From Craig Nelson, July 30, 2008
Remember that Certification ... requires 1.3 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) Staffing and 32 hours per week of service, including 8 evening and/or weekend hours.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
City Council minutes
March 25, 2003
LIBRARY. David Adams brought the council up to date on library issues and invited all to the charrette meeting, which will be Thursday evening, March 27, 2003 at 7:30 pm. The Library Committee has been looking at land to construct the library building and the site they are looking at is by Alpine Art Center and there is a place for an amphitheater. ... David Adams said the Library Committee is hopeful in raising $1,000,000.00 by Alpine Days. [Charrette minutes not located.]
April 22, 2003
LIBRARY REPORT. David Adams said the Library Committee has been meeting regularly to develop costs and plans for the library with the goal of placing the Library Bond issue on the November ballot.
David Adams said the Library Committee is looking at the foundry building as it is for sale for around $1,000.000. ...
Councilman Adams invited the rest of the council to come to the Library meeting on Thursday evening at 7:00 pm. The original cost was for $10,000,000 with $6,000,000 being donated and $4,000,000 being bonded, which would cost the average resident $200.00 per year. The feedback Councilman Adams got from residents was that this was too much money, so the Library committee has looked at ways to cut costs.
David Adams said the Committee is looking at getting $5,000,000 in donations to buy the land, build the building and stock the library and then raise property taxes to fund the operating costs.
Mr. Adams said he talked to Mayor Adamson of Highland and asked him if Highland wanted to participate in the library. Further discussions said there would be a new Public Safety Building in Highland and they could house the Administrative facilities and Alpine could be the cultural/art center for both communities. This would bring in twice as many residents and would cut the cost to $9.00 per month per resident. Mel Clement suggested that Cedar Hills also be approached about participating in this program. ... David Church talked about the necessary steps that would have to be taken to place the Library Bond on the November ballot.
February 24, 2004
LIBRARY UPDATE. David Adams introduced Joel Kester and Brent Israelsen, other library committee members, and brought the council up to date on the concept plan for the library.
Mr. Adams said the committee has settled on a location for the building, which will be by the Alpine Art Center. The committee is committed to raise the funds to purchase the building and land and then the books. The committee wants this to be a gift to the citizens of Alpine.
Brent Israelsen said that with the 501C Corporation in place and they are now going into a strong fund raising mode and Mr. Israelsen explained the different groups contributors would be placed in depending on the amount of their donation.
Joel Kester said the annual operation of the library needed to be discussed with the city along with Highland and Cedar Hills to determine how much each city is comfortable in providing so the committee can set and present their budget. The Library Committee’s efforts for the next six months will be raising money.
Thomas Whitchurch asked what the city can do to support the efforts and Brent Israelsen said it is important that the city write letters in support of donors and under the State Laws there is a Charter that needs to come from the city. Hata Puriri is the City Council representative to the library committee. [City council minutes]
May 25, 2004
LIBRARY. David Adams, a former City Councilman, represented the Library Committee and updated the City Council on the status of the new proposed library. Jennifer Jackman showed the design for the proposed building which could include many uses. David Adams said the committee has had conversation with Highland and indicated that Mayor Adamson said Highland is interested in pursuing the library. David Adams said that what is not contributed by the cities would be obtained through federal grants.
Thomas Whitchurch asked if the library committee would be coming back again next year to ask for more money and Mr. Adams said no, but hoped to have enough money by Alpine Days to purchase the land.
Thomas Whitchurch said he was excited to have a facility of this kind in our community and to have our residents only pay $25.00 per family per year would be a bargain.
Mayor Barker said he was excited to have a facility of this size in our community.
Hunt Willoughby said he is excited about the prospect of having a library here but still thinks this is a lot of money and was still looking at using Harmony Forge as a library and is not convinced about spending this much money.
Jennifer Jackman said their committee has looked at Harmony Forge on several occasions and with what was expressed at the public meetings was in the opinion that the residents wanted more.
Ula Hemingway said the people she has talked to are not in favor of that site, but would be more in favor if the library was in the downtown area and they do not want one as elaborate as the one proposed. Jennifer Jackman said the committee decided on the location by the Art Center as it was close to Highland if we want them to participate.
Kimberly Bryant asked several residents about their feelings concerning the library and out of the 30 people she contacted there were only two definite yeses who wanted a library, two who said they would pay for it but not use it, one who said no, and the rest of the residents were concerned that the $25.00 would continually go up. Mrs. Bryant indicated that some people felt our city was small enough that we did not want a library that is this elaborate.
MOTION: Kent Hastings moved that the city not commit to do an ongoing funding at this point. Motion died for lack of a second.
Dennis Smith said the committee has really tried to focus on this not being a real financial burden on the residents and wanted to see this revitalize the community.
Hunt Willoughby said he is not ready to make a decision tonight but will be ready in two weeks but felt we needed to give the committee some guidance as they have done an incredible job. The last time we did a major project in the community was pressurized irrigation and once we refined the project we filled the cafeteria at the school and presented the information to the public. If the Library Committee is ready maybe we should have a community presentation. Hata Puriri asked if we would allow the community to make suggestions.
Thomas Whitchurch said he is embarrassed to say that the council is not looking at the whole benefit and that Highland and Cedar Hills are ready to participate. For $75,000 it is amazing to him that our council would not seriously consider the project.
