Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Until I Die -- Part Deux

Council and RDA Notes 11.14.06 Part Two

By Dian Woodhouse

The RDA meeting then adjourned and a Special City Council meeting was convened. Three Common Consent items involving no public discussion were passed. These were: Appointments of Alice Petersen and June Beckstead to the Golden Hours Advisory Committee, Appointment of Iain H. Hueton to the Planning Commission, and the setting of a public hearing for November 28, 2006 for:

"FY2007 Budget Opening and Amendment to the FY2007 Capital Improvements plan. Proposed Ordinance 2006-73 amending the Budget and Capital Improvement Plan for the fiscal year July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 by increasing the anticipated revenues and transfers for gross increases of $360,000.00 from sources as detailed in the body of this ordinance, and increasing the appropriations for a gross increase of $360,000.00 as detailed in the body of this ordinance."

Next, there were three items under Administrative Reports, which were proposed Ordinances. The first, #2006-71, amended the Ogden City Municipal Code. This consisted of amendments to Section 10-2-1, revising the definition of City Traffic Engineer, Section 10-3-2, implementing new procedures for the implementation of traffic rules and regulations, and Section 10-3-3 to revise the provisions regarding standards and specifications for traffic control devices.

Background: The situation until now is that things covered in the two latter Sections were accomplished by Executive Order. This was a "cumbersome" and time consuming process, in which a request for a stop sign, for instance, would have to go through channels until it reached the Mayor, who would then order that it be placed. The new ordinance gives the power to do such things to the City Traffic Engineer, bypassing the Mayor, who would retain control over where angle parking was to be, changing two way streets to one way ones, and time changes in parking. Therefore, the request a few meetings ago by the restaurant owners that parking meter time be extended would still go through the Mayor, but resident requests for signage, etc., would be handled by the Traffic Engineer.

"I am all for efficiency in government, " Councilman Stephenson said.

The second Ordinance dealt with amending the Ogden City Budget to allow for a medical insurance bonus for "certain officers and employees employed by the City as of December 1, 2006." Background: The city's insurance carrier (unnamed,) had sent a letter characterizing the city as "the worst clients they'd ever had insofar as usage, especially prescription usage." The city then implemented various programs, such as the Wellness Program, to curtail overuse of the medical insurance, and the Mayor promised the employees that if a rebate came from the insurance company, the employees would see part of that.

A rebate came, of $307, 138.00, termed the largest the medical insurance company had ever given. As the proposed use of this money--giving it to the employees as a one-time medical insurance bonus--requires a Budget amendment, and that in turn requires a public hearing, that hearing was set for November 28th, 2006.

The third Ordinance concerned again the 12th Street Development Project. This proposed Ordinance consisted of amendments to the West 12th Street Economic Development Project Area Plan. The amendments were in Section 4 --- permitting the RDA to buy property either within or outside the project area, Section 7, "to provide for Planning Commission review unless not required by law," Section 11, to extend the term of the Project Area Budget to include tax year 2016, and deleting Sections 12 and 14 "because they are no longer applicable due to changes in State Law."

This passed.

The Special City Council meeting then adjourned, and the RDA reconvened.

Stay tuned.

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