Council Work Session Meeting

5:08Okay. Welcome everyone to the work session for Select City Council. Today is Tuesday, January 20th. We're going to go through the reminders of the meeting. Our meetings are public and are open to anybody that wants to attend to these meetings. You are welcome to join us in person or by watching our Council agenda page in Zoom, YouTube or SLC TV. We hope you continue to join us whichever manner you feel most comfortable.

5:46This is a work session meeting during which there is no public comment. You can join us tonight at 7 p.m. for the formal meeting to share your comments. We of course welcome your feedback anytime. You can send that by mail at PO Box 145476, select City Utah 8414. You can also email your comments at cancel.commons at slc.gov. You can also call us in our 24 hour phone line 801-535-7654.

6:25Comments will receive on agenda topics are shared with Council members and posted on our website slc.gov. Our first agenda item for today's work session is on number one ordinance, Sony Map Amendments at approximately 265 East 100 South, joining us at the table. Brian Fulmer, Council Policy Analyst and John Anderson Planning Manager. Brian is your time.

6:55Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a proposal to amend the zoning map for the property you mentioned. It's approximately 2.19 acres and it's in Council District 4. The current zoning is MU8 or mixed use and the proposed zoning is D1 or central business district. The applicants stated in TAND is to construct a large mixed use development with ground floor retail space, residential units above and underground parking.

7:24I believe the applicant is with us and available to answer questions, though I don't believe they have a presentation and I'll now turn it over to John. All right, thanks, Brian and thanks Council. Good afternoon. This is a project from Sarah Gavironic, but she is enjoying the beach in Mexico, so I'm going to be here representing her.

7:46As mentioned, we're looking at a zoning map amendment at 265 East 100 South. You can move to the next slide, please. I will attempt not to go through everything in, but just a quick overview. The zoning district is MU8, which is mixed use state. The general plan area is central community. It's about 2.19 acres. And the land use designation is high mixed use, which is 50 plus dwelling units per acre, which is why this zoning map amendment is not tied to a master plan amendment as well, because the new zone does fit that same description.

8:17Next slide, please. So we're here with this request. It's changed from MU8 to D1, central business district. This parcel was zoned, RMU, prior to the zoning consolidation project, which changed that to MU8. Again, the applicant anticipates a mixed use building. If you look at the map, this just will show you this occupies the entire corner of 1st South and 3rd East.

8:45The Planning Commission did review the request and voted 7 to 1 to 4 to recommendation or approval for the request. There were some concerns from citizens that attended. They were generally related to things like parking and traffic, which we hear a lot. There are also some related to potential construction impacts on the historic church to the west.

9:06Next slide, please. This is just what the current structure looks like. I believe there are some tenants there, but I believe a lot of it is actually empty at the moment. The applicants are here and they're ready to answer any questions, but this is just a general look at what's existing now. If we want to go to the next slide, please.

9:28So these are the key considerations that staff reviewed when making a recommendation on this request. So we always start with implementation of city goals and policies that are identified in adopted plans. You can find in the staff report, I won't go through all of them, but staff did find that it did meet those standards, whether that was the density, including obviously increasing housing goals.

9:54The next step was looking at proposed community benefits. They have offered three different community benefits. Affordable housing of which 20% of the units would be affordable up to 80% AMI. 8% would be at least three bedrooms, so providing family-sized units. And then 3,000 square feet for local businesses and other organizations on the ground floor.

10:17That will help provide an opportunity for those local businesses, but also for a ground floor activation. We also looked at compatibility with nearby properties. So everything to the west of here is already zoned D1 to the east is going to be MU8. The biggest difference, of course, between the two zones is the height.

10:36So if we look at, for example, like design standards are very similar or D1 is more stringent in a few of them. So as of right now, there are one condition that came with this specifically was to limit the height to 225 feet. Anything over 200 feet would need a design review approval from the planning commission. You may know that the D1 zone doesn't come with a cap necessarily.

10:59They can propose it at any height. Just again, anything over 200 feet would need design review. Staff felt that because this is on the edge of the central business district, it really is morphing kind of from that high intense uses to a little bit less in the MU8. And that's why that 225 cap was recommended as a condition of approval.

11:21I'm here to answer any questions that you have. And I believe the applicants are here. I do have to admit I haven't met them because I wasn't working on it earlier. But if they are here, they are planning on it. I spoke of them this morning. So. Council members? Yes, go ahead. Thank you. Thank you for presenting that. I don't know if they wanted to speak.

11:39I'd love to hear from them before I ask questions, but I know they're. Looks like they're walking off. Yes. Yes. Yes. So if we're going to allow the applicant to speak, there's a timer for that. So it's a five minute thing. So there's not a question. So, you know, do you guys have you guys plan to make a business decision?

12:05We were coming up under the assumption that we're going to answer questions. But we can present whatever you guys want. And we know the project inside and out. Okay. Thank you. I am the council member. It represents district force. It's great to meet you. And I've been working with St. Mark's to try to find ways that we could have density both from not just your parcel, but around them. And I think one of the biggest concerns is they have heavily invested in solar panels.

12:31And now the design you currently have would impede and they did it to my understanding and analysis and submitted some documentation to show how many hours would be impeding on their current solar power system. So I just wanted to highlight that. How do you intend to overcome that issue so that there's not a large enough setback according to D1 zoning or even the MU8.

12:53There would only be 10 feet barrier. And so you would obstruct all of their solar panels. How do you intend to remedy that? The planning commission, we that was brought up and we talked about that and we said, I mean, we are. We are working with the church and we will come up with a solution. I don't know what it's going to be, but it might be just that we pay for some things.

13:14We pay for some renovation. We do something, but we are we know the capital commitment they just put into that solar project. And we are going to try to offset whatever we can with them. So it might not be a total perfect scenario, but we will we will do what we can to offset the what they just did. Okay, that investment took place in 2021 and they're still paying it off. So I just want to reiterate currently today that's over 53% of their current electrical grid that's offloaded in the solar panels.

13:42So right now they would lose approximately 222,560 kilowatt hours of sunlight just based off of that. That's a real problem. So it's not. I don't love your answer in the sense of you don't have a solution in place. I'd love to better understand how we do that. They placed them on the balcony of the actual cathedral and not their other buildings based off of where they could achieve the most sunlight.

14:06So the biggest concern I have today is that the D1 zoning, although creates density, it doesn't give the type of density that this neighborhood needs, let alone, it already impedes on the visible view of the cathedral. So I'd love for us to think about one of the options in speaking with them. It sounds like you guys have barely made communication because when I met with them two weeks ago, they had not yet communicated with with y'all on your team.

14:30So I'd love to better understand how we can reconfigure. I know the community members and there's some here to talk about this today as well. There are very dense city friendly neighborhood and I appreciate that you talked about family sized units. I do want to ask some clarifying questions. Just as you're running this pro forma, I'd love to ask this. Have you looked at condominiums? Have you looked at other alternatives in order to both increase the, to decrease vacancy and increase occupancy, but also create more stable anchoring for the families that you're trying to move into your community as well? I'd love to just hear what your thoughts are.

15:11We have not looked at that as doing a condominium project. We were condominium developers for early in our careers 30 plus years ago and it always turned into just massive liabilities for everybody. You know, your HOA is always getting sued. We are getting, it just got to the point where we don't develop that anymore at all. We don't even get into that product. It's just too litigious for our group.

15:36I don't know if anyone has questions, but I have more questions. Go ahead. You're good. I don't want to. You're happy to ask. The councilman was young. Thank you. So I've listened to the conversation, planning commission, and I think that, you know, it was clear that the neighbors do have like some existing concerns related to both the shadowing as well as the additional height.

16:03One of the things is like a vision for being able to protect some of these lower level historic efforts and historic buildings that we have throughout the greater Salt Lake City, while also, you know, giving them an opportunity to be able to look at having, you know, the opportunity to have neighbors who may have additional height around them and like what our tools are within that space.

16:31So currently you're pursuing really the only tool you have available to you, which is a rezone process to be able to say, how do we get there? It's a great opportunity to highlight that there are other tools the city just doesn't have in place yet. And one of those would be looking at transfer development rights, which I know this council has passed a legislative intent to be able to say, what does that look like?

16:58The reason I'm highlighting it as a part of this conversation is because right now we have a neighbor who feels like they're in a space of loss because they don't have any plans to rebuild that church. You know, it has a lot of historic value and sentiment. At the same time, they're seeing neighbors coming up next to them.

17:19Transfer development would have created an opportunity for that property to potentially consider saying to an abutting property, hey, like if you're not a person, you're not a person. So if that is within the city code, do we have a chance to be able to sell that additional height and be able to create those opportunities?

17:36So like I said, I know that council has passed a legislative intent within that space. I'm not necessarily asking for it to be applied in this situation because obviously we need those tools. But I do think that it's a good example of why that tool could be useful to us in the future in terms of brokering some of those conversations between property owners who have various needs.

17:57Solar panels, et cetera, but also maintaining some of the historic value within the area. Thank you. Thank you so much. Couple of things I want to talk through. We helped me understand from applicants perspective the difference between D1 and a possible rezone to MU 11. I understand there's height differences as well, but how would that impact your project?

18:29I live in Utah. I've been here a long, long time. I read everything. What I read in the state of Utah right now is we have a massive shortage of housing. And if the problem is not solved, well, it's just a supply and demand thing pretty soon. I know that now the average price in Utah is what? $505,000 or some crazy amount.

18:55This is one of the last contiguous pieces, 2.19 acres, pretty much in a rectangle in downtown Salt Lake. And so we are trying to solve, we're trying to look at the biggest problem in the state of Utah and bring a solution. And when you get acreage like that in one assembly, I would assume that the problems that we're facing as a state, that that would be something that we'd want to go and figure out how we can make it as dense as we possibly could to solve as many issues as we possibly can.

19:30The only big difference is the height. I mean, everything else, all things being equal is pretty much the height. The height that it already is, if we build it to the max height, it's already going to block the church's panels. So reducing the height is not going to solve that issue. It's going to just take money and thought to figure out what that issue is going to be.

19:51We didn't come with a solution today because we wouldn't know how to solve it today. We don't know how high we can go. We don't know what the zoning is. When we figure that out, then we can come up with a solution to just throw out ideas right now and just be ideas. We don't know what we're dealing with. But that is, that really is the answer to the question.

20:10It really is just a height thing. And with height, we get more density. With density, we get more solution to problems. Thank you. To follow up on the density question, I appreciate the proposed community benefits that we're, that are talked about as possibly being a part of this development. But of course, there's no assurances.

