Smithfield City, Utah City Council Meeting, Wed, May 13, 2026

Welcome, everyone. Public notice is given that Smithfield City Council will meet in a regularly scheduled meeting at 96 South Main, Smithfield, Utah, Wednesday, 05/13/2026. The meet meeting will begin at 06:02PM. I'd like to turn the time over to Jay Downs for the welcome pledge of allegiance and a thought or prayer.

Everyone, please rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag

of The United States Of America and to the flag of The United States Of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all. I've

asked Clay if you would give us a

prayer. Our father in heaven, we're thankful we could gather this evening and talk about issues within Smithfield City. We're thankful for everyone's thoughts and in inspiration and messages to help us guide us on our decisions. We're truly thankful for all that we have in this valley and in this city. And we ask that as we talk about decisions tonight, that we will have guidance as to how to be fair and equitable to all the citizens, and that we will be able to make the decision that is best for the city of Smithfield. And we ask these things and say these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Clay, thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Mayor?

Thank you.

Motion. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the City Council meeting minutes from April 8 and 04/22/2026. I'll second.

How do we vote? Jay? Yes.

How do we vote? Jay? Yes. John? Yes. Chris? Yes. Jen?

Yes. John?

Todd, I'm sorry. Yes. It's been a day. You get two votes. Two John votes. Two John votes. And that passes. Thank you. Item number two, public comment on items not on the agenda. I'd like to open the time up for the room, if anybody has any comments.

So if it's on the agenda, wait?

You can wait then and we can open it then too, if you'd like, But if now's if it's not on the agenda, you're welcome to bring anything up too. So Yeah.

My name is Jeff Barnes. I'd like to speak on several items here. One is the name of the building next door. I don't know what your thoughts are, but I hope you're thinking about the Smithfield City History Museum. My thoughts. Items 7 And 8, cemetery. So as you know, lots in the cemetery are short and they're all over the country, lots and cemeteries are becoming very short. And I I don't know what you're considering as far as fees, residents fees, non resident's fees, but I think resident fees should be up to at least 800 or more. And non resident fees, I think, should be around 4,000. Non residents are a one time payment. They don't pay taxes, so their taxes don't go towards our general fund. That goes towards maintaining the cemetery. We have three big trees in the cemetery. What I mean by big trees, they're recognized by the state of Utah as the biggest trees. We have the biggest Norway spruce in the state right in the middle of the cemetery. So I care about this the cemetery and the trees, and they're a 100 year old trees. And as you know, many of them have been dying. Two years ago, we got a grant, and we took a dozen trees out of the cemetery, cut them down, and took about 15 or 20 stumps out. I know you're not gonna do this, but I'm gonna tell you tell you what would like to see anyway. I've already spoken to Justin about this, and he knows. But you guys are looking at the west side of the middle section where the big trees are. And, if you go to the east side, there's a section there where trees were taken down, and you can bring the lots from one street over to the next because there's no trees in there anymore. So that's my recommendation. I've already talked to Justin and you've already plotted the the ones on the east or the West. So anyway, my thoughts. I have a concern about digging eight feet away from a big trunk of those 100 year old trees. I think that hole should be dug at least 10 feet from those big trunks. And the new land to the east, We need to be creating a plan for that land to the east, one that one that can be scheduled in phases, come up with a design for the whole piece of ground there, and then, operate develop it in phases so that at least it starts to happen. Otherwise, if we just keep waiting and waiting and waiting and the price keeps getting higher and higher, that that's never gonna be developed. So the city needs a plan for new trees. Like I say, we cut a lot of trees down, but we don't have a a current plan for the future about planting any other trees in the cemetery. The day will come when the cemetery will have no trees. All of those big 100 year trees will be gone. There won't be any trees to replace them. So we need to have a plan for replacing trees. But just like people, the trees will eventually die. So as we look at planting more people in that cemetery, we need to consider planting more trees. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks,

Oh, no. You're fine. You go ahead. Finish. Go ahead. This is Carolee Stokes. And I'm up here to make some comments, concerns. One thing I will tell you, I agree with Jeff. And that doesn't always happen. But anyway, I agree with him on the cemetery. I want to talk about the budget for this year. Every year, I sit in here, and I listen to the budget thing, And Justin stressed out over there when he talked about the budget, and having enough money for everything. And, and I I see it every year. And I want to say something that puzzled me last year, is when the budget was being done, it was very stressful about having enough money for everything. And the biggest issue was having money to cut down, trim the trees in the city, and trying to come up with money for that. And when you sit here and you listen to the budget thing, and the stress of Justin, and trying to come with the money for everything. I I was puzzled in December, when I sat in this room, and Chris Monson gave all the head departments a $10,000 raise, when they had had a raise last summer, and then they were given 10,000, and there and I was puzzled and shocked because I thought they supposedly got some extra money to do that, and but I was still shocked that the money went that way, and Chris Monson did that, when we're short on money to do other things, and I didn't under I guess I want an explanation of why such a big raise, and when they've gotten a raise, and then another raise is coming up this year, and they get a $10,000 raise, And I I with with the budget so stressed, and I don't know, I sat in the room in December, and just was shocked that that happened. And I don't know why it happened, and when money's supposed to be so tight. And so with the rate and raises should be done by how well a person does their job. You know, everywhere I've worked, people get a raise for their performance and how well they do their job, and and it's not, like, across the board. And raises need to be looked at that way, of how people well, people are doing their job. And, anyway, so that was my biggest thing tonight, was I wanted to talk about the the raises and what was given to the the head departments

don't.

Minute, and you think I don't know what's going on. I don't, you know, I don't go to private meetings and stuff. But all you have to do is sit in here and see what and you know what's going on in between the lines of things. And so, like I said, most people in this town don't know what's going on. And a big part of them are renters. Renter people don't care what goes on. They're just here for a short time, and they move on. But when I sit in this room, I do know what's going on. And some things puzzle me. And so, anyway, that's my concern, and my comment on the budget. And there may be another month next month that I might cut it off. So anyway, thank you.

Thank you, Carole. Thanks, Carole. We appreciate you being here every month.

Okay. So I'm Emily. And this past month, we helped with the health days race. We were in the parade, and then we also had our closing social to close off this year of city council. Yeah. And then coming up, we'll be helping at the sixteenth Crossing Trail Run. We'll be having your interviews for all the council members next year. And then after that, we're gonna be taking a break till August where we'll resume next year. Year. So, thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate all you do.

Any other public comment?

My name's David Forrester. I'm here to talk about the museum that's next door. I have I got the chance to view it and see what it looked like for the first time with everything in it. And to me, it was a museum. It wasn't a store. And so my vote is hopefully, you know, we would call it like Jeff wanted this Mayfield City Historical Museum. So that's my comment of what I viewed, because it is a historical museum. And what I saw was was great. So anyway, that was my comment on that. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, David. Anyone else before we move on? I'd like to close the public comment at 06:15PM. Item agenda item number three, discussion and possible vote on the general plan update. I'd like to turn the time over to Quinn Dance and Allison Brecken from JV. It's just you on the hot seat. Oh, jeez. That never goes well.

I appreciate your willingness and opportunity to come here again. I'm Quinn Dance with JAB Engineers. I just wanted to actually take a minute before we dive into too much general plan or or address any questions there. But just briefly, we do have that transportation master plan in the works, and I kinda wanted to give a brief update since I have that opportunity right now. As we've worked through that, we've been able to meet with city staff recently. And I wanted to kinda take a step back because we're we're willing to and talk with Justin a little bit. I think there might be some value in, once we get that to a good final draft, we can call it, to to present here to the council. And and what I wanted to share though first is as we talk through we've talked with general plan items for for quite some time now. I did wanna briefly mention as we get into transportation master planning and any utility planning, it's a little bit different perspective. And and just as by way of information, as we've been working through this transportation master plan, it's a lot more data driven. It's a lot more analysis of existing infrastructure and things like that. And we've had the opportunity through that transportation master plan to do traffic counts at various locations to the city, at various intersections to kinda understand the traffic demand within Smithfield City. Then we've also taken the time to review adjacent plans. I mean, we all know the CMPO, the Cash Metropolitan Planning Organization does some, roadway planning and street planning as well. So we've taken into account all of those type of other plans out there to try try and create a plan moving forward for Smithfield City. And so as we, like I said, in future meetings, whenever it's appropriate and we have the opportunity to come and present that transportation master plan, the real basis of of that plan and even others when you talk about culinary water, when you talk about storm drain master plans, anything like that, those are gonna be a lot more technically based and and a lot more on on the data that we've been able to gather during the process. And so I guess just by way of information, kinda maybe as a prepper to kinda warm you up for that discussion, when we come present that, that'll be we'll kinda go down that avenue. Whereas this general plan, there's there's a lot more good discussion, that is had, and and that has some really good, action items and things to focus on for many years to come. But those these other master plans will play a little bit different role, and and we're excited to kinda share that with you as well. But like I said, it's we're we're in the final stages of just discussion with staff, finalizing some, roadway designations, understanding the growth and where it is and what those roadway needs may be. And we've had a good opportunity to kinda analyze the the existing, traffic patterns within the city that will kinda highlight and be able to show why some of these roads may be definitions of collectors or locals or arterials. We'll kinda discuss all those and define all that for us. And so, but with that being said, in future meetings, I think Justin mentioned that it's a good opportunity to probably present that and and field questions and answer questions that may come from the council. So but that's kind of all I have. I just wanna take that minute on the transportation stuff, and then I know we can talk general plan.

So Is there kind of a tentative timeline on the on the transportation plan?

Yeah. I'm really anticipating. I actually talked with our team this morning a little bit about it, and we're just finalizing a few comments that we received from staff, a few weeks ago. I really anticipate in the next month. Now whenever we wanna hold that meeting, we can do that after that, but I think I think the document will be to a good point in the next month that we could we could share that. So and then I'm not sure when that fits into your public meetings, but we can do that whenever after that time frame.

So Great. Thanks. Thank you.

I'll turn it over to her if you guys have questions for general plan.

Right there.

Yep. So I'm here to answer any questions you may have had since the last time council met since the last time council met and and reviewed it. You should have in your packet a summary of the last round of revisions that were requested, And then, sort of a detailed reference to how those revisions were implemented. So I'm I can go through those one by one if you like or just stand questions that you may have. But

please I don't have any questions. We're just very grateful for all the work. This has been a long Yes. Call. And we know a lot of hours have gone into this, from city staff and from your firm and the council and the planning and zoning and we're just really I appreciate it. That we've got this to the stage. Yeah. I don't have any questions. In fact, I'm gonna make a motion that we adopt the general plan update as is.

I second.

How do we vote? Jay? Yes. John? Yes. Chris? Yes. Jen? Yes. John two? Yes. Todd?

Just one comment, Mayor. The a resident pointed out, I actually put an incorrect link online that referenced in the water use and conservation plan. It said 1965 in a previous version of this. I would wanted to be clear that that had been taken care of. Yes. This is the correct plan you're adopting and that it does in fact say 2065, not 1965. From as mentioned by I will go back. By John, we appreciate JUB walking us through this basically the last two plus years being there. You know, we're continuing on with the transportation plan. Allison actually comes from Northern Idaho, has been involved since the beginning as has Quinn and Brian Carver. We appreciate them and what they do and get us to this point. I actually talked to Allison today about how just to make sure the process of how this would change over time if we wanna change maps and wording and things. We walk through that how just to make sure how that will go through the planning commission and the council and then how we'll post that. So we have a good plan there from the staff when changes are made over the next period of time. So we'll keep going down that road, turn it back over, you know, to the planning commission, let them start reviewing that. But we appreciate Allison Quinn and team JUB.

And I would yeah. Right back at you. I mean, your your staff has been amazing to work with. We had a great group of folks in the advisory group, giving input and feedback on on this update. And I mean, for an update, it's a there was a there was a good chunk of work done. So thank you everyone.

Thank you very much. Thanks for all your help. Much appreciated. You did great. Thank you.

You're welcome. Item number four, public hearing for the purpose of discussing ordinance twenty twenty six zero seven, an ordinance amending the Smithfield City Municipal Code, title 12, streets, sidewalks, and public places, chapter 12.12, street sidewalk and park use regulations, adding an entirely adding in in their entirely sections 12.2 dot 200, dogs in city parks, twelve twelve two zero one, definitions, twelve twelve two zero two, dog restrictions in city parks, and twelve twelve two zero three, enforcement and penalties.

