City Council 2-2-16

Notice of cancellation.

City Council 2-16-16

Agenda, Minutes, Recording

• The council approved the lone bid received to construct the pedestrian bridge that will span I-15 at 4400 South.  The company who submitted the bid was Contech Engineering Solutions.  The amount is $580,000.  Riverdale has been awarded funding by WACOG for this project and it has been approved through the Weber County Transportation Fund.  This project will be a great addition to the city and I am excited to see it moving forward.
• A public hearing for, and consideration of a resolution to adjust the Fire budget was rescheduled for 3-1-16.  This was done to ensure we were abiding by state code concerning public hearings.
• The council approved a resolution that resolves a boundary line issue between city property and Valley West (apartments on 300 W), LLC. property.
• On a side note, the Valley West Apartments are under contract to be sold and the new owner has indicated that he intends to refurbish and update every building inside and out, along with the asphalt.  That will be a welcome project that should contribute to the well being of the ongoing efforts in the 550 W. RDA area.

RDA Board 2-16-16

Agenda, Minutes, Recording: Part A, Part B

• A public hearing for, and consideration of a resolution to amend the budget for the 550 W. RDA area was rescheduled for 3-15-16.  This was done to ensure we were abiding by state code concerning public hearings.
• The board approved a resolution that resolves a boundary line issue between RDA property and Valley West, LLC.
• The board approved a resolution creating a new CDA project area map and future plan document with associated work.  This allows the consulting firm, whom we hired to help us with the new CDA, to move forward in the process.
• Dee Hansen gave another update on what is happening with the 550 W. RDA area.  They are having some soil samples done and have had some productive meetings with UDOT about possible access changes related to Riverdale Road.

New Park Open House 2-18-16

• The city had available some conceptual pictures and 3D visuals of the planned park.
• The Mayor and representatives from the park design company (J.U.B.) spoke about the process; from aquiring the land to organizing a committee to sharing ideas betwen the committee and designers to the conceptual design we have now.
• The committee consisted of residents, city councilors, planning commissioners and city staff, all working along with the designers.
• J.U.B. and the Mayor fielded questions from the audience.  Residents asked about a variety of factors; including but not limited to: timeline for construction, parking capacity and road safety, ADA accessibile features, dealing with the river bank, restrooms, trees and shade, dogs, vegitation and the plans for funding.
• The city administrator spoke briefly about the status of our “park area to resident ratio” and how we are under served in that manner by many standards.
•  More information and all the visual aides that were shared at the open house are now available on the city website here.

Strategic Planning 2-20-16

Agenda, Minutes: Not yet available, Recording:  Part A, Part B, Part C

• We reviewed our current fiscal year to date budget status with the business administrator.
• We discussed the timeline and process of the budget formulation for Fiscal Year 2017.  The council will be presented with a tentative budget for review on 4-30-16 and will vote on that tentative budget on 5-3-16.  Then we will have another strategic planning meeting to work out the final budget on 5-14-16.  The council will receive the final budget draft on 6-7-16; when there will also be public hearings on its adoption.  On 6-21-16 the council will vote to adopt the final FY2017 budget.
• We talked about the 2005 Action Plan, its directives and agreed to keep it up to date and use it as a guiding document.  Hopefully it will be included on the city website before long.  We also received an updated copy of our Benchmark and Performance Measures.
• We went through the Capital Improvement Projects plan department by department with each department head.  They all took the opportunity to talk about their current department status, immediate needs, near future needs and longer term needs.  We talked about how they (and we as a council) would prioritize those needs.  I’ll include some notable items we discussed.
• The city administrator talked about the upcoming replacement of the entry doors at the civic center.
•  The city attorney talked about adding a small office space for use by defense council/public defenders.
• The community services director talked about some maintenance issues at the community center; including furnace and bleacher problems.  He also, with the public works director, discussed thier own front entry door issues.
• The fire chief talked about his desire for a new fire truck, with a plan to sell the ladder truck.  He said that we would be better served by a more versatile aparatus (called a “quint”).  He also indicated that he would like to change his part time receptionist to a full time position, and add part time fire fighters to have 1 more man available 24-7.  Also, some residents have asked about the status of the fire chief truck that is sitting in the parking lot; he now uses a white unmarked Tahoe (he has future plans to mark it and add proper lights) that he got surplus from our Police department.  He said they plan to keep the red chief truck and use it as a utility vehicle and surplus one of the brush trucks.
• The police chief spoke about how they have been doing fleet replacements.  Lt. Brenkman talked about replacing the police dog.  They both spoke about some technology challenges with cameras, computers, storing data and such.  They indicated there will be a required change of radios in coming years that will be a significant investment.
• The community development director spoke briefly about the current status of the RDA areas, the potential of the new CDA area and some of the ongoing development efforts in the city.
• The public works director covered the usual maintenance challenges with sewer, storm water, streets and water.  Only the water situation sounded atypical; he indicated we may need to review our water rates and or billing formula more often to cover the annual increases from the water district and his anticipated infrastructure maintenance and improvement projects.  We are also in the process of finalizing plans for a new water well.  He also talked about the need for a fence along the south border of the new park property due to some of the neighbors utilizing the land for personal use.  We also discussed the expected help we will receive from prop-1 proceeds, among other new revenue for streets, sidewalks and trails.
• After these department reviews we discussed an issue with the police regarding their hiring practices and retainment of officers.  The chief and Lt. Brenkman feel we need to make changes to how we compensate officers.
• We also had brief disussions on a variety of topics including:  Riverdale Park trail and equipment, East Park playground equipment, Ritter Dr., pickelball and tennis courts, new park property development and 4400 south traffic safety.
• Now staff will use the information gathered from these discussions to assist them in formulating the tentative budget; which they will present to the council about 2 months from now.

LOOKING AHEAD

The new library in Roy will have an open house at 2:00 pm on 2-27-16.  City Council meetings will be on 3-1-16 and 3-15-16, RDA on 3-15-16.  There will be public hearings on both nights concerning amended budgets.  You can always find more detailed information at riverdalecity.com.