20:31I just want to signal my support generally for affordable family sized housing. So two and three bedroom size units because that's what we really need more of in this city. We've got a lot of studios, a lot of one bedrooms and downtown. But I would love to see more two and three bedroom sized units and ensure that some of those that are affordable are available to families.

20:57We didn't have three bedroom units in the city and we listened to what the city and the neighborhoods had. And so we've added three bedroom units to address that. Thank you. And Council Member, one thing to keep in mind, if this is approved with the, if the Council follow the community benefit is sufficient, that would be written into a development agreement.

21:14And so it would be required in any future development of the site. I was about to say that exactly. When we get kind of what we know we're doing, then we'll go through a development agreement so that you know that those issues are solved by just not giving us what we want. And then we figured out later if we can get that all solved under one agreement.

21:34That's my more picture. I just want to clarify something that I think I heard. I try not to listen to cynically. In response to Councilwoman Carlson was the answer that we're just asking for the most aggressive zoning possible so that you have the most options available to you. And there's no real strategy. It sounded a little arbitrary to me in why you require the D1 zoning, which is our most aggressive zone available and reserved rightfully for a very small portion of the city.

22:13Whether that's the answer for people wanted to hear not, I don't know. But that's having a contiguous 2.19 acres in downtown Salt Lake in a zone that's what it's going to impact my height perspective in the zone that we have right now. The damage is done with that. So the damage is done and we're going to block the church.

22:33Then why wouldn't we try to solve the bigger problem and add more affordable housing downtown Salt Lake. So it's incredibly because you haven't given many any assurances about your ability to secure funding the differences in cost when you go above a certain height and require steel. So what you're asking us to do at this point with that answer, which I'm not asking you to please me.

22:54I'm asking you to present me with facts that allow me to deliberate in a non biased way in the best interest of as many constituents and future constituents as possible. So what you're communicating to me is that I have to give you carte blanche, possibly violating some real concerns of existing constituents without any assurances that anything good will come of this.

23:17And if you who might have the best intentions might be our best partner available for this project cannot accomplish what you think you're going to, you could take the increased valuation on that property, sell it to someone else and leave us in the best interest. Someone else and leave us in ultimately vulnerable circumstances further damaging a historic community.

23:39So while I'm not asking you to please me, I am asking you to approach this as a partner who is responding to very valid concerns in the community with more than just a let's throw some spaghetti at the wall and see if we can solve a problem. And I hope that that's not what you thought I was saying. I was saying that all things will be contemplated and delivered in a development agreement before anything is approved.

24:03And that's how traditionally major developments have been done for lots and lots of years is you get to the point where hey conceptually this looks good. We have a lot of concerns before we approve this the approval will come concurrently with the development agreement. We have a lot of information about how we can perform whether we can or not. I have no idea. But we represent and our partners are the biggest family office in the entire state of Utah.

24:27The coming family a multiple billion dollar family office there in downtown Salt Lake. All they care about is downtown Salt Lake. They are impassioned about downtown Salt Lake. They don't know. They are very, very ingrained in the community of downtown Salt Lake. So again, whether we have the bill or not, I have no idea. But we are re-represent one of the biggest families in the state of Utah.

24:50And they are very passionate about this project specifically. I'd love to hear more information at the possibility of what could be done under MU 11 just for due diligence purposes. And while I'm so thankful for those big families who continue to build the counterbalance to that is our neighbors who are feeling disenfranchised every day and need to be equally represented in this. Thank you.

25:11One hundred percent. Yeah, thank you. I just wanted to reiterate my comments. So I'm interested in looking at what a pro forma what this design looks like under MU 11 conditions. So I want to make that very clear. I think there's a way to create really intentional density and maximizing supply. Although creates economies of scale is not actually bringing housing.

25:34We've seen plenty of D one projects fail in downtown in the last five years. And I'm happy to give you examples of them even Worthington took a long time for a step batter. What do you mean that they've failed? They are sold or they're having struggles with lease up and they're not fully occupied vacancies also affect us and also retail.

25:53I see one of my biggest issues with is the ground floor retail on this. Five thousand square feet. We actually have difficulty activating ground leases and master ground leases. I'd love to just see how you could structure that. If you did garden style entries, I think that's an opportunity there. I wish we could feel every retail space, but genuinely I just want you to take a tour of the city since you're from Utah and see how difficult it has been here.

26:19So D one zoning, although provides us the best economies of scale, it has intrinsic inherent failures because scale and supply is not distributing this type of resources that this community needs. And I want to reemphasize. You do represent one of the largest family offices, which means their investment committee should take a look at condominiums.

26:41I want to reiterate that because if you can present me and show me the math behind it and say this doesn't work, insurance aside. That gives me an example of the Cummings family would like to work with downtown. I'll tell you, they haven't met with my neighbors back there. They haven't met with me and they don't have to meet with me.

26:56But as far as I'm concerned, that office should be advocating for downtown. We've had fires. We've had massive offices leave downtown to go down to Lehigh or other parts of this valley. And I'd love for us to maximize this. So you have 2.19 acres. If I'm not mistaken, that's an opportunity to reassess what's the type of jobs we'd like to attract.

27:19What are the type of neighbors we'd like to do? I love the family size housing. I think that's exactly what we need in downtown. And if you can't show me a pro forma where we could have attainable home ownership opportunities, then at least show me that this has scale and has value and can be attained through the renters experience.

27:37But also show me, I'd love to, this is something I brought up to the church. They have Hildegard pantry. A lot of the neighbors here, especially in this commercial district, have had, they see a lot of symptoms based off of the family need. I went out last week to Hildegard. And there are families, the majority of the people that received food and supply are the actual congregation members of this church.

28:01And so I want you to think creatively because you have the ability to have a mid block way there. You have ability to switch your tower orientation. No one's saying you can't have a tower. That's not what we're saying. And I think the neighbors aren't even saying that. I think what we're saying is this church has caught off guard.

28:16They knew that one day there might be development, but they've now invested significant capital, stewards and funds into, you know, into their solar panel, into the longevity of this church. And now they're looking at seismic upgrades and they're going to have a capital campaign. I would request that the Cummings family and your clients speak to those representatives and then come back to us and say, we took this end dutifully and we have now created a response to it.

28:44I think that that would at least appease me, I'll say, and give us more information from the council side so that we can appropriately and confidently rezone so that you can receive those economies of scale in a timely manner. I think all of us want to see this succeed. I'm just letting you know I'm weary right now only because I've seen projects. I call it failure, not bankruptcy.

29:06Although bankruptcy is a huge failure, I would say, especially to IC committees. But because there's significant vacancy and that's because we're building at an unattainable cost and it gets passed on to the consumer. So as someone that's rented their whole life and the majority of us have rented, I'm telling you, we want to build a beautiful product. You want to build something that people come into it. Maybe it is retail.

29:29I just, I'm sure I'm trying. Yeah, thanks. Thanks. But I wanted to know. Everything you're saying I'm hearing and we've done, we did a major project in downtown Salt Lake called Block 44. The City Council mandated that we do a bunch of things. I brought studies that said, hey, this doesn't work. This is why we don't do this. La, la, la, like the garden style walk up apartments that had stores and storefront on the bottom. It's hat vacant for four years.

29:50All the units we said we should not build. So we are willing to go down the path with people to say, hey, this is what you should do. This is what you should do to accommodate. But I'm a 35 year, 30,000 hour expert. I go to all the conferences. I go to planning things. I do everything I do in my brain is to bring about the very best projects in the world.

30:12If we could put that back up, it's one, it will be one of the premier projects in all of Salt Lake and it's with people that want it to be the premier project in Salt Lake. So we will listen. We will accommodate. We'll do the things that will make this. So this is a great project for the city. But I'm telling you, it's a group that all they do is think about this stuff 25 hours a day.

30:36That's all we do is think about how to make these great projects, how people interact, how people come into the space, how they leave the space. Council Member Durgen. Thank you. I appreciate that. John, this is more for you. On your end, we're here to discuss the rezone from MUA to D1. That's our job right now. The development agreement is on par that. If we pass this rezone with a development agreement attached to it with a max of 225 feet with some of these other stipulations about the development agreement.

31:11The development agreement would run with the land at that point. Obviously, a new owner could come back to the council and attempt to renegotiate if they wanted to change that committee benefit. But they would have to come back to the council and have that conversation. So I would still have to buy that 225 feet and other requirements there, even though I don't want to build housing, I want to build office building.

31:53Yes, again, unless it was somehow renegotiated at some point in a public forum like this. So everything sticks with that development agreement on that part. What is the penalties for not abiding by that development agreement? Well, I mean, I guess. The ground for leasing is not incentivized. It's not local. It's something else.

32:20It says 20% affordable and it's only going to be 10% affordable. Say anything changes on that development agreement. What's the incentives or the penalties for not abiding by the development agreement? Sure. I think it's multi-fold. And these are questions not just for this one. This is for the general public. Yeah, of course. I mean, one, if they designed the building and it didn't include that, we wouldn't issue the permit, obviously.

32:43But if the permit is issued and they're not abiding with those, we do have enforcement tools and we would make sure that those, I mean, you can start accruing daily fines. That's similar to with our affordable housing incentives. We do have those enforcement clauses inserted in there to make sure that those units remain affordable.

33:03Throughout the, whatever the requirement, I think 30 years, for examples with the affordable housing incentives. Okay. We also have occupancy permits, right? And then we can potentially hold if there are no meeting our agreements. Council Member Wharton. Thank you. First of all, I'm really familiar with the work that the coming family does and I appreciate that very much.

33:28And I think what, for me, there are a number of priorities that are kind of converging on this project that one is historic preservation. This is the second oldest continuous house of worship in the entire state. There's a lot of important. That's the center of the Episcopal community in Utah. I just want to make sure that in addition to that, that this church was an early supporter of the city's sustainability goals and joining in that.

34:05So I just want to be respectful of those multiple things that are converging in addition to housing, which you're absolutely right about. It is a huge, huge issue, but as are the others. I just hope that you'll kind of echo what Council Member Lopez-Shava said. I do. I also have heard from the community. They feel a little taken aback by it.

34:31I think there's a solution here. My ask is that, you know, maybe we have some more meetings and some more dialogue with the community, with the church community. I'm hoping to meet with them to hear their concerns more directly, and it sounds like you're willing to do that. So I think that I'm excited to hear what can come from that, because I think that we can achieve multiple goals at the same time.

34:59In talking to the church after our planning commission meeting, they're big concerns where the seismic, you know, with construction going on in their solar. We use only the biggest contractors in the state. It's late in big D. I mean, it's people that have been building in downtown environments since the beginning of their companies, and we are very hyper, hyper-wear of the significance of that church.