Council, we have Brett here tonight, chief Allen. We have a dog problem. We've always had a dog problem, but we have a worse problem. We have a dog in park problem. We have a dog feces in park problem, especially on the sports fields this year, unlike probably any other year. Brett's got some comments he's gonna make as well. So we looked at our code, so we have rules. We have park rules, but we don't have anything in our code that we can really enforce, if challenged on that. So we looked at neighboring cities to see what they did, and we took a little, bit from this city and a little bit from that, and we tried to adapt it to what is best for us. This has been reviewed by, by public works, by Brett with Rick, by chief Allen and PD coming back tonight. If you're a good dog owner and you keep your dog on a leash, you won't have a problem. If you are a bad dog owner and refuse to take care of your dog, whether then you will have a problem. And we we want to be respectful of people with dogs. I have dogs. But I also know my expectations with my dog, and we just have every day, we there are more dogs in this city right now than in the history of this city. The population grows, dogs grow. In fact, many people consider their dogs their children. I get it. I have dogs. But we're asking to look at this, to put some rules, official rules in the code, that the PD and others, if this is adopted tonight, council, we are going to be putting up some, specific signage in the parks regarding this, but we wanted to see, how it came back from the council first, before we would do that. But long term, if it is adopted, we will be putting some additional signage, working with the PD. This not to be hard handed, but it's also at the same time, dog feces on a sports field is a problem, especially when we have dog pots that we, clean, that we have dog pots that we clean that Public Works maintains all the time. So it's not like there's not that option at our parks. We're adding more of those all the time, and we wanna be a good partner, but we want people with dogs to be a good partner as well. This is written for probably that one or 2% that, is not a good partner. It's not written for the 98% that are a good partner, but I'm gonna let Brett chime in as he knows. He's down on seas on the fields, and in the parks as well as if chief Allen has any comments.

Thank you, counsel, for looking at this. And thank you, Justin. I I presented this to him, and and he just kinda took it there from for me and to help us in this situation. But we have noticed I've I've never noticed a year like this year. I don't know. It seems like it just since COVID, it just because every year, we're finding more and more dogs. And there are some very good owners of dogs. The ones that are walking the paths and are close to their dog. I mean, they'll let them off the leash occasionally, but they're close to them. And when they notice, you know, the dog doing their duty, they'll they clean up. And we've and but we've also noticed a lot. We have you know, we don't have a dog park in the city, but for some reason, the Blue Sox field, which we put so much effort into keeping it nice, it's got a fence all the way around it. And you can go down there quite often and just see people go inside that fence, let their dogs just roam, and just let them run free. And, normally, they're pretty big dogs. In those case in in those situations, they usually don't clean up because the dog goes clean out to center field, and they're not gonna they're not watching close enough to see it happen. They don't know exactly where it happened. They don't they don't make the effort to go clean up. And we find it on our soccer fields, and we find it on our baseball fields. We're not alone. Nibley City approved a similar ordinance a couple years ago because they were having similar problems. And and it's helped. It's hard for us, you know, without an ordinance when we see it happening, to go and tell them, please not, when we don't have any signs or an ordinance to support that. And the idea would be of not only have the sign, but have the ordinance number there so that we can refer to that. Like Justin said, it's probably only gonna be one or 2% of the bad dog owners it's just that this is going to affect. But I think this would really help in in some of the problems we're having.

Any questions for Brett?

I have a question, whether it is for Brett or exactly who it is for. I am just, I am a little concerned about the exact definition, because I am, I am viewing somebody that goes down to a Blue Sox game and brings their dog with them on a leash. What, you know, are we drawing the boundaries of the actual field, like the, you know, the baselines? What is it? So that whether somebody can bring one or whether they can't. Yeah.

For me and and Travis and Justin can correct me up. Well, I I think it's between the lines, between the sports lines. K. So if you're out on the path or if you're even over by the concession stand and you're obeying the the leash policy, then you're fine. But to turn them out on the on the Blue Sox field or the Little League field or the football field or our softball fields, then that's in between those lines. I I would think that that's where this would apply.

Will there be clear designation

with signs saying dogs not permitted past this point? Or just You know, I don't know. I guess it depends. We don't wanna get into putting up too many signs, you know, to where it looks like. I can just see this being a problem with right this question. And maybe we need to specify, you know, between the sports. I don't know how I mean, Travis would ultimately be responsible, and, you know, they don't have time to sit down there all day long to do this. So I don't know what would be the best way to word that. I would look to them on that.

Appreciate you bringing it to our attention. I do. I know that there are some things where you know if we didn't have some kind of signs that people would think oh well is this the field or is this not. You know, for example, you know, behind the pickleball courts. Is that a field? I mean, it gets used for soccer kind of back behind there a little bit. You know what I mean? Questions like that.

Yeah. That's a good point.

Really good point. I

just think clear designation would be good. And as far as enforcement, I mean, the cops are always gonna be there when someone's going to Forestry or just hanging out. So how are we working the enforcement? Because a cop can't be there and watch the dog.

Yeah. They can't be be there all the time. For us, we're down there a lot. Right. And so is my staff down there a lot. And so when they see those kind of things, it's it's a lot easier to go approach them and just say, hey. It's ordinance this number, and there are there is signs there. And in a very nice and respectful way, just say, please and and it's easier for our staff. And I think that the citizens respond better when we can do that. If we don't have any signs or we don't have an ordinance, they just look at us like, well, show me the ordinance or show me the rules. Yeah.

Sounds like education is probably key too. So

Right. I'd I'd be concerned that I wouldn't want your staff to feel like they had to be law enforcement to, right, to really get after people. Like, that's not really what we're hiring our rec crew for. Yeah. And I wouldn't want them to feel the pressure to do that. They're not really trained to do that. Right? Because that can turn into confrontation and and problems. But I also recognize the value of educating

residents about what You know, and we would train them on exactly how to approach them. They're they are not law enforcement. But in a in a a nice civil way, they could at least say, hey. This this is our these are our rules, and please abide by it. Most people respond pretty well to that if we have something to back us.

I think we'd I'd I'd like to see some clear definitions about what's a field what's the park and what's the field and where the dogs are allowed on leash and where the dogs aren't allowed. And because I think there's some areas, as Chris is pointing out, that are used both as park area, but also sometimes during seasons as fields. Yeah. And I think we don't want the residents to be confused about whether their dogs are allowed or not allowed, and we want to be pretty clear about what's clear about what's what's designated as a field. K.

I just have one problem with a little bit of verbiage here. You know, it says that the city may establish this in the Appalachian areas as approved by the public works. Shouldn't it be, like, in cooperation with the public works, not city council going to public works and saying, hey. Can we have this off lease here? So this should be it should be a cooperation here. It's right there. It's right where it says right above 1212203. The city may establish, designate off areas as approved by the public works. It should be a cooperation, shouldn't it? I don't know. It just might just be me. It just might just be a small word. But

Yeah. Or if it even needs to be in there. You know what I mean?

It makes it sound like the Council is going to City Public Works to have approvals. Yeah. Good point.

And are you, maybe that's more thinking City staff versus City Council? I don't know. It just says City.

I'm not sure how the council would be involved in that. Okay. Unless you want to be involved in that. So the discussion with public works was they are in conjunction with the PD, in conjunction with Rec. They're the ones taking care of them. It would be like gathering info from everyone Okay. And then they would help designate those that would not have to come back to the council, unless we had some questions or concerns. But

Yes. That was the intent. Of my terminology, the city, what is who is the city? What's the city? Is that the city staff?

I mean, we could change that. We actually use that from another city. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. We could change it easily to city staff. I

One other question that I've got. You talk about how there could be designated off leash areas. Do we have in mind a place where that would be? Like, do we actually have a place or is that not even being thought about yet, but we would put it if we decided we wanted to? I don't know. Yeah.

Nothing. It's nothing in stone. I mean, we really haven't really discussed that.

I'm sure everyone's thought about it, but we haven't gotten together and actually discussed that that I'm aware of. And I think following up with Brett on that, if there was no support for this ordinance, there was no reason to continue developing anything else or buying signage or Right. I mean, there's in one anything else or buying signage or Right. I mean, there's in one subdivision long term, there is a proposed dog park. Whether that comes to fruition or not, we'll see long term how that plays out with that particular developer. So this is this is something for us to hopefully build on because right now we have nothing to build on. I think it's our biggest concern. And we're I don't think anyone else is perfect because when we've looked at other cities, we brought pieces and parts from them trying to actually build on this. So was it subject to change? I think a 100%. As Brett runs across things, as Public Works run across things, as the PD runs across things, I think it will certainly change over time because this is brand new. We are comparing it to nothing. We're not tweaking. We're starting from scratch, basically.

Well, it's a huge problem in Logan City right now, and they're actually requiring a dog park with, like, mixed use high density because it's such a problem. So I think it's unfortunately fortunately, unfortunately, the future. But you get a you get a bunch of people with dogs and they

Is that Is it mostly oh, go ahead. Just when you're done, I would like Chief Allen to be able to offer his comments when you guys are done.

Is it is it is it are the dogs doing a lot of damage digging? Is it mostly a feces or both?

No. It's mostly feces. And and then and then the worry that they're not keeping them on a leash. And there's kids a lot of kids down there. And and they're and a lot of times, they are not under control, like supposed to be in our leash law. But Cool. But I don't I I don't know if they've caused any I haven't seen I'm sure it's happened a little bit, but nothing where we've noticed damage from from them digging or anything like that. It's

so good question, though. I think it's definitely a problem that needs to be addressed. I'd like to hear from chief Allen about, like, law enforcement procedures. Like, how do we imagine going about enforcing this ordinance?

So just to clarify, as far as signage and stuff in the parks, what we'd like to see is every city park is gonna have to have signage that says, you know, dogs must be on a leash. And they're not allowed even if they're on a leash on the sports field. That's the way that we define that. Right? So you can take your dog to the park, but regardless, you can't take them all to the sports fields because of the damage they're causing. So you just have to have the signage at basically all of your park entrances. The dogs have to remain on leashes. And then that's how I mean, what we're doing is we're codifying tonight a way for us to enforce it so that it's not a continued problem. Right? So as far as the enforcement aspect, like, we've got 10,000 other laws and ordinances we need to enforce. Like, if it's a problem and it's a continued problem, I'm hoping the public works will contact us. If we're not down there or rec will contact us and we can address it with the people. And, yes, like you said, it's all gonna be education. Like, we're not gonna go out and start issuing citations right off the bat. We're gonna start warning people first and give them or afford them the opportunity to, you know, come in compliance before our citations are ever issued. So it's not something we're gonna jump in and just hammer down, but it's also something that I feel like we're kind of reactionary to it. We're not going to be looking for it because, like I said, a lot of other laws and incidents are gonna trump the leash law. So that's really my two cents. So I don't know if that made sense, but I wanted to clarify the definition of dogs and parks, you know, on leash, off leash, what we're gonna enforce.

I would hope also, Brett, that we if we if this does go into effect, that we really do a PR on the dog leash law and and, you know, zone in and target in on the feces and the the problems that it is causing. And and we're actually doing a PR and education from the rec department and the city. So what citizens would really Well, I would hope we would be able

to put something out specific to this where this is brand new. Right. And we have talked to chief Allen, talked to Brett. We would hope there would be a lot of education. I would hope we're not issuing a citation until someone just continue to be a an offender like everything else. Like, at some point, we need the ability to do something to someone that will never comply. So your first time, no. They're not going to get a ticket. Are they going to get talked to by various different people throughout the city? Yeah. I think most people are really good as Brett stated. Probably 90% of the offenders will turn around and be good and go, I didn't know or okay. Great. We're after that very small percentage, unfortunately. Like every other ordinance that was ever written, it was written for one person, not a 100 or 99. Right? I was like, you know, and I look at, like, the definition. I think when you when you start talking sports fields and stuff, that's really hard because if you're outside of the line, like, if I am I'm thinking, like, on a football field, a soccer field, I'm gonna stand on the sidelines. I don't want dog poop on the sideline. You can't be on the playing field. So I think that's gonna be a signage thing. Right? Like, we're we're gonna define where that needs to be, and it's gonna be every location is going to be different. I mean, I look at the Blue Sox diamond. They shouldn't be inside the fans. Exactly. Right? Mhmm. But the the Little League Football field or what used to be or the where the soccer field, we're gonna have to put some outside of that boundary because we don't want them on the sideline that we want people to walk through that area. So I think is it trial and error, moving signs? Probably so. 100%. But I think we're just trying to come up with something to start with knowing, is this probably gonna be tweaked? Absolutely. I just like everything else we do, like, we would start. We would see what are we experiencing. Police would say, here are some flaws or here's where we're at. You know, public works, rec, and what you hear, you're gonna know. But, yes, a PR campaign, very helpful, very needed. Probably all by itself, not in particular with other items. Right. It for free. You do it all by itself and we put it out a few times, maybe it can be included with long term. But I think initially Okay. You do a little PR campaign with this by itself and what we're trying to accomplish. Because at the end of the day, it's the feces is one of the things that we're after. You know, that's just for whatever reason, this year is just infinitely worse and getting worse.

Well, I think, you know, it more than just signs up. I just think that putting things out PR wise, you know, whether, like you said, by itself from the rec center, from the city, it's just so it's just not a sign go, oh, you know, people's it get people thinking about it before they even walk their dog.

I'm also trying to be mindful in defense of responsible dog owners who enjoy the city parks as a place to let their dog off leash to run and get exercise. I really try to be mindful of those kind of folks too. Because I, you know, I think about that field south of the pickleball courts. That's a great place to throw tennis balls and frisbees and let your dogs go chase them. And I've seen lots of people doing that. And this shuts that down entirely. And I like, that's really curbing the city the residents' ability to use the parks in in a in that way. Now I know it's not because of those people necessarily. It's there's just those few bad actors. I just worry about clamping down Too hard. Too hard that we shut down the recreational opportunities for dog for dog owners with their with their pets. I don't know if they I don't have the answer to that. I'm just voicing

a a perspective here. It it probably go a long ways too, the people the owners that are doing a good job. If you're down there seeing them, congratulate them. Tell them, hey, thanks.

