Cleveland City Discusses Business License Fees

By COREY BLUEMEL Staff Writer

The Cleveland Town Council met in their regularly scheduled meeting at the Cleveland City Hall on Jan. 23. Mayor Jeff Horrocks presided over the council meeting with Freda Fillmore, Karen Nielsen, Richard Murdoch and Glade Westwood, councilmembers at the meeting. Jamie Jensen, city recorder was also present.
Mayor Horrocks began the meeting with the reading of the minutes of the Dec. 19, 2002 meeting. The council heard and approved the minutes without correction.
Councilwoman Nielsen moved to suspend the agenda to hear from a local boy scout. The council approved and took questions from the scout about a proposed skate park. The scout asked where the park would be located, could volunteers help and when would it begin? Mayor Horrocks answered that the council was currently considering two different sites. One at the city park and one on property behind city hall. Mayor Horrocks stated that volunteer help would be helpful and welcomed. As to the start date, the mayor was not sure, but if and when the grant money comes through, there would be a better idea of when the project could begin.
The agenda items began with opening the bids for the cemetery expansion and upgrade project. Four bids were opened and read for the sprinkling system portion of the project. There was one bid for the pavement that contained two options for the council to consider. The brick pillar work, the concrete work and the fencing each received three bids.
When the bids were all opened, discussion was open to the council for consideration. Mayor Horrocks notified the council that he had information that one of the bidders was not properly licensed and suggested to table the award of the bids until investigation could determine the validity of licensing of all the bidders. The council approved the recommendation.
Roger Hickok representing the Emery County Economic Development Council addressed the council and explained his purpose at the meeting. Hickok reported that the economic development councilmembers have each taken on the responsibility to act as liaison between the council of their respective towns and the Emery County Economic Development Council. His assignment is to attend all the city council meetings and to share ideas and any information that would benefit the economic growth of Emery County.
Councilwoman Fillmore asked Hickok if he would attend all the meetings and he replied that he would.
Jensen then submitted the report from the auditor that rated and ranked Cleveland’s financial situation. Jensen also reported on the playground project stating that this phase is nearly complete. The second public hearing on the fire department will be in March.
Mayor Horrocks then reported that the cemetery perpetual fund that had been called in and deposited in the bank had not been reinvested as yet. Interest rates are low, but public money must be safely invested. The suggestion was to leave the funds in the bank for now in spite of the low interest rates and the council approved this action.
Mayor Horrocks read a letter from the PCIB about upcoming projects. All projects which have been ongoing are nearly finished and the list for the next year needs to be updated. Discussion followed as to what projects are needed and ranked them from short term to long term in order of urgency. For the final decision, new lawn mowers, a dump truck and renovation of an existing building for a senior center were determined to be the most urgent needs.
Steve Taylor, city maintenance supervisor reported that all projects are going well and things are running quite smoothly. Taylor reported that he has been working on covered parking for some newly acquired equipment that needed to be in out of the weather. He is using material on hand and should be able to finish without much expense to the city. He suggested that in the future, if grant money was available, the city could expand the existing shop facility to accommodate the new equipment.
Mayor Horrocks expressed the need to move the expansion of the fire station to the medium term list. He then requested Taylor to get prices of pre-fab buildings and report next month.
The next agenda item was business license fees. As a continuation of the discussion from Dec. 19 meeting, letters had been sent to all business owners informing them of the increased fee to be discussed. One business owner was on hand and the council invited him to voice his concerns.
The business owner stated he understood why the council was considering this move, and he asked where the revenue from these fees is spent. He also asked to know how much revenue is generated and available to the city from these fees. He stated he would not be opposed to an increase in the license fee if the decision was made with all parties being well informed.
Councilman Westwood handed out copies of the licensing schedule from other towns and stated his opposition to the sliding fee scale which is in use at the present time in Cleveland.
Mayor Horrocks suggested that the council consider leaving the licensing fees as they are for this year and investigate the matter further and to generate the information requested by the business owner for further study. After lengthy discussion, the council agreed that there were too many unanswered questions and avenues to explore to make a decision at this time. The matter was tabled until further investigation could take place.
Councilman Murdoch was the first to report. He reported that he had received a phone call from a resident requesting the opportunity to work off his community service hours for the city. Mayor Horrocks questioned Taylor about the possibility of making use of this time and Taylor responded that the city could definitely use the residents services. The mayor instructed Taylor to put together a schedule and list of duties for this person.
Councilwoman Fillmore notified the council of missing tables and chairs. She stated that three round tables and 40 chairs are missing from the storage. A discussion of who has had access to the building and whether a citizen had borrowed the equipment followed. Mayor Horrocks asked Westwood to check into the whereabouts of the tables and chairs. Westwood responded he would look into the matter and brought up the need to have the city buildings rekeyed. The council discussed and approved the measure to charge a key deposit until the work can be done to get the building locks changed.
Councilwoman Fillmore commented to the council that the cement work done at the Jensens is very good and has made a big improvement to the site.
Mayor Horrocks informed the council that a citizen has approached him about the perpetual care fees at the cemetery. This citizen has volunteered to pay for the perpetual care on several ancestors grave sites, but the changes made to the scale are prohibitive. The mayor explained that when this change was made, the understanding was that the old graves would be included at the old price for perpetual care. Mayor Horrocks inquired of the council if this was correct. The council agreed that it was the understanding and for Jensen to inform this citizen that those sites had been grandfathered in at the old price.
Mayor Horrocks then informed the council that UDOT will be roto-milling all the main streets of the towns on Highway 10. He suggested they draft a letter of request to UDOT, to request some of the roto-mill material for use in the town of Cleveland. The council approved this suggestion.
Councilwoman Nielsen reported that there are several streetlights out at the park. This problem needs to be taken care of right away. She also reported some problems with dogs running loose in town. Mayor Horrocks asked Taylor to get in contact with Deputy Martin Wilson to look into the problem.
Mayor Horrocks then handed out financial statements and the report from the auditor. The council reviewed and discussed the auditors comments and suggestions. The council then approved the bills for payment.
The next Cleveland Town Council meeting will be February 13 at 7 p.m.