35:21To the point where we will guarantee that nothing will happen to that church during construction, the last thing we have to cross with them is the solar panels, and we have to figure that out. But we can't figure it out until we know how high we're going to go, and the building is orientated, but we'll figure that out.

35:38Yeah, I mean, a lot of the, it's not just about the outcomes, right? It's about the process, too. Yes. So I think that that process piece is as important as these outcomes that we're talking about. I will say just to finish, I don't want to reiterate, I think you've got a sense here. And it's not because this city, you know, hasn't been part of trying to solve the issue of housing.

36:07We have been leading the state in the issue of housing and affordability and density, and our recent zoning changes demonstrate that we are understanding the problem. We also think that, you know, communities need to respect and develop and need to respect where it's around them, because that's, people will move to your apartment and your product will be more important.

36:30Your product will be more desirable if in a many, like a beautiful historic church is thriving next door. And that is where I feel like maybe some of the sentiment here was coming from, and it isn't like a member of Lopez mentioned. It's not about you know having a tower, it's not you because of you know wanting to solve the issue of two or three bedroom housing.

36:53We appreciate some of these things. But at the same time we believe that there is something better. I appreciate how beautiful the building looks like right now. I feel like your architects can actually come up with something that is as beautiful that accomplishes multiple goals of our city, including our housing shortage and respecting some of the neighbors that they've been there for so long.

37:16So thank you, thank you for that. I feel like this has kick started. My parting to all that too is I hope that from a reputational standpoint and a goodwill standpoint from the coming family, and I'm not saying give it to them, I'm not saying anything, but I hope there's at least a trust level that you know that in their hearts they want the very best for downtown and there is no question about it.

37:39In fact, I think the church is one of their patrons. I mean they are they are that committed to downtown. Let me say this to you and it's really not about you know the family or whomever is behind. We appreciate you know the commitment ultimately for for the process that we have. We have to really ask tough questions.

37:57We have to put it in writing. We have to seek the feedback from the community as well and try to incorporate as much as we can. I tell you that I think that we're in the right process if we are willing to sit down and work through these issues. One hundred percent. Ultimately this council on this city has been in the forefront of height on the forefront of density.

38:16So you know knowing that that has been a reputation so far I feel like that gives you a good direction of where to go. But ultimately we as you hear from here we are concerned about what the community is saying around your project. Thank you for your time. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for chair. Could we get the applicants to state their names for the record?

38:37Yes. What you state your what you what you what you restate your what you restate your name to the record. David Hunter. Ben Hayden. Thank you. Thank you. I should ask that. Thank you. Okay.

39:05We're moving on to item number two. It's an ordinance regarding the zoning administration tax amendments. Ignoris joined the table planning our planning director and Brian former consapulsia analyst staying on the table. Brian. Thank you. This is a proposal requested by the by the planning division and initiated by Mayor Mendenhall to amend the.

39:30Some sections of the zoning code the proposed changes reflect current review processes. It cleans up the code and brings the city code into compliance with state code. Turn it over to Nick. All right. Thank you. Can you go to the next slide please? I'm not going to repeat this, but these are the main sections or the main categories of changes that are listed in this text amendment.

39:55A lot of it is very technical in nature. Tweaking some language here and there bringing code up to state code, etc. Next slide. So the first thing I wanted to touch on was what our land use authorities are. So in our code there's some confusion between. The planning director or the planning official and the zoning administrator.

40:20They code intertwines all of those terms and they all have the same definition. And so this mostly these types of changes are mostly just clarifying those definitions so that it's very, very clear who gets to actually administer the code and how that authority is delegated to our staff. Next slide. We're also updating the zoning review process.

40:46We'll get into this a little bit, but right now our code requires everything to have a zoning certificate, which is kind of an outdated practice for us. We haven't actually been following the code to a T. And it changes what is currently called the site plan review process in chapter 21, a 59 or 58 sorry to zoning review and approval.

41:09So it actually matches what happens. And then finally this section removes the development review team has a land use authority. They don't actually have any approval authority by code, but yet they're listed as a land use authority. So we're trying to clear that up. Next slide. So this gets into a little bit about that.

41:32The code in the blue chart to the right side of the screen. This is technically what we should be following. Basically we're doing three zoning reviews for someone to get a building permit. That's not how we actually function nor is it a good use of anyone's time. And so this clarifies that there's other things that could satisfy the zoning certificate approval process.

41:56Someone's going to get a land use approval planning commission. We're reviewing it as part of building permit or if no permit is required, then they get the zoning certificate. Next slide. Yeah, this kind of summarizes the zoning review process and some of the goals that we're trying to achieve one obviously state law.

42:19Our code still says that everyone's supposed to submit paper plans. We haven't required paper plans in like over 10 years. So these are the types of things that are being addressed. Next slide. So I mentioned a little bit about this. The development review team. This is often referred to DRT. It's sometimes confused with a design review team, which we don't actually have in the city.

42:45But like I said, our code says that this is a land use authority. They have no actual land use approval authority. And so we're stripping that out. It doesn't mean we're eliminating this process. It just means we don't need to have it codified that we're going to meet with applicants with other representatives from other divisions to help identify what codes apply to them, what permits, what processes they're going to need, and how to overcome some of the hurdles.

43:10That's still staying. It just doesn't have to be in our code. And we do it on a daily basis anyway. Next slide. So we're also addressing some code admission administration things. These are the categories. Most of these are updating our code to comply with some recent changes to state code that have happened over the years that we've been following, but we're just now getting to the point where we're updating our code. Next slide.

43:40So one is the difference between what is an administrative interpretation and an administrative determination. This is super technical. Like I said, an interpretation by our code just deals with is the land use allowed. We there's a new process that was adopted last year into state code that for land uses that are not currently defined or listed in our code.

44:01So we have to have a streamlined process to actually approve that. We've been doing it that way through administrative interpretations anyway. This cleans up that language to make sure that we're compliant with state code. A determination really is focused on nonconforming issues and how those are either allowed to continue, expand, be modified, etc.

44:21So there's two things. There's a nonconforming use, which is a use that at some point in time was allowed. No longer is in a non-compying structure. Similarly, that structure used to meet standards when it was built. Now those standards have changed. It no longer complies. We have to have a process and rules for regulating those next slide.

44:39We also in our code have a process for the abandonment of nonconforming use. Our code actually deals with the amortization. That means giving a certain number, a certain amount of time for a use to eventually be forced to go away. However, that conflicts with state code. The state code, we have to have a formula adopted that demonstrates that timely.

45:09We have never had that formula as a city. So what this change does is just strikes out our process, refers to the process in state code. Next slide. This is pretty self-explanatory. I'll just leave it up here for a little bit. But deals primarily with lots. Next slide.

45:35Some of the code cleanup. Our code breaks all of our regulations into different categories. One is lot in bulk. But we're changing that to development standards because there's a lot of regulations that are not related to the bulk. We're also listing design standards, an update to home occupation standards to comply with state code that's mainly about whether business licenses are required and when a home occupation is required to be officially licensed by the city.

46:04And then we are adjusting some recently adopted language because there's an intent that we thought could be approved. And then we're deleting some obsolete districts that are not mapped anywhere and some other provisions. Next slide. So this is an example of the obsolete provision on the right. I'm sorry, that says obsolete. This is actually clarifying the intent.

46:28So like the screening from public view of recycling collection stations that's already regulated somewhere else in our code. So we don't really need this multiple places. And then clarifying intent language on the left. This was something the council adopted just a few years ago about rooftop uses. And we've had people come in and propose actual habitable space enclosed on their roof, which was not the intent. And so we're clarifying that.

46:56And then another example at the bottom of that dealing with what counts as an attached garage. Next slide. Can I ask a question about them? Sure. Okay. So back to the rooftop piece only because I've been involved in some of these conversations. So basically the amendment clarifies that they can't. It says that the amendment may not be well, there's a typo on the slide, but may not be enclosed with walls or walls.

47:25So basically what's happening is people are wanting to expand usually a stairwell that extends above the roof into like a party room or something like that or a sunroom. It's fully enclosed. And once that happens, that becomes fully habitable space. It also ends up potentially triggering fire code requirements and everything else.

47:48And so without having that go through that and these are often going above the maximum height in the zone. So it's become a potential loophole for people to get another level of habitable space. It's fully enclosed. It's just a follow up as a part of that because so it's walls or include a roof. What would we consider like a pergola? Is that a roof?

48:16Because it's open. Okay. Yeah. And that's in our code already. Okay. So we're okay with the pergola. We're okay with railing or never railing. No, railings are fine. Fully enclosed walls are no. Got it. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. All right. Next slide. Then one is eliminating the AG 20 district. This is a district that appears in our code and all of the relevant sections, which is the bolt. A lot of these changes throughout our code.

48:46It's actually not mapped anywhere in the city. So this is an agricultural zone that requires a minimum of 20 acres per lot. And so we're just proposing to delete it. And then we're also proposing to delete what's called the character conservation district. This was out of the code in 2012. It's never had it's never been used. And we have a process to create overlays in our zoning code that essentially accomplishes the exact same thing that the character conservation district was intended to.

49:15So we're proposing to remove that. Next slide. I think that's it. Yep. That's it. Yeah. Go ahead. I just have one other question. So back to the process piece where we're pulling that process out of code. My question is more so I don't doubt that the city staff is supporting like those conversations of what codes apply and like what departments do you need to talk to.

49:43On the flip side of that, sometimes that code is valuable in terms of forcing an applicant to go through that process as opposed to it just being offered and available. Like what would be the downfall or the likelihood of somebody making it through a process if they said, never mind, I don't want any of that help from the city. I just want to move forward with my.

50:02You're talking about the DRT process. So the DRT process doesn't. It doesn't do those things in our code, right? So basically, it's the way it's worded is that it's so the other departments can advise the zoning administrator on interpreting the code. And so it's that's not how we've been using it at all, but that's how it's written in our code. So we're limiting that because it just doesn't make any sense. That's not how we've been practicing.

50:35Got it. So it's all internal in terms of how different departments are interacting with planning in that space, which obviously the administration controls. Perfect. Thank you. And our code. I will say our code also says that that we have the ability and the right to actually seek input from all the city departments on land use approvals, which we do has needed. So. Thank you.

50:57Members. Okay. Thank you so much. Awesome. Thank you. We're going to item number three, creation of the silo park public infrastructure district. Coming to the table, Kate, word council policy analyst, Alison parks deputy city attorney and Cindy Lou, Deputy Director of Operations and Administration. Kate. Thank you. On November 24th, the city received a petition to create a public infrastructure district or a PID.