That goes a long way. Do we need to open this up for public?

Yep. Well, we will, but yeah. Oh, okay. At some point, we will. I wasn't sure whether we had transitioned on that yet. Sorry.

So my thoughts are, what would it take to make a designated dog park?

Mhmm. But, yeah, we just signs signage is so expensive. We don't want we didn't wanna order any signage, like, literally zero till we got saw where the council was on it. We didn't wanna spend time on off leash areas if there was no support there. So is it a work in progress? I think so. Well, I know so. But also, were we gonna be super heavy handed tomorrow on it? I would hope not. Like, I would think that we would wanna start a PR campaign along with some other things we're we're we're working on. But I think that it's I think it's a work in progress. I don't know any other way to say it. And if there's no support there, we will just move on and do what we do. But I think we we would really like to get some signage, but I don't wanna spend 4 figures on signage to hit every city park if we're just not going to do anything. Because custom signage is expensive. I mean, it would come with the ordinance number, it would come with the logo, have some specific wording, and that's just something so we're just seeing what your thoughts are on that. Unfortunately, good people pay the price for bad people. They just do. You know, and I and I think all dog owners are different too. I am a dog owner. Am I gonna take my dog and allow him to be around other dogs? Absolutely, positively, I will not. He's a German shepherd. He's a great dog. German Shepherds don't play for or don't play nice. Right? And my fear is it's biting someone else or chewing on someone else's dog. Right? But other people, they have no problem taking their dog. The dog park in Logan down by the golf course, there's dogs all over down there. That's kinda crazy. I don't know who's responsible for that. Like, I don't know if the owners take care of that. Like, but it's a nice little park. Right? Like, it's all fenced off. You'd see benches out there. Just something on our list of things would we love to have? Yes. Do we have one? No. Long term, should we have one? Probably so. But how do we do it? Where do we do it? Really, we've never thought about it, honestly.

Mayor, may I suggest we open the public hearing here from the citizens, and then we can discuss it more afterwards? Yes.

Public notice be given that the public input is now open if anybody has any comments. Thanks, Mark. Please. And you really have to get close to the mic, so Okay.

I'm Glenn Thornley. I have lived here quite a while. I look around and I don't see anyone over 65. And I've been married sixty six years, so I'm up there. Congrats. I love this community. When I noticed this item four on the agenda, I thought, well, it said streets and sidewalks and all of that. I didn't realize it was just about dogs. So I don't wanna talk just about dogs, but I will address that issue as I go along here, and I won't take much time. I was the president of the historical society for ten years. And the big thing that we kind of tried to promote with Smithfield was Smithfield, the city on a hill. You all know the title of the book. I thought that what that was was that Smithfield was settled because the creek was on the hill and they could air gate three directions out of the creek. And then we progressed to what 19 how long what four years ago, let's say, and we listened to a conference on Sunday and we heard that we might get a temple. And I I realize there are a lot of people that aren't at not are not LDS in Smithfield, but but here we're gonna get a temple. And then I started looking and it would be really nice up on the bench here or maybe out by the city gravel pit up there, they could find a nice place or something like that. And then the darn church puts it down west of town. Yeah. You know what? You can go anywhere in Cache Valley and look over to Smithfield, and you can see that temple. I'm amazed. So how does that relate to a dog park? Well, I've seen in that section for ordinance, streets and and all of those things. And it is my opinion that what this community needs is some patriotism. We have spent far too much money in recent years in dark skies and a splash pad in the middle of Central Park and those kinds of things. I would like to see you as a council and even our law enforcement people in our city council manager try to educate our community for some Smithfield patriotism. Let's let's you know, there are dog problems right in front of my house. And and it's I don't have a very wide lot, but I live on 100 North. Lots of foot traffic and lots of dog dog signs there. I think that by this very good thing that you have where the the the letters that you put in the the city well, it comes in the city newsletters, and it comes in other publications in that as well. That kind of thing talking about patriotism, and maybe that's not the right word, but citizenship maybe is is the right word, something like that. Darn, we need to do something about a lot of things. I walk around town or drive around town. We have a lot of people now that are trying to save the Great Salt Lake by not watering their lawns at all, nor are they even mowing them. And with that temple coming up, and I and I, again, I know that we're not all religious and and maybe some people don't care about it, but I would really like to see our community clean up our streets down 100 North, down Center Street, all over, really. I think we need to be proud of our Forrester Acres Park and we need to care for it. But all of the city streets, all of the city parks have a small part of that same dog problem. And and darn, I don't know what we can do. I I've often felt like maybe the city could write letters to some of those people that don't take care of their yards. That don't I mean, you know, I have one down on the other side of the block for me that's a nice guy and and nice kids and everything like that, but it's a damn mess. And it's it needs to be cleaned up. And I don't know how we can do that. I guess it's people have a freedom to do what they want with their own property, but we as a community, I think, need to to put a lot of effort into the the psyche of of being good citizens. Thank

you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Clint. Any other comments? Like to close the public comment section at 06:51. Any other comments or I've got

at least one comment. I'm I'm trying to wrap my head around the last statement that's highlighted there. Repeated violations may result in the suspension of park privileges. I'm trying to understand what defines park privileges and how do you legally suspend somebody from being able to be in a public park. I would I would prefer to maybe see, instead of just a $50 fine on each one, I would like to see multiple fines doubles each time. That I'm, you know, I'm trying to figure I I can't imagine how you can suspend somebody from the park, but I'm I'm trying to decide, wrap my head around that one. Everybody else thought it is. I like that. Well, that's that'd be a great deterrent. I mean, I'm myself, I know I can't afford multiple violations even at the same amount each time. It seems like it would impact pretty quick, but you know, maybe we could do that within the signs to where I would assume that we're going to indicate the fine or the penalty. Yeah. And, you know, we could put a minimum of $50 Yeah. For each of each offense. But I, you know, if in fact we get into a situation where we have somebody that is is an habitual offender, that might get their interest quicker. Maybe it's not necessary on that. But if there's some explanation on the suspension of park privileges, I'd appreciate that. In reality, we should probably axe that sentence in its entirety at this point

and circle that if that would be something we wanted to do long term if it became a problem. And then you could second offense and thereafter would be a $100. Yeah.

So

Yeah. You know, first offense is $50. Repeat violations would be a $100 per violation. I think we would probably, if that's something you would support, we could easily amend that tonight to them. Yeah. But we probably, if we're going to adopt it, we should remove that last sentence.

I agree. I think so. And I like the idea of doubling it. Let's just strike the last two sentences

and then add, do we want to increase or have multiple $50 violations?

I I think this next actually appropriate, to make sure that they understand that it is a separate offense. But then adding

what it would be.

Yeah.

Like the amount. Right.

I thought you were saying to strike the second statement as well. And I No. If we edit that, yeah, I agree. Yeah.

Justin? Go

That you would go the the first effect that we would consider, the first offense within the second offense would be within a one year period. So, I mean, if I got one in May of this year and don't get one till June of next year, I shouldn't pay a 100, probably should start over with that as we're thinking of how to define that.

Yeah. I would agree with that. Yeah. That makes sense.

I'm just having some hesitation on on two counts. One, the field versus no field designation. Because if you start counting all the areas that get used at any point as fields at Forest Acres, you're left with very small sections of lawn that aren't ever fields. And so if that's the only part that you can take your dog on a leash on, that's a little bit of a concern for me and the other the other part is the the off leash option for responsible dog owners. I it seems to me that should be an option. I I wish there were some kind of way we could use language to show some respect to people who are responsible dog owners and can run their dogs off leash responsibly. Because I I think that's gonna shut down some really good recreation opportunities for dog owners. So those those are my two hesitations right now with this the ordinance as written. Otherwise but I think we absolutely need something. Yes. We absolutely need something. Yeah. I'm just not sure if it's ready yet today for for my vote, but we're getting really close. What what what are the chances that,

would there be a place? Do you do, I don't know. You know the parks better than than I do. Would there be a place that could be designated, even if it's a small area for now, you know what I mean? Or that could be worked on, knowing that, you know, hey yeah, we're willing to pass this, but you know, we will at least have a designated area where where dogs can be off leash and, you know what I mean, that type of thing. Is there is there a place today that we could do something like that?

Couldn't you couldn't you put in there like, you know, it says in here where the city you know, we talked about this a little bit earlier. But this is city may establish these in off leash areas as approved. Can you just put in there within fields?

Well, I think our our hope would be that we would look at Forrester Acres and see if there is a is a place down there that we could designate. And then I guess the other thought is is are you going to want that fence? You're gonna want it open? Do you want people I mean, do you want a Logan type feel where you have a fenced off area that they turn them in and let them loose? Or do you want them to roam free? That's a question you guys will have to answer because you're not really throwing a ball if in a, you know, 100 by 800 enclosure Right. Or or whatever.

What about Heritage Park across the river? I know that's a heavily used dog park area.

Heritage Park would be a great area, honestly. It's out of sight. It's out of mind. Is it mostly fenced? Yes. Three sides. Every and the river would be the barrier to the north. The dogs would love the river. And they're in the river all the time. It's just There's actually one building down there that we could convert into. Never mind. We'll leave that alone, but that's a story for another day.

Yeah. Heritage Park. You're gonna say a Dodge Kennel?

Good thoughts. And this is gonna make this whole thing better. So thank you for studying and talking about I think the sports thing, I think we can I think we can I've I've read other ordinances, and and they're very specific of sometimes those fields are painted soccer fields? Right? If they're painted soccer fields, you don't go on there. If if it's middle of July and we're not using those fields for soccer because we're due spring and fall, then maybe that's but I think we can put some wording in to stipulate How that would work? How they're painted. And and this I don't know the wordage right now, but I we can do some research and figure that out. As far as the off leash stuff, I I don't know if that's on in public areas, if that's something we wanna open up because I I've always thought dog owners in public had it had had to have their dogs on a leash. I'm I'm I'm not the rule maker there, and I'm not no. I don't know if that's good or bad. But and I don't know what the liability of that is.

I get what you're saying. You could say simply just that or when designated as a soccer field, something like that and the ordinance would help it out. So Paint painted or films. Yeah. So I guess the question is, is this ready to be voted on tonight or not? If we're gonna be adding some of this verbiage to it, maybe we ought to table it and bring it back next

next I can tell you your changes if you wanna go or if you don't and wanna see them in writing.

Isn't there a state ordinance that there has to be a leash, like it's a leash law, like citywide, statewide? Is it all municipalities specific? I I I'm not aware of one. I just always like Jen just mentioned, I've always thought it was like, when you're in public, you your dog's on a leash, but I could be wrong.

you know, if, I don't know. There's also the consideration that not not everybody is a dog lover and they have a right to be there as well. And if they've got somebody, I know people who are definitely afraid of dogs. Right. And that would deter them from going and playing. Even if the dog is so far we can barely see if they know a dog is there, they won't go and I feel like they have a right to be there as well. Or if there's an allergy or whatever the case may be. My other thought is we're spending a lot of time and money keeping up these grounds and if people are not cleaning up after their dogs, what is it doing to the grass? And those of us who pay for rec sports, they're gonna go and look and see dead grass everywhere, and it's frustrating. They put so much time and effort into this, and I just think, I wish we could hold everybody responsible and accountable and know that they're going to clean up and take care of their dogs, but I've seen a lot of disrespectful dog owners that don't care. It's unfortunate that these have to happen because of those people. But there is that fine line. It's hard because there are those responsible dog owners that are just fine cause no problems. It's a hard call to make. Yeah. That's a good point. I 100% agree we need to

cleanup, feces law. Like that for sure needs to be in there. I my preference is that we just don't address the least versus no leash kind of thing and let people use their best judgment.

You would hope so. If they know their dog needs to be on a leash. Yeah.

I mean, when when I when I was a dog owner, I knew when to have my dog on a leash and when not to. Right? I knew if there were people around, I need to have that dog on a leash. But if there weren't, then I felt like this is a good opportunity for my dog and me. But, you know, it's so I I don't know if we can have an ordinance and not always enforce it or if we can have some softer language in there about leash usage or

just kind of Well, if we adopt it, then we need to follow it. Well, I know. That's what I'm saying. I'm I'm not sure if I'm right. I think I'm just sensitive to it. We had to put a dog down for attacking a girl and it's it's part of being a dog owner. It's just

you don't know what they're gonna do. You don't you never know what they're gonna do. Part of the problem is if we wait we're already moving into the summer. It's already gonna become more of a problem. So I would I would feel good about trying to adopt something but modifying the verbiage to get what we want that everybody would be happy with.

Let me take a stab if that's what you wanna do if you're good with that. So we would, let's go to enforcement and penalties. We would remove the last sentence, repeated violations may result. We would remove that. Do we agree?

Yes. Yes.

Then we would say, any person who violates any provision of this ordinance shall be subject to a civil fine of $50 per file for the first offense and $100 for any additional offense for They said

a year. Yeah.

And then if you went up in no person shall allow a dog to, number one, enter or be present on any designated, comma, painted or fenced sports field. Yeah. That sounds good. And then the sentence below that, rather than just the city, we would put the city staff.

