The Hanksville Town Council meeting convened its regular session on the 5th day of October 2023 in the Hanksville Community Center; meeting commenced at 6:00 p.m.
Present: Mayor Jeffren Pei, C. Mona Wells, C. Eric Wells, C. Tanesha Conder and C. Morgan Roberts
Absent: Treasurer Jessica Alvey
Employees: Clerk Lisa Wells
Public in Attendance: Cathy Rosenbaum, Chylene Whipple, Duke Alvey, Dan and Nicole Cahoon, Sara Bradbury, Marina Pei, Margaret Re and Katie Roberts
Meeting to Order: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei
Pledge: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei
Prayer: C. Eric Wells
Roll Call: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei
Motion to approve minutes of September 2023 council meetings: C. Eric Wells; Second C. Morgan Roberts. Aye: All in attendance.
Council member Mona Wells:
Nothing to report.
Council member Tanesha Conder:
TreeUtah is coming again to plant 20 more trees tomorrow, Oct. 6th. If anyone is available to help plant, they will be here about 10am; she will post it on Facebook.
Council member Morgan Roberts:
Nothing to report.
Council member Eric Wells:
The pre-bid meeting for the sewer lagoon repairs was today with the contractors. The question that C. Wells asked the council was should the contractor be charged for the town water they use on the project. There was discussion but no decision was made.
Mayor Jeffren Pei:
The money from the grant for the roads project is still available and the mayor gave Eric Wells a deadline of November 15th to get bids to repair the drainage out by the EMS building or to get the road repairs on center street.
Clerk Lisa Wells:
Bills presented to council for approval (spreadsheet attached)
Motion to approve bills for payment – C. Eric Wells; Second C. Morgan Roberts. Aye: All in attendance.
Planning Commission:
The next planning commission meeting is Tuesday, October 10th if any council member can attend. They are still fine tuning the ordinances and hope to have it ready for a public hearing by November and then submit it to the council.
Tabled Business:
The mayor asked the council to consider a budget of $3000 to spend on Eclipse events, including a mechanical bull, there will be money spent on portable toilets and other items that the mayor is interested in looking at. They discussed using the budget for the cemetery to cover these expenses since this event wasn’t budgeted in this year's budget.
Motion to approve $3000 to spend on the eclipse event: C. Morgan Roberts; Second C. Tanesha Conder. Aye: All in attendance.
New Business
Fee schedule review discussion: Council agreed to raising the rental amount for each unit at the Affordable Housing, but it will not be implemented until next fiscal year 2025, starting July 1, 2024. They talked about tiering the increase up incrementally over time. They will table this issue for more discussion on the actual rent increase. All tenants will be given notice of the increase in their rent. Other fees were discussed in the rate structure, but no changes were made to the current rates. The planning commission will use this rate structure to refer to in the ordinances.
Impact fee discussion – The quote we received for the scope of work for water and sewer impact fee is $12,500. The council discussed only implementing an impact fee for the sewer since we already have one in place for the water. The clerk will get a new estimate for sewer only impact fee.
Motion to adopt Resolution # 23-01 cancelling local election for 4-year term due to number of candidates not exceeding the number of open offices: C. Morgan Roberts; Second C. Tanesha Conder. Aye: All in attendance.
Public Comment:
Dan Cahoon asked the mayor what his objective or goal is for the number of water meters in the town or how many houses he wants in town; what is the capacity of new connections for sewer or water? The mayor believes the town has a capacity of 36 more connections right now. The mayor’s goal is 500 residences; whatever business or growth that spurs that number is what he’s looking for, understanding that growth isn’t easy, but it will change the landscape of what we can do as a community. What we can protest and takeover of government property (BLM land), it changes how we annex, and it also changes our voice in the county. Property and infrastructure, if you own the land and build a business it will bring the people to achieve this capacity and it will be good for the town.
Nicole Cahoon has seen a highway patrol in town, will this help us get a flashing speed limit sign through town? The mayor said that is in the process but as on now no. Ethan Sellers, Trooper for Utah Highway Patrol has moved to Hanksville and will be a presence in our town that might help get people to slow down on Highway 24 through town.
MOTION TO ADJOURN: C. Morgan Roberts; Second Mona Wells. Aye: All in attendance - meeting adjourned at 7:40pm
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