51:38That petition is included in the attachments that you have. This petition was for an area located at approximately 470 West 600 South. This location is located within the Salt Lake central HTRZ. And it mentions using some of that tax increment potentially as a financing option. There is one other PID in the city and it is associated with the SEG development near the delta center.

52:12The. Additionally, in your attachments, there's a certification acknowledging the receipt and confirming that the petition complies with state code. The next step in this process would be a public hearing to go over any questions or concerns from the public regarding it before the next step happens. I'm going to turn over to Alison and Cindy Lou to go into a little bit more detail on what that state process is.

52:44And the applicant is here, one of the applicants is here to address questions as well. Thank you. Okay, thanks, Kate. So I'm just going to go over the PID petition generally. And I also want to talk a little bit about how this PID petition is different from the prior one that you received as well as kind of where we're at with this current PID.

53:07So under the typical PID process, the city, as Kate said, the city receives a petition. The city determines if a petition is complete and then we hold a public hearing within a certain period of time after determining the PID petition is complete. And so that's where we're at right now. We've determined that the PID petition is complete and now we're holding a public hearing.

53:30Just to clarify, the purpose of the hearing today is under state law is to hear and discuss whether the requested services needed in the area of the proposed PID and whether the service should be provided by the city or the proposed PID and all other matters related to the request or the PID. I think it's worth noting that there's no request to take action today to adopt the PID via resolution, and there's no date currently set yet for the adoption of the PID.

54:01So after the public hearing, the city and developer may negotiate on the terms of the PID and how it will be governed. And then if the city and developer come to a resolution on how the PID will run, then the city will act by approving a resolution adopting the PID. It's worth noting that the creation of a PID is within the city's discretion.

54:27And that also means that unlike the prior PID that we took action on, there's no statutory deadline to adopt it. So under the prior PID that we took action on about a year ago, that was a different PID. It's legally distinct. It's called a convention center PID. And that was created to support the downtown entertainment district.

54:50And under that law, there was a specific timeframe within which to take action, but that timeframe doesn't apply here. This is a legally distinct PID. Do you have anything you want to add? Great. Any questions? So as a newest member of this council, I have a few questions related to this. Walk me through what happens in the event that a PID is not determined.

55:21We don't determine that this is a viable site for it. What happens to proposed development or future of that area? I think that's a great question for the developer to answer, if you'd like them to answer that. But I will say under the law, there's no legal consequence for this city to not create the PID, but whatever impact that might have on the development.

55:45I think the developer is better able to answer that. Thank you. I would like to ask generally about what is the impact of financially for the city when we overlay PIDS and then HDRZs on top of them? And how will that dynamic work to make good on this money and the investment and the projects, the combination of the projects and whatnot.

56:16A little more information about that. Yeah, I can speak generally about PIDS, but if you have specific questions about the financing of this specific one, I think that might be great for the developer to address. PIDS are traditionally created as a financing tool for these developments to bond against. What they do is they create this separate legal entity, it's separate and distinct from the city.

56:40And they use the PIDS to bond against for infrastructure within the specific area. PIDS can either tax themselves within the area or they could bond against other forms of tax increment. But I think it's important to note that state law does provide that any financial burden of the PIDS or legal obligation of the PIDS is that separate and distinct from the city.

57:04And that's not a legal obligation or financial burden of the city. I can jump in just with a little also general. Generally speaking, PIDS do not use, or at least in our case, have not used tax increment to bond against. Tax increment is what would be captured in an HTRZ that is typically, you know, a plot that developers apply for that funding.

57:33The board deliberates and determines whether or not an HTRZ is appropriate to provide that tax increment to the developer and that conversation happens separately from a PIDS. I believe that this applicant is planning on requesting tax increment reimbursement through the HTRZ process. And so it is likely that you'll have that discussion as a CRA board.

57:57What's my understanding that, you know, there is some concerning cases outside our city where developers can make good on their projects. And they finished, they didn't finish those projects. But then so the cities were like trying to figure out where to get the money to finish that. What are the concerns about these situations and how could other mechanisms we can prevent that from happening?

58:23Yeah, I mean that is certainly a risk with creating a PIDS is that the development might not happen or it might fail. But there are certain things that we could try and do to protect the city or ensure that the development occurs, but that can happen maybe in discussions with the developer. I'm someone with a show. Thank you. I had a question in relation to station central does it overlap from a CRA perspective and then are we capturing?

58:52Was that what you stated earlier? So this is located within the Salt Lake central HTRZ, the depot project area expired and they I believe they triggered the SL central HTRZ for beginning this year. Okay, I was just curious if there's any HTRZ funds that we have preempted or promised or committed to any other projects in this area?

59:18Not yet. I do believe they've been in contact with the CRA and that they are potentially submitting an application for those tax increment funds or possibly already have, but you as a board have not yet reviewed that. Okay, and then my other question was just if we have any funds that were already allocated to some of the infrastructure that a PIDS would try to accomplish that may be reiter of funding.

59:45I'd like to avoid as much as possible any redirection of funds from either the general fund or from the tax credits. So the petition itself was pretty open as to what would be covered with this with the PIDS. That would be a great question for the developer to come up and respond to. Are they here? Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Do you have another one?

1:00:13Go ahead. Would they like to answer? To join us. Thank you. Would you state your name for the record? Sure, Jonathan Hardy and with Blazer Ventures. And Joseph McKay with Low Property Group. Erin Wade with Gilmore Bell were representing the proposed PID as a bond council.

1:01:01Okay, there was a question on this here. Yeah, the question was in relation to PID, what it may cover in infrastructure that a city normally would. We've allocated some funds in this area. Just one year, you have any, you know, any information you could provide us to understand what might be duplicative. What might not be? What could the pit cover at least helping me understand how we can better exercise the HCRZ tax credits?

1:01:25Well, we'd love for the city to cover everything if that's an offer on the table. But we are working on the interior site where water sewer infrastructure. We have an interior park as part of this development and then parking structures. These are kind of the main components of the public infrastructure district that we would be addressing, but it's all interior to the site. Wouldn't be stuff in the streetscape that the city would be responsible for.

1:01:53That's all my questions for now. Thank you. Ultimately, one of the things that I want to make sure that there's good connection with the planning for the area, the thing for structure that this will fund. And I guess I wish there was like this, there were tax credits and there's this is money that is created. And this used by the increment that happens in the growth in the area.

1:02:19Certainly, I know the area very well and there is a lot of infrastructure needing. So there is some benefits on that. I am concerned about the pain of this on finishing these projects and making sure that they make do. And they are done as we agreed, especially because we have a project recently that didn't go the right way or at least in paper and didn't go in the right way that would pick on hide.

1:02:45I have some questions about that in a different moment. But I want to make sure that whatever we put on an agreement end up happening and that we don't spin our ways and trying to figure out how to not do that or do it differently. Certainly, I felt like this could be potentially a good thing for paying for the infrastructure that we have neglected for probably 100 years in the area. So go ahead.

1:03:10Thank you. I have another question. I wanted to understand, will you remind me, will this project have any light tech in this location? Yes, it does. Are you doing any bond recycling at all? I know that's the public activity bond board. They were looking to recycle. Are you guys taking advantage of that? So it's really up the Utah Housing Corporation issues the multifamily side of these bonds.

1:03:32So it would be up to them to decide to recycle. And they have not used recycling as a strategy for multifamily bonds. They do it on the single family side. I'm a board member of Utah Housing Corporation, so I know kind of their process, but we don't have the option really as a developer to recycle those private activity bonds.

1:03:55There was a couple of other questions that were raised when we were sitting in the back. Would you like us to try to address those? Okay. And so the, you know, and I think the city staff did a nice job addressing some of these, but just to add to it, there was a question about what is the interaction between the PID and the HTRZ and the utilization of funds.

1:04:13And I think one of the great things about the PID, you know, like was said, they're going to come back and ask for HTRZ funds. But if the district, you know, was created and determined to, they could take HTRZ funds as well as taxing themselves, and then that would expand the pool of improvements that they could finance.

1:04:31I think the other real advantage from using this tool is because the district is a governmental entity. The bonds that they issue could qualify for tax exemption. And so as a result, that would, you know, reduce the interest rate by roughly what the corporate tax rate is. So between 25 and 35 percent, the interest rate is lower.

1:04:50And so then again, that allows the dollars to be stretched further for the project. I think the other benefit maybe that the city could see there is because it is staying with the governmental entity, those HTRZ funds, it, you know, increases transparency. It's going straight to a bond trustee who's going to turn around and use that to pay the bonds.

1:05:11So a lot of controls over that, a lot of oversight there. And so I think that's some of the benefits of using the PID. And like you said, while keeping it off of the, you know, the city's balance sheet. You know, there's currently discussion with the state auditor around city balance sheets and PIDs. And I think a lot of that will be addressed in this legislative session.

1:05:34But I think that it is a great tool to still be able to use the tax exemption without the city having to come and be the obligor on the debt and issuing the bonds through like your RDA or similar. Let me see here. Trying to see what the other questions. No, I appreciate you saying that. But ultimately from our point of view, generally we prefer to have the control over that.

1:06:01You know, there is, you know, this financial tools, not necessarily what, you know, the city will prefer to use. Obviously, they are there now. I mean, you know, the applicant has been, you know, pushing for these tools to happen and, you know, they exist now. So we got to utilize them. But ultimately, you know, they might speed up the process in some cases, but there are also concerns about them, right?

1:06:26And we, you know, we appreciate the attorneys always like looking up for us. But I, are there any other questions specific that you're answering that were presented here today? If not, we need to move on. I think that one other was just maybe the ability to finish projects. I think generally the PID is not going to be the, you know, the biggest impact on that because it's generally just financing.

1:06:48You know, the infrastructure rather than being the main source of financing. But I think all of that can still be addressed through, you know, development agreements. You'd still have your ordinary performance bonding that you'd have on, you know, any project. The PID doesn't, you know, limit any of those requirements.

1:07:06Good to hear. And just quickly, John, you probably the best for this. The silo, is this for the entirety of the post project and the silos that you're considering? Or will this, I know the southern portion is going to have a larger concentration of affordable housing, right? This goes the 40 to 60 percent AMI with the historic preservation of the silos.

1:07:30Will this PID cover the post district and that? Or are we just looking for money to put infrastructure in a place where you guys are already kind of doing some things that we need you to do? Yeah, this is for the silos walk only. Okay, so that just the southern portion. Does not include the post district, which, you know, we have mostly completed.