MOTION: Hunt Willoughby moved that we plan a public information hearing on the Library project after it has been duly noticed and at the earliest convenient time. Kent Hastings seconded. Ayes: Kimberly Bryant, Kent Hastings, Hata Puriri, Thomas Whitchurch and Hunt Willoughby. Nays: 0. Motion passed
November 23, 2004
LIBRARY CARD REIMBURSEMENT. Ted Stillman said we are in the 3rd year of reimbursing residents up to $35.00 per calendar year. Mr. Stillman said that American Fork has increased their non-resident library card fee to $65.00 per year and Cedar Hills and Highland have both increased their Library Card reimbursement to $40.00 per calendar year. Ted Stillman said we have had citizens request that we raise our reimbursement fee to $40.00 per year. The number of Library reimbursements that we have given each year are as follows:
February 22, 2005
Hata Puriri asked about the status of the Library Committee. Mayor Barker said he felt that people were drifting away from the interest, but said he would talk to David Adams.
October 11, 2005
Hata Puriri – Asked if there is anything going on with the Library Committee and has had a few
people who would like to be involved in this committee. Thomas Whitchurch said the current committee has raised some money and Jannicke Brewer said there were several questions on the survey about the library. It will be interesting to see the results.
November 14, 2006
Ted Stillman: Highland is building a new City Hall, Fire Station and Police Station. There will be a new 3300 square foot Library in their City Hall Building. The overall cost will be $150,000 per year and this will be an interim library until Highland can build a library building on its own.
Hunt Willoughby said that the Mayor’s in northern Utah County have discussed:
May 8, 2007
Ted Stillman: Brought the City Council up to date on the library books. Joan Norton went down and divided them into categories. Right now they are on a trailer but Mountainville Academy might be interested. The newest book was in 1995. One option is that Highland keep the books for their library and if they go with Mountainville they would stay with Mountainville. The books would be further outdated if we wait for Alpine to get a library, which could possibly be four or five years away. The Mayor said he would like to see the books placed where they will be used and Thomas Whitchurch said that Mountainville would not be able to take them for at least two weeks. There are seventy-five boxes or several thousand books.
August 28, 2007
[Participation in the tri-city recreation program has recently been mentioned as a possible source for library funds--by hiring our own part-time scheduler. What follows is background on the program.]
RECREATION MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. Ted Stillman had included a Memorandum of Understanding with American Fork City regarding Alpine’s participation in the recreation program in the City Councilmen’s packet. One of the concerns expressed at the July 17th City Council meeting regarding the memo was the scheduling of the fields in Alpine by American Fork to the possible exclusion of the independent athletic leagues.
It was proposed dropping paragraph 5.2 from the Agreement which allowed American Fork Recreation to have first priority on field use and elimination of this paragraph solves the field scheduling problem and we will use paragraph 5.1 and a new paragraph was added.
Ted Stillman said this is the first time we have had a written agreement as American Fork’s residents are now they are the minority as both Alpine’s and Highland’s usage has drastically grown. Thomas Whitchurch had questioned if after March 1 would we send someone down to American Fork City to schedule one of our fields.
Tracy Wallace asked how this Memorandum of Understanding tied into the fees we are actually paying American Fork. Ted Stillman said our fee will go up about $10,000 per year from $40,000 last year. Councilman Wallace asked why we don’t just reimburse a child the extra $15.00 charged like we reimburse for the library. Derric Reycert said if Alpine didn’t participate in the program then American Fork would have to charge our residents more money than what is proposed. It was noted we would have to hire a full-time person to run our program and that would cost the City more than the $40,000 saved to not participate with American Fork.
MOTION: Thomas Whitchurch moved to approve the Recreation Memorandum of Understanding with
American Fork and ask the Mayor to sign the attached document with the changes as proposed. Hata Puriri seconded. Ayes: Kimberly Bryant, Hata Puriri, Tracy Wallace and Thomas Whitchurch. Nays: 0. Motion passed.
Mayor Willoughby noted that Kent Hastings left the meeting for one hour, but will return.
September 11, 2007
RECREATION CENTER BALLOT MEASURE. ... Hunt Willoughby said he has heard from residents a desire for a recreation center, but felt that Municipal Government is in charge of five things: police, fire, water, sewer and roads. Beyond that it is fluff and we have to decide as a community if we want to fund the fluff. ...
Kent Fitzgerald said that with the number of in-home gyms, swimming pools and empty nesters why
we don’t spend our money on a library that would benefit everybody. Kimberly Bryant felt this was a huge increase on everybody and would tax all the little older people right out of town.
Thomas Whitchurch said we are making a decision whether we are putting this out to vote, but felt it would be a mistake to participate in this until we had all the facts. Once we have all the facts then it would go out to the public for their input. One of the highest responses in the survey is that the residents wanted a recreation center, but Councilman Whitchurch said he had reservations about creating another taxing entity.
Chris Culver said we have had issues in this community with the budget and felt that since there hasn’t been money to build a library or money to help fund the Arts Council, we need to look at our senior citizen base. ...
Ted Stillman: The books have gone down dramatically and has generated two interesting comments: 1) why are we giving away these books when then we need our own library? and 2) Highland has received calls asking how they can be a part of our library. It was noted that the majority of the books went to the schools.
October 9, 2007
Scott Kenney said that in 2002 a Committee was formed to look at putting in a Library and Senior Citizens Center. The City put up $10,000 then and to date nothing has been done. Mr. Kenney asked if the City Council would consider providing land for some kind of Civic Center to benefit future generations. Mayor Hunt Willoughby said the Council would be willing and the 20+ acres that was purchased on 100 South and 600 East can be looked at. This property will be going through the planning stage. Scott Kenney asked what would have to happen to get the City Council to move this up on the priority list.
Joel Kester came to support Scott Kenney and believes the citizens of Alpine can provide a Recreation Center and Civic Center. Mr. Kester said the prior Citizens Committee were a little disorganized and if this committee was put together with the right people that were a little more functional would make a difference in moving this project forward.
