26 September 2006
By Curmudgeon
[pinch hitting for Dian, who is under the weather]
Let me begin by noting an important announcement by Mr. Patterson: the location of Thursday's Council Work Session has been changed from the El Monte Golf Course Club House to the City Administration building,Room 310.
The regular Tuesday Council meeting opened at 6:00 PM. All six members present. The Mayor was not. [City administration represented by Mr.Patterson.] Following approval of the minutes, the Council moved on to the three common consent items on the agenda.
The first involved proposed ordinance 2006-60, "vacating a portion of Brinker Avenue between Healy and Patterson..., quit claiming the property within the vacated portion of said street to the abutting property owners" and setting a public hearing on this matter for 7 November, 2006. There was no discussion by the Council or public comment.
The second item on the common consent agenda involved appointing two new members of the Special Events Advisory Committee [Dana Wicks and David Miller] and reappointing Teri Slaughter, Craig Belik, Lou Ann Kamigaki, Dustin Chapman, Nikki Lovell, Sand Havas, Dan Musgrave, and Sara Toliver. There was no discussion.
The third item on the common consent agenda involved approving the appoint of Lillie Holman to the Planning Commission. No discussion.
The Council approved all three items by unanimous vote. Mr. Miller and Ms. Holman made brief comments thanking the Council for their recent appointments, and indicating enthusiasm for their new posts. Mr. Holman said she was an Ogden native [OHS 1970] who had moved away from Ogden and had just returned [after a 30 year absence] and was surprised and pleased with the growth and development that had taken place in her absence, and that she wanted now to be a part of keeping that progress going.
During public comments, Ms. Virginia Hernandez Reza welcomed the two new appointees mentioned above [both of whom are African-American] and said how glad she was, as a Hispanic-American, to see them appointed because Ogden "needs more ethnic representation."
Mr. Tom Cox asked questions about the shifting of the 911 access tax from city property taxes to the new 911 taxing district. Specifically, when would the shift appear on Ogden property tax statements, and when would the 911 telephone access tax come off? [During administration/Council comments which followed, Mr. Safsten noted that the transfer of taxes for 911 access had already happened, that the current Ogden property tax notices for this year reflect that , i.e. Ogden City no longer collects a tax for 911 access. Mr. Patterson confirmed that, and added that the 911 telephone access fee was not going to go away. That was a separate charge and not included in the transfer of 911 access taxes from Ogden property taxes to the new 911 access tax district.]
Then Ms. Sharon Beech rose to tell the Council it was time for the members to "get serious" about Channel 17. That the city-owned channel was not "the Mayor's personal plaything" and should not be devoted largely to running interviews with Curt Geiger about the gondola and shows about "guys fishing." It should serve much broader community interests and in her view the Council needed to get serious about bringing that about. NOW! Mr. Stephenson later noted that the Council had just received the "tv station agenda" and that there was "some movement" on that issue. [Note: he did not explain what that agenda involved. Might be prudent to inquire of your Council member what is on that agenda and what actions regarding Channel 17 are under consideration.] Ms. Beech also asked about the up-coming Union Station gondola "open house." She was unclear about whether anyone, besides the Mayor, would be speaking there, and she wanted to know if anyone supporting streetcar development would be addressing the crowd. She thought it important that if the Mayor was going to speak, someone representing other transit options beside the gondola should speak as well, not merely be present in the room at a booth. [During Administration/Council comments, Mr. Garcia noted that the Thursday Union Station gondola open house was "the Mayor's meeting" and Mr. Garcia did not know exactly how it was to be run. Mr. Peterson confirmed that it was "the Mayor's meeting," adding only that UTA and Wasatch Regional Council had been invited and would therefor have information available there. Later, Mr. Stephens asked that the Administration, if it planned any more gondola open houses, to please not schedule them for a Tuesday or a Thursday, so the Council members could attend.]
The Council then adjourned to executive session to discuss "pending litigation."