1:07:48There's still some elements there to go on there, but it is for the silos project specifically. And yes, we do. So, I mean, we'll talk probably a lot more about this when we get into the tax increment request. But yeah, we are preserving the historic silos. We, you know, we have a number of components that are going already.

1:08:08I mean, our affordable housing is almost completed. Our investors went out on a limb to build a lot of this stuff. It's in an opportunity zone. We have requirements to spend capital before, you know, to meet the timelines on the opportunity zone in anticipation of working through the rest of the city. And I'm working through the rest of these agreements on the entirety of the block.

1:08:26So this really the formation of the public infrastructure district and the subsequent tax increment request will help us complete the block in its entirety. Thank you. Thank you for the time. Moving on now to item number four as an informational item, the downtown alliance updates. We're going to have the table de-bruhrer just DTA executive director, just to get these, these, these, uh, the director.

1:09:14May I maybe and, um, um, uh, D is your time. Thank you very much, Council. We appreciate your time and attention today. Council member Carlson. We haven't had a chance to sit down yet, but look forward to that. You may have additional questions and we want to bring you all the details you need. Um, we're here to brief you on downtown investments, accomplishments and upcoming initiatives as well.

1:09:44We recognize the limited time, but so we're going to be brief. We welcome your questions after these remarks and we're always available for discussion. Um, we put links in the pro, uh, to some of the program details in the presentation notes that I believe were sent to you. You can click through to those or we can send them to you.

1:10:04Just as a refresher, the downtown alliance is primarily funded by a special assessment area that commercial property owners created. And have reauthorized for more than 30 years. Um, we're charged with vitalizing downtown, the Intermountain West, um, center for commerce culture and entertainment. Downtown vitality creates downtown spending.

1:10:29I don't have to tell you that downtown spending generates tax revenue and, uh, stokes the general fund and sustains the city. Uh, next slide please or can I advance these? Do I just have to call it out? I'll do that. Um, as I said, we're here to report on the alliances, uh, 20, 25 efforts and give you a preview of 20, 26 as well.

1:10:56Our briefing is focused on a few key issues. Um, and you can find a link in those notes that I mentioned to our full strategic plan for the year. First achievement I want to talk about is we signed an MOU with Salt Lake City this year. Um, or last year and began meeting with a working group of city administration administrative departments and council staff.

1:11:21And that work continues through 2026. We're working on developing a public private partnership to improve pioneer park, guest experience and grow visitation and you can go to the next slide. Um, also exploring development of a public building in pioneer park for year round activations, including the downtown farmers market and other programming.

1:11:46Uh, that next slide and the next slide. Uh, something that wasn't part of our plan last year was raising money for those employees, um, who were displaced by the main street fire. 120 downtown employees woke up unemployed on August 12th. Um, after the after fire ravaged five main street restaurants, bartender's cook servers and bus staff were thrown into crisis, but the downtown community and the Utah community really rallied to provide relief.

1:12:25Um, we had a campaign, uh, fundraising campaign up and running within 24 hours. Um, many other restaurants, customers and businesses stepped forward with cash and resources. We were able to raise and distribute $494,000 to those affected employees. And it was very important that we got that out in that first month when they were truly in crisis and, uh, finding the next job or finding, um, some sort of stable path forward.

1:12:57Uh, I want to acknowledge the Utah Restaurant Association and Salt Lake City. They joined us in a job fair on August 17th. Um, we were able to provide guidance for, uh, to open employment positions and to social services. We look forward to those restaurants opening again and I'm happy to report that white horse is scheduled to reopen next week.

1:13:21Next slide. Our street ambassadors can continue to contribute to the vibrancy and safety of downtown. They also help people in crisis and they save lives. Last year they saved 17 lives by administering Narcon to individuals who had overdosed. Um, next slide please. The data that we shared there are for the biz, uh, central business improvement area, but also the expansion areas in central ballpark North Temple and Rio Grande neighborhoods.

1:13:59Next slide please. In 2025 we produced 161 street activations. Uh, we're very proud of that and feel it's important, uh, critical to it's at the heart of what we do. These include artist driven events like Sonder in an alleyway off of Main Street. A rooftop death performance by SB Dance. Um, a free last hurrah on New Year's Eve and dozens of busker events.

1:14:32We supported, and you can go to the next slide. We supported a day of the dead celebration on Edison Street, Nihan Matsuri in Japan town, and a huge Mariachi festival at Eccles Theatre and many other cultural events. These events attract visitation and spending to downtown. We have a picture here of the Mariachi festival.

1:14:55If you were able to be there, you know how, what a great, great energy that was on the left is an enormous mural that Dallas, Dallas, Dallas Graham and a group of children created and animated downtown with. Next slide. If you haven't seen SB Dance performance on the top of the Pierponker Raj, it's spectacular with the city as the background.

1:15:23And just a couple of months ago we had a day of the dead celebration as well. Next slide. Downtown customer spending, sustains retailers, bars, restaurants, arts organizations and artists. Last year we helped create 21 million customer visits. Downtown venue ticket sales were up 18 more than 18% last year. These are both measures of the vitality, overall vitality of downtown.

1:15:55And if you would like a refresher on those details, downtown economic benchmark report is available in a link and at our website. Next slide please. Part of creating that audience of 21 million visits is our communications channels that Josh Jones operates and always an important piece of how we do our work. 300,000 social media followers, 11,000 weekly subscribers to our weekly newsletter this week downtown.

1:16:31I hope you're on that list. Next slide. These are just a few of the headlines that we generate through our media relations about Pioneer Park, about last hurrah. Next slide. The continued relief fund efforts and those businesses reopening. Next slide. Last year many of you, some of you were able to join us in Exploring Seattle and the programs that were there and the investments that have been made there.

1:17:08Council also funded scholarships so that we could invite small business and artists to be part of that conversation. And we really appreciate that. Thank you for your investment. There's a link in the speakers notes to our webpage where we laid out what was learned, what Salt Lake City learned in Seattle about private investment, about public spaces and many other elements that we studied there.

1:17:38Next slide. The last achievement I wanted to mention from 2005 is we recently moved the weekly winter downtown farmers market to the formerly in Ardo building. Vendors and customers love the new indoor market located on Library Square. More people are coming downtown. We're seeing increase in participation and spending.

1:18:04We have 70 vendors who are reporting healthy increases and Ken Sanders could not be happier with the impact that he is enjoying on Saturdays now. I hope that you'll join us this Saturday and every Saturday through April for those markets. I want to move to our 2026 initiatives. First up next slide please. Downtown rising beyond the games, a community driven vision guiding downtown growth investment and legacy through 2035 and beyond.

1:18:44With more than $10 billion in investment coming to downtown in this decade. This is a shared vision that is essential to ensure that growth strengthens what our city, what our downtown is, which is authentic, accessible and welcoming to all. We want downtown to offer their vision for what downtown is going to be your stakeholders in downtown.

1:19:14The city is a the residents of Salt Lake City are also part of that and we look forward to including you in that conversation. Next slide please. Next in 2027 the Temple Square open house. There is so much potential there when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conducts that open house for the renovated Salt Lake Temple.

1:19:44There will be 3,000 visitors exiting Temple Square every hour, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 months. We look forward to celebrating the renovated Temple Square but we see tremendous opportunity in the 3 million downtown visits expected during that open house. Visitors are already the biggest audience sector downtown in the downtown economy and we expect this 6 month event will increase total visitor days downtown by 20% in 2027.

1:20:24This is an opportunity to capture $320 million in additional spending in 2027. Next slide. We've already begun engaging in these efforts but I just want to jump to a couple of ways we're approaching this, our strategy. We're going to staff hospitality kiosks with our ambassadors. We're going to produce activations and entertainment on the street to draw people into downtown and we're going to support retail development on Main Street and help merchants be successful.

1:21:04Next slide.

1:21:07During this year, we're going to increase the downtown alliance investment in the cultural core program by 27%. We're redirecting some of our downtown alliance dollars into the blocks programming and the city is participating as well. With this, we will vitalize downtown. Again, what have we, this increases legacy arts organizations, audience and ticket sales.

1:21:38We will bring new visual arts and performing arts to downtown. New artists are programming in the core and new audiences are finding or connecting downtown. We're very proud of the fact that emerging artists are paid for their work by the blocks and by the downtown alliance. Next slide please.

1:22:05The downtown alliance has been producing the beloved farmers market for 35 years. It generates 250,000 visits downtown every year. 300 and trepid small Utah businesses rely on the farmers market platform. We've launched dozens of Utah businesses who have used that low barrier to entry to start their businesses. Those businesses over index for women-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses.

1:22:44It's critical that we find a way to sustain our farmers and makers through this next year. But this summer the park will be under construction. So two thirds of the footprint will not be available to us. We're evaluating fit studies for the surrounding streets, but our production costs are going to be up 25 to 50%. And we're making every effort not to pass those costs along to our vendors, but to bridge this very challenging year.

1:23:16Next slide. We're going to continue per the MOU we signed last year to meet with the administration and council staff to determine if a public building in the park is viable and if a cost benefit analysis supports our investment and the city's investment. A public building would be a platform for enhanced and you can go to the next slide.

1:23:40A public building would be a platform for enhanced park management and activation. It would also be a venue for community events including a year-round weekly farmers market. Next slide please. I just want to acknowledge the downtown alliance team who's here in case I got anything wrong and they could swoop in to make it right.

1:24:04But I really we all appreciate all the good work that they do and happy to answer any questions that you might have. And some members? No questions. I just want to reiterate my thanks and Christina especially to the ambassadors. Hopefully you get my email every month, but we do look at that data and I think as we look to grow our partnership in the future, I know that especially the ambassadors are taking the time to constructively not just clean up the city, but inform those that find themselves in really chronic symptoms or areas of our city.

1:24:38So I really appreciate it, but also the events. They're phenomenal. And I want to say as someone that I attended the Marietchi Festival, it was packed with cenoras, auelitas, people dancing in the aisles. And I think I'm just really really glad to hear that for 26 you've made it imperative as a part of your mission to grow that cultural response.

1:25:00I think that's what really makes the identity of downtown Salt Lake City. It makes us so special. It makes us different from Ogden. It makes us different from Provo, the Point of the Mountain, et cetera. That's the type of highlights that our community wants to see. So that's the feedback that I hear from residents from the business community standpoint.

1:25:17We've been in meetings lately where a lot of our retail spaces are excited to see the economy grow in downtown. And we see new jobs emerging left and right and new campuses coming back into downtown. So I just look forward to that. And I know you and I interface often, but for the rest of us, I think there's an opportunity to really showcase how this model can be inserted in Harvey Mocbo, of our, maybe in Sugar House, maybe even in the in the West side of our city.