Mhmm. Yeah. Sounds good. I like it.

Just checking with my friend AI here. I did too. Did there was did I did I there is no lease law in Utah. Did I say that? No. Yeah. It says Utah has no single statewide lease law, but local municipalities and counties. And it Salt Lake Davis Weaver, Utah, generally require dogs to be on a physical leash in public areas. Most cities consider it an animal at large violation with the dog off leash of designated areas or private property. So we can again do some designation that can still help deal with that, I would think.

My note to you to see there, it is a state law that basically says that you're responsible for the actions of your dog. Yeah. Liable and whatever. Mhmm. So

just as a point, if we know, Chief Allen, have we had in the last memorable past an attack in on city property of an animal? John Bailey? For the last time? Yeah. I know we've had the saw in that park.

Okay.

I just know it it wasn't in Smithfield, but we went to my daughter's field trip at Ryan's Park in River Heights, and there was a dog. And the kids were kindergartners. They were nervous. I don't know where the dog owner was, but they were really nervous. And I just thought that impedes these kids' right to be at the park because the dog is here and some of them were hesitant to even go close. And anyway, it's just it's hard.

He was out on a cruise.

He was fine. He seemed fine, but the kids don't know that. Right? Yeah.

I think also I think what mayor said John's concerns too, I think where the where the city staff and public works can designate some areas that will help with alleviate that as well. Right. Yep. And I do like the way you identify if the soccer field is being used, painted. If not but again, I I can't emphasize enough. It's gonna be a lot of education in the public and a lot of big PR push.

Well, and I think once people realize that we're serious, this is this is a problem.

And I and I do think we need to designate an area where they can go. I think that would be very very helpful. There is a small area behind Firestone.

It's small. You can't really throw a ball a whole lot, but there is that spot. I think it needs to be a reasonable size. Right.

Are we ready to move on this? I would entertain a motion.

Move that we adopt ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero seven with the amendments that have been thus designated at this point?

I'll second it. How do we vote? Jay?

Yes.

Todd? Yes. John?

I will say Lay along. I will say yes. Chris?

Yes. Jen? Yes. Todd?

Just to clarify. Two votes. You guys.

Two votes. I gotta keep them I gotta keep them even.

Who's this talking? Just keep adding them up, Todd. We get all the votes. That's right.

You guys are gonna cancel each other out here. Yeah. That's why there needs to be two. Two wrongs don't make her name. Two prongs don't make her name. Alright. Moving on to item six. Update on Valley wide Recreation Center discussion. Brett, you're the hot seat again.

First of all, while I have the mic, I just wanted to express our appreciation for your involvement in Health Days and the America two fifty that's been going on for several months. It started with the turkey trot, which has been wonderful, I think, but also a lot of work. And and I know you guys have put in a lot of extra time and being to those events and participating, so we appreciate your support there. The other I apologize if you're if you if if you're just hearing about the Valley wide rec center discussion. It's kind of been a boomerang for us, and I'll explain why. It just kinda transpired in the last three weeks, basically, where we've kind of become interested and involved. But let me just go back to how it all started. About two years ago, when Logan decided they were gonna kinda walk away from the recreation center and turn that to Logan High School, There was community people in Logan that were really quite upset about it. Some moms in particular that really kinda took the lead that didn't want it to go and to try to find out some some other options along the way. They approached several cities, especially those cities that already had recreation in their cities, and got everybody together and said, hey. What what can we do? Do we wanna do a a valley wide one? What can we do? One interest and they did a lot of studies. We all provided them information on on our numbers and those kind of things. They also involved VCBO, who's an architectural firm in Salt Lake City, who designs a lot of recreation centers and probably most of the ones that you find in Utah. We we initially went to these meetings because, obviously, there was some interest. But we first we were kinda like, why would we wanna participate in this? We you know, we've already built our rec center. You know, twenty eight years ago, it was a bond was approved, and twenty six years ago, ours opened. Our it was bonded for. Our citizens have already paid for it. Why would why would we wanna support something that might ultimately hurt us and have our citizens have to pay again for something that's not in our city. That's kind of the stance that we took. And we kind of kinda took the back seat because they knew where we stood, and and that's kinda how we went about it to begin with. From that first committee, they decided to form a smaller committee that was designated several represented a couple representatives from North Logan, Nibley, and a few citizens from around the valley were part of that. John David Jorgensen, who's such a great guy, represented Smithfield. But we really weren't very involved with it other than that. John, David, and I talked a little bit, but that's kinda how it how it transpired. They then went to the county council and got $75,000 from RAPS money to do a study. And they did a study. I've got all kinds of numbers, but I'm not gonna bore you with those tonight because this could go on forever if we really want to talk about it. But bottom line was, yes, there is a need. We I mean, there is a need in the valley. We're in good position in Smithfield, probably the best position of any city in the county, right now with as far as recreation facilities go. It came back if you if you look at the national numbers with the population of Cache County, really, there probably should be two and a half rec centers in Cache County. And and from from this then this committee started to put up put together some plans. There was there was three options. I guess you could throw up that first one, Justin, if you wanted to put that the first plan, which was basically one one big center in Cache County, which would probably be in Logan or North Logan. And and let me let me first say, North Logan and Nibley have been very supportive of this because their community wants one in their own city. And and I I don't blame them a bit for jumping on this to try to get a center in their facility and maybe have the whole county help pay for it, but have it in their city. And rightfully so, because everybody in the county participates to some point in in their with their facilities. Then there was the second option. So that would probably have been in North Logan or the border of Logan and North Logan. The second option was to do two facilities. And, Justin, will you flip over to that one? It should just say option two. And that was and that and and and the blue is existing facility, so we are one of those. North Logan's facility is for the RSL Building. I'm not really sure what that one in in. Maybe that was the small one before Logan walked totally walked away from their rec center. So the two facilities was basically one on the North End and one on the South End. The and then there was the third option also that was put together. And these and this was some time ago. And, basically, North Of Logan. Those, they were just kinda throwing out areas. That one actually looks like it's in Hyde Park. This steering committee then came back with to recommending option number two. And those options were and and the and the areas where they were pushing was one to be in North Logan, one to be in Nibley. Now in these two years that we're talking about, there's also been some things that have transpired transpired with our recreation center. And that, yes, it's still our recreation center, and it could be for twenty, thirty years or longer. But we have we were also approached by the school district where and they've brought this up in the past ten years, and we've always said, well, let's sit down and let's appraise the building. And if you wanna buy us out, you can buy us out. And there were really was never any interest in that from them. However, about a year ago, I think it was when the superintendent invited Justin and I and and and Mayor Monson at the time, where they really wanted to explore this idea and have since actually gone out and got an appraisal, which we haven't seen the numbers on yet. So we're starting to so we're kind of in a position of, do we wanna be involved with this or not be involved with this? So I'm gonna fast forward into what happened about three weeks ago. I I I was not part of the steering committee. I attended the meeting. A friend kind of filled me on in on what was going to be proposed. The steering committee proposed the two rec centers, basically, one in North Logan, one in Nibley. Nothing set in stone, but that's the way it was going. Towards the end of the meeting, even though I wasn't part of the steering committee and and George Staines was there, was very supportive of Smithfield. He couldn't have been nicer in what he said. But I just said, you know what? I think this puts Smithfield in a difficult position. We if if we can't opt out of the bond altogether, then if this gets approved, then our citizens are gonna be helping to pay for two recreation centers that are gonna hurt us. Right? One in North Logan, one in Nibley. And I and I just said, I I think that I said Smithville is the biggest city or the second biggest city in Cache County, and we need to get something out of it to have any kind of support. Because if this was to go through, we lose our rec center because the school district wants us out and and we're bursting at the seams, and and they're bursting at the seams even worse than us. That's why they would like us out. Then we're in a difficult situation. Our our citizens are already paying for two rec centers if a bond does go out and does get approved. And and then we would have to then approach again to see if if we would like to bond again for our center, which would really be a hard sell. So I'm just here today to kind this happened three weeks ago. We had another meeting a week and a half ago as soon as I heard about this. And well, let me let me backtrack. I'm getting ahead of myself. George Stain said, yes. If if we if this goes out for vote, I want everybody in the in the county to be representative. Let's let the county decide. And the idea was that there was a rec center within fifteen minutes. Because if it's on the South Side, people from Smithfield aren't probably gonna drive to Nibley to go to the center and and vice versa. If it's in Smithfield, they're not gonna drive. So you wanted to encompass the whole community. And after that meeting, I immediately called Justin. Justin immediately got me on the agenda for this meeting. And so I guess what I'm looking for tonight, I know there's no decision to be made. My thought is and I don't know if it would be approved. I'm not sure this is the best time for this to to to go to voters. There is a big push to try to get the the bond election for this fall. I don't know if that can be done. We this steering committee meets again on Friday, and I'm planning to go to that meeting. I just wanted to see how you stand. I personally, I feel like we need to be involved, and Smithfield needs to get something out of it for any kind of support that we would have. Because I think it would really hurt us if if we're not part of this, for what I talked about a little bit earlier. So

any questions or thoughts, Justin? You know, and the other thing is if this does proceed, this is not cheap, guys. This is gonna be, like, add hundreds of dollars to property tax, not like $20. Like, Brett, have they I don't remember if they've thrown anything recent, but I know it it's it's over a $100 was the initial estimate I saw. That was before possibly a third building. Mike and Brett's concern is is well, we have some, but Nibley and North Logan are leading the charge. Now, do we like Nibley and North Logan? Yes. I don't I think what I'm going to say is not trying to be disrespectful to any council, mayor, or city. They're wanting to to they they were leading the charge to do this on their own before this came up. Now, smart business is, absolutely, if someone else will pay for your building and keep it in your city, what what what a win for them. I would do exactly what they're doing, a 100%. But I have concerns that there's no guarantee that we get anything in Smithfield, if it's that third building. Another major concern I have is just because you build a building, who's operating it? Who's controlling it? Who's paying the wages? Who's going there? Like, I think this is so much in its infancy. I feel like I don't wanna you know, Brett will chime in. I feel like it's so early we don't have enough good info. But at the same time, we don't wanna lose out because if it's out there so it's like this really we there's a bond, but who's who's who's really in charge? Who's gonna oversee it? Nibali, my understanding is they are full steam ahead. They did a study pre this study for them and them only. They were ready to roll. Like, they are good to go. They're watching. North Logan, they, you know, they they wanna do some things too. I think we all want to, but Brett and I, I think we have some major concerns about where it could go. We don't wanna be left hanging, but at the same time, there's, like, literally tens of millions of dollars at stake if this goes to the ballot. And I think there's also some really smart people involved in this too knowing without Smithfield's support, it's going to be very hard to get this thing adopted. You know, and I think because when you just look at sheer numbers, look at the amount of people voting from Smithfield. It's, you know, 7,500 plus people. Take the whole rest of the North End of the valley, they don't equal 7,500 people. Like, Smithfield's very important to this, but, man, we we're really concerned. Like, really concerned about are we gonna be left hanging or you know, the residents of Smithfield have paid for this over twenty years. Right? So we're just like, we wanted you to be aware. We want you to know what's out there. We also it's really hard to come tonight and not give you definitive numbers and go, they're doing three buildings. That's x amount of dollars. The cost is going to be this. Guys, where do you stand? But we also don't want you to go, you guys never told us anything. Because it's really morphed in what, three weeks, Brett? Four weeks. Yeah. It's gone from kind of just out there to now there's a sense of urgency that they want to get it on the ballot. That's great, but you gotta put out good info for the for you guys to do make a decision. Because the residents are gonna ask you what's going on. They're gonna ask you what you're getting. If that if they vote for that, what are they getting? I don't think we we can answer what we would or wouldn't get right now. We just don't know.

Yeah. Very good very good point. We don't we don't know. And I think some more information they asked VCBO to go back, come back with really how this bond would be set up, prices. To answer Justin's question earlier, it would it probably would increase property taxes anywhere from a 100 to a $150 Uh-huh. For a family.

Is this is this bond a no Logan City kind of thing? Or is this a No. Right now, Logan City is participating.

And and the last meeting, there's a little bit of debate if the center one went in North Logan, which is a really push to have it there, or Logan. And it was kinda concluded, let's try to put it kinda right almost right on the border. But it makes sense to put it in in North Logan.

Seems like we've got a really well developed, well established, well running rec program here already. It's paid for. I'm trying to imagine what possible benefits we would experience as a city or our residents would experience by participating instead in a regional rec program or regional rec facility instead. Yeah. It's almost I don't think any.

It's almost how much could we lose the negative versus the positive. And I think it could be really negative for us if there was two and one was in North Logan and one was in Nimbly, and we didn't get anything out of it. I also think I try to think positive. I also think maybe this would be perfect, maybe, if it did get approved, which I'm not sure it will. And if it doesn't get approved, then it can go back to those cities, and those cities would then need to step up and do exactly what we did. And so but

yeah. Really good thought. I'm just also thinking. Right? If if we're knowing that we're kind of bursting at the seams, the high school's bursting at the seams, we're we're in need of a facility in the next Yeah. Ten, fifteen years. We are. Anyway, so would this be the opportunity for us to think That's what I'm thinking. We can get in on a new facility. But, you know, like in term Justin's point, who's who's gonna run this? Who owns this? And that was a big discussion in the last one too. Our the part the people already participating in really great rec programs here, like, we would not wanna see a reduced quality of service. Yeah.