When it returned, it immediately adjourned and reconvened as the Ogden City Special Redevelopment Agency. There were two items on the agenda, both related to the same matter. Mr. Richard McConkie [Deputy Director of Commerce and Economic Development] explained what the Council was being asked to do. The Fresenius Medical company will soon complete a $100 million dollar expansion on its present site in Ogden. It will then have no further room to expand. The company has been looking out of state for sites to continue expanding. However, the Ogden School Board owns a 12.5 acre parcel adjacent to the Fresenius site, currently used as its bus maintenance facility, and is willing to sell the land to the company and relocate provided that it can do so at no cost to the school district. To win the $200 million dollar expansion the company expects to do and the 500 to 700 additional jobs [averaging pay of $35K per year] it will create, Utah and Ogden need to take some action to accommodate the company. The state, for example, has bumped its incentive package from 1.5 million dollars to 3 million.
What is being proposed to the Council is that the City be authorized to open negotiations with the company and school board to arrange the transfer of land, and to schedule a public hearing on the matter. The proposal is this: Fresenius will buy the school board property at current assessed value. The City wants permission to take out a $6 million short term loan [needed to build new bus maintenance facilities for the school board to move to.] This short term loan would be for no more than 12 months. And the six million would be immediately reduced by the purchase price Fresenius would pay for the school board land now adjoining its factory [estimated to be $2 to $2.5 million.] Then the EDA would arrange [with Council consent] a long term loan or bond to be serviced by tax increment created by the land being sold to Fresenius. [Being public land, it now generates zero taxes; once Fresenius buys it, it will go onto the tax rolls, and as Fresenius completes its expansion onto the land, its value for tax purposes, and the tax revenues generated, will increase, Mr. McConkie said. Or as Mr. Safsten put it: " If a lemonade stand opened on the school board's land there now, it would generate more taxes than the land does now."] There was some general discussion and comment, back and forth between Mr. McConkie and various Council members, mostly aimed at establishing that the land sale and relocation would substantially increase tax revenues. Mr. McConkie noted that the tax entities committee [composed of all the stakeholders who receive taxes allocated under the EDA arrangement] has approved, unanimously, the proposals. There seemed to be no opposition on the Council on the issue, and no reservations. Mr. McConkie reiterated that approval of the two items on the agenda would allow the city to begin negotiating but that no firm commitments could or would be made until after a public hearing and until after further Council approval. Both items were approved unanimously [one to set up a public meeting on this on 17 November and one authorizing the city to negotiate a development agreement with Fresenius and the school board regarding the property]and the relocation of the bus maintenance facilities].
During public comments, Mr. Rulon Yorgenson rose to complain about how long property owners in the River Project RDA were being kept "in limbo." Home and business owners there, he said, are in effect "imprisoned" in their properties with no hope of selling while the City fails to act. "Have you read the Constitution," he asked the Council members. "Does it give government or its agencies permission to trample on private property rights and freedoms....?" If the River Project were "so wonderful, " he concluded, "business would have been lining up... long ago" and with "their own money." [During Administration comments, Mr. David Harmer, Director of Commerce and Economic Development, noted that no eminent domain authority was used in the River Project RDA, that all property owners there had negotiated freely with the city to sell their properties, and that property owners there could sell to any other business or interested party as they wished. That Ogden had employed no coercion in property agreements in the River Project RDA. Mr. Stephens added that Ogden is now in negotiations with businesses interested in coming into the River Project RDA. Mr. Harmer added that property acquisition for phase one is "now complete" and that in his opinion the River Project was going "very well."]
Ms. Rozas rose again, concerned that she did not fully understand what a "tax increment" was, and asking if the tax increment that would be dedicated to paying off the bonding on the Fresenius property transfer would be coming out of revenues designated to HUD developments or other low-income property projects. Mr. Garcia asked Mr. Harmer to explain just what a "tax increment" was. He then noted that no HUD funds were involved in this, and that selling the current non-taxed school board property to Fresenius, would significantly increase revenues allocated to low income housing because a certain percentage of the news taxes generated must, under EDA rules, go for that purpose. Ms. Rozas also noted she was not sure who to ask questions about her concerns on this, the Council or the RDA people, etc. Mr. Peterson replied that she could contact him or Mr. McConkie or Mr. Harmer, any of whom would be happy to answer whatever questions she might have.
The Council then adjourned the RDA Agency meeting. All over by 7:15 P.M. which means I got away easy pinch-hitting tonight.
Further deponent sayeth not.
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