1:25:44There's other parts of our city that seek the same subsidy and tools. I know you've been a part of that, but I would love for, you know, as council members look to different tools and apparatuses that can help their own business communities. This has been a really interesting example, I think of how we partner in long term and how we can help build up other economic places within our city as well.

1:26:05Thank you. Thank you very much. Chancellor Muyang, I'm the Council Member Pietro. Yeah, no, I would just echo that I think that your success is very much represented in the fact that we have a lot of folks in other various places of the cities that are trying to figure out, like, how do we have that same type of solutions and programming?

1:26:25I know that the city has a clear process and we've got amazing individuals within economic development who are really kind of a champion and shepherd for those conversations. But I do think that it just speaks volumes, you know, that there are other neighborhoods who see the success of the downtown alliance and want to see something similar, you know, growing into their areas as well.

1:26:50I did want to just get, like, your sense. I know that just even from your overview, there's been a lot of high highs and also some kind of low lows. As we look ahead, I know that one of the biggest concerns in the downtown areas has been, like, the construction and also the construction that we know we're going to be facing over the next several years to the benefit of hosting the Olympics and, you know, some of the other major venues that are happening in that area.

1:27:19I'm just curious if you have any thoughts or feedback about what role you play within some of those greater conversations happening in the city. That construction is daunting. Short-term pain for long-term gain. We have been and will be very involved with that. Our mutual friend Bill Knowles, who works for us and for the city, is a wonderful resource.

1:27:49And we do and shall continue to meet and work with him. All of those construct, we know generally what those are, but we know when salt palace is starting, we have a general idea in the entertainment district. But those also can be moving targets as well. With 2027 coming on and all those new visitors, that's going to be, I think, a particular pinch point.

1:28:16We want people to have a positive experience. We're working on a parking map that we hope can be helpful in that process. But ingress and egress, particularly for those who don't have a lot of experience parking downtown, is a big issue. So we welcome any direction, guidance on how we can do that better. But our tools, our communication, Bill Knowles, and working with our stakeholders.

1:28:44I love it. Well, you can't go wrong with Bill Knowles. So that's like I give it. I will see one of the things that Bill really helped us with with the 2100 South construction was creating an opportunity for businesses, city and project leaders to come together once a month. You know, for a coffee just to be able to kind of share like both updates from the project standpoint, but also issues that were happening for the businesses.

1:29:10Our larger entities and businesses, they had a plan to weather. It was really though important to have those dialogues for the smaller businesses who didn't always necessarily know who do I call to say, Hey, you've been blocking my driveway for three days. And I've yet to see any like substantial work that would warrant that type of closure.

1:29:33Can you help me in terms of, you know, figuring out a solution? So just a huge advocate for that as well as making sure that our small businesses are aware of some of the construction mitigation loans that we offer here at the city. Even though we blast it through all of our channels and really try and get it out there.

1:29:52Sometimes it's just as simple as when you meet a business owner having someone be like, Hey, did you know? And they're like, I did not. And it's not going to be something that, you know, changes their revenue. But it's one of those every little bit helps. And so just appreciate your role as a convener and a connector in that space to help us as the city get the word out.

1:30:13That's a great note. And I think we can learn from Sugar House and the experience they just have. Thank you.

1:30:23Hi. Thanks for all you do. Always lovely to talk to people who have strategy and care about our downtown and our city. So can we talk about the temple for a moment? The temple reopening is an incredibly unique Utah exclusive salt lake exclusive opportunity. And I love that you're looking to harness that momentum. I'm excited.

1:30:45Number one, are we doing outreach to non traditional businesses to try to allow more of our grassroots? For instance, there is a woman who sells the best tamales you will eat in Utah in the Smiths parking lot. And that woman needs a business license and a cart and to sell to every person coming out. And that family deserves to have their mortgage paid off of people who are looking for an affordable meal while they're here.

1:31:10Are we looking to reach out to non traditional? The second thing is, is it your role? Are you included in conversations? How are we convening if we have 3000 people leaving every hour who think this is going to be a suburban experience where you park within a Costco parking lot from that temple and never have to see someone who might not have secure housing?

1:31:35This is a disaster waiting to happen. So are there conversations going about like it feels like we have to almost amplify and project our communications? And as much as I love Josh and what he does, I want to give him the marching orders early if we need to to tell them like, hey, plan to plan to take the blue line in from Draper.

1:31:53Do not plan to come and are I think I am terrified about this? Not only because of the PM 2.5, not only because I loathe any time someone comes in and gets upset with the people. And gets upset with us for functioning like an urban center when they're used to suburban activity. But also because a disproportionate number of my neighbors do the blue collar work at east side venues.

1:32:16So my neighbor who is the person who checks you in at primary children's hospital for months will have 30 minutes added on to their commute to and from work. So I know there are children who are districted in my neighborhood, our neighborhoods to go to Bryant. So are there conversations around that transit? Sorry, I know that was two in-depth things that I asked you side by side.

1:32:39But I'd love to know what you see your role as, what you've been able to get into. And if I need to like knock down walls like the Kool-Aid woman to get you guys into more rooms to make sure it's more strategic, I'm your ally in that. Well, I want to know more about the tamales. But on the retail piece, we're convening a downtown retail round table next week to start those discussions about what's available, how we can augment that, and matching real estate opportunities or at least space opportunities with vendors and new vendors as well.

1:33:14We really think that there's an opportunity to do that. And interested in being, you know, our incubation system through the farmers market helps folks like that get up to scale for the kind of thing we're talking about. So we do see ourselves as having a role in that. Welcome your continued feedback or input on that.

1:33:39On the parking and the traffic. What I can tell you is that we're meeting with the church later this month to start those discussions about how they're sort of sequencing and where they think they're going to be parking. I know they have intentions to close some streets for security reasons. And we want to understand those thoroughly.

1:34:02And also want, you know, we need to keep both commuter traffic moving, but we don't want downtown to be perceived as a difficult place to reach. In my view, in my opinion, that flow of 3000 an hour is not insurmountable. You know, you hear big numbers like 3 million, that feels really challenging. But a jazz game concentrates 20,000 people inside of, you know, a 90 minute arrival time.

1:34:34And we're spreading it through the day. And I think that is what is going to help us out a lot. We have the parking to accommodate them. Road closures could be the pinch point and we'll all work together in making sure that we were amplifying available roadways to get to the place. To get to the university campus, to get to all the places we need to.

1:34:58That's my reward. Yeah. Thanks, Dee. Thanks for all you do. And I don't mean to make this only about the temple reopening, but it is, I'm very excited and a little scared. Because, yes, you're right, we can accommodate those big events. I think when you think about those numbers in terms of like how long that faucet is going to be on and flowing is, I think, the part that's daunting.

1:35:27And I know that some of my neighbors are, we've seen the LES church's ability to turn people out for conference twice a year. And that spilling up into the neighborhood to add on top of road closures. But I know that you guys are thinking in advance about that as our city staff. So, but it is an unprecedented opportunity for our downtown and for our city.

1:36:01And so I just wanted to express my confidence in you and your abilities and in DTA's abilities, everybody on your team. And then, you know, offer my support and willingness to help. And especially in those areas where downtown is bordering some of my residential areas, want to make sure that the residents are heard in that process as well.

1:36:27Thank you. And I think we look forward to the continued conversation with this body as well through those processes. More of a comment. First, to just express gratitude for the extension of the downtown ambassadors to the ballpark area. I know it makes a huge difference in my neighborhood, so thank you for that. Second thing is downtown farmers market.

1:36:52I've been going to that since I was eight years old with my dad. Is that right? That's right. And some of my favorite memories with him are at that market. And so as we continue to put on fan, you put on fantastic events that bring people to downtown. It's shaping not only tax revenue, which we love in the form of sales tax and spending in small businesses, but really shaping memories that last for years to come.

1:37:16So thank you for the work that you put into that and happy to be supportive in whatever ways you think about adjusting the format of the farmers market this summer. Thank you to you and thank you to the vendors because you create memories that last a lifetime. Thank you for operating that. Quickly, and I would like to piggyback on some of the comments from Council Member Pietro.

1:37:39They related to, I'm very excited that you're working on something that helps people find parking because there is plenty. And the truth is many people don't know where it is and how far it is. Sometimes it's underground and it is not as easy to find for even for us sometimes. So I'm glad that we're working on something that will last hopefully this event.

1:38:06But I also, you know, as part of the weight that you bring to the table, I have a challenge for you. And it is working with UTA to actually update their transit app. So it doesn't, you don't have to have a transit app that is proprietary to UTA that you can have that information in Google Maps. You know, I travel across many places and we are lagging behind.

1:38:34In many places you can just pop your phone, say I'm going there and it shows you all the buses that are around you and how far they are. It just doesn't make any sense that we are forcing people to download another app. You know, when we know that that is a barrier to access to the system. Second. We've been trying to get them to invest on this and it will be a game changer for downtown.

1:38:59It will be a game changer for the system as a whole. And, you know, it really doesn't make any sense why we are not putting effort in there. On the secondary to what it was mentioned here, as far as the availability of rental space in downtown, how do you plan to achieve those those owners of those properties that they may not necessarily see in their short, you know, see a benefit by renting their space because they are banking on long-term investment or holding the land.

1:39:32I feel like one of the biggest challenges that we have downtown is that people have long-term goals that they want to see where the property purchases. I'm not seeing the short term of renting those spaces. And it seems to me that that is maybe a challenge for you and I wonder if you have any ideas about it. Well, I think you've absolutely landed on one of the challenges and that's part of convening the round table.

1:39:58We've got property owners and I think some of the property owners you're talking about in your comment as part of that. We've got commercial real estate folks, which we hope bring both a perspective on the occupiers and the retailers that may come into that. And find some short-term solutions that really can become long-term solutions as they are successful in that place.

1:40:26We'd like to come back another day after those round table discussions and brief you on just that. What we think is going to make a difference in those spaces. As far as the UTA, I hope that you put really effort on that. We'll love to be partners of that. It really will make a big difference for access to downtown, which is one of the biggest goals.

1:40:48I mean, that's your goal, right? Google is really the you want to be in that stream. You don't want to be outside of that. I think you've made a really good suggestion and we'll pursue that. Okay. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for all that time. Everyone, we're moving on to item number five as an informational item and it's related to the proposed call fee increase.

