03/11/2003 - Minutes (2) PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
TUESDAY, MARCH 11 , 2003
The City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah, met in a Work Session on Tuesday, March 11,
2003, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 326, City Council Office, City County Building, 451 South
State Street.
In Attendance: Council Members Carlton Christensen, Nancy Saxton, Jill Remington Love,
Dave Buhler, Dale Lambert, Eric Jergensen and Van Turner.
Also in Attendance: Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson, Rocky Fluhart, Chief Administrative
Officer; Ed Rutan, City Attorney; Cindy Gust-Jenson, Executive Council Director; Gary
Mumford, Council Deputy Director/Senior Legislative Auditor; Janice Jardine, Council
Planning & Policy Analyst; Russell Weeks, Council Policy Analyst; Michael Sears,
Council Budget & Policy Analyst; Ken Cowley, City Recorder/Chief Information Officer;
LeRoy Hooton, Public Utilities Director; Tim Harpst, Transportation Director; LuAnn
Clark, HAND Director; Sandi Marler, Community Development Program Specialist; Lewis
Zunguze, Planning Director; Brent Wilde, Planning Deputy Director; Alison Weyher,
Community and Economic Development Director; David Dobbins, Community and Economic
Development Business Services Director; Rick Graham, Director of Public Services; Max
Peterson, City Engineer; Romney Stewart, Salt Lake Valley Solid Waste Management
Facility Director; Dan Mule' , City Treasurer; Steve Fawcett, Management Services Deputy
Director; Gordon Hoskins, City Controller; Randy Hillier, CIP Admin/Budget & Policy
Analyst; Laurie Dillon, Budget Analyst; Vicki Bennett, Senior Environmental Advisor;
Linda Hamilton, Investigator Civilian Review Board; Greg Davis, Finance Director; Kevin
Bergstrom, Deputy Director of Public Services; Steve Whittaker, Technology Consultant;
Randy Isbell, Housing Specialist; Jeff Rowley, Risk Management; John Spencer, Real
Property Agent; Simarjit Singh Gill, City Prosecutor; Jerry Burton, Police Department
Administrative Manager; Wesley Galloway, Police Department Victims Advocates Director;
Krista Dunn, Police Department Grants Specialist; Chuck Querry, Fire Chief; Larry
Littlefield, Deputy Fire Chief; Brett Rock, Deputy Fire Chief; John Vuyk, Fire
Department Budget Director; Dennis McKone, Fire Department Administrative Assistant;
Nancy Tessman, City Library Director; Paul Morris, Attorney for West Valley City; and
Pam Johnson, Deputy City Recorder.
Councilmember Christensen presided at and conducted the meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 5:32 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS
#1. REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INCLUDING REVIEW OF COUNCIL INFORMATION
AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Cindy Gust-Jenson said the Council Chair and Vice Chair felt the agendaed public
hearings should be held at the time advertised. She said during the City Council
meeting, the items scheduled for public hearings would be addressed prior to the
general public comments to the Council.
See File M 03-5 for additional Council announcements.
#2. INTERVIEW MASOOD UL-HASAN PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE POLICE
CIVILIAN REVIEW BOARD.
Mr. Ul-Hasan said he was the President of the Greater Islamic Society, Utah Chapter.
He said after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, he has been working to help
provide unity with the Police Department and the Middle Eastern Community. He said he
would be able to remain unbiased in his appointment.
03 - 1
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
TUESDAY, MARCH 11 , 2003
#3. INTERVIEW MARK GARFIELD PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HIS RE-APPOINTMENT TO THE
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD.
This interview was rescheduled for a later date.
#4. INTERVIEW MICHAEL D. GABEL PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HIS REAPPOINTMENT TO THE
HOUSING ADVISORY AND APPEALS BOARD.
Mr. Gabel said his background in real estate and new construction had helped in serving
on the board. He said most appeals consisted of older structures, which no longer met
code. He said the challenge was to meet all safety requirements with minimal cost and
work.
#5. INTERVIEW CURTIS ANDERSON PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION OF HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE HOUSING
TRUST FUND ADVISORY BOARD.
Mr. Anderson said he worked as a controller of a company and had experience in obtaining
outside funding. He said he would be able to bring this experience along with new
ideas to the board.
#6. RECEIVE AN UPDATE REGARDING ISSUES AT THE 2003 LEGISLATIVE SESSION.
No discussion was held.
#7. RECEIVE A BRIEFING REGARDING THE LIBRARY BUDGET.