November 3, 2008
Brad Reneer asked if the possibility of a library in the 100 South Park would be excluded by language in the Parks Master Plan which cited a need of at least 20 acres for a sports park. Ted Stillman assured him that the park on 100 South was not planned as a sports park because the City already had Burgess Park, Smooth Canyon Park and Healey Park for sports activities. The park on 100 South would be a community park and the City would be considering a number of uses as requested by citizens.
Ted Stillman went over the Capital Impact Fee program by park category as follows.
[Note: I have reformatted a table as a bulleted list.]
ALPINE PARKS, RECREATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Kent Hastings left the meeting and reminded Ted Stillman to move $3,000.00 from the library reimbursement fund to the Family First Week. [An approved budget change]
June 10, 2008
COMMUNITY CENTER PRESENTATION. Paul Thompson said the Community Center group has purchased property on Main Street for a Community Center. The property is located on the west side of Main Street just south of the Dry Creek Bridge (where Mark Walker Smith’s photo studio is). Paul Thompson attended the Development Review Committee (DRC) meeting several weeks ago and presented the plans for the Community Center and it was decided to have the site plan presented to the City Council for information.
Paul Thompson said they have done a feasibility study and are convinced the Alpine community would benefit from such a building. There is a tremendous amount of interest in having a Community Center like the one proposed. This information was obtained from personal contact with residents of the town and from the survey that was conducted.
The Alpine Arts Council has raised $1,300,000 to go toward the purchase of the land and building from private donations. They have made arrangements for grant writers to write Federal, State and local foundation grants and they are predicting the goal will be met quickly. The Arts Council has produced a calendar to inform Alpiners of community events.
The proposed library will be an alliance with northern Utah County cities, one card for all libraries and residents have asked for a study space for students. The Post Office will have post offices boxes for rent, express mailings, postage stamp purchases, etc. A senior citizen lounge will be included in the building with a Creekside Café. There will be a regional theater, a recital hall, and dance studios, art classes for both children and adults.
This building will become the heart of Alpine and the theater was the winner of Utah’s best Community Theater in 2007.
Thomas Whitchurch said the Arts Council has been working extensively on this for sometime now and now there is a group of people who is going to make this happen.
Paul Thompson said the Arts Council knew there would be problems with parking and some of the surrounding businesses are willing to sign an Agreement to use their parking in the evenings.
Jim Tracy asked if the Library would be public or a private enterprise and Paul Thompson made several suggestions where the City could help. The estimated budget for this entire project will be about $10,000,000.
[Note: April 23, 2003 minutes: "The original cost was for $10,000,000 ... The feedback Councilman Adams got from residents was that this was too much money, so the Library committee has looked at ways to cut costs."]
August 12, 2008
Scott Kenny said he would like the City Council to appoint a committee to study the feasibility of having a public library in Alpine whether it is located in the proposed Community Center, in the park or as a joint venture with Highland. Mr. Kenny passed out an information sheet listing the State’s requirements for certification. Mayor Willoughby said this item needed to be a line item on the agenda to be able to act on this.
August 26, 2008
Bradley Reneer made a presentation about the need for a library in Alpine. Mr. Reneer said there was a library in Alpine not too many years ago and said he didn’t know why this was discontinued. Brad Reneer felt it was our patriotic duty to have a library in our community and said that with the Police Department vacating their portion of the building now is a golden opportunity to utilize some of that extra space and felt we can find some creative ways to make the library work.
The library would be provisional at first and after three years it would become State Certified; however, Mr. Reneer said he would just like to see a library in our community. Brad Reneer challenged the Council to include plans to incorporate a library in this building upon the Police vacating their portion of the building and went on to praise the City Council for being very careful with the City’s funds.
Joan Norton said that many citizens in our community are passionate about having a library here and is excited and would be glad to put her energy behind the library project.
Jennifer Xanthos felt it was essential for the vitality of the community to have a library located here. Utilizing the space in the vacated Police Department was again mentioned as this would be a good starting point until a library could be relocated to a bigger building. Paul Thompson said he felt some anxiety and urgency about getting this project moving right away.
September 9, 2008
Scott Kenney said that about a month ago he asked the City Council ago to investigate library
options and was told this would be on a future agenda. Mr. Kenney asked what the process would be to appoint a committee. Mayor Willoughby said that that to have an official committee of the City would put constraints on the committee as all meetings would then have to be publicly noticed, recorded, minutes taken and the meetings would then become official. ...
Paul Thompson read a letter that has been drafted by the Arts Council and said the Eccles Foundation has outlined several things that needed to be provided to be eligible for foundation funding such as:
Kimberly Bryant asked if the Post Office would be a full-operating post office or if it would be like the one which is down by Kohler’s.
Brad Reneer said he appreciated the City not rushing to fill the vacated Police Dept. space and
suggested that a library be considered to fill that portion of the building. This would be at zero cost to the City and could used as a Community Center and a Senior Citizen Center until the Community Center as proposed by the Arts Council is built. Brad Reneer said the council needed correct data.
Martha Beck said there are a couple of things that has changed her mind to going full support for a library. Her family has used the library pass in the past and this has worked for her situation.
Chris Culver clarified to the Council that the library will not be a deterrent to building the Cultural Center and further stated that the building of the library would help build momentum and start putting this in motion. Mrs. Culver also said she uses an internet company who would gladly again donate books.
Amy Thackery has moved to Alpine from Oregon and was curious why the library has failed in the past. She was told that it was because of money. Amy Thackery believes vision for the Cultural Center is important and sees the need for a heart for this community. Mrs. Thackery does not want to be an appendage of Highland or American Fork as she doesn’t live in those communities. She broke down the need for a library into three parts – past, present and future.