1:41:12We're going to receive the table all is enrolling Council policy analyst, Kim Shelley director of public lands, Taylor Murdoch deputy director of public lands. We might not have enough chairs, but we're going to still introduce them. Matt, I'm your golf division director for this training. It's an accent thing. I'm Greg Evans financial manager. Maybe we are not getting that many people in here, but it's your time.

1:41:40I'll listen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My understanding is Matt is here and he knows it all. So I think we'll be fine. The golf division is proposing to slightly increase certain user fees at the city's six public golf courses. In 2017, the Council changed an ordinance to allow the division to adjust their prices to reflect demand for pay.

1:41:59This change also allowed golf to implement the fee changes at the beginning of the golf season, which is typically early spring. It might be late January this year, but this would happen early spring rather than midway through the season, which would be when the annual budget is approved. This policy change appears to be to have had success along with many of the other changes in the golf division.

1:42:25And one indication of this success is illustrated in your staff report in item or sorry attachment C1. What that graph shows is that in fiscal year 2025, every single one of the six courses broke its record for number of rounds played. And that's a record that goes all the way back to 2001. So back to the days that you were with your father at the farmers market, right?

1:42:54So as the number of rounds a play has grown, the financial stability overall of the golf division has improved drastically. And this may bring some questions to mind for the City Council to consider in the upcoming general budget discussions. One is that it appears to validate the strategy of subsidizing golf operations with general fund revenue over the past eight years.

1:43:23On the flip side of that, because golf has succeeded so well, it may be time for the Council to discuss the future of this subsidy during the upcoming budget discussions. So I will turn it over to Matt to provide more detailed information. All right, I think thank you for the time and opportunity to discuss golf in January, although it doesn't feel like January.

1:43:48Our courses continue to be busy on a rotating basis as we strive to provide that service to our local players. The decision to increase fees obviously is, I've been with the City now. This is actually today is my anniversary day for 24 years. Thank you. I'm still here. But increasing, increasing fees is something that we do take seriously because one of our goals and missions is to keep it affordable to Salt Lake City residents and visitors.

1:44:26Over the past, I'd say a couple of decades, the golf fund has not been able to reinvest money back into itself. And we have quite a backlog of capital improvement project. So that is probably the biggest driver around where we price our product. The first slide here that I'm showing you is a historical since fiscal year 13.

1:44:53These are called equivalent rounds or nine hole equivalent rounds. Each golf course has a nine hole or 18 hole golf fee associated with how many holes an individual wants to play. If you can see here in fiscal year 25, we're at 546,849 hole equivalent rounds. When you compare that in FY13, the City had nine golf courses.

1:45:19We're operating seven at the moment. So you can imagine that demand is quite high. So that is one thing that I look at as well as other factors in the economy as to whether or not we should, where we should price our golf courses into the future. Being able to reinvest money into really fundamental capital improvements, irrigation systems, T-box leveling programs, cart path replacement programs, parking lot, resurfacing, new roofs, on club houses, things like that.

1:45:54That's where all this money goes. And we're trying to still operate as lean as we can so we can funnel these funds back into these facilities. Next slide, please. This is a little bit different way that I look at golf rounds and I incorporate some other metrics into it as well. This is called a start. So what a start is it doesn't matter if somebody plays nine holes or 18 holes or 27 holes.

1:46:25It's just somebody who shows up and pays. And so we take a look at starts. This is based on a calendar year and that aligns with how we do our pricing when individuals actually come out at the start of the season. Again, acknowledge we've not had that this year. But as you can see in 2025, 407,000 starts is a record there as well.

1:46:48The next line there looks at playable days. That's where I kind of look at play based on a weather metric. So that's a T time is our inventory. And so that inventory. It arrives at the start of the day and it disappears at the end of the day. So we it never carries over. So what makes up a playable day is whether or not it's hot cold that the wind is blowing if there's rain, if there's snow on the ground, etc, etc.

1:47:16So in 2025 was a very good year from a playable day standpoint. So we had a very healthy. Golf years you can see our total revenue was was just over 14 million, which again is significantly higher than what we received in 2019. The average utilization is a another metric that I look at because we do have somewhat a fixed inventory.

1:47:38This shows me within those guidelines that I look at what's a playable golf day, what percentage of the play is taking place within there. So 2025, it works out to actually be 110% which is quite high. So which means we're utilizing times typically which historically would not be considered a playable day. So people are playing more when it's hot. They're playing more when it's cold. They're willing to play in the rain, etc, etc.

1:48:07So when you compare that back to 2019, which was at 64%, we're now at 110%. So that shows the demand is very, very high. And that's a good sign that tells me that the market is still interested in continuing to come play the courses we're priced correctly. And there is some room for some upward movement there with the goal of trying to generate additional revenues that we can put back into the golf course.

1:48:33Some of the other things that we look at is we're building our budget which we're currently doing are the costs of our materials and supplies that we use to operate the golf courses. Equipment costs are up, labor costs are up, fertilizer costs are up, all of our costs are up. So that's another reason that we looked at doing another fee increase for 2026.

1:48:58I won't go through all of the fees. They're in the packet. If you go to the next slide, this is a breakdown of, and it's a very simple breakdown. And there's many different price points in the golf market. This is a weekday nine whole price. And these are the major players in the Salt Lake City market. The green ones are the Salt Lake City fees for 2025, which what they were and where they compared to other competitors.

1:49:28For the most part where we're about neck and neck, I would say the Salt Lake City courses are priced on the high end at Mountain Dell and Bonneville at the top of that spectrum. And on the other end of that spectrum, Nibley Park and Rose Park, they're at the bottom of the market there. So we feel we have a good representation from a price standpoint of different abilities to appeal to those looking to save some money when they play.

1:49:55The next slide represents the proposed fee increases at these individual courses, ranging as high as $3 at Mountain Dell, $3 above what it was previously. And Bonneville, $2 and Forest Dell and Glendale for $1. The projected revenue associated with these fee increases. There's many other increases that we're doing as well. We're increasing the cost of our past programs.

1:50:27Our young adult fee is another big one. Our tournament fees, there's a significant amount of them. But when we project that out, we're just over a million dollars of additional revenue that we would be bringing in with the hopes to continue to offset the expenses of the golf course and plus generate these additional projects that can benefit the course so that we truly are being driven by user fees.

1:50:57And the goal is to not be reliant upon general fund subsidies. And the next slide, which is the last slide. These are some of the projects that we did in fiscal year 25. We have planned in fiscal year 26 just to give you an idea of how this is these are dollars that have already been allocated for T-box leveling projects, cart path improvements.

1:51:23We had a major driving rage fence improvement at the Bonneville golf course. We have on course restrooms planned for Glendale, Forest Dell and Wiparck in 2020. It's our fiscal year 26. We have new maintenance buildings scheduled at Rose Park, Bonneville and Mountain Dell. There's a driving range addition to the Glendale driving range and a Nibley Park irrigation project as well as the Rose Park irrigation project.

1:51:52So that represents around $13 to $15 million worth of projects that we currently have booked and we have funded. So we hope to continue to fund more projects as we move along. We have about $33 million worth of unfunded improvement projects in addition to this. So we have a long way to go. But the last, I would say, five, six years have been very promising.

1:52:20And we hope to continue that. And I'm happy to answer any questions you have on fees. Any questions? Go ahead. Man, I just appreciate all the effort and work that you've done over the years to not only just improve the golf courses, but also the water efficiencies and the landscaping and also taking a look at our price because that is a big issue.

1:52:49If you overprice it, then no one comes and then you really not helping yourself out much and it's hard to come back from that. The quality of the golf courses and what you're doing with the golf courses making people want to go to them. So I think the, and you just kind of showed you that we're right in line with everybody else.

1:53:05And I appreciate what you've done so far because you're taking some of the burden off our general fund to improve the capital projects that we need on the golf courses so that we actually can maintain our players probably apply. So I appreciate the effort. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Well, sorry, I did raise my hand. Thank you, Chair.

1:53:32I was just going to mention we do have an SLC golf app. So if you'd ever liked a tea time or go tour one of the golf courses, happy to go with you. But Matt, just thanks again. I think I've seen a lot of improvements in general, just as I better understood how we finance golf and then just wanted to reiterate this has been an interesting way that we preserve green space.

1:53:53Actually, and I think for a lot of our community members, these end up being park spaces as well. So thank you for that. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Now we have a scheduled a tentative break. So shockingly, we were back on time. So we have a 20 minutes schedule. So we reconvene at 4 20. And we're going to keep going on that agenda. Thank you.

1:54:17Okay, we're back. We're going to go resume our agenda for the work session for today. Item number seven is a resolution related to the collective bargaining for Salt Lake City public library board. Joining us at the table will be Austin Kimmel policy council policy analyst and maybe Noah basket, our chief executive officer of the library and the library director.

2:19:02Sir, I had Toronto library board of directors president and we also have Maggie Mason, the every chief of people officer. So I think it's your time. Thanks, council members. The Salt Lake City public library is here to brief the council about a collective bargaining agreement or CBA between the library and the American Federation of State County and municipal employees or AFSCME.

2:19:31The council's consideration of the CBA is the council's final step in the collective bargaining process before it considers the library's FY 27 budget, which would include funding to meet the terms of the agreement. I'll mention a few key points before turning it over to the library. The CBA before the council today is the result of negotiations between the library and AFSCME after the council approved a labor resolution last year that established its framework.

2:19:59Under this agreement, part time employees would be eligible for union representation. This is unique to the city's labor agreements because nearly half of the library's employees are part time. The library anticipates the provisions of the agreement can be implemented within its existing and anticipated FY 27 budgets without a property tax increase.

2:20:21Lastly, the Salt Lake City library is considered a separate legal entity from Salt Lake City. The city council's role in the library budget is unique to other city enterprise funds. The library board sets the policy for library operations and the council is tasked with reviewing and approving the overall budget and setting the library's tax rate.

2:20:44And with that, I will turn it over to Noah, Sariah and Maggie. Thanks. Council Member Bichu. Can I just ask one clarifying question before we go on? With the repeal of 269, we're just now allowed to return to all things as normal before. Is that correct? There's no. Sorry, which with the repeal of the union, the anti collective bargaining law?

2:21:07Oh, yes, I believe. Yes. So everything is as before that law, nothing new in our considerations. That's my understanding. I don't think we've heard the last of the conversation. Yeah, I'm sure. You always make the work that goes back. But okay, as of right now, just thank you. Chair and members of the council, thank you for the opportunity to be here today.

2:21:29My name is Sariah Toronto, and I serve as president of the Salt Lake City Public Library Board of Directors. I'm here to introduce the collective bargaining agreement before you today and to offer a brief word on the board's perspective on the agreement. First, I'd like to acknowledge the spirit in which this agreement was developed.

