Urban Forestry Commission Meeting 8/11/2011

Last night was our long awaited Urban Forestry Commission meeting.  The first one we've had since April.  As frustrating as the wait has been, we have only had one item on our agenda to even have a meeting--the tree inventory.  Over and over we have discussed this and in reality it has been the top priority since 2008.  We re-emphasized the priority again with Jon Andersen and asked that all measures be made to get this finished ASAP.  We have tasked him to certain goals and we need to report back on September 9th.  Mainly it is about finding someone to do this.  Someone one with either the knowledge or experience to go out and inventory the trees.  It is 3/4 done, but we need just a little more.

It is frustrating to see this not get done.  Especially when the Urban Forestry budget for tree maintenance currently is just a good guess.  If the inventory was done we could more actively manage and plan a successful budget to maintain South Ogden's trees.

For the first time we had someone from the public attend the meeting.  Immediately I assumed it was someone running for city council.  I was correct.  I will hold the name until the 14th, when campaigning can officially begin.  But we had a great discussion afterwards about the city.  Apparently he has been a reader of my blog and had lots of great ideas.

Elections are coming soon.

Secondary Water Meter - Weber Basin - City Council Meeting 2-15-2011

During the last city council meeting Jon Andersen, public works director, explained Weber Basin Water has recently received a grant to install water meters on all of it's lines for secondary water.  This grant was given to them to help them monitor and conserve secondary water.

However, I think we can all read between the lines on this one and see what the real purpose is.  Once the meters are in place, they will quickly be able to determine how much they could charge the individual user and make bigger profit than they are now.  Currently we pay for secondary water through our taxes, but we could be moving to a consumption based system very soon.

Realize not everyone one is on Weber Basin Water.  I personally am on Pine View Water.  But I promise Pine View will not be far behind when they realize what is happening.

So the real question is this, how do you want to pay for your water?  Do you want a consumption tax or a flat fee?  Consumption is coming...just watch.  I am sure we will be discussing this again.

Comments always welcome.

Urban Forestry Commission - First Meeting

This past Thursday I attended my first Urban Forestry Commission meeting.  I felt great to be more involved with the process of making South Ogden an amazing place to live.  Essentially this commission oversees the tree populations of our city.  The ideas and decisions regarding our urban environment most often originate with this group.

Our commission consists of the following members:

• Ken Paur - Chairman
• James Pearce - Vice-Chair
• Cindy Gill
• Evelyn Bertilson
• James Carley
• and me - BenJoe Markland

We work directly with Jon Anderson and his staff from the public works/parks and recreation department to help accomplish our goals.

The main topic of discussion for our group was the completion of an urban forestry database.  The city is working to finish a database of every tree on city property.  This would include species, size, and location.  Most of this work has been done by hand but eventually will be computerized.  Once the database is completed the commission and the parks and recreation department will have a greater understanding of what South Ogden has with regards to urban forestry.  This in turn will help us assess costs for replacement, insurance for certain types of trees, diagnose hazards and pinpoint issues quickly.  

In the end our commission deals a lot with Arbor Day as well.  We have a huge goal of helping promote this day and the need for more trees in our area.  Your ideas and suggestions are welcome.  We have in the past gone to schools but are finding this less affective.

Overall it was an interesting meeting and I have a lot of studying to do.  I will keep you posted on our progress.

South Ogden City Council Meeting 1-4-2011

Last nights city council meeting was filled with a few interesting points worth mentioning. Skipping over the Class A Beer License for the Mt. Ogden Grill, there were a few resolutions that brought a number of new faces to the meeting.

First was resolution 11-01.  There was a lot of tow truck drivers at the meeting for the Towing Services Agreement for South Ogden.  A new system is being put into place to allow South Ogden to choose who is used for towing in the city.  The current system puts all the eligible towing companies into a rotation system with all of Weber County.  This new system would allow South Ogden to set its on criteria and run its own rotation.  In addition this would allow South Ogden to decide who not to use for towing services.  Councilperson Porter asked if preferential treatment would be given to local towing companies. Which is a valid question. Chief Shupe responded by saying no preferential treatment would be given and all are encouraged to bid.  Hopefully this new system will open it up for more people.

The second resolution of note is the changes to traffic school.  Under the old system if you got a ticket and had not had one in the past six months you could go to traffic school.  Now South Ogden will change the month requirement to two months.  Chief Shupe explained this opens up more opportunities for people who have had moving violations.  At the same time, I think this opens up the door for more money.  I am glad to see the change but also realize this is now a potential revenue generator.  Not a bad idea.

A lot of discussion on where to put our focus for potential RAMP funds in 2011.  Jon Andersen laid out a number of projects South Ogden is in need of or is working on.  There was much debate on which should come first.  It came down to continued work on the nature park, new light posts at Club Heights Elementary and a new bathroom for the new gym facility and ball fields.  Unfortunately I felt South Ogden City Council was backed into a corner and not able to full research the problem.  Instead they were presented with the issues and asked to make a decision quickly on the spot.  I wished they could have taken some more time to make this decision.  In the end the nature park takes priority due to time and already allocated funds.  Sorry Club Heights.

