February 28, 2024 | General Meeting

Voting

• 5-0 approving the Blackridge Reservoir parking lot fee of $15 for weekends and holidays between May 1 and September 7
• 5-0 approving the Consent Agenda, which includes the following:
• Monthly financial summary (January 2024)
• February 14 City Council meeting minutes
• Temporary beer event permit for Pierpont Nightlife Group (issued/regulated by the Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Services)

General Meeting

City Council recognitions

The Council formally recognized John Titus, a community member who started volunteering in 2019 in Kimberly Mendenhall's computer classes and continues to almost every day. Despite being retired, he freely shares his decades of professional expertise with FHMS students.

The Council also recognized four young men—Carter Halcom, Austin Halcom, Jaxon Meyers, and Dallin Oaks—who were featured on a news broadcast for taking time to push drivers up slippery slopes during a snowstorm. Though they were recognized for that storm, they have gone out of their way to perform similar service multiple times.

Finally, the Council recognized the winners of the D.A.R.E. elementary school program essay contest. Each of the winners had the opportunity to be recognized at each of their schools and read their essays in front of their peers.

City Council comments

Councilmember Shields noted the recent "We The People" event that the entire City Council attended and expressed appreciation teachers for the unseen and often thankless work they do. 

Public comments

• A resident expressed frustration with a neighbor who he feels has an excessive amount of accessory vehicles and is supportive of the City Council restricting large amounts such vehicles (an item of discussion in the work meeting)

Blackridge parking fee (public hearing)

Over a series of public meetings, the City has discussed implementing a $15 parking fee at Blackridge Reservoir's parking lot on weekends and holidays between May 1 and September 7. The dual purpose of this fee is to recover some of the costs of operating the reservoir amenities and to disperse overcrowding during peak times.  This is one of several Blackridge-related items proposed for 2024. Details can be found at herriman.org/blackridge-reservoir. The public hearing opened and closed without any comments, and the item was approved.

City Council board and committee reports

• Councilmember Henderson, representing the Unified Fire Authority board, noted a recent finance committee meeting and a discussion about UFA salaries and their efforts for fiscal responsibility while remaining competitive with wages.
• Councilmember Hodges, representing the South Valley Sewer District board, reported on a recent meeting about future sewer project needs on the Herriman hillside, the Point of the Mountain, and others.
• Councilmember Ohrn, representing the Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling Districtboard, said the board recently discussed some retirement buyout options that the district hasn't budgeted for and they are now evaluating the policy. She also reported on a fire that consumed a truck that was caused by an improperly disposed battery.
• Mayor Palmer mentioned he met with Brigadier General Darwin Craig of the Utah National Guard, who expressed appreciation for the City's contributions and efforts in the Army Compatible Use Buffer program. He also reported that Fort Douglas at the University of Utah will close and relocate their operations to Camp Williams.

Work Meeting

Water rates study

A year ago, the City started the process to study the City's water revenue from user fees compared to short- and long-term costs. Over the next ten years, the water utility is anticipated to have over $92 million in projects in addition to annual operation, maintenance, and replacement costs. The revenue from current rates is not nearly enough to cover these costs, so the study consultant and City staff members recommended a steady increase of about 13% on water rates annual over the next 5 years as well as three separate bonds in 2025, 2026, and 2028. Maintaining current rates with no bonds would cause the City's water fund to run out within a few of years.

The consultant prepared an example of how much rates would increase under their increase + adjustment recommendation, which can be seen here. The Council is inclined to follow the recommendation, though they expressed concern about the rising costs that affect residents between a variety of increased taxes, inflation, rising commercial fees, and so forth. The item will come back for further discussion and action at future meetings.

Slackwater Pizza incentive

Slackwater Pizza's location in Herriman is nearing completion but there have been higher-than-expected construction and financing costs that have caused difficulty for the business' finances. Slackwater requested that the City reduce or waive a variety of building permit fees that total about $100,000. Arbor Development, the master developer over the Anthem project (where Slackwater is located), has agreed to provide their own incentive as well to help offset costs for Slackwater. The Council feels that with infrastructure and service costs, waiving fees is unaffordable. But they empathize with the situation Slackwater is in and noted they are willing to talk about delaying building permit fee collection until the business is more established. The City will coordinate with Arbor Development to try to work out a solution. 

RV and accessory vehicle storage

Over the last couple years, the Planning Commission, City staff, and Council have discussed potential changes to the City's ordinances governing RV, trailer, and other "accessory vehicle" storage. Several adjustments have been made to the proposal leading up to this item returning for discussion. The Council is attempting to balance responding to resident complaints, adhering to the General Plan by maintaining aesthetics and safety, and respecting property owner rights. The Council will keep discussing the item, but for now will work on an option which sets a standard limit based on lot size but allows for an application/approval process for reasonable requests for exceeding the maximum (such as for storing vehicles for family members).

Department budget requests: Administration/Administrative Services

As part of the budget drafting process, the Council is discussing the budget requests for City departments. In this meeting, they reviewed the Administration and Administrative Services departments. The Council had no significant concerns for these departments' requests.

Legislative session update

The Council and City staff discussed a variety of legislation that affects Herriman City or other municipalities' processes. The state legislative session ends on March 1.

Video

• General meeting
• Work meeting 1
• Work meeting 2