Somebody unanswered questions.

It's just, you know, we don't know in in five years what there may be. We do have to separate. And now we're looking to to build our own building somewhere. And maybe this would've worked out where we could've got a building. It's spread throughout the whole county to pay for it. And when the school district buys us out, maybe we have a little extra money.

What what's our current relationship I shouldn't say that. What what's our current binding contract with What's our current binding contract with the district, school district? Could they force us out, you know what I mean, from being there? They couldn't necessarily do that, could they?

You know, I don't, that Justin could probably answer this better than I can. But I I I do know that there's there's a a big push. You know, there's some house bills that have come out, especially the security measures that have been recently been approved. Of so we are mixing citizens with students. We have to be very, very careful there. And so I think that's kind of how if we get pushed out, that's how it's gonna happen. I I I I don't know.

There's the school security thing. That's one whole thing. There's another one too is simply them buying us out. Right? Like, what they're gonna wanna write a check for versus what we're going to demand in return, I think, are are not gonna be anywhere near near the same. Do we know we're bursting at the seams? Do we know we need to do something else? Yes. How that's gonna play out long term? Have we really had a negotiation or anything with the rec center with the school district? We haven't. We've not got that far. One of my fears with the bond issue is if we are Building 3, what happens when Buildings 1 And 2 run over and there's no money for Building 3? Not that I've ever seen that happen with the schools, but like but that's another fear. But also, we're out of room at the school district, like so I think a lot I think from a rec standpoint for the city, a lot of it hinges on what happens with the bond and where that goes. Because if it if nothing at all happens there, then we have to have some like, start having some really serious discussions with the school district of where we wanna go cause we're already there. If the bond and stuff comes together, then that totally, I think, changes the directory of where we may or may not go and who's paying for it. So right right now, we're in this weird transition of we can't do anything or really even discuss anything because we simply don't know. And it's hard.

Yeah. It seems to me that we might have some influence on whether that bond passes or not based on the city's stand on is this a good plan or is this a bad plan for the city. So And so so to me, I would love to see, like, you know, between Brad and Justin and the council, I'd like to see us come up with what do we think is the kind of best way forward. And if that is in support of the bond, then let's campaign for the bond. And if it's in opposition to the bond, then let's campaign against the bond. Like, I think we have a lot of say in how that rolls, but I would like some a sense of what do we think is best for the city in terms of the next ten to twenty years for our rec programs and our citizens here.

My personally my personal feeling is if if if we get something out of it, then I I would feel like we would should support it. If we're not involved, then definitely, we wouldn't support it. That's just my opinion.

Are they No. It's I know you're on the spot right now, but do you have any scope as to what unincorporated and other municipalities support our our rec that we could potentially lose?

What what other municipalities support our rec?

Oh. Like, because that facility is built in North Logan. Yeah. Good for certain things. Is there any way that you could Yeah. Come back and say, out of Smithfield, you know, the citizens are you know, I've seen a couple studies and surveys that how much support Smithfield does provide to our own rec department. And it's it's the numbers are really, actually, really good. But Yeah. How much would we actually lose? Like, if that facility was built tomorrow,

how is it gonna hurt us, I guess, is do you have any way to any scope of that? You know, I I I'm sure there's probably some way to come up with that off the top of my head. I don't know. I I think it would hurt us a lot. You know, you'd have a a nice new facility that's probably really five minutes from our facility, ten minutes from our facility that's now open all day long. It's not tied in with the school. I think we'd lose a lot of members. I I don't think it would affect this, you know, a lot of our sports programs, a lot of our youth, a lot of our adult stuff. But it would affect our our recreation center immensely.

If it does go on the bond in the fall, there's gonna be a lot of competition for tax increases.

Yeah. I agree.

I agree. You got the school district that's looking at a big one. You got some other things that are happening. It's gonna be interesting.

Yeah. I I personally, I think it's going to be a tough sell. But if for some reason it was on the bond, I just wanna make sure we get something. Absolutely. And that we're not paying for other facilities that are gonna hurt us. Well, that that would 100% be what need to happen and and that's why I'm

saying if if we're if we see that this could be an advantage to us in a time that we have a need anyway Yeah. Then let's negotiate to be an integral part of this and fight to support the bond. Otherwise, let's not. And but, you know, if if we support this bond, you know, then our citizens are gonna have to pay twice except for when we sell our rec center, like, that money can go back to the city and benefit the citizens in other ways. And so, like, they they're not gonna lose lose in everything. But Right. It's it is gonna cost them, and especially with property tax increases. That'll that'll be a hit for sure.

I'd like to be able to see a consideration on that, that if we were to go ahead and go with the bond, that they actually look at the percentage that the bond passes in each of the cities and whatever city supports the bond with the highest percentage, they become number one facility, then number two, then number three. Because it, I agree with you that it would be horrible to support it very heavily out of Smithfield and wind up being the number three that never gets to happen when we were the number one supporter. Don't know if that's possible, but certainly seems like it's something we would be able to judge city by city what the bond vote went.

We still have issues with with who's gonna be in control of things though. Yes. When you're doing this on a county level, that changes the whole administration of everything. My personal opinion is trying to roll us on a county. I I can see why certain cities wanna take advantage of that. But it's just like adding taxes to people that aren't gonna be able to see the full benefit of that. And I just think we have a lot better chance of of governing things when we're doing it most locally.

Yeah. I I agree with you. And doing an excellent job of it too. And Yeah. And when you turn when you do something like that globally, you you lose your autonomy, you lose that. I think Brett's done a great job with that. I agree with you there. Yeah.

Yeah. We're just we're in a we're in a good situation, but we're also in a tough situation in that, you know, do we want this? Do we not want it? But if, you know, if it doesn't get approved, then we're we're still in the best position of anybody in the county. If it if it does get approved, then and we get something out of it. Maybe it works out perfectly with the need to evacuate our facility, current facility. That was a good point, Todd. I never thought of that. I think that everybody just kinda knew the situation that we were in. These cities are kinda wanting to do I really do believe, like Justin said, that if it it gets if this does get voted down, then you'll see Nibley. They've already worked with the other cities in the South to form a recreation district. And I also know and they've also they've also working on some plans. They're they'll move forward. North Logan, I think, will too. At least they have a lot of citizen support there. They have some nice facilities as it is already, and they have some areas right there next to it where they could be kind of a recreation hub right there with the ice arena, the RSL Building, and the and the nice new rec center. So yeah. It's it's it's tough. I just, you know, I I just if I go to this meeting on Friday and and I'm saying, I want Smithfield to get something out of it, and they say, well, what's the support of of your council? I'd just like to be able to just say, well, they're supportive as as long as we're involved, then we're gonna get something out of it or they don't they don't want anything to do with it.

So it's my understanding that they can form two special districts, like, if there was a South Rec Department and a North rec department that would have its own levy or its own bond. It's completely autonomous of anyone else. So do you have any comments on that? Or, Justin, have you heard any anything about that that we could be completely removed from? It wouldn't be fully county wide. It would be whoever chooses into those special districts Right. Would have that bonded levy.

I think that what I yeah. In reality, that's the best plan. Look at Nibley. Like, if they have truly have support from their neighboring cities, that's who they that's who should do it. Right? Like, you know, those that are surrounding them that they've talked to, you know, kudos to them for having those discussions and stuff. You know, you look at the North and go, what would be at why would North Logan support anything up here? Why would we support anything there? And then you got Hyde Park in the middle that gets to pick and choose. I mean, Richmond, Lewiston, Clarkson, why would they support North Logan? I guess if you don't mind driving, you would. Or if they have an amazing pool, you would. So I think that it's one of those that we let Brett, let that group know on Friday that we need more information. But if Smithfield's not going to get something out of this, we're a hard no. And we're not saying we're a yes, but we need more information and certain promises to be made for the council to consider this being a viable option for Smithfield.

I like that. Yeah. Completely agree. I like that. I agree.

And to me, it makes more sense what you were kind of explaining the two different districts versus the whole county thing. I don't know.

Yeah. And if North Logan and Hyde Park wanna do that and come together on something, great. And let them Kudos to them. Yep. Or Malga or whoever wants to join that. But let let them know. That way it's not forcing anyone to yeah. Yep. Yeah. I do think it's very interesting that Logan City chose out of parks or out of the rec department Absolutely. World, and now they're heavily involved

yet again. But Right. I

Yeah. There's a lot of unknowns there. Yeah. And I think my concern there too is you have the biggest, by far, city in the valley since this being mum kinda and doesn't wanna center in their city, but maybe on the end.

Like, that's Well, kudos to Smithfield because Yeah. We have an awesome fire department and we have an awesome rec department. And we did it many many years before all the rest of them. So That's my thought. If any city wants to do it, they should be able to do it. But not everyone should have to pay for Right. This. Hiram wants to do it, let Hiram do it. They don't need to subsidize other cities.

No. And that might very well be what happens if this does go up for bond and doesn't get approved. I can see those cities doing that. And good for them. Yeah. But if it does get approved, I wanna make sure we get something. Sure.

I think what I think Justin what Justin said is your marching orders ending it. K. Yeah. Oh, yeah. K. Thank you for your time. Time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks, Brett, for everything. Great job.

Okay. Item number seven, discussion and possible vote on the name of the city owned building located at 102 South Main, where a history muse museum will be located?

I'd like to start this discussion. I agree with the comments that have been made. I know it's been put out there to call it the rock store. That implies that it's selling rocks. It doesn't say what it is. I think if you're naming something, it needs to specify what it is. So I think we keep it simple. Smithfield History Museum or Historical Museum. It's short. It tells you what it is.

It's painted now that says Douglas Mercantile. Correct?

Does it say Correct. It

or Cantwell. It says Cantwell. Cantwell.

I do. That's just part of that's just part of the history. I was gonna say, it's been three different buildings, and so maybe let's not include any of those, because right now it is a history museum. Is it not? Correct. Yeah. I would add the word city in. I would make it Smithfield City

Historical Museum. Right.

It tells you where it is and what it is. I I agree. Yes. And

that's a description but not really a name. Right? Yeah. It's a description of the building, which is a good thing to have. Mhmm. There's not really a name. And if part of the goal of naming a place is to attract people to it, attract people to it. And I'm not sure what that name would be. Like, there are people who, like, that's their job is to name things. Like Right. Like, there are entire professionals who who do this for a living. Right. I'm not sure why we wouldn't maybe make use of some of their expertise in coming up with a name. One of my ways of thinking about it is it was a a mercantile from multiple different families. Like, we could call it the mercantile, which which gives it, like, a historical component. We could even call it the Mercantile Museum. Like, that adds a little bit of historical component to it. It's more of a name than a description,

Idaho Potato Museum?

Okay. It's four not three? Okay. I knew it was at least three. Right. And they were all mercantiles?

No. No. They weren't.

But yeah. It was it was Oh, that's right. Yeah. It was a dance hall. But

anyway, that that's just one thought I had was there are people who are expertise in naming these things. We don't necessarily have to make use of them, and I don't wanna delay this or make this any more complicated than it needs

needs to be. But That's something. It's just simple. I don't think we need to overthink it. I think it tells you where it is and what it is. I think you have a good point as far as trying to make it memorable.

But I also do like simple. But if you talk to Jeff Gittens, he still likes rock in the name. Yeah. I can't But I I personally don't care too much as far as as long as we agree on something.

Jeff and Linda sent me a a message just before the meeting and they're in the same boat with some of the other people that have mentioned it. Right? They it was in the in the funding. It was named Smithfield City Historical Museum. That's kind of the name that they would prefer to and they've been major influences in that process. So I'm not opposed to it. I I would like to keep it as simple as possible.

So when they wrote the grants, they wrote it as a Smithfield Historical Museum. Yeah. Oh, I think we probably ought to stick to it too then. Because that could that could be an interesting thing later on. Or for future grants.

Right. But that added just a little bit more than what you were saying. Right? It adds historical.

Oh, I did historical. She said Special to you. City. Oh, okay. I said history or historical museum. Oh, okay. It's a museum full of historical events in Smithfield City.

I think as long as it has a name. That'd be better than not having one.

If historical was going to if you were gonna use historical instead of historic, you'd need to put it at the front. It would be the historical Smithfield City Museum. Otherwise, it reads weird because it is a history museum. Right. And it is historical, but it is not the historical museum because it's brand new.

Oh. I see English tutor coming out of me. I was gonna say Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Getting too deep. I like

Smithfield City Historic Museum. History? Sorry. History. History. History. Museum. Sorry. Yeah. Misstated my own thought. History Museum.

I love it. That's what they put on the grant. I just business wise Match it. I'm okay with that. That's close. I'm okay with that. Because then that's impossible. Does that mean it gets repainted,

resigned?

No. We won't do anything.

Yeah. We're starting all over. Isn't isn't that what the sign already says? Doesn't the sign already say Smithfield history music what does it say? Yeah.

For labeling purposes,

advertising purposes that we just are consistent with

Yes. So the portable one says Smithfield City History Museum.

Perfect.

