March 11, 2008Brad 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:
- Community Park (100 South): 21 acres, community park, $5,200,000 est. development costs, $2,100,000 from "other sources,"* $3,100,000 from impact fees.
- Healey Park parking lot: 4 acres, neighborhood park, $100,000 costs, $50,000 other sources, $50,000 impact fees.
- Smooth Canyon Park Pavilion & play area & park expansion: 5 acres, athletic park, $300,000 costs, $300,000 impact fees.
- West Side Park: 5 acres, neighborhood park,$2,400,000 costs, $1,000,000 other sources, $1,400,000 impact fees.
- 300 North Park: 2 acres, city park, $200,000 costs, $100,000 other sources, $100,000 impact fees.
- TOTAL: $8,200,000 costs, $3,250,000 other sources, $4,950,000 impact fees.
[*Presumably "other sources" include the capital improvements line item in the city budget and others to be determined. The minutes present the information in a table, which does not copy/paste well, so I have reformatted it.]
May 13, 2008Kent Hastings left the meeting and reminded Ted Stillman to move $3,000.00 from the library reimbursement fund to the Family First Week. [Budget change approved.]
June 10, 2008COMMUNITY 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: This is the same amount estimated five years earlier, at the April 22, 2003 meeting. See City Council Minutes 2003.]
August 12, 2008Scott Kenney 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. Kenney 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, 2008Bradley 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, 2008Scott 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 publically 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
- Paul Thompson asked if this letter could be on the next City Council Agenda.
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.
September 23, 2008Mayor 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 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, 2008REPORTS - SEPTEMBER 2008 FINANCIAL REPORT. Ted Stillman reviewed the September 2008 Financial Report ... 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. ...
Ted Stillman said that in November there will be a contingency plan outlined for the Council to consider.
November 11, 2008BUDGET WORK SESSION –
Ted Stillman said ... there is a positive sign as 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 ...
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.
In relooking at the budget, Ted Stillman said he looked at revenues and lowered the projection to $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. ...
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
Cutback Management 2009-2010 list is as follows:
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
- Maintain infrastructure (especially streets)
- Maintain equipment replacement program
- Property Tax will increase from $762,395 to $926,815 for an increase of $164,420
Changes
- Moved Class C Road Funds into the General Fund
- Moved Garbage Fund into the General Fund
- Moved Historical Fund into the General Fund
There was a discussion pertaining to a proposed library. Mayor Hunt Willoughby had drawn a rough floor 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. ...
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: 2009 minutes are available in MP3 format but not transcribed.]