September 23, 2008
Mayor Willoughby brought the audience up-to-date on the status of the library. Jim Tracy, Bradley
Reneer and several others met with one of the neighboring communities and got some good information on
starting and maintaining a library. Mayor Willoughby said we are still planning on having a budget workshop meeting in November and the library project will then be looked at and prioritized. Mayor Willoughby said that we will be able to see where we are at that time. We know that we are at 1/10th [sic] of a slow year in building permits and all the projects will be taken into consideration at that time. Mayor Willoughby said that in the upcoming Newsline he will be asking for those interested in serving on a library committee or a library board to please contact him.
October 14, 2008
VII. REPORTS - SEPTEMBER 2008 FINANCIAL REPORT. Ted Stillman reviewed the September 2008
Financial Report and outlined how revenues are doing and also listing the Fund Balances as follows:
Sales Tax – Is only up $8,702 over the same time last year. This is great news because Sales Tax
hasn’t gone down.
BUDGET WORK SESSION – Ted Stillman said ... we have taken in almost $350,000.00 in Sales Tax as compared to $352,000.00 this same time last year. Mayor Willoughby said our Sales Tax is population based and Ted Stillman said that half the sales tax is point of sale and the ones that are impacted the most are the ones with a lot of point of sale like car dealers. Building Permit and Plan Check fees are the ones that are in trouble and we have issued our sixth building permit for the calendar year. What has helped us this year is that we have had several commercial building permits and commercial projects that have made the difference. Ted Stillman said we will look at the budget again in January to get a better picture and see where we are.
This year’s projections are as follows:
$2,622,665.00 and expenditures down to $2,756,000.00 bringing the total down to -$134,000.00. Ted Stillman said this is our goal but within the next eight months we will need to make up that difference. Mr. Stillman then talked about how we are going to accomplish this. ...
Cutback Management 2008-2009 list is as follows:
Assumptions
plan of the area in the Police Department that has become available upon the Police vacating their portion of the City Hall. Mayor Willoughby said that none of the interior walls in the Police Department were structural and the restroom could be easily expanded and then it would meet ADA requirements. Thomas Whitchurch suggested that we look at putting in an exterior entrance to the Building Department, as this might be less expensive than the modifications suggested to remodel the Police Department. Ted Stillman said to put the Library in that room would disrupt City Hall.
Mr. Stillman further stated that we need to determine what our need is. The first step would be to create a Library Board and they do a plan and community survey. The collection would be based on the needs of the survey. Highland’s need was 16,000 pieces at $16.00 a piece. You look at what your need is and then look at your space.
Kent Hastings noted that the Library was low on the priority list and wondered if this was something that we should do now as our budget is tight. The other question Kent Hastings asked was what was the possibility of going jointly with Highland as they now have their new library and pooling resources with them?
Mayor Hunt Willoughby said that previously the Library was library was low on his priority list; however, he met with Jennifer Xanthos and found that those who were coming to us and supporting the Library was sympathetic to the financial condition and tight budget of the City. The other thing was he walked over to that facility to see what space was available. Mayor Willoughby said he didn’t know what the cost would to move walls, construct the new bathroom and install new carpeting.
Thomas Whitchurch said a library card in Highland City cost $50.00 and suggested that we consider
increasing our library card reimbursement to match that amount.
Tracy Wallace asked how long would it take to form the committee, what would it cost to do the community
survey and what time frame are we looking at? Mayor Willoughby said he asked Ted Stillman to look at other cities who have these boards for their bylaws and duties. Tracy Wallace said to put this in the budget at this time is a little premature as we won’t have numbers until the survey is done and this might be several months down the road. Ted Stillman said we can have an ordinance ready for the December meeting to form a Library Board.
Jim Tracy said he gave the Library a high priority on his list and the library people have indicated they wanted to raise 2/3 of the money in donations.
Ted Stillman said he didn’t print the whole budget out for this meeting as there will be many more changes.
In January we will be six months into the current budget year.
Jim Tracy said he had talked to Shane Sorensen and then made some suggestions of items that could be
put off until later. One of the items that could be taken off was the CUP Pressurized Irrigation Pressure Tie for $300,000. Shane Sorensen said it is hard to say about the CUP water; however, we just signed an extension. Jim Tracy said another item that could be put off was the North Main Street storm drain for $100,000. Shane Sorensen said this needs to be done, but in a hard budget year this could be put off.
[Note: Minutes for 2009 meetings have not been posted on the city website though the MP3 versions are available.]
LIBRARY. David Adams brought the council up to date on library issues and invited all to the charrette meeting, which will be Thursday evening, March 27, 2003 at 7:30 pm. The Library Committee has been looking at land to construct the library building and the site they are looking at is by Alpine Art Center and there is a place for an amphitheater. ... David Adams said the Library Committee is hopeful in raising $1,000,000.00 by Alpine Days. [Charrette minutes not located.]
April 22, 2003
LIBRARY REPORT. David Adams said the Library Committee has been meeting regularly to develop costs and plans for the library with the goal of placing the Library Bond issue on the November ballot.
David Adams said the Library Committee is looking at the foundry building as it is for sale for around $1,000.000. ...
Councilman Adams invited the rest of the council to come to the Library meeting on Thursday evening at 7:00 pm. The original cost was for $10,000,000 with $6,000,000 being donated and $4,000,000 being bonded, which would cost the average resident $200.00 per year. The feedback Councilman Adams got from residents was that this was too much money, so the Library committee has looked at ways to cut costs.
David Adams said the Committee is looking at getting $5,000,000 in donations to buy the land, build the building and stock the library and then raise property taxes to fund the operating costs.