That That was the same thing we were saying, right?

Yeah. That's what we're saying. Let's do it.

Are we ready?

Yeah. Let's do a motion. Okay. Entertain a motion.

I would like to make a motion that we name the building south of us, the Smithfield City Historic History Museum. History Museum.

Without the as part of the name, right?

Just a couple of comments on that. Appreciate Jeff Barnes' comments. We're very well aware of those trees. We've actually blocked out extra spaces around those trees. We'll be very cognizant of that to to go down that road. We blocked out, as you can see, the blocked out, those are non sellable at this time until the trees that never die die. And so, plus there's another little section there that's blocked out. So we're asking tonight, council, we've talked about it. Nothing's changed from last month other than it's a vote. We would ask you to approve sections d one and d two for the selling of of cemetery plots for burial purposes. D two is cremations only, so they are half the size of the standard plot. So d one is a 100 would be a 100% regular plots, d two would be cremations only. Our anticipation is is that we'll be opening another full section before we think the cremation section will last a long time. But that's our proposal tonight, counsel, is that we would ask for you to approve that so we can do that moving forward. And then I'll address the comments later in my report about the East Side, and what our plan is and what we have there.

With the exception of

what we'll be talking about later on the fee schedule, are there any restrictions as to the sale No. That were

are there any restrictions as to the sale? No. That were okay. No restrictions still on resident residence. Okay. No change there. No definite no change in definitions. None of that. Simply, just opening these two sections in the cemetery. Okay. And then, sections in the cemetery. Okay. And then, yes, no no restrictions.

No restrictions but also in addition to be able to buy back if people

wanna sell it. Right? And that's on the that fee that fee is on the fee schedule. Yeah. And then there was a question if there it's already in the rules. You can only buy two. That restriction would stay in place. We're not changing that either. We're not proposing to change that either. So simply, this request is just to open d one and d two with no restrictions. No additional

restriction. Open it up.

I make a motion that we we support opening sections d one and d two in the cemetery for burial purposes.

I'll second that.

a couple of items on here just to be to clarify the proposal. So currently, we sell full burial plots at $6.50 for residents and 1,600 for a non resident. The proposal for a full lot is 800 for residents and 3,500 for a non resident. As proposed, we would be adding two new line items. We would add plot purchase half size for a resident and plot purchase half size for a non resident. They're proposed where they are half the size at $400,007.50. The reason it does not say cremation on there is because if you still wanted if you wanted to buy a full size plot for your cremation because there may be one full size plot in the cemetery that's close to your family, we would still sell that to you, but you would pay the full price. We would not we're not going to go out and split those in half. So if you have a cremation and wanna get it close, there are some proposed changes right now if you look at cremation. I just want to explain towards the bottom. It says cremation resident 400, cremation nonresident 900. Currently, there that's the fees. We would do away with those two fees and go to new fees for weekday as well as weekend to match our current burial. Not sure why we didn't have that in the past, but we would propose that we make that change. So the $409,100 would go away and then we would implement a 501,000 during the weekday and $612,100 on the weekend is how it's proposed. And then the other fees, we are proposing to leave infant fees alone. We would like to keep those where they're currently at just because of what's involved in that and the other fees would go up. Proposed is weekday burials, increase $100 for resident, increase $1.50 for nonresident, weekend $100 for resident, and 250 for for a nonresident. Then it would also add in that the buyback, the plot buyback, $400 or the amount paid upon the purchase, whichever is greater. That way, if you bought one at the current price, you would get that back. But if you have some that were from a hundred years ago, we would love to have those back. It wouldn't matter whether you got paid the 25 or you paid $25.50 dollars, or an undetermined amount, we would pay those because we would really like them back just because we're out of space. And that's what's proposed tonight,

sir. Just curious. When they were cremated, do they bury in the same depth?

In the so typically, no. Typically, you take one typically, one foot of topsoil and then you go down. The the the box is typically at two to three feet. Okay. Just curious.

Just wondering what was involved with that.

I I like what's being proposed.

I make a motion that we adopt resolution 26 dash twenty twenty six dash o five, amending the prevailing fee schedule of the city. I'll second that.

How do we vote? Jay? Yes. John? Yes. Chris? Yes. Jen? Yes. Todd? Yes. Motion passes. Item number 10, discussion and possible vote on Ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero five, an ordinance amending Smithfield City Municipal Code Title 17 Zoning Regulations, Chapter 17 dot 100, site development and landscaping, adding section 17 dot 100 dot zero eight zero, dedication of right of way width. Turn the time over to Brian. Thanks.

Right now, within the city, mostly in the center of the city, the older part of the city, there are many parcels that can't or will not subdivide.

No. You need this in right of way. I don't Oh, it takes a very matter. I'm sorry. No. No.

They won't they won't subdivide or they can't subdivide. And currently, we only require the right of way dedication for parcels that subdivide. However, there's an issue within that part of the city where some people have dedicated the right of way already on those single parcels and some people haven't. So property lines tend to go in and out and in and out, and they're very regular. This code essentially, when boiled down says, if a parcel, a single parcel that doesn't subdivide, builds a new residential structure, then it has to dedicate the right of way. That's all it is. Yeah. And let me say this, we'll we'll get to the next one, but the p c the the planning commission has approved this one. They changed some of the words up on the next one, but they have approved both. And we'll talk about that next one in a moment.

Any questions? And just to clarify, this does not impact anyone, any existing parcel. If your home's already built and all that, you're already Right. This is not this is only new construction. That's what you developed.

New residential homes.

I propose that we adopt ordinance 26 twenty twenty six dash o five, an ordinance recommending municipal code title seventeen seventeen dot 100, adding section seventeen one hundred dot o eight zero.

You're moving this meeting right along. We have a proposal out there, but I do have one point of clarification. Okay. If we could. Yeah. You just said residential.

Does this not apply to commercial also? This does not apply to commercial. It's already

This does not apply to commercial. It's already in commercial.

Commercial already has to do that. Okay. Yep. That's already in the code. Good to know. Thank you. I'll second John's motion.

How do we vote? Jay? Yes. John? Yes. Chris? Yes. Jen? Yes. Todd? Yes. Motion passes. Agenda item number 11, discussion and possible vote on ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero six, an ordinance amending the Smithfield City Municipal Code title 17 zoning regulations, chapter seventeen five six, r one single family residential zone, adding section 17 dot five six dot zero six zero, developmental standards. Turn the time over to Brian. Okay. This

is essentially this this is fixing the same issues that are being caused by ordinance that we've discussed. The difference is just like a subdivision, we would require curb, gutter, and sidewalk as part of any of utilities for only new residential construction. So if a single lot is empty and they want to build a new home, they would be required to dedicate the right of way curb, gutter, sidewalk just like a subdivision. Now, one of the biggest problems that that fixes is all the complaints that we've well, now it's a long term fix, but all the complaints we've heard about the uniform system of sidewalks and walkways within the city. Because what this does is start requiring those single lots that are one offing sidewalks to actually build that sidewalk curb and gutter. It's one step closer to helping the city have uniform sidewalk proving gutter.

Also like electrical

transmission lines being put underground on overhead. And that's the second part is that this is proposing that in that case with a single family build that they would have to bury all of the transmission or sewer water lines. Now that is already required in subdivisions. It's already required in commercial. Again, these and if you'll look, that's the code that's the code section for resident residential r one ten, r one twelve, and r one twenty only. So this does not include commercial or large subdivisions where they rezone and have to do all this anyway. They have to do that in those instances. This is only for single parcels

that build a brand new home. So what you're saying here is so that's why I understand it. I have existing home a, in case 60 Home B, there's a lot in between. Somebody comes in and builds in between, they have to do all this. Yes. Okay. Simple.

That's that's great. I think we need that to help build our infrastructure. That's where we're

needing to move. Right. So There there have been a lot of people back and forth having comments and and citizens having comments about that. So this is one of the ways to take care of a lot of those concerns.

Doesn't resolve the issue of when they misplace the transformer though and make the sidewalk have to go around the transformer a little bit. Yeah. In most cases, that'll fix it. The truth is,

when it comes to power, they do what they want. We tell them and in most cases, they'll move it out. It's usually contractors that have not thought about or thought it through, and that's when they make weird things like power poles in the middle of the sidewalk and then they poke the sidewalk around the power pole. Yep.

Yep.

Alright. Enough talk. John's getting anxious, so I gotta beat him to it. One one question. Clay, will you just clarify one thing Sure. That's awesome. We were just wondering about, or just a thought. Sorry, Chris. No. You're fine. Should it be all all new, should it be all new distribution, Clay, rather than transmission? Does it matter? Is it the same? I'm just thinking out loud, just that one word. Does that is that a factor, Brian, Clay?

I don't think I think those two words are interchangeable. Transmission is the word we currently use in the code now for commercial and subdivisions. So it would go to say that they're both meaning the same thing and in the end, they're gonna be doing the same thing.

I agree. Leaving the word the way it is is the best because if you change it to distribution, it is usually a terminal point. So I think as long as either electricity or something is being transmitted, I think this does fit it. As you know, anytime you put a word in there, being a wordsmith, people find a way to misinterpret or change the meeting. But I think this does honestly gather our intention. Having said that, what word were you talking about?

It's time to pray. I was talking about

I'll second it again. I'm no, you know, preference to second. How do we vote? Jay? Yes.

John? Yes. Chris? Yes. Jen? Yes. Todd? Yes. Motion passes. Item agenda number 12, continued discussion on fiscal year budget 2027. Turn the time over to Justin.

Just a few things tonight, counsel from last month. We'll trudge on to the public hearing and vote next month, but just a few few updates. I talked with Chris. The youth council is growing. Actually, has most participants coming up for this new this this next year that they've ever had. We have not increased their budget for, like, well over a decade. The discussion was to add a few $100 to, their budget. So we, are looking at making that change. As far as we did get in our health insurance renewal, our liability auto insurance renewals, they're never pleasant. They came in. Those increases, we have had to make some changes elsewhere in the budget to try and get this to balance. So we have looked at reducing originally. We talked about wages would be about five and a half percent between merit or up to five and a half percent between merit and cost of living. We're actually looking at backing that off to four percent with a 3% cost of living and then a 1% merit for the department heads to, to consider for their staff. In regard to the department heads, they would not be at the 3%. They're going to be proposed at 2% for those that were had midyear budget, had some midyear wage adjustments. There are a couple of department heads that that would not impact, but we would like to stay based on, commitments we made to them due to their longevity. The planning did end the planning line item update, the CMPO, we, there's a small increase in what they do each year. We made that. We got a final number there. In regards to tree trimming, so if you'll recall, for, part of what we were doing was going to tree trim the trees in the park strips throughout the city. With this current fiscal year, we simply cannot get to every section in this fiscal year. So looked at making an adjustment to account for what we will not be able to to what we would not be able to get done in this fiscal year. We would add that into the next year. Clay's been working with them, Clay and Josh. So we've made that. In the General Capital Improvement Fund, at this point, as we look at finalizing, we had to look at I sat down with Josh to try and make this balance. Removing some equipment to get this where we need to be at this time. We have removed the backhoe, to try and make up for some of those other changes. In the storm water in the storm water, fund, we're looking at we, have added in phase two of that big project on 10th South, which will be from the railroad tracks down to 1200 West and then the creation of the stormwater pond. We're adding in about 2,200,000 there. We're way happy with how the waterline project, the spring up the canyon is going. We got phase one of that was approved when the bids were received a week or so ago. We have signed off on that. So we're looking at we will be adding before this comes back to you in June, phase the phase two estimate based on what we've learned from phase one, so that that project will continue again next year. In the water and sewer fund, we've added $2,000 in fuel. It's just so volatile right now with where we're at and where we're heading. I've been asked where, how much are we saving in the in the current budget, or how much we're setting aside the way the current budget's laid out in the general fund. We're just getting it to balance. We are not there is none going to be transferred into a savings. Let me explain that. So we always are trying to underestimate on revenue and then hold on our expenses. And then as we approach the end of the year, like this year, which we're already doing, those funds, that we are to the good are what will be transferred to our capital improvement fund, for a rainy day. So currently, as it sits, we're not in a position that we can budget for that. I've been asked why. It's just simple math. When you don't propose any changes to property tax or any utilities, you're trying to make do with what you have. Long term, are we gonna have to talk about changes to the utility fees? We are. I have concern long term with one of the funds, specifically solid waste. We have not made any changes there for a few years. The contract with Econowaste has an annual escalator in July of each year. The Logan's the Logan's facility is going up. We're gonna be reviewing that pretty closely, most likely bringing back a change to garbage sooner than later. We're also looking at on water, we've been holding off on water waiting to see how that tank and the spring line came in to see if we could really get where we needed to be without That's we're still working through that process. Our goal is with the funds we have set aside over the last few years is that we can avoid bonding. That's the ultimate goal, I think, with the council, with the staff, as those are finalized. So are we saving money? We are. Yes. Are we budgeting to save money at the initial budget? No. We're not. We're just trying to get it to balance, which we are, which we'll have it there. In regard to property tax, we aren't proposing an increase or a change this year for a multitude of reasons. One, we're not sure where the rec center bond goes because that would be a direct impact possibly to the residents of Smithfield. We are not sure where the fire district goes and how that will impact us. The process now is is not a great process. It is they've changed it. There's some announcements that have to be made. There's some things that have to be published. We're hoping that some changes are made next year. In order to do it this year, we would have had to have produced some estimates of where we wanted to go with that number and they would have not been based on good information, counsel. They would have I'm I'm I'm built to give you the best information we can along with the department heads. The estimates we would have been forced to give you this year would have not been reasonable. And when they would have got thrown out to the residents, we weren't comfortable with that. So we felt like this year, we would circle with the legislation and what they're making changes there, as well as looking at the wreck, and looking at fire and some other changes, that it was not in our best interest to propose an increase, for this year. Does that mean we won't do it long term? No. We're actually learning through the process this year, as some of the other cities go down this road that are forced to. So will that be circling back? It absolutely will, as will we we are working with the department heads to come up with, how do we take care of our buildings long term? What do we wanna