2:21:48The contract is a result of a serious, good faith process between library leadership and library union represented employees. Throughout the board's role has been to ensure that the agreement supports three core priorities, fair and respectful treatment of employees, fiscal responsibility, and the library's ability to continue serving the public effectively.

2:22:11The library board of directors is very pleased with the outcome of the past year's collective bargaining process. The resulting agreement before you recognizes the essential contributions of library staff and provides clarity and stability in working conditions. It does so in a way that is aligned with the library's broader policies and commitment to effective financial stewardship.

2:22:34Importantly, this contract supports the library's mission as a public institution, one that depends on a skilled, committed workforce to provide access, learning, and community connection for residents across Salt Lake City. On behalf of the library board, I want to thank the library's administrative leadership, labor representatives, and staff for the collaborative approach that brought us to this point.

2:23:00And with that, I'll turn it over to our library director, Noah Baskett, and the library's chief people officer Maggie Mason, who can walk you through the specifics of the agreement and answer any questions you may have. Thanks, Sariah. Next slide, please. Before we dive into the specifics of the contract before you all, I want to just give you all some context related to the timeline.

2:23:24So it was actually back in April of 2024 that we first heard from city library employees, or desire to unionize for collective bargaining purposes. I joined the library in January of 2024, and we had the city council, you all approved the collective, the labor resolution that established the framework for collective bargaining in February of last year 2025.

2:23:53We then held a vote in May of 2025, where, as you can see, a significant majority of eligible library employees voted to unionize, about 92% of those who voted. In August, the end of August, we began the actual collective bargaining process, and we had a goal of reaching a tentative agreement, a tentative contract by the end of the year, and we were really pleased that we were able to reach a contract by November 13th.

2:24:27Library union members voted to approve that contract. They agreed to approve the contract. Our library board of directors voted to approve the contract in December 15th of this last year, and then we're here before you all today for your consideration for ratification of the contract. Next slide. The contract is comprised of 19 different articles that were developed through the collective bargaining process, and we break them down here as we go through it with you all in detail into these four categories, management rights, union recognition and rights, compensation and benefits, and grievances, and we're happy to answer any specifics on these four components or any of the specific articles, both as we walk through them, as well as anything else you want to any questions on any particulars at the end.

2:25:24Go ahead. I'll turn it over to Maggie Mason, our chief people officer, to talk through management rights. Next slide, please. Hi. I'm really excited to tell you more about this contract. First, I'd really like to thank my colleague, Blonna Hernandez, who started in July, and she came from Miami and had tons of experience with this and really carried us through.

2:25:46Management rights. So management retains exclusive rights over operations, staffing, assignments, scheduling, discipline, reorganization, emergency actions, all of that sort of stuff. We really tried to focus on sustainable living wages for our staff in this contract. But to do that, we did retain the right to make the necessary changes to be able to continue to do that if we, if funding changes.

2:26:08Our priorities to keep our employees and patrons safe and believe this contract allows us to do that while paying staff well. Next slide. Some of the details. So, as was mentioned, the full and part time staff are both recognized. This has to do with the heavy participation of staff that is part time. Union activities, so things like membership solicitation, elections, membership meetings that will occur on employees own time.

2:26:43Stewards, the library is going to recognize 10 stewards, so that's across all nine branches. And steward time spent in official representational activities will be paid when those meetings occur during their regularly scheduled shift. This representation activity, we've been actually really grateful for as a lot of employees, don't have access to some of the government institutions that can support them when they don't know what's going on.

2:27:08So we've really appreciated the union being able to be there to answer questions and be a trusted partner. That's been actually going really well. Compensation, so on July 1st, next slide. July 1st, 2026. Employees will be placed on a new step plan, and that's just the step that is closest to their current pay. No one will be placed at a rate lower when I'm trying to take anybody's money away.

2:27:34Through this, we're seeing about mostly 0 to 1% increases if they're there. Then we're going to go to, for the next three years of the contract expiration, we'll see 5.5 increases every year. So that's the step increase will be 2.5 and the COLA is 3%. This is in alignment with the NFT compensation study recommended in 2024.

2:27:58I'll just mention here, the library did have, we had ranges before versus a step plan, obviously in a union contract. Steps is more typical and it kind of standardized a little bit of what the library's practice already was, which included an annual cost of living increase, as well as what we call the longevity increase. This just formalizes that into a step plan.

2:28:22Thanks. Next slide. So we introduced bilingual pay to the library July 1st of 2025 last year, and that was 50 cents for the top 10 most common languages in Salt Lake City. We were really happy that this new contract does add an additional 50 cents, so it's a total of a $1 differential for those Spanish-speaking staff members who are doing the bulk of sort of the support for folks who are in need of translation or support services in a different language.

2:28:54Out of class pay, so previously our handbook said 20 consecutive days of work out of class, then we would change the compensation. The contract is changing it to 5. So after 5 consecutive days working out of class, we'll start paying. We're happy with this change. Next slide. Sick leave. So previously we had no sick leave cap, so we'll be introducing a 640 hour sick leave cap effect of July 2026 vacation leave.

2:29:30So we're now going to give employees an earlier opportunity to reach 26 days of vacation. So after it allows employees to reach 26 vacation days at 145 months of service instead of 252 health insurance, part-time employees will now be able to enroll in telehealth starting July 1, 2026. And then currently employees who are scheduled to work on Easter just don't get paid for that Easter holiday because it occurs on a Sunday.

2:30:01The only library open right now is Maine, but going forward when that Sunday occurs those that would have been scheduled to work will be paid. Next slide. So the contract allows for two types of grievances. There's contractual grievances and disciplinary grievances. So the contractual grievances follow a three step process ending with final review by the CEO.

2:30:23Similarly, the disciplinary grievances follow a two step process ending with final review by the CEO. Again, we're grateful to the union to be a trusted partner. Often employees are not super stressful of administration to have somebody else in the room who understands their rights and helps them understand whether we're getting it wrong or right.

2:30:42It's really helpful and I think it's going to be a helpful way to build some trust going forward. Next slide. So the contract goes into place July 2026, but some things are going to be in place soon now. So as soon as possible on call pay, the Easter holiday, we're hoping to do that this year. Labor management meetings, union dues paycheck deductions for those, enforced mandatory safety trainings and those new grievance procedures.

2:31:17What won't go into effect until July 2026 is the step plan, the sick leave cap, Spanish language bilingual increase and telehealth for part time employees. Next slide. And then I'll pick it over to now. Okay. So I'll talk a little bit just about what the proposed contract means in terms of overall cost of implementing the contract.

2:31:40What that means, both in terms of the forthcoming fiscal year as well as we've shared with city council before. Some of our longer term financial projections and talk a little bit about some of the implications as it relates to that as well. Next slide. So as we were preparing for the forthcoming fiscal year and we're right now in the midst of budget preparation for that year, we had an original financial forecasting that included a personal wage increase that averaged about 5.25% per year.

2:32:12The contract in front of you all essentially has a 5.5% increase, which is roughly a quarter of a percent more than what we had projected. That ends up being about $42,000, both for employees covered by the union and we're projecting that additional .254 non-union covered employees as well. There's also a cost related to a provision for maintenance to be on call.

2:32:43There are times where we need our maintenance team on call 24-7 when some issue at any one. And the rough cost for that is about $18,000 per year. And then Maggie mentioned the increase in a telehealth benefit for our part-time employees to provide some medical coverage as well as the cost of that Easter holiday. That roughly ends up being about $8,000 per year.

2:33:12So next slide. Roughly the total implementation cost of the contract for fiscal year 2027 will be essentially an additional increase in $68,000 for our personnel budget. Next slide. We are not projecting proposing a budget increase for this next fiscal year. For those costs that are increased with personnel, we plan to make up for those costs in other operational expenses.

2:33:43So again, we don't anticipate needing additional funding for this next year. Next slide, please. And then this is a little bit of a different graph of a slide that I've shared with you all before in terms of the library's long-term financial strategy, dating all the way back to fiscal year 2024 when we presented to City Council and you all were gracious to grant the library a tax increase with the long-term strategy of having a larger fund balance that would be spent down over time.

2:34:21You can see the red line in this graph shows a minimum fund balance that we need to keep in the library's coffers. The green line showed our projection over time. And then the blue line shows our current projection, which you can see to date there's been higher revenue received than was anticipated, but it would continue to be spent down over time.

2:34:49We had anticipated seeking an additional tax increase in fiscal year 2028. We were looking at the potential given the higher than anticipated revenue potentially that being later in fiscal year 2029. All that to say, this contract doesn't significantly change our long-term financial forecasting. And next slide, I think with that, we thank you again for the opportunity to present this contract with you all.

2:35:16And I would echo Sariah Toronto's gratitude for library staff that were involved in the bargaining process for AFSCME Local 1004 that had been a great partner to date. And we welcome any questions you all have for us. Council Member Young? I just really appreciate the thoughtfulness in which you've engaged in this. And you can see that very clearly reflected in your final statements related to budget and the commitment to be able to take existing resources and to streamline them to invest in your people.

2:35:51I understand that we throw big parties when we get to open a new building or when we have a really great new future in the city. And that it's a hard choice to make sometimes to say instead of that moment, we're going to invest in the people. But ultimately, it's the people who are the ones who make those really exciting ribbon-cutting, sustainable over time.

2:36:15So I just applaud you for making that choice. And I'm super excited to see this move forward. So thank you. Thank you Council Member. Thank you. We we hardly agree. Yep. Thank you for demonstrating in real time. That protecting workers is not an unrealistic financial investment for people. The narratives we hear are so skewed and so polarized and over politicized.

2:36:39And this is a lovely way for us to show that we're not we're not compromising the fiscal future of Salt Lake City. In fact, we're ensuring that we have an entire working class that can provide for themselves and have reasonable hope for recourse and advocacy as times move forward. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll give each other.

2:36:59Yeah, thanks. I really appreciate this and echo those sentiments as well. I wanted to say to the board to everybody that did the projections and handled them. Not only did you fit in a 5% COLA increase, but at year 2029, we really see the projections balance out, which is incredible. And I just want to mention and reflect again that the library workers unionized based off of the increase workload and the workload that is considered.

2:37:25It's now something we see lots of library services adapting to, but it was considered non traditional workload. And so many of them live in district four and work in district four and choose to work in the public main library as well as in the rest of our library system. So I just appreciate that we were able to reflect that in their compensation and benefits.

2:37:44Thank you, Council Member. Thank