Mr. Adams said he talked to Mayor Adamson of Highland and asked him if Highland wanted to participate in the library. Further discussions said there would be a new Public Safety Building in Highland and they could house the Administrative facilities and Alpine could be the cultural/art center for both communities. This would bring in twice as many residents and would cut the cost to $9.00 per month per resident. Mel Clement suggested that Cedar Hills also be approached about participating in this program. ... David Church talked about the necessary steps that would have to be taken to place the Library Bond on the November ballot.
February 24, 2004
LIBRARY UPDATE. David Adams introduced Joel Kester and Brent Israelsen, other library committee members, and brought the council up to date on the concept plan for the library.
Mr. Adams said the committee has settled on a location for the building, which will be by the Alpine Art Center. The committee is committed to raise the funds to purchase the building and land and then the books. The committee wants this to be a gift to the citizens of Alpine.
Brent Israelsen said that with the 501C Corporation in place and they are now going into a strong fund raising mode and Mr. Israelsen explained the different groups contributors would be placed in depending on the amount of their donation.
Joel Kester said the annual operation of the library needed to be discussed with the city along with Highland and Cedar Hills to determine how much each city is comfortable in providing so the committee can set and present their budget. The Library Committee’s efforts for the next six months will be raising money.
Thomas Whitchurch asked what the city can do to support the efforts and Brent Israelsen said it is important that the city write letters in support of donors and under the State Laws there is a Charter that needs to come from the city. Hata Puriri is the City Council representative to the library committee. [City council minutes]
May 25, 2004
LIBRARY. David Adams, a former City Councilman, represented the Library Committee and updated the City Council on the status of the new proposed library. Jennifer Jackman showed the design for the proposed building which could include many uses. David Adams said the committee has had conversation with Highland and indicated that Mayor Adamson said Highland is interested in pursuing the library. David Adams said that what is not contributed by the cities would be obtained through federal grants.
Thomas Whitchurch asked if the library committee would be coming back again next year to ask for more money and Mr. Adams said no, but hoped to have enough money by Alpine Days to purchase the land.
Thomas Whitchurch said he was excited to have a facility of this kind in our community and to have our residents only pay $25.00 per family per year would be a bargain.
Mayor Barker said he was excited to have a facility of this size in our community.
Hunt Willoughby said he is excited about the prospect of having a library here but still thinks this is a lot of money and was still looking at using Harmony Forge as a library and is not convinced about spending this much money.
Jennifer Jackman said their committee has looked at Harmony Forge on several occasions and with what was expressed at the public meetings was in the opinion that the residents wanted more.
Ula Hemingway said the people she has talked to are not in favor of that site, but would be more in favor if the library was in the downtown area and they do not want one as elaborate as the one proposed. Jennifer Jackman said the committee decided on the location by the Art Center as it was close to Highland if we want them to participate.
Kimberly Bryant asked several residents about their feelings concerning the library and out of the 30 people she contacted there were only two definite yeses who wanted a library, two who said they would pay for it but not use it, one who said no, and the rest of the residents were concerned that the $25.00 would continually go up. Mrs. Bryant indicated that some people felt our city was small enough that we did not want a library that is this elaborate.
MOTION: Kent Hastings moved that the city not commit to do an ongoing funding at this point. Motion died for lack of a second.
Dennis Smith said the committee has really tried to focus on this not being a real financial burden on the residents and wanted to see this revitalize the community.
Hunt Willoughby said he is not ready to make a decision tonight but will be ready in two weeks but felt we needed to give the committee some guidance as they have done an incredible job. The last time we did a major project in the community was pressurized irrigation and once we refined the project we filled the cafeteria at the school and presented the information to the public. If the Library Committee is ready maybe we should have a community presentation. Hata Puriri asked if we would allow the community to make suggestions.
Thomas Whitchurch said he is embarrassed to say that the council is not looking at the whole benefit and that Highland and Cedar Hills are ready to participate. For $75,000 it is amazing to him that our council would not seriously consider the project.
MOTION: Hunt Willoughby moved that we plan a public information hearing on the Library project after it has been duly noticed and at the earliest convenient time. Kent Hastings seconded. Ayes: Kimberly Bryant, Kent Hastings, Hata Puriri, Thomas Whitchurch and Hunt Willoughby. Nays: 0. Motion passed
November 23, 2004
LIBRARY CARD REIMBURSEMENT. Ted Stillman said we are in the 3rd year of reimbursing residents up to $35.00 per calendar year. Mr. Stillman said that American Fork has increased their non-resident library card fee to $65.00 per year and Cedar Hills and Highland have both increased their Library Card reimbursement to $40.00 per calendar year. Ted Stillman said we have had citizens request that we raise our reimbursement fee to $40.00 per year. The number of Library reimbursements that we have given each year are as follows:
- 2001 275
- 2002 300
- 2003 264
- 2004 222 (to date)
February 22, 2005
Hata Puriri asked about the status of the Library Committee. Mayor Barker said he felt that people were drifting away from the interest, but said he would talk to David Adams.
October 11, 2005
Hata Puriri – Asked if there is anything going on with the Library Committee and has had a few
people who would like to be involved in this committee. Thomas Whitchurch said the current committee has raised some money and Jannicke Brewer said there were several questions on the survey about the library. It will be interesting to see the results.
November 14, 2006
Ted Stillman: Highland is building a new City Hall, Fire Station and Police Station. There will be a new 3300 square foot Library in their City Hall Building. The overall cost will be $150,000 per year and this will be an interim library until Highland can build a library building on its own.
Hunt Willoughby said that the Mayor’s in northern Utah County have discussed:
- a. having a system where all cards are interchangeable
- b. having a Countywide Library system to mirror Salt Lake’s system
- c. do we want to look at something small and work with Highland? Ted Stillman wants to look at costs and compare.