spend there? What do we need in the next two to five to ten plus years? I'm working with Clay and Josh on

putting in writing, we have a plan. We replace a certain amount of water line every year, a certain amount of sewer line. We're gonna bring that plan to you long term after the budget's adopted, showing you what we have on the horizon and those estimates because it's multimillions of what we need to do. But we've tried to be really good about just spending as we go and not bonding. But there will be some information on that as we circle back. So right now, those are the few changes we've got. It will circle back. I do have question for you. If there's anything that you don't like, that you want us to change, that you don't support, you wanna see us increase, we would love to have that because our ultimate goal is to have this thing ready to take to the residence in June for a hearing, and vote of that. We do have to adopt it in June. State code requires it's adopted by June 30. Well, ideally, we would like to do that at the next council meeting, I believe, on June 10. So we're open to your thoughts. If there's things you don't like, if there's things you do like, what are your thoughts, council? Where do we go with this? I mean, we're going on you know, we've been talking about it since March. We've tried to be really conservative in what we're doing. Some of the departments will have no equipment. We need to budget for that long term. We are coming up with a plan there, council. I know that you have asked for that, but that's not something simple to come up with this with a short term. We're looking at a long term, what do we need to do over x amount of years, and and how do we get there, and how do we financially get there? So we are coming up with a plan. We anticipate that will be coming in, over the next few months, once we get away from this. It seems like right now, we just talk budget, budget, budget, months once we get away from this. It seems like right now, we just talk budget, budget, budget. Kind of want to get away from this budget and talk about those buildings and infrastructure long term as we go down that road. So, Council, what questions do you have regarding the budget? Is there anything that jumps out, anything that you're like, I can't support, and we'll see Is there anything that jumps out? Anything that you're like, I can't support and we'll circle that and bring that back next month with those changes.

Just as a point of reference, what was the approximate percentage increase on the on the insurance?

So health insurance was originally 16 and a half plus, and we were able to go back and do do some negotiating with the vendor, and we got it down to 10. And I'm still, like, not happy at 10, but I'm much happier at 10 than at 16, 16 plus. So health insurance, honestly, is our as we go into budget season, it is our number one concern. Health insurance is out of control. Let's be honest. It's not good, like, you have to have health insurance, but it is our number one concern of where we go as a city. What do we offer for our looking at deductibles? How do we change that? But we got it down to 10, but this year, we were not able to get it lower than that. The insurance, like liability and stuff, just simply went up because we're just adding equipment. Like, we didn't have big a big leap there. Workers' comp, not a big leap. It's just workers' comp's a 100 based on payroll, on actual payroll. Pay an estimate in July, and then it circles itself back around and you pay based on actual. But health insurance will always be our one biggest fear, and then it's locked in for it is locked in for a period of twelve months.

I just want to say thank you to you, Justin, and your department heads who have done such a good job of being thoughtful about this and being prudent, running a lean operation. I think it's just awesome that we're in really good fiscal situation. These projects coming in that we're being able to pay for, out of the budget without bonding, I think that's just outstanding and fantastic. And I love that we're looking forward to what kind of attention do we need to give our aging buildings and infrastructure. How can we kind of start looking ahead and setting aside funding for replacing equipment and equipment and vehicles and planning for future parks and like I I'm glad we're starting to

keep keep those things in mind as well. So thank you for addressing those. The one item we will be looking at that we will for sure add next month, knock on wood, is the, county council should be approving RAPS tax. They had a discussion last night. They did not vote. We've seen some preliminary numbers of what's been recommended by the board and those involved in that. We are very, very excited and hopeful that it goes with that recommendation. It will be a huge There is being consideration being given to all three of our submittals.

Excellent. Awesome.

Yeah. That's great.

Fingers crossed.

And I don't have anything else on that, Mayor, unless you guys

have questions. Good. Good question.

I think we're pretty good. I I would love to see some funding allotted for the future of the the the Tubison Park. I don't know if that's possible in this budget. It sounds like we're pretty tight, but I just I keep thinking that is gonna be a big project. It's gonna

So actually, I'm glad you brought that up. We I talked to, actually talked to the grant writers at JUB today about what grant opportunities are out there. We looked at it. We we actually talked about parks, new infrastructure. Here's the one thing we are going to absolutely have to have for those applications. We are going to have to have, like, engineering estimates. Like, there like, so I'm very hopeful that with the USU vision project, city vision project, we can come up with a concept. We can then take that concept to getting an engineering estimate, and then in turn, we can apply for that grant. That grant is a fifty fifty match, which would be a really big deal for us. But we will, in reviewing that with them, like, it is very detailed in how that thing comes out and what's done. But I think But I think that that that fund has been very good to the city in the past. We've done some projects with that and it's a great opportunity when it's a fifty fifty because a lot of cities don't want to spend anything. But we are going to have to pin down what that park is. The nice thing is every impact fee that's paid right now is being set aside. Basically, for that project, unless you guys choose to allocate it elsewhere. I think that's the next one on our list. So we are collecting money there to help go towards that and then long term. The other thing too is those water projects come in and we don't have to bond that in reality, even though the water fund is not part of the general fund, it potentially gives us opportunities to do other things when we don't have to bond. So, yes, is it on our radar 100%? I think Brett would love to have a new 12 acre park and so would those residents in that area. But, you know, the offset to that park, that's a a real concern is we have to then man the park, maintain the park. And in reality, I we can't we can't add another 12 acre park without adding employees or at least part time or how we're going to deal with that. So that'll obviously be part of the discussion, but I know staff wise that's going to require some adjustments there. But will it be a huge benefit to city? Absolutely.

The potential there is off the chart. Future home of the new Smithfield Rec Center. There you go.

Or the dog park.

That's too big of a dog park. No dog park. That's way too big.

Any other comments? Moving on to agenda item number 13, city manager report. Just a few comments, mayor.

What about a dog park at the Lion's Lodge? There's trees, there's water, there's parking. Now, obviously, that would take a discussion with the Lions Club because I already think I know where that would go, but that may be a possibility to consider. No one uses that park. Let's be honest. We mow it. We maintain it. The scouts, I won't say anyone because the scouts use it on a very rare basis, but that may be a different possibility that actually has access to consider. In regards to what's that? Do we own the Lions Park? We own it all, including the building. Oh. Well, no. We own the land. Sorry. We own the land. That's their building. That's our park. Oh. Wow.

I don't know. The scouts could come do community service.

Yes, they have. They held a camp up there.

No. The scouts can use it. That's what I'm saying.

Maybe they maybe the Cub Scouts do it, not the steps. Well, is it a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout, a Scout as a Scout, Girl Scout, and they sell cookies up there. Oh, shoot.

Custer uses Scout. Cookie treats. We do,

in regards to question about the east side of the cemetery, we do have a developed plan. I actually have an engineered drawing and I have an engineered estimate and that came out at $1,068,000 and that's why we considered what we just adopted. Could we split it into phases? Most likely two, but to do that, then we would just run a cost overrun. Like, it's it's not as simple as just going, well, half of it will be 500,000 because the roads and stuff have got to go in. So we do have a plan. We do have a design that when the time comes, I mean, obviously, that part square that area is going to increase in cost over time. But, yes, we already have we do have an engineer drawing, so we would not have to deal with that. So that would be a win there. We did we had that discussion with Altec, I believe, last month. They came in and offered some solutions or some things where actually, I met with them today. We are in the process of doing pen testing for the entire city, for our entire network. It can fit within our current budget of what we're going to do there. So we're gonna be working with the department heads as they come in and look at the pen testing is basically looking for vulnerabilities and how to stop those. We're moving forward with that. Phase one of the Spring Line project has been awarded to Forefront General Contracting.

I believe they're out of North Logan. Clay, is that right? The North Logan? Yeah. They have a few of them. North Logan is fine. It's a great couple of them. North Logan. Well, they're

local. They're local.

So we we are in the the lights have been ordered for the the button activated blinking lights for $2.50 East 800 South have been ordered. The goal is is that they will be installed. It'll take about four to six weeks, I believe they said estimated, to get those in when we get those in. We think that's not only gonna be an estimate to the kids going to school, but also there's a lot of residents that cross that road. So long term and they are button activated. So no one crosses there, they don't go off. So we think that's a win. Health days, big kudo to Brett, staff, fire, police, everyone that was involved in that. The weather was stellar. You know, the historical society, all of those involved in that. So appreciate them and everything that they did there. Next, we'll look at the budget meeting on June 10, and we will be amending the current budget that night, as well as adopting the new budget. And in regards to, I'm actually gonna hold off, I won't address that comment. I'm sorry, Mayor. I'm gonna talk about wages, but I don't think that's probably the time to time.

Can we address it next month?

I was just going to address some comments from earlier tonight, but I'll let you guys address those. Probably not appropriate that I do. I don't have anything else, but unless you guys have questions.

So we'll now move on to agenda item 14, council member member and mayor reports. Anyone like to go first? You're looking at me. How is the Skeeters? What? The

Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes. Oh, the Mosquitoes? Well, I'll tell you what, that's quite a complex issue. Actually, you know, it's kinda impressive what they do with that with the the fogging that goes on at nights, and then also the they've got all their their staff now with all their people who go around on the four wheelers and go around to the larvae and all that stuff and prevention there and everything in there. But they're predicting with because of the mild winter we had, it's gonna be an interesting year for mosquitoes. So right now, they were saying also that that the West Nile virus is not out yet, but they expect it to be. So and it's it's the type of mosquito. I didn't know there were so many various I thought was mosquitoes. But anyway, it's a type of mosquito that carries the carries the the virus is not quite active yet. So that's what's going on. The fire district, we go round and round. But, you know, it's quite a complicated issue because of all the different various fire departments in the very different states they're in. The South End versus the North End and everything and it just it just there's a lot of discussions that are going on, a lot of meetings are going on. County exec has really proposed some things, there's some merit to it. It. But it's just it's just ongoing discussions and merits that's on the fire board and represents the city very well with that and also the other citizens in the North End. And kudos to him for being willing to do that because it is an interesting process. And then also, Travis and the police department, you all see we're gonna have lieutenant interviews next week. I've seen that today, Travis. We got off that, so I'll be working as well. One of the other things we're working on too is we're starting to work on the emergency preparedness. I think that's an important prop we need to start working on with the city. We've talked about that, and we need to really start working on that. So a lot of things are going on in the in our in our community and in everything. I noticed tonight, this kinda interesting side note as I was coming home. I heard a big old announcement come out for the windstorm that was up north and, you know, they were experiencing sixteen, seventy mile an hour winds and stuff. And so that's a we need to be prepared.

So other than that, mayor? Thank you. We had a 75 mile an hour gust at the airport. Yeah. I saw a bunch of branches down on the driving in here tonight. So We were worried that the bus you were driving might have been turned over.

No. You drive into the wind until you hit the underpass.

John, would you like to go next?

You bet. Normally, I've the chamber meeting has happened before council meeting, but we're at the chamber is actually meeting tomorrow, so I haven't got the latest. But I do know they held their golf tournament and their pancake breakfast during health days, and I think those went off very well. So I think things are going well with them. The library has gone live on their new software. And we're hearing good reports. So that's great. That's great. And our board meeting will be next week. Yes? Actually, the twenty seventh. The twenty seventh. Okay. Because next week we'll be out in the Alright. Yeah. You're you're getting ready to go to that conference. K. Fantastic. So I look forward to meeting with the library board again. And in terms of trails, the contract has been for the next leg next two legs of the Bondiose Shoreline Trail has been awarded to Sunrise Engineering. And so we are now kind of having monthly meetings with with them and moving that project forward. So I think things are coming along. It's looking good. It's looking good. So that's what I've got in the future. Thank you. Thank you.

