Council Meeting - 31 October, 2017

***Update: The truly frightening issue was item 2. The discussion went so long that it bumped the third item. As bad as our sewer treatment situation is, we are probably better off than most cities. ***

The list of issues to address at our 14 November Work Meeting was growing so large that it was frightening. So we are holding an extra work meeting on Halloween. It will be full of scary questions like, "what to do if the Mayor goes missing?", "what to do with what's lurking in our sewers?", and, scariest of all, "what to do about PARKING in Provo?!?"

PROVO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
Work Meeting Agenda

9:00 AM, Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Work Meetings are designed to be a less formal venue for discussion among Council Members. Generally, no public input is taken during the meeting.
Please note that due to scheduling accommodations, the Council will convene the public meeting at 9:00 AM, then following Approval of Minutes, immediately move into the Closed Meeting portion. It is anticipated that the Closed Meeting will adjourn and the Council will reconvene in the public meeting setting at approximately 10:15 AM.

Closed Meeting

The Municipal Council or the Governing Board of the Redevelopment Agency will consider a motion to close the meeting for the purposes of holding a strategy session to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation, and/or to discuss the purchase, sale, exchange, or lease of real property, and/or the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual in conformance with § 52-4-204 and 52-4-205 et. seq., Utah Code.
Closed meetings (aka executive meetings) are held without the public present and must meet one of the conditions listed above.

Business

A discussion on the process for appointing an interim mayor (17-132)
In the event that Mayor Curtis resigns before his term expires, an interim mayor will need to be appointed. The process and timing for this are spelled out in Utah State Code and Provo City Code. Council will be discussing this process to determine some of the details in order to be prepared. We have to appoint an interim mayor within 30 days of a vacancy, but two weeks after publicly noticing the vacancy and intention to appoint. We will have a special circumstance because if the Mayor resigns, it will very likely be after the election. I think the best thing to do would be to appoint the mayor-elect once the election has been certified. Can anyone think of a reason not to do this? A motion approving the amended Council intent statement regarding the process for appointing an interim was Approved 6:0, with Council member Kay Van Buren excused. If it is necessary to appoint an interim mayor, we expect to appoint the mayor-elect until their regular term is to begin.

A presentation on Wastewater planning (17-131)
The Public Works Department will be presenting capital improvement projects (CIP) for wastewater and what the options are for infrastructure, particularly on the west side of the city. Information on options for the wastewater treatment plan will also be presented and discussed. I believe the future needs for wastewater treatment are the largest unfunded infrastructure need. The State regulatory environment is perhaps the greatest unknown and is making it hard to plan for the future. Presentation only. Our sewer treatment plant is 60 years old. It needs to be completely overhauled or reconstructed. The State is lowering the limits to "nutrients" coming out of the plant (which can feed our colorful algal blooms in Utah Lake). This current round of reductions is coming at a good time, it's better to build a plant to certain standards than to come back later and try to retrofit for compliance. The problem is that the State is hinting at future reductions in the 2030 timeframe, but what those limits will be are not known at this time. That creates a lot of uncertainty which makes it hard to properly plan for the new treatment plant. We have two years left on the painful five-year sewer rate increase plan. But after that, instead of leveling off to the match inflation, we will likely need to raise rates an additional 3.5% for many years. There are still many details to work out and decisions to make, but we are looking at a $220 million project.

A discussion on adopting the Provo Parking Strategic Management Plan as a guide for decision making and policy formation (17-126)
This was discussed at the October 17 work meeting and requests were made for some edits and updates to the plan before bringing it back to Council. The discussion focuses on officially adopting the Provo Parking Strategic Management Plan, developed by Kimley-Horn Associates, at a future Council meeting as a guide for decision making and policy formation. Should we adopt the Provo Parking Strategic Management Plan or should we actually follow the Plans recommendations and adopt "new program Vision and Mission Statements and Recommended Parking Program Guiding Principles"? I personally feel that the Council should "stay out of the weeds" and focus on high-level policy. I think we should follow the (very detailed) plan and adopt statements and principles, but not the plan itself, except as a reference document. Continued to the November 14, 2017 Work Meeting. Due to the length of the Sewer Plant discussion, this item was pushed back to the next meeting.

Adjournment