May 8, 2007
Ted Stillman: Brought the City Council up to date on the library books. Joan Norton went down and divided them into categories. Right now they are on a trailer but Mountainville Academy might be interested. The newest book was in 1995. One option is that Highland keep the books for their library and if they go with Mountainville they would stay with Mountainville. The books would be further outdated if we wait for Alpine to get a library, which could possibly be four or five years away. The Mayor said he would like to see the books placed where they will be used and Thomas Whitchurch said that Mountainville would not be able to take them for at least two weeks. There are seventy-five boxes or several thousand books.
August 28, 2007
[Participation in the tri-city recreation program has recently been mentioned as a possible source for library funds--by hiring our own part-time scheduler. What follows is background on the program.]
RECREATION MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. Ted Stillman had included a Memorandum of Understanding with American Fork City regarding Alpine’s participation in the recreation program in the City Councilmen’s packet. One of the concerns expressed at the July 17th City Council meeting regarding the memo was the scheduling of the fields in Alpine by American Fork to the possible exclusion of the independent athletic leagues.
It was proposed dropping paragraph 5.2 from the Agreement which allowed American Fork Recreation to have first priority on field use and elimination of this paragraph solves the field scheduling problem and we will use paragraph 5.1 and a new paragraph was added.
Ted Stillman said this is the first time we have had a written agreement as American Fork’s residents are now they are the minority as both Alpine’s and Highland’s usage has drastically grown. Thomas Whitchurch had questioned if after March 1 would we send someone down to American Fork City to schedule one of our fields.
Tracy Wallace asked how this Memorandum of Understanding tied into the fees we are actually paying American Fork. Ted Stillman said our fee will go up about $10,000 per year from $40,000 last year. Councilman Wallace asked why we don’t just reimburse a child the extra $15.00 charged like we reimburse for the library. Derric Reycert said if Alpine didn’t participate in the program then American Fork would have to charge our residents more money than what is proposed. It was noted we would have to hire a full-time person to run our program and that would cost the City more than the $40,000 saved to not participate with American Fork.
MOTION: Thomas Whitchurch moved to approve the Recreation Memorandum of Understanding with
American Fork and ask the Mayor to sign the attached document with the changes as proposed. Hata Puriri seconded. Ayes: Kimberly Bryant, Hata Puriri, Tracy Wallace and Thomas Whitchurch. Nays: 0. Motion passed.
Mayor Willoughby noted that Kent Hastings left the meeting for one hour, but will return.
September 11, 2007
RECREATION CENTER BALLOT MEASURE. ... Hunt Willoughby said he has heard from residents a desire for a recreation center, but felt that Municipal Government is in charge of five things: police, fire, water, sewer and roads. Beyond that it is fluff and we have to decide as a community if we want to fund the fluff. ...
Kent Fitzgerald said that with the number of in-home gyms, swimming pools and empty nesters why
we don’t spend our money on a library that would benefit everybody. Kimberly Bryant felt this was a huge increase on everybody and would tax all the little older people right out of town.
Thomas Whitchurch said we are making a decision whether we are putting this out to vote, but felt it would be a mistake to participate in this until we had all the facts. Once we have all the facts then it would go out to the public for their input. One of the highest responses in the survey is that the residents wanted a recreation center, but Councilman Whitchurch said he had reservations about creating another taxing entity.
Chris Culver said we have had issues in this community with the budget and felt that since there hasn’t been money to build a library or money to help fund the Arts Council, we need to look at our senior citizen base. ...
Ted Stillman: The books have gone down dramatically and has generated two interesting comments: 1) why are we giving away these books when then we need our own library? and 2) Highland has received calls asking how they can be a part of our library. It was noted that the majority of the books went to the schools.
October 9, 2007
Scott Kenney said that in 2002 a Committee was formed to look at putting in a Library and Senior Citizens Center. The City put up $10,000 then and to date nothing has been done. Mr. Kenney asked if the City Council would consider providing land for some kind of Civic Center to benefit future generations. Mayor Hunt Willoughby said the Council would be willing and the 20+ acres that was purchased on 100 South and 600 East can be looked at. This property will be going through the planning stage. Scott Kenney asked what would have to happen to get the City Council to move this up on the priority list.
Joel Kester came to support Scott Kenney and believes the citizens of Alpine can provide a Recreation Center and Civic Center. Mr. Kester said the prior Citizens Committee were a little disorganized and if this committee was put together with the right people that were a little more functional would make a difference in moving this project forward.
November 3, 2008
Brad Reneer asked if the possibility of a library in the 100 South Park would be excluded by language in the Parks Master Plan which cited a need of at least 20 acres for a sports park. Ted Stillman assured him that the park on 100 South was not planned as a sports park because the City already had Burgess Park, Smooth Canyon Park and Healey Park for sports activities. The park on 100 South would be a community park and the City would be considering a number of uses as requested by citizens.
Ted Stillman went over the Capital Impact Fee program by park category as follows.
[Note: I have reformatted a table as a bulleted list.]
ALPINE PARKS, RECREATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
- Community Park: 21 acres, community park, $5,200,000 projected improvements, $2,100,000 required from other sources (other than capital improvements budget), $3,100,000 from projected impact fees.
- Healey Park parking lot: 4 acres, a neighborhood park, $ 100,000 projected improvements,$50,000 required from other sources, $50,000 from projected impact fees.
- Smooth Canyon Park expansion and improvements: 5 acres, an athletic park, $300,000 projected improvements, all funded from projected impact fees.
