Projects, Leases, and more at Soda Springs City Council
A regular City Council meeting was held Wednesday, March 18. City Council meetings are held 5:00 p.m. every first and third Wednesday at City Hall, and streamed on the city’s Youtube channel.
Proposal for Ender’s Building Ghost Hunt
Andrew Olinger, who was on the agenda to discuss the potential for using the Ender’s Hotel as the site of a Ghost Hunt in the future, was not able to attend the meeting. Although the reason was not forthcoming, Councilman Carpenter was awarded the line of the night when he asked, “You mean…he ghosted us?”
Project Updates
Director of City Services Dan Squires updated the council on ongoing projects. A notification list has been set up for homes and businesses along Highway 30, and those affected directly by the construction will be contacted through a variety of means. ITD communicated to the city that they plan to have weekly meetings to inform people about the highway project as it unfolds.
12K tons or so of silica sand will ultimately be delivered for use in creating trails that will provide a long hiking/walking path south of town, partly on property donated by Nutrien two years ago. Some of the trails will be modified, due to restrictions and access issues. The total removed from the original plans will be ¾ mile.
Mayor Gritton expressed his gratitude to the county for providing material support to the project. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them,” Squires said.
There will be signage noting the donors and those involved in the project. Ultimately, it will also serve the purpose of being an educational site, which will be undertaken largely by Nutrien.
Due to the some funding coming from a Hispanic Access grant, they will “have to plant more trees than we planned on.” In addition, protection for the trees along the path – 250 total – was discussed, as deer are common in the area.
Squires has reached out to contractors to see when they can start placing the sand. The Hispanic Access Grant covers $500K, and Nutrien $150K. There are a number of restrictions on how things can be done in order to keep the HA grant.
Squires is working with the Landfill to get clean-up Day scheduled.
Kelly Park cameras were up and running Friday. Cameras at Enders are up and running. Cameras are not fully up at City Park yet. A quote for 1700$ to get it going has been received.
Cedar View had a significant leak. They shut down water for two days. They found the service line and it was abandoned. Cedar View is going to build up an improvement fund.
Industrial Leases
Councilman Daniel Larsen spoke to the council about a industrial lease rate proposal. The County’s Aaron Cook doesn’t assess city property, but in his opinion, $90K an acre was reasonable for the land, and effectively higher than the current rates.
Larsen noted that the language stating that tenants needed to return the property to its vacant state might be a problem in the case of bankruptcy. He noted that they haven’t enforced liability requirements in the past. He recommended that the company should be required to have an assessment of what it would cost to return the land to its vacant state, and if the cost would be over a certain amount the company should have to carry a bond or insurance that would list the city as the beneficiary.
He noted that the requirements could be added when the leases are re-upped.
A discussion of how to regulate/police the materials that are stored on the location was held. The question was whether aesthetic or ordinance enforcement should be included in the leasing language. Attorney Tom Smith explained that the lease should be in the spirit of a landlord, rather than a city/police. He noted that enforcing anything would make to situation muddy, and that anything that violated an ordinance was not a landlord issue, but a city one.
Councilman Larsen held that the leases should have the ability to be flexible, but that 10 years seems reasonable for businesses that were likely to be longer term tenants. They will re-evaluate the rates on a schedule, and adjust as needed.
“We’re trying to grow business, and industry—it has to be also attractive to them. They’re providing jobs, and services. I don’t want to make it onerous,” Larsen said.
Attorney Smith said that they can negotiate with individuals tenants as a landlord. “The city is the property owner, they can tailor each lease to the specific tenant if they want to.”
Public hearing proposing new Building Permit Fees for residential and commercial, and additions and revisions to City Equipment Rentals Fee.
The hearing was opened. There were no citizens present. The Resolution involved was 26-02. A master fee schedule will be change to reflect changes to building permit fees and prices for equipment rentals.
Melissa McDowell was recognized for her efforts on the resolution and changes. The resolution was passed unanimously.
Capital Projects Update
Council President Hart discussed the next 3 fiscal years in terms of revenue.
Looking forward to 2028, the city finances are in much better shape as a result of the state funds that are paying for much of the highway project.
Hart said that in theory they shouldn’t maintain a funds balance in streets. So he suggests they look into purchasing equipment to draw down the funds. Chip and seal and street upgrades are coming.
The Sewer fund had been “in pretty rough shape” when it was a source of allocated money to the highway project, but it is better now.
Boring under 2nd E by the RV dump was discussed. The line is leaking underneath. It brings water from the sources in the north to the south. According to Director Squires, the timing makes it a good time to do it. The permit fees (with the Railroad) cover boring one hole in the location under the tracks, but it will expire in July. “There’s no negotiating with the railroad,” Squires said. “We have the hard part done.” To go through the bidding process would add a month to the project.
Because of the timeline crunch, the city would need to use a sole source contractor for the projec. Attorney Smith noted that there is an exception to bidding requirements in the case of emergencies to safeguard life or property, which allow for a sole source contractor.
There is a bid for the bore and the pipe work still on the books. They were originally going to do this when they did Main street, and the bidder has guaranteed the rate from then, which is significantly lower than a new one would be.
Attorney Smith wasn’t sure about the caselaw, and wanted see what other cities have done in this circumstance. He recommended calling a special meeting with a consideration of a declared emergency for the procurement. A meeting was set for Friday morning to decide this. Councilman Carpenter recused himself from any decision, as he is an employee of the sole source in question.
Update on Area of Impact
Councilman Larsen updated the council on the Area of Impact meeting with the county last week. He noted that he did mention the Area of Impact on the east at the city limits. They said there were concerns about whether the city would even want to grow to the east because of the tracks.
Department Reports
Whether to open Enders from Memorial Day to Labor Day was discussed. In the past, they hired 2 part time people, and kept the building open for limited hours during the day for people to tour the museum rooms.
They had around 1000 people show up, and made some money in the process.
Councilman Daniels noted that “empty buildings breed problems, and the more we have someone in there, the more we can prevent anything catastrophic from happening.”
The city decided to yes, hire people for that time period to staff Enders.
Cardinals in Action—Community Clean up
On April 23 Councilwoman Byram will work with 7th and 8th graders at the parks in town to clean up. They will put frisbee golf back together. From 2-4 on that day, and the whole community is involved.