Russell Weeks and Nancy Tessman briefed the Council. Ms. Tessman said she was waiting
for the Property Tax Revenue Report from Salt Lake County before she would know what
the budget shortfall the Library would be dealing with. She said she expected to have
that information in two weeks. She said unique to this year, $900, 000 was set-aside
in a contingency fund in anticipation of opening the new Main Library downtown. She
said although the extra funds had been set aside, most monies were earmarked for
additional one-time costs in opening a new facility. She said a soft freeze had been
put on hiring, which was frustrating because of the triple digit increase in use at
all library branches. She said she wanted the final budget numbers before she began
to lay off existing staff. Councilmember Lambert said he did not want to see staff
cut. He said even if some contingency funds were used to help with the budget shortfall,
the budgetary problems remained, and cuts needed to be made. Ms. Tessman said the
level of personnel was the highest area and the only place budget cuts could be made.
Councilmember Christensen asked Ms. Tessman to provide the Council with corrected
figures from Salt Lake County when available.
#8. RECEIVE A BRIEFING REGARDING BUDGET AMENDMENT NO. 12 AND RELATED RESOLUTIONS.
View Attachment
Michael Sears, Rocky Fluhart, Randy Hillier, Gordon Hoskins, Steve Fawcett, Jeff
Rowley, Ken Cowley, John Vuyk, Deputy Fire Chief Larry Littlefield, Kevin Berstrom,
David Dobbins, Rick Graham and Paul T. Morris briefed the Council from the budget
amendment handout.
Councilmember Christensen asked if recommendations Council asked for were included in
the handout. Mr. Sears said they were addressed in Items No. 1 through No. 9. He
said Item No. 10 was an optional recommendation if Council wanted to use one-time
monies for the revenue shortfall. He said other changes in Budget Amendment No. 12
were identified in his report. He said the monies in Initiatives No. 1 and No. 2 were
double counted. He said to correct the error the administration recommended increasing
03 - 2
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
TUESDAY, MARCH 11 , 2003
the excess revenue allocation portion of the budget. He said in Initiative No. 18,
the administration recommended the funding source for Governmental Immunity is Worker' s
Compensation Fund balance rather than General Fund balance. He said the actual budget
shortfall would not be known until the Property Tax Revenue Report from Salt Lake
County was available.
A discussion was held on reasons and recourses for reduction in property tax revenue
for Salt Lake City.
Councilmember Lambert asked for clarification on the revenue shortfall of Item No. 10.
Mr. Graham said reviewing how engineering costs where done, established stricter
policy. He said in the future project costs would be passed on and not absorbed by
the City. Councilmember Love asked how additional charges would affect future Capital
Improvement projects (CIP) in the City. Mr. Fluhart said the estimated cost of future
CIP projects were in the proposed budget. He said the figures shown included additional
costs, which would be passed on. He said the City would be able to take advantage of
the favorable bidding climate in the construction field.
Paul Morris, City Attorney for West Valley City, gave the Council a special briefing
on the proposed Utopia agreement. He said if Salt Lake City joined Utopia, they would
be the 18th City to participate. He said if the study proved it to be feasible, a
fiber optic cable would be constructed joining every home and business in the 18
cities. Councilmember Turner asked if the proposed Utopia plan would provide services
at a reduced rate. Mr. Morris said each City would provide the services wholesale.
He said competing retailers would provide services to local residents and businesses.
He said currently it cost residential customers approximately $200 monthly for
Internet, cable and telephone services. He said the proposal would provide the same
services for approximately $125 a month.
Councilmember Lambert said he wanted to have a briefing by experts in the fields of
technology and fiber optics. Mr. Morris said joining Utopia would pay for feasibility
studies that would provide this information. He said the interlocal agreement allowed
each participating city an opportunity to pull out prior to application for bonding on
the projected work.
Councilmember Saxton said projects such as Utopia would put City government in
competition with private businesses. She said it would be viewed as government entities
trying to control too much. Mr. Morris said many participating cities viewed this as
economic development. He said this provided revenue source and services for citizens
at cost savings.
Councilmember Buhler asked how the City could protect itself from content issues with
the information that could be obtained from provided sources. He said he was concerned
groups would be able to use this service as another way to apply political pressure.
Mr. Morris said the City would be providing the "information highway" and the retailers
would be providing services. He said if someone did not approve of information they
received, they would be able to switch providers. He said 1st amendment issues made
it impossible to monitor content.
A discussion was held on budget sources for the proposed Utopia project.
A discussion was held on budget Item Nos. 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.
Jeff Rowley briefed the Council on the new software for Risk Management. He said the
software not only tracked claims, but helped identify where changes were needed to
avoid future claims. He said it was the same system used for workers compensation.