- West Side Park: 5 acres, a neighborhood park, $2,400,000 projected improvements, $1,000,000 required from other sources, $1,400,000 from projected impact fees.
- 300 North Park: 2 acres, a city park, $ 2,000,00 projected improvements, $ 100,000 required from other sources, $100,000 from projected impact fees.
- TOTAL: $8,200,000 improvements, $3,250,000 from other sources, $4,950,000 from projected impact fees.e
Kent Hastings left the meeting and reminded Ted Stillman to move $3,000.00 from the library reimbursement fund to the Family First Week. [An approved budget change]
June 10, 2008
COMMUNITY CENTER PRESENTATION. Paul Thompson said the Community Center group has purchased property on Main Street for a Community Center. The property is located on the west side of Main Street just south of the Dry Creek Bridge (where Mark Walker Smith’s photo studio is). Paul Thompson attended the Development Review Committee (DRC) meeting several weeks ago and presented the plans for the Community Center and it was decided to have the site plan presented to the City Council for information.
Paul Thompson said they have done a feasibility study and are convinced the Alpine community would benefit from such a building. There is a tremendous amount of interest in having a Community Center like the one proposed. This information was obtained from personal contact with residents of the town and from the survey that was conducted.
The Alpine Arts Council has raised $1,300,000 to go toward the purchase of the land and building from private donations. They have made arrangements for grant writers to write Federal, State and local foundation grants and they are predicting the goal will be met quickly. The Arts Council has produced a calendar to inform Alpiners of community events.
The proposed library will be an alliance with northern Utah County cities, one card for all libraries and residents have asked for a study space for students. The Post Office will have post offices boxes for rent, express mailings, postage stamp purchases, etc. A senior citizen lounge will be included in the building with a Creekside Café. There will be a regional theater, a recital hall, and dance studios, art classes for both children and adults.
This building will become the heart of Alpine and the theater was the winner of Utah’s best Community Theater in 2007.
Thomas Whitchurch said the Arts Council has been working extensively on this for sometime now and now there is a group of people who is going to make this happen.
Paul Thompson said the Arts Council knew there would be problems with parking and some of the surrounding businesses are willing to sign an Agreement to use their parking in the evenings.
Jim Tracy asked if the Library would be public or a private enterprise and Paul Thompson made several suggestions where the City could help. The estimated budget for this entire project will be about $10,000,000.
[Note: April 23, 2003 minutes: "The original cost was for $10,000,000 ... The feedback Councilman Adams got from residents was that this was too much money, so the Library committee has looked at ways to cut costs."]
August 12, 2008
Scott Kenny said he would like the City Council to appoint a committee to study the feasibility of having a public library in Alpine whether it is located in the proposed Community Center, in the park or as a joint venture with Highland. Mr. Kenny passed out an information sheet listing the State’s requirements for certification. Mayor Willoughby said this item needed to be a line item on the agenda to be able to act on this.
August 26, 2008
Bradley Reneer made a presentation about the need for a library in Alpine. Mr. Reneer said there was a library in Alpine not too many years ago and said he didn’t know why this was discontinued. Brad Reneer felt it was our patriotic duty to have a library in our community and said that with the Police Department vacating their portion of the building now is a golden opportunity to utilize some of that extra space and felt we can find some creative ways to make the library work.
The library would be provisional at first and after three years it would become State Certified; however, Mr. Reneer said he would just like to see a library in our community. Brad Reneer challenged the Council to include plans to incorporate a library in this building upon the Police vacating their portion of the building and went on to praise the City Council for being very careful with the City’s funds.
Joan Norton said that many citizens in our community are passionate about having a library here and is excited and would be glad to put her energy behind the library project.
Jennifer Xanthos felt it was essential for the vitality of the community to have a library located here. Utilizing the space in the vacated Police Department was again mentioned as this would be a good starting point until a library could be relocated to a bigger building. Paul Thompson said he felt some anxiety and urgency about getting this project moving right away.
September 9, 2008
Scott Kenney said that about a month ago he asked the City Council ago to investigate library
options and was told this would be on a future agenda. Mr. Kenney asked what the process would be to appoint a committee. Mayor Willoughby said that that to have an official committee of the City would put constraints on the committee as all meetings would then have to be publicly noticed, recorded, minutes taken and the meetings would then become official. ...
Paul Thompson read a letter that has been drafted by the Arts Council and said the Eccles Foundation has outlined several things that needed to be provided to be eligible for foundation funding such as:
- Establishing the need for the project
- Identifying and establishing the credibility of the sponsoring organization
- Insuring the perpetuity of the project after it is built
Kimberly Bryant asked if the Post Office would be a full-operating post office or if it would be like the one which is down by Kohler’s.
Brad Reneer said he appreciated the City not rushing to fill the vacated Police Dept. space and
suggested that a library be considered to fill that portion of the building. This would be at zero cost to the City and could used as a Community Center and a Senior Citizen Center until the Community Center as proposed by the Arts Council is built. Brad Reneer said the council needed correct data.
Martha Beck said there are a couple of things that has changed her mind to going full support for a library. Her family has used the library pass in the past and this has worked for her situation.
Chris Culver clarified to the Council that the library will not be a deterrent to building the Cultural Center and further stated that the building of the library would help build momentum and start putting this in motion. Mrs. Culver also said she uses an internet company who would gladly again donate books.
Amy Thackery has moved to Alpine from Oregon and was curious why the library has failed in the past. She was told that it was because of money. Amy Thackery believes vision for the Cultural Center is important and sees the need for a heart for this community. Mrs. Thackery does not want to be an appendage of Highland or American Fork as she doesn’t live in those communities. She broke down the need for a library into three parts – past, present and future.
