Zoning  Use, Judicial Confirmation for Water Improvement Project

All Council City Council Members and the Mayor were present at the meeting on February 13th.

A lengthy discussion was had between the owners of the former Assembly of God Church, located north of Sprockets at 403 N Dartmouth, and the council. The owners, Tevis and Melissa Hodges, attended the meeting remotely. Two families currently live in the building, which is commercially zoned. The original church was built in the 1920’s, and was torn down, and the current building was built in the 1990’s. The original building had a parsonage as part of the structure; the newer building does not and is currently zoned for commercial use and has only one water hookup, when it should have two if it is to be used as a residence.

The council said the current owners were out of compliance and that they should have applied for a building permit for any modifications they made, and that they should have applied to have the location rezoned residential. The council gave the Hodges 60 days to apply to rezone the property if they wish to continue to use it as living quarters. As part of that process, the city would need to hold a public hearing on the matter. If they do not comply, their tenants need to vacate the building in sixty days.

The Hodges said that they had filled out the required paperwork and that it was likely, with a change in personnel at City Hall, the paperwork had been lost. The city said this did not happen.

Former County Commissioner Mike Paradis and others who attend the River of Life Church, which is currently renting space from the Council Senior Center for their services and who had offered to lease the former Assembly of God building several months ago, attended the meeting so they could understand the status of the property.

The owners said they planned to sell the building and move out of state, but it was not clear whether they would apply for the rezone.

Mendy Stanford, president of the city council, who is also CEO of the Adams County Health Center, asked whether the city would waive water hookup fees for the new health clinic building. She said they receive most of their money from Medicare and Medicaid and from grants. She said she would recuse herself from any decision the council made. But city engineer Andrew Kimmel said that because the city currently has a long-term loan for the wastewater project, there may be a provision in the loan agreement that prohibits the city from waiving connection fees. He advised them to look at the language in their agreement.

The council said they would investigate a payment plan for the health clinic connection fees.

Kimmel also said the city had received judicial confirmation, which allows them to borrow money for their portion of the water upgrade project, which he said will happen in 2025 and in part of 2026.

Ken Thomason, who lives in the valley and is in the area two days a week doing survey work for the county, asked that he be allowed to keep the trailer, which he sleeps in, in the alley behind the storefront on Illinois Ave., where he works. The city denied his request.

City Clerk Ashley Scott reported the annual audit was completed on January 29th. She also said that quarterly financial reports, which have been printed in the newspaper would no longer be in the newspaper. Instead, she said they would be posted on the city’s website.

She added that City Hall would be closed from April 8th through April 11th, on April 24th and on May 7th, so that she and deputy clerk Julie Pate could attend trainings. The council approved the $1,500 to $2,000 cost for both of them to attend a weeklong workshop in Utah.

Public Works Supervisor Caleb Shumway told the council that when money is available, the shop needs better lighting, another bay and heat.

Parker Arrien, who is still deciding whether to purchase property on South Hornet Creek next to the RV Park, asked if he had to put in asphalt if he subdivided the property into 7 duplexes. The council told him that he would have to put down asphalt before they could take over responsibility for the roads. He said that it was not financially feasible for him to do so, and Mayor Gardner told him that two prospective buyers before him had backed out because what they wanted to do with the property was financially unfeasible for them as well, but that the city could not take over unpaved roads.

The council discussed the possibility of approaching the Adams County Commissioners about a county-wide airport tax. Their argument is that most of the people who use the airport live within the county-not the city.

One of the city’s attorneys, Stephanie Bonney, gave a brief tutorial for the benefit of the new council members on what their duties were. She said, “The city council only has power as a body, not as individual council members.” She said that for land use issues, once an application is filed, council members cannot discuss the matter unless it’s done at a public hearing.

Finally, Patricia Paulin, who is a paralegal, and a city resident asked the city to amend their animal code. Paulin’s neighbors had two female labs, one yellow and one black, both super friendly, who either escaped from their yard by jumping the fence or were stolen. The dogs were eventually found dead together and discarded in a ravine at the bottom of Fort Hall Hill. The dogs did not appear to have been hit by a car. Paulin provided an amendment to the current code, hoping that it would protect non-vicious dogs who may have gotten loose or been taken from someone’s yard. She is so concerned about this that she has relocated her own dog to the valley to live with her boyfriend. She said she has heard numerous stories of animals disappearing from Council.

The City Council was not willing to amend the code. Paulin is also concerned about the rapidly growing number of feral cats in the city and asked that the city consider trapping, spaying and or neutering and then releasing the cats, to keep the population in check. The council was unwilling to do this either. Mayor Bruce Gardner said the city cannot afford to have an animal control officer, and that it was possible the dogs had damaged private property and the owners of that property did what they could to protect their property.