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Show Egajv I t : 3 : , e' ; 1 v . I ft- b.i 111 .....i.-.i. 1 .. iJ i ILlm - 1 1 n t. " . ; 1 1 . .i . . 1 . . . 1.1.1. u 1 11 .. 11 .1 m 111 Dave Carter, a teacher at Pleasant Grove High School, received Paul Schoonover also received the "Teacher of the Year Award" which was the"Teacher of the Year Award." presented by Kraig Thome of the VFW. City Council Discusses Economic Development For City Pleasant Grove City Council Coun-cil discussed several items at. their work session on Tuesday evening, including the upcoming upcom-ing city budget. City Administrator Admin-istrator Scott Darrington and City Finance Director Dean Lundell fielded several questions ques-tions from the council regarding regard-ing expenditures that included the city's vehicles as well as health plan choices for the city employees. Scott explained that there would be more of a complete budget to present to the mayor and council in the second council meeting in April. Scott explained that the budget is still very much in the preliminary stages. The COLA and merit increases have, at this time, been suspended. sus-pended. It was estimated that there would be an increase of nine percent for the employee's employ-ee's health insurance, but in meeting with the broker, it was found that the increase will not be at that level, saving the city an estimated $108,000. There will be three different plans that the employees can choose from. Council Member Mem-ber Kim Robinson suggested that a meeting be held for the employees so that they understand under-stand the difference in those plans. Scott said such a meeting meet-ing is planned. Other items were discussed, dis-cussed, along with the fleet of police cars. Dean told the mayor and council that he had done extensive research into whether leasing or buying the cars was the most economical economi-cal for the city. He said he has looked into two and three year leases, as well as a proposed pro-posed on-going purchase plan. He said that the cars would be on a maintenance plan. Each vehicle would need to have a $600 maintenance package. Chief Tom Paul added that there would also be a computer, com-puter, etc, that would be in addition ad-dition to that package. Scott explained that in 2012, five vehicles would be purchased, replacing those vehicles that leases would run out. in 2013 four cars would be replaced. Dean said that there could be a substantial amount of money saved with the purchases. purchas-es. Chief Paul said he agreed. He said that this could be a viable vi-able plan. He said that he will have more information in the meeting in April. Council Member Kim Robinson then asked if a car allowance was really necessary neces-sary for some staff. She said that she felt that the city needed need-ed to instead have pool cars that can be used as needed by staff. Scott said that the city does have such a system already in place. He said that there are cars available for city staff to use to attend meetings, etc. Public Works Director ; Lynn Walker said that only '. two vehicles from his depart- "Council" continued on Page 7 "Council" continued from Page 6 ment go home with the employees. em-ployees. He said that is for the water department and streets department staff that is on call after hours. Other departments do have vehicles that the city owns that have been "handed down" from other departments. depart-ments. Kim asked Lynn if his department maintained their own vehicles. Lynn said that yes, they generally do most of their own mechanical work. A transfer of funds for the police dispatching will save the city a whopping $75,000. Dean said these funds have been sitting in an account for a length of time. Scott explained that they are in the process of working up a five year plan for the replacement re-placement of computers. He noted that there needs to be more information garnered regarding re-garding the plan, but it looks like it would be an economical economi-cal way for the city to keep the computers updated. A UDOT representative told those present that there were invited to attend the placement of the Sam White's Lane bridge on March 26. The process will begin at 1 1 p.m. She said that there will be a couple of large areas where spectators can watch the process. This is currently the largest span in the western west-ern hemisphere to be built to the side of the freeway, then moved into place. Life-long resident and long-time teacher, Paul Schoonover, was named the Teacher of the Year by the VFW. Kraig Thorne, from the VFW, said that Paul was chosen because of his service as a teacher and to the community. com-munity. He is a veteran of the Viet Nam War. PGHS teacher Dave Carter also received the Teacher of the Year award. Holly Richardson from the State Legislature came forward to report to the mayor and council on the business that had gone through the legislature. leg-islature. She first reported that there had been no cuts to education, edu-cation, which was very important impor-tant to her. Additionally, she said that another hot-button is-sus is-sus was immigration. She said that the enforcement portion of the bill did pass. She also said that the guest worker pilot program passed and would be implemented. Council Member Jensen asked her about her vote on HR477. This was GRAMA issue is-sue that was another hot topic. She said that she did take issue with the bill, but that she did agree that private communications communi-cations should remain private for the legislators. Representative Represen-tative Richardson, however, said that she felt that information infor-mation that was in the public interest should remain open and transparent. She said she hoped that a compromise can be struck regarding this issue. The future of the Copper Lefe development was again discussed. Mr. Victor Sharp from Sharp Pointe Development Develop-ment said that he is in the process pro-cess of purchasing the property and will build both the commercial com-mercial and residential portions por-tions of his development at the same time. Community Development Devel-opment Director Ken Young explained that he appreciated Mr. Sharp's presentation, but that his department had not, as yet, received any official plans from Mr. Sharp. Leisure Services Director Deon Giles indicated that the long-awaited fish were coming com-ing to the new pond on 3000 North. He said the DWR will be stocking it with a variety va-riety of fish. Also, they will provide some equipment for those young people that want to fish in the pond. For more information, he said residents can call Recreation Manager JayDee Neilson at the Recreation Recre-ation Department. |