03 - 3
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
TUESDAY, MARCH 11 , 2003
He said the City had been able to customize the system for several other departments.
Ken Cowley briefed the Council on specialized vans purchased for Information Management
Services (IMS) . He said GE Capitol would not lease vehicles under $100,000. He said
maintenance tracking proved it was cheaper to purchase newer vehicles rather than
continue to maintain the ones currently in use.
Councilmember Saxton asked if IMS could use other vans currently in the City pool. Mr.
Cowley said vans used by IMS were for transporting computer equipment. He said special
shelving and racks would be installed, eliminating the passenger seating needed by
other departments.
A discussion was held on budget Item Nos. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29.
John Vuyk briefed the Council on the addition of two Emergency Preparedness and Disaster
Relief Training (EPDR) Captain' s positions with the Salt Lake City Fire Department
(SLCFD) . He said grant funding for this position was only anticipated for one year.
He said the SLCFD was participating in a joint venture with the Salt Lake County Fire
Department and EPDR.
Councilmember Christensen asked why current SLCFD captains could not be placed in the
positions. Mr. Vuyk said each captain was needed in his current position.
Councilmember Christensen asked what savings would be incurred if the positions were
done by firemen a step below Captain. Mr. Vuyk said the step below captain was a fire
fighter. He said due to the variety of duties needed for this program, both SLCFD and
the County would need to create positions for captains in the program.
Councilmember Jergensen said he was concerned that creating these positions would put
a financial burden on the fire department once the grant monies were no longer
available. Mr. Vuyk said it would be known in advance if grant funding were
discontinued. He said several current captains in the department were due to retire.
He said if grant funding was not available next year, no one would be promoted into
the vacated positions. Deputy Fire Chief Larry Littlefield said there were no
guarantees on grant funding. He said when this specific grant started in 1991 the
funding was $4000. He said the grant for this year was $1.2 million. He said Federal
Emergency Management Act (FEMA) funded a total of $80 million in 2003. He said based
on the past, a $1.5 million grant was anticipated in 2004. He said after the events
of September 11, he felt grant monies would continue to be available and increase in
amount.
Gordon Hoskins briefed the Council on additional grant funded positions within the
City. He said the additional position was part-time only, and would be discontinued
when grant monies were no longer available. He said the position created by the
Homeland Security Grant was an hourly position. He said the positions would help
develop "Weapons of Mass Destructions" program and would not continue after funding
ran out.
A discussion was held on budget Item Nos. 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37.
Mr. Sears and Mr. Hoskins briefed the Council on special revenue donations. Mr. Sears
said this item allowed Council to approve the distribution of donations in advance.
He said if this was not done, each time a donation was received by the City, they would
come before the Council for approval. Councilmember Christensen asked how distribution
would be tracked if all donations were approved at once. Mr. Sears said individual
donations were earmarked. He said the donation needed to be applied as specified.
Councilmember Christensen asked the administration to prepare an audit report showing
03 - 4
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
TUESDAY, MARCH 11 , 2003
how the donations were received and distributed.
Steve Fawcett briefed the Council on the Neighborhood Matching Grant Re-Appropriation
Fund. He said $117,000 was the surplus between the amount from Fiscal 2002 and the
remaining unspent monies from the budget amendment of June 2002. He said it was
appropriated in the General Fund, but not in the Special Revenue Fund. He said in
Fiscal 2001, $350,000 was appropriated to the Neighborhood Matching Grant fund. He
said the cash was never transferred and appropriation lapsed. He said a new
appropriation was needed to bring everything back into balance.
A discussion was held on budget Item Nos. 40 and 41.
Randy Hillier briefed the Council on the CIP Contingency Fund and the General Fund
balance. A discussion was held on the difference of each fund. Councilmember
Christensen said he wanted like the administration to prepare a spreadsheet outlining
how each fund was affected when monies were transferred. He said he wanted to schedule
another briefing addressing this topic.
A discussion was held on the breakdown of budget cuts made by each City department. A
handout was given to Council.
Councilmember Buhler recommended City Council provide the administration with their
proposed budget cuts. Councilmember Love said Council might want to see if budget
cuts proposed by the Council could be given to another City Department to preserve any
jobs scheduled to be eliminated. Councilmember Christensen said he wanted to wait and
see how budget cuts would affect each City department. He said he wanted to authorize
a 1.7% budget cut from the City Council's budget.
#9. HOLD A DISCUSSION REGARDING CDBG, ESG, HOPWA, AND HOME PROGRAMS. View Attachment
This item was rescheduled for a later date.
The meeting adjourned at 9:48 p.m.
pj
03 - 5