City Council

Thursday, August 14,2008
Minutes



ST. GEORGE CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
AUGUST 14, 2008, 3:00 P.M.
ADMINISTRATION CONFERENCE ROOM

PRESENT:
Mayor Daniel McArthur
Council Member Jon Pike
Council Member Suzanne Allen
Council Member Gil Almquist
Council Member Gail Bunker
City Manager Gary Esplin
City Recorder Gay Cragun

EXCUSED:
Council Member Gloria Shakespeare

OPENING:
Mayor McArthur called the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance. The pledge of allegiance was led by Council Member Almquist and the invocation was offered by Council Member Allen.

AWARD OF BID:
Consider award of bid for the drainage and grading phase at the new airport.

City Manager Gary Esplin explained a notice to proceed will not be issued at this time, but award of the contract will allow time for mobilization and finalization of the contract, after which the notice to proceed can be issued. The amount of the base bid is $13,211,370. He advised he could not recommend the alternate bid at this time. The low bid is $4 million under the engineer?s estimate.

MOTION: A motion was made by Council Member Almquist to award the bid in the amount of $13,211,370.
SECOND: The motion was seconded by Council Member Pike.
VOTE: Mayor McArthur called for a vote, and all voted aye. The motion carried.

City Manager Gary Esplin advised the name of the low bidder is RE Monks Construction Company.

APPOINTMENT TO BUILDING CODE BOARD OF APPEALS:
Mayor McArthur recommended reappointment of Les Stoker and Ron Larson to the Building Code Board of Appeals.

MOTION: A motion was made by Council Member Almquist to reappoint Les Stoker and Ron Larson as recommended.
SECOND: The motion was seconded by Council Member Allen.
VOTE: Mayor McArthur called for a vote, and all voted aye. The motion carried.

DISCUSSION WITH IHC:
Terri Kane, DRMC Administrator, introduced her team members and advised that they are in the process of completing a daycare project for employees on the 400 East campus. A renovation project at the River Road campus has been completed,

St. George City Council Minutes
August 14, 2008
Page Two

and the college building is complete. The showcase project is the outpatient pavilion, and a partnership has been established with Lifeflight who will now have a fixed wing plane at the airport and a helicopter and permanent pad in 2010.

Steve Vance, Strategic Planner, advised that the pharmacy and cath lab have been expanded. The hospital is leasing space at Coral Desert and there is a safety concern with employee pedestrian traffic crossing Foremaster Drive. A video camera was set up for five consecutive days to record the number of crossings and the average is 150 individual crossing per day, with one day at 210 crossings. DRMC has entered into an agreement with the development to the west of Coral Desert to lease future building space. He presented a map of potential crosswalk locations and advised that DRMC and the City Engineering Department are recommending different crosswalk locations.

City staff presented a power point presentation on various options for the crosswalk. City Engineer Dave Demas suggested a refuge island be considered as part of the crossing.

Terri Kane advised that of the two crosswalk locations preferred by the City, the option closest to the hospital is preferable, and would be even better if it could be moved further east. With regard to the downtown housing project, a price with the York family has been renegotiated and the paperwork has been drawn up, but there has been no response from the Yorks. She advised it is the hospital?s intention to have a face to face meeting with the Yorks and put a timeline on signing the agreement. If an agreement cannot be reached, the property will be fenced. She requested that the zone change for this property be scheduled on an upcoming Planning Commission agenda.

Mayor McArthur invited a Scout to introduce himself.

REPORT FROM THE LOWER VIRGIN RIVER FIRE COMMITTEE:
A power point presentation of the tamarisk removal project and photos of the area affected was presented by Randy Halverson and Rick Rosenberg.

Greg Abbott of the USDA, advised there is 20-25 miles of defoliation along the Sevier River. He advised that the tamarisk-eating beetle was not supposed to winter this far down south, and Utah is the only state that has this particular strain of beetle. He explained that the brown tamarisks have been defoliated by the beetle. There is a 90% mortality rate of salt cedar in the 4th year.

City Manager Gary Esplin explained a bid was approved last week in the amount of $48,000 for removal of the dead tamarisk.

Randy Halverson advised that if all the brown tamarisk are removed a few beetles will be lost, but this should not affect the effort overall.

Mayor McArthur suggested the implementation of a public awareness campaign about the beetle.



St. George City Council Minutes
August 14, 2008
Page Three

Council Member Almquist inquired about acceptance of tamarisk at the Reuse Center.

Randy Halverson replied that the Reuse Center will accept tamarisk. He suggested that the removal process be accelerated. 216 acres so far have been removed.

City Manager Gary Esplin explained with additional funding all the tamarisk could be removed within two years.

The revegetation plan was briefly discussed.

City Manager Gary Esplin advised that staff would make a recommendation on funding in the near future.

UPDATE ON HISTORIC TREE:
Council Member Almquist advised that the Shade Tree Board met recently and Mike Madsen from BYU has determined that the historic Thompson tree in its current condition is hazardous. If the City Council decides it wants to keep the tree as a heritage tree, the danger can be removed by removing the crown of the tree. City crews can trim it but because one of the branches hangs over the building, a crane is needed to make sure it does not fall on the building. The Shade Tree Board recommends saving the tree subject to removing the crown for safety reasons.

ADJOURN TO AN EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION: A motion to adjourn to an executive session to discuss a property purchase and litigation was made by Council Member Almquist.
SECOND: The motion was seconded by Council Member Pike.
VOTE: Mayor McArthur called for a roll call vote, as follows:

Council Member Almquist - aye
Council Member Pike - aye
Council Member Allen - aye
Council Member Bunker - aye

The vote was unanimous and the motion carried.

RECONVENE AND ADJOURN:
MOTION: A motion to reconvene and adjourn was made by Council Member Pike.
SECOND: The motion was seconded by Council Member Allen.
VOTE: Mayor McArthur called for a vote, and all voted aye. The motion carried.




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Gay Cragun, City Recorder