Last but not least, I was appointed to the Urban Forestry Commission.  I am excited to participate more in the process and I hope to do some good with the commission and the city.

City Council - 11/18/2008 - Are we in money trouble?

Our local city council meeting this week was very interesting. There was a larger than normal crowd and lots of great topics discussed. My post will center around the budget amendments; however I will mention a little about the number of young kids that attend the meeting.

The unusual amount of young kids at the meeting puzzled me. I quickly realized they were there to hear the city council's discussion on a proposed ordinance to eliminate skateboarders from the city streets. The ordinance would make it a Class C Misdemeanor to skate on a city road. This could be a maximum fine of $750 and 90 days in jail (similar to those who point a laser pointer at cops - See Here). Kids will now be limited to skating only on sidewalks. Councilwoman Sallee Orr spoke up stating we should find something or somewhere for the kids to skate. The mayor agreed and mentioned he has looked into skate parks (During his Orlando Trip/Conference). Interestingly enough, as soon as the kids left he said, "This is just a fad," almost to suggest there was no real intention to help the kids who want to skateboard. -- Interesting.

The second issue of note was the discussion of the 2008-2009 budget. Most of the amendments were simple and easy to understand. But as the evening went on, we came to understand the city is nearly $300,000 in the negative for the fiscal year. City Manager, Scott Darrington made sure we all knew sales tax revenue was doing fine, this is not why we are in the negative. Yet it was because of other revenue problems and the slow economy.

Mr. Darrington said, "Expenditures are right on and we are not over spending. If sales tax revenue went down, things would be much worse. But if I had a crystal ball, I would say the city will be ok."

Then why are we in the negative!?! He even said all new projects are on hold because of the economy. Is it comforting to know each year about this time we a little behind or even, but this year we are $300,000 behind--NO!

Don't worry, there is light at the end of the tunnel; we have roll over funds from the Capital Funds project accounts. We have a total of $230,000 to be exact. Thank goodness! We are saved, we found some money to help out in this economy.

So what should we do with the money? Balance the budget, pay off the debts we owe? No, instead we are going to spend the money on the next phase of the nature park (so we can enjoy it this winter), a cement walkway between Friendship Park and the new library (so we can walk on it during the winter) and AC units (to cool us down in the winter).

Now don't get me wrong, I know these things are important, but sales tax revenue has a high probability of dropping lower than expected this next quarter; so why isn't this money instead spent to prepare for a potential shortfall. Did I mention we are $300,000 in the negative? We have $230,000 that could help! In addition, why did Mayor Garwood and Councilwoman Vicki Mattson go to Orlando for a conference if our city budget is in the negative? Should we not slow our spending when the economy starts slowing?

Are we reading the news? Do we know there is economic crisis?
Is South Ogden exempt from all the problems every surrounding city is experiencing?

I am worried about our city budget. Maybe I don't need to be, but I tend to think if we are in the negative or in debt, we should slow down the spending, conferences and retreats (Oh, the council is going on a retreat in January). We should start using our money wisely!

January is our next budget meeting; this will also tell us how our revenues are doing.

On a lighter note, I was very impressed with Sallee Orr's attention to detail. She caught nearly five inconsistencies or grammar errors in the ordinances, amendments or contracts. She was really on top of things.

Also Jon Andersen was great to follow up on my sprinklers and we are working things out.

Raymond Update

Jon Andersen and his crew came to visit with me this morning. We had a great visit and talked about the Raymond project in detail. Essentially all city projects have a one year warranty; they are now verifying the completion date and seeing if the problems we are having fall into this warranty or not.

Some of the problems I discussed and showed them were:

1. Missing Sprinkler heads (on my lawn). We also discussed the problems others have been having with their sprinklers.
2. Chips in Curb and Gutter
3. Chunks of Curb and Gutter missing
4. Breaks in cement and flaking cement.

I have put together a slide show of the damaged areas I showed them.

They agreed that some of the damages were fault of the cement plant and the contractor. "Essentially we are getting poorer cement for higher prices these days" they said. Interesting to note, they told me the same contractor has done other work for them at the Nature park and the Fire station 82. Both of these are seeing the same, if not worse, wear on the cement. I wonder if we will keep using them? However, they were quick to point out the use of ice melt and snow plows last year on the new cement would cause some, not all, of the damage. This could account for some of the flaking cement in the approaches and chips in the curbs.

Anyways, I am glad that we are getting some things done. Jon mentioned he thought the project ended in August. I was quick to point out it was scheduled to be done in August, but wasn't done until the end of September. You can see my post on September 25th, 2007 as proof of that. [See Here]

I will keep you posted from here.