s contribution was frozen at the time of separation. The major change was that benefits defined in this policy would not apply to any employee with less than 20 years of qualifying retirement credit or any employee who was hired or rehired by the county after January 1, 2008, thereby reducing future costs to the county.
Commissioner Zogmaister moved to approve the amendments to the Weber County Retirement Incentive Policy; Commissioner Dearden seconded, all voting aye.
9. Request to approve amendments to the Weber County Sick Leave Policy
This item was held.
F. Assign Pledge of Allegiance &Thought of the Day for Tues., December 27, 2007,10 a.m.
G. Public Comments:
Jackie Petersen, of the Jackson Fork Inn, read a statement from her attorney relating to the road next to her building stating that he had found documents which supposedly showed that the Weber County probate court declared a road over Mr. Petersen’s property on March 3, 1885. The section of this road at issue ran over a portion of the North West quarter of Section 19 in Township 6 N, Range 2 East, Salt Lake Base and Meridian. He had also found that the Federal Government granted a patent for all of Section 19 to the Union Pacific Railroad on February 16, 1884. The Railroad in turn granted Section 19 to F. A. Hammond and P.C. Gurtsen in a series of deeds which were executed from July 1880 to March 6, 1884. Thus, by the time that the Weber County probate declared the road, the property was in private ownership, yet it did not appear there had been a condemnation for this road and the Weber County probate court’s actions were therefore illegal under the fifth amendment in the U.S. Constitution. The commissioners asked for a copy of the document and Ms. Petersen said she would provide it.
Keith Smith, developer of Hawkins Creek Estates Subdivision, Ogden Valley, addressed his many concerns concerning item F.5 relating to Title 25. He understood that this issue had risen as a result of a system failure in a subdivision in the Ogden Valley where the county had been forced to step in and assist in rebuilding and/or repairing it and Mr. Meyerhoffer, County Engineering, had developed this proposal to provide a mechanism by which the county could obtain adequate revenue to offset those liabilities on systems where the county was acting as body politic. He said that this forced new subdivisions/developers to subsidize deficiencies and systems other than those they were utilizing and was contrary to public policy governing taxation, that it was just a “band-aid” on a system whereby the county remained reticent in matters of infrastructure development in the Valley, that developers provided 100% of funding for sewage infrastructure construction and then entered into lengthy sewer maintenance agreements accepting financial responsibility for maintaining those systems, and that this provided a pool of funds, which was indefinitely held in escrow by the county to offset potential of catastrophic failure and now was trying to establish a capital fund to handle perceived deficiencies. He suggested developing a central wastewater system to handle the needs of the entire Valley or establish a sewer district to encompass all Valley wastewater disposal for those county-controlled systems via body politic. He felt the proposed fees ignored the fact that their systems by design had triple redundancy built into them mandated by State and County, applied evenly to all lots within these systems when many items did not apply to a number of home owners, such as his gravity fed system with no pumps/electricity/phone lines, and homeowners would be subject to subsidizing systems that had these. He said that if there was a problem at Bailey Acres, they should do a special assessment for the residents of Bailey Acres, that assessments be applied only to users of the system, that collection of those fees be tied to property tax assessments of specific properties actually tied to the system, that there be some guarantee in place that this pool of funds were to be used strictly for capital improvements in those subdivisions that provided the funding, with audit capability/budgetary input for the organization under which this burden was placed, and all funds held in escrow for catastrophic loss be returned to the organizations that provided them. The commissioners had not taken action on item F.5. in order to receive further input and asked for a copy of this document, which Mr. Smith agreed to do.
Dave Taylor, Ogden resident, asked if item E.2. was the quarter cent sales tax increase on the November ballot and approved by the voters and the commissioners responded that it was.
Paul Laughton (item E.7.) noted that the formulas for the new wastewater treatment facility hookups included for a reserve to be built over time as hookups came into the system, thus providing a maintenance reserve for the wastewater treatment facility that he was designing and building with Bison Creek and The Rivers developments.
H. Adjourn
Commissioner Dearden moved to adjourn; Commissioner Zogmaister seconded, all voting aye.
Kenneth A. Bischoff, Chair
Weber County Commission
Alan D. McEwan, CPA
Weber County Clerk/Auditor