Let's go down the line here. Sounds great. Our youth council's doing amazing. If everyone shows up this next Tuesday night, we'll be having interviews for them. If all of them show up that have applied we'll have 15 more youth council than we had last year. So you can see even just getting a shirt for them. By the time you add all that up and ends up being a little bit more of cost. So appreciate Justin thinking about about them. They had requested that because they've kind of been tight on funds. But they're they're doing a great job and they'll take a little break during the summer. But all the new people have been put on a group and are already talking and that kind of stuff. So the seniors are doing awesome. I didn't ever check. I'm assuming that they got their clock fixed, Justin. Yes. They have a brand new clock. Okay. So they they haven't been complaining about that. So I guess that that it's working. I did do a survey. I was just curious to see what the seniors thought about the cemetery plots and all that kind of stuff. Out of about 38 people who decided to fill out the survey about 42% thought that we should sell only to Smithfield residents with a maximum of two plots. 53% thought that we should sell to residents and non residents and charge more for non residents with a maximum of two plots per household. And only 5% thought we should only allow purchase at the time of a spouse's death. So, that was kinda interesting, just kinda get their viewpoint on things. They're doing great things and like I said, they they always get a lot of people there every every Tuesday for their for their lunches. There's a lot of donated time and energy that goes into all of that. And even though you would think it's only a lunch, by the time if you're not there early, you don't get lunch. So they're there usually around 10:00 in the morning, setting up and getting ready. And then by the time their entertainment's done, it's like 01:30 or 2PM in the afternoon. But it's a great opportunity for those people. Also, we've had an opportunity to meet for a second time and I think we're making some good progress with our community planning and engagement committee. I think we've got some great things going on there and being able to kind of couple that with our with our USU group, our partnership there and and moving forward with the preparations for Utah Main Street program. I think we're making some good progress there. So I think that's about everything that I've got. Thank you.

Okay. We just had an arts council meeting the other night. They talked about, what went right, what went wrong with the Chalk Art Festival. It was still very successful. They had, I believe, 30, just under 30 applicants. I don't know if you guys had a chance to go see it. It's amazing. Amazing, amazing. They did talk about moving the Chalk Art Festival away from health days just because weather is an issue, people are busy, the younger kids had to be checked out of school. I didn't realize this, but kids were getting checked out of school. So the Arts Council is kind of thinking maybe we make June the arts month because they already have their summer concert, so why not have the chalk art festival be ready to go before that first concert for the summer for June, and just kind of make it. You can come see the chalk art, have the concert, have food trucks, different things, and just kind of have it be like a kickoff to summer, arts month, so they they're toying with that idea. The only issue I have with that is sprinklers. Me go from elements to sprinklers needing to be turned on at some point. So we're still mulling over that. We have some time. That's just something that kinda they talked about. Another little fun project that they're doing is we the arts council's is full of ideas. I call them my Hallmark Committee because I love it. They're all the the fluff. So they're talking about utilizing the lampposts and having signage for events go on the lamppost. And when we're not advertising things, having our city logo beyond that, they're looking for cheapest, most efficient ways of doing that. Just add some That's a great idea. Some beauty to the main street but also some advertising for different events that go on. Just because the more they plan, the more we're gonna need to advertise. So what's the most efficient cheapest way of doing that? So they're they're still looking into it but I just thought I'd let you guys know that's something that they are looking into.

Jen? Yeah. Quick question on the on the char cart thing. Yeah. I I think it was awesome. I got a chance to see that and there was some real great talent. I thought it was cool that there's actually quite a few youth that actually signed up for it. And there were a few people that were asking why there was a charge or you know what I mean? And I don't know if there's a reason behind that or if there's There is. And we're actually discussing It's a commitment thing or if it's It is a commitment thing.

It just kind of make sure that they're there because a lot of time and effort is put into it. So it kind of ensures that you are going to show up. That $10 they are provided the chalk and the city t shirt. Oh, yeah. I didn't know that. And then, you know, that money goes basically to the pot, to the winners. Okay. So. Yeah. Thanks. But we're still toying with the idea of do we make them anyway? Yeah. Or Another thing up in the air. Maybe the youth, maybe the youth is just a little bit less than adults or something like that. Right. And they're even talking about making more specific categories to make it a more fair playing field. Yeah. Just having more categories. So things you learn, I mean, this is our second year, so they're learning, just throwing up different ideas. They're doing awesome. Yeah. It's it's so great. I didn't realize we had so much talent. Between the musicians cup and the chalk art, it's amazing. We have so much talent and I just, I would like to find more ways of them being able to showcase that. The first concert is June 5, which is only in three weeks. That's at 07:00. We've got food trucks lined up. It's gonna be really fun. There's a lot of variety of music and different things this summer. I'm really excited. Let's see, we talked about that. The ambassadors had a really busy health day week. They showed up to all the events. They did awesome. We had a lot of positive comments about their willingness to serve and how they interacted with the kids at the bike race and the inflatables and the parade and all the different things. So they are awesome. We've got a parade again this Saturday and they're just they're awesome. They're asking for ways to serve. They want to do things. So if you guys have any ideas, they do want to go to the senior center, so we'll need to talk about that. They would love to do something with them. So if you guys have any ideas, they they're ready to go. They wanna serve. So if you any ideas, let me know. Before my time is done, I just kinda wanted to address some comments. The department heads had not had a merit increase since from 2019 to 2022. Anybody who works a job does need a raise, and the department heads were given that money to give it to their employees as they see fit and necessary. Taxes were not increased for that to happen. That did happen in December. We are aware of that, so we are taking that into account. We do need to be competitive or we are going to lose all of our employees. We just that's the fact of the matter, we have to. We're the second largest city in the county, so we do need to be competitive without having it be such an impact on our residents. And the wages are spread all across different funds water sewer general. So if we can find ways to pay our employees and be reasonable about it I do support that and I've always supported it as long as the department heads are giving it to their residents, or not residents, their employees who deserve it. Anyone who works a job will not stay if they have not received a raise. Cost of living is a huge thing. My husband's working two full time jobs. That's it's just how it is. I don't know what else to do about it, but I just wanted to address that. And I I also want to clarify that we are not pulling wool over anyone's eyes. We cannot be more transparent. I just, I really have a hard time with people saying that we're being sneaky and not transparent. If anyone has any ideas on how to be more transparent, we are more than open to it. These meetings are open. As a resident, I think that it's your responsibility to attend these meetings and be educated. If you are a renter, by all means, you are a resident. Come to the meetings. Be prepared. We have minutes. We have YouTube. Come to the meet come to the meetings. We have the three things. We have an updated beautiful city website that you can access. And if you don't have Internet, we have a library with free access. I personally feel like we are trying very best. We are not perfect, but we are trying our best, and we are always willing to get feedback. Our phone numbers and our email addresses are on the city website. I ask that you guys utilize them. And I say this not just people in the room, but anybody that joins in on YouTube. We are here to serve. That's why we did. And I speak for myself, but I honestly I can say that you guys did the same thing. We're here to serve. We wanna listen. We are not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes. We are not lying. We could not be more transparent. I feel very strongly about what we're doing. We are being very careful. We are a fiscally sound city. We're not in debt. We're finding ways to pay for things and not have to tax the residents. We're very aware that there are some things coming down the line that they're going to be taxed for. And we don't want to add to that, but also keeping in mind that we need to be competitive and our our employees need to be paid. Nobody wants to work for free. Cost of living keeps going up and they need to be paid accordingly. And I think that we're being fair with that and we're being very reasonable about where that comes from and how we're doing that. But I just have a hard time with people constantly complaining about things and we're trying our best. And if you don't know, please be informed. That's my number one thing right now is people just not being informed. As a resident, be informed. Ask the questions. If you don't know, ask. We have so many people that are ready ready and willing. City staff is here Monday through Thursday all day. I'm answering emails all hours of the day, the night, weekends. We are here. If you don't know, please ask. I'm very I've spent the last almost two and a half years, and it's so frustrating when we're doing the best we can. And when all you have to do is be an informed resident. And if you don't have time, call, ask. There's a reason why our names and our phone numbers and our addresses our addresses email addresses are listed on the city website. We want to be reached. We have the choice to not post them. But I did mine because I want to be reachable. I want people to reach out. I love every time I respond to somebody, I say thank you so much for reaching out. I love when residents are engaged. This is just something I wanted to address for a long time, and I just felt like tonight was a good time to do it. But we need to work together. Don't just assume the worst of people. If you don't know, ask. Be involved. Be an informed president.

Here. Here. Thank you.

Thank you, Jim. Ready for me, mayor? Yes, sir. Todd. I am really bummed to say that this is the first time in eighteen years that I missed health days, and I'm really bummed that I had to miss it. I got back that evening. But we had a lot of good things happen in my areas during that. Hopefully, everybody got the chance to go over and see the Smithfield City History Museum Across the street, obviously not a finished work yet, but certainly a work well in progress and a work that we can be proud of. I think Jeff and his staff have done a phenomenal job with prepping that, some things with advice, some things without advice and that's great. But I think it's only going to get better and I think it's going to be able to serve our city so well. And I think we will be pleasantly surprised at the traffic that we will get once the temple also opens, does the open house and people are coming through and we've got it on Main Street. And, unfortunately, that adds to Main Street's traffic, but it's either at it there or on 8th West, and I'm not sure which one's ready for additional traffic right at the moment. But, kudos to them. They've they've done a phenomenal job. I got a chance to be over there just right before I left. I haven't looked at it since I got back. I wanna go look at it again, but I'm excited about where that's going. In addition to that, we haven't had a tree committee meeting, but on the twenty seventh, we did have the Arbor Day poster judging that happened and we picked, I believe, six winners. Correct me if I'm wrong, Jeff, I think there were a total of six winners in that poster contest. I believe they're scheduled to come next month for our meeting to be able to be introduced. Hopefully, they've been directed to all bring their art so that we can see that. We can announce them three of the six did come down to the two Forrester Acres and were there for the tree planting that was done there. I don't have names, but that really appreciate them. Appreciate them being there and being able to attend for that. And just a reminder that we do have on the twentieth, the tree planting activity that has been gone gone on. I need to get re get the details on that. I think we had looked at potentially trying to be able to move that to a weekend, but it was a little too late to be able to do that. So groups are just doing great. I'm super excited to hear that we have reason to be cautiously optimistic on the RAPS tax because that will continue to help the historic society with what they're trying to finalize and hopefully that will help with some of Brent Brett's concern. Well, I guess they're not necessarily Brett's concerns up the golf course, but some other areas where that's really going to be able to be useful if if that really works out well. So I'm excited for that. And we will be having a tree committee meeting, I believe, in June. So I'll have new data to be able to report there. Thank you.

So I'll do my mayor's report. I've I've prepared some remarks here. So some of them had mentioned already. So if it's a duplication, I apologize. But, first, I wanted to express a big thank you to everyone involved in health days. There are so many individuals, groups, volunteers, and staff members, sponsors and organizers, community partners who contribute to making the event a success each year. Please know that your hard work, time, and dedication are very much appreciated. Health Days unannounced and unscheduled ones to too came. I think Walmart semi was one of them, but I you wouldn't believe how many people love that. So the fire district discussion continues to be a work in progress. Conversations are moving slowly and thoughtfully. We appreciate the continued cooperation and dialogue and the discussions that continue. If anybody has any questions about that, I'm happy to fill you in kind of where we're at. But, activities surrounding America two fifty are ongoing, and we will continue to be advertising by the city about those as they come about. Encourage your residents to stay involved and participate in upcoming events with a major celebration currently planned for Sunday, July 5. There also is a parade. Lisa's asking for anybody that wants to ride in that parade on for black and white days too. So she's there. She's open and happy to have anyone else that wants to come. City also appreciates our partnerships with neighboring entities, including Cache County and Hyde Park City. Just this week, there was a meeting held to discuss the long term connection of Wolfpack Way in Hyde Park, from Hyde Park to Smithfield. These discussions are ongoing and will continue over the long haul, not only regarding this roadway connection and others as well. Continued communication and cooperation between communities are important as we plan for future growth and transportation needs. A new change for for this election cycle, so everyone's aware. Candidate signs that are running for elections can now be allowed in the park strip and in front of the home or business, if the property owner gives permission for this to happen and for the signs to be there. In the past, election signs were not permitted in the Park Strip or the Moe's Strip. This is a statewide change and not something unique to Smithfield City, just so everyone's aware. I'd also like to thank everyone who has been involved in the general plan update process over the last couple of years. A great deal of time, effort, and public input and discussion has gone into updating this important document. Now that the document has been updated, the planning commission has been asked excuse me, tasked with reviewing the portions of the plan a little at a time. If changes are needed, those recommendations will work their way through the process and eventually come before the council for consideration and adoption. The general plan is intended to be a living document and can be amended as needed moving forward. And then the last thing I have is Justin addressed earlier was about the crosswalk sign. So that's all I have is for the marriage report. I'd also like to read this the Arbor Day, celebrate Arbor Day. Whereas, in 1872, J Sterling Monson proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. And whereas, this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in the state of Nebraska, and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world, and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoils by wind and water, cut heating and in, excuse me, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate the temp moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce life giving oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife. And whereas, trees are renewable resources giving as paper, wood for our homes, and fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products, and whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of businesses, areas, and beautify our community. And whereas, trees, wherever they are planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now I, there Aaron Rudy, mayor of Smithfield City, do hereby proclaim Saturday, 05/09/2026 as Arbor Day in the city of Smithfield, Utah, and I urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees, woodlands. Further, I urge all citizens to plant trees, to gladden, excuse me, to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this future of this and future generations. Dated this May 2026. Signed to Aaron Rudy, mayor of Smithfield City. Unless there's any other items, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

Well done, Mayor. Thanks for reading that proclamation. You bet. My pleasure. And I make a motion that the council meeting be adjourned today.

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