September 23, 2008
Mayor Willoughby brought the audience up-to-date on the status of the library. Jim Tracy, Bradley
Reneer and several others met with one of the neighboring communities and got some good information on
starting and maintaining a library. Mayor Willoughby said we are still planning on having a budget workshop meeting in November and the library project will then be looked at and prioritized. Mayor Willoughby said that we will be able to see where we are at that time. We know that we are at 1/10th [sic] of a slow year in building permits and all the projects will be taken into consideration at that time. Mayor Willoughby said that in the upcoming Newsline he will be asking for those interested in serving on a library committee or a library board to please contact him.
October 14, 2008
VII. REPORTS - SEPTEMBER 2008 FINANCIAL REPORT. Ted Stillman reviewed the September 2008
Financial Report and outlined how revenues are doing and also listing the Fund Balances as follows:
Sales Tax – Is only up $8,702 over the same time last year. This is great news because Sales Tax
hasn’t gone down.
- Franchise Fees – Are lagging $5,219 behind last year.
- Plan Check Fees – Continues to decrease because of slow residential development. In 2007 48
- building permits were issued for new homes where we would normally have 80 building permits
- issued for new homes. So far in 2008 we have issued six building permits for new homes.
- Building Permits – Also continue to decrease because a slow-down in residential permits.
BUDGET WORK SESSION – Ted Stillman said ... we have taken in almost $350,000.00 in Sales Tax as compared to $352,000.00 this same time last year. Mayor Willoughby said our Sales Tax is population based and Ted Stillman said that half the sales tax is point of sale and the ones that are impacted the most are the ones with a lot of point of sale like car dealers. Building Permit and Plan Check fees are the ones that are in trouble and we have issued our sixth building permit for the calendar year. What has helped us this year is that we have had several commercial building permits and commercial projects that have made the difference. Ted Stillman said we will look at the budget again in January to get a better picture and see where we are.
This year’s projections are as follows:
- General Fund - $2.8 million
- Revenue Expenditures – usually have 10% to 15% surplus at the end of the year. That goes into the Capitol Improvement Fund
$2,622,665.00 and expenditures down to $2,756,000.00 bringing the total down to -$134,000.00. Ted Stillman said this is our goal but within the next eight months we will need to make up that difference. Mr. Stillman then talked about how we are going to accomplish this. ...
Cutback Management 2008-2009 list is as follows:
- Not fill 1 1/2 vacant positions
- Delay Capital Projects
- Closely monitor revenues and expenditures
- Ask the Lone Peak Public Safety District not to fill vacant positions
- Hold off on signing the IT Contract
- Evaluate the Building Inspection Contract
Assumptions
- Sales Tax will remain steady
- No increase in the Lone Peak Public Safety District budget
- Building Permit revenue won’t go lower
- Same kind of merit/cost of living increase as last year
- No increase in the Lone Peak Public Safety District budget
- Maintain infrastructure (especially streets)
- Maintain equipment replacement program
- Property Tax will increase from $762,395 to $926,815 for an increase of $164,420
- Moved Class C Road Funds into the General Fund
- Moved Garbage Fund into the General Fund
- Moved Historical Fund into the General Fund
plan of the area in the Police Department that has become available upon the Police vacating their portion of the City Hall. Mayor Willoughby said that none of the interior walls in the Police Department were structural and the restroom could be easily expanded and then it would meet ADA requirements. Thomas Whitchurch suggested that we look at putting in an exterior entrance to the Building Department, as this might be less expensive than the modifications suggested to remodel the Police Department. Ted Stillman said to put the Library in that room would disrupt City Hall.
Mr. Stillman further stated that we need to determine what our need is. The first step would be to create a Library Board and they do a plan and community survey. The collection would be based on the needs of the survey. Highland’s need was 16,000 pieces at $16.00 a piece. You look at what your need is and then look at your space.
Kent Hastings noted that the Library was low on the priority list and wondered if this was something that we should do now as our budget is tight. The other question Kent Hastings asked was what was the possibility of going jointly with Highland as they now have their new library and pooling resources with them?
Mayor Hunt Willoughby said that previously the Library was library was low on his priority list; however, he met with Jennifer Xanthos and found that those who were coming to us and supporting the Library was sympathetic to the financial condition and tight budget of the City. The other thing was he walked over to that facility to see what space was available. Mayor Willoughby said he didn’t know what the cost would to move walls, construct the new bathroom and install new carpeting.
Thomas Whitchurch said a library card in Highland City cost $50.00 and suggested that we consider
increasing our library card reimbursement to match that amount.
Tracy Wallace asked how long would it take to form the committee, what would it cost to do the community
survey and what time frame are we looking at? Mayor Willoughby said he asked Ted Stillman to look at other cities who have these boards for their bylaws and duties. Tracy Wallace said to put this in the budget at this time is a little premature as we won’t have numbers until the survey is done and this might be several months down the road. Ted Stillman said we can have an ordinance ready for the December meeting to form a Library Board.
Jim Tracy said he gave the Library a high priority on his list and the library people have indicated they wanted to raise 2/3 of the money in donations.
Ted Stillman said he didn’t print the whole budget out for this meeting as there will be many more changes.
In January we will be six months into the current budget year.
Jim Tracy said he had talked to Shane Sorensen and then made some suggestions of items that could be
put off until later. One of the items that could be taken off was the CUP Pressurized Irrigation Pressure Tie for $300,000. Shane Sorensen said it is hard to say about the CUP water; however, we just signed an extension. Jim Tracy said another item that could be put off was the North Main Street storm drain for $100,000. Shane Sorensen said this needs to be done, but in a hard budget year this could be put off.
[Note: Minutes for 2009 meetings have not been posted on the city website though the MP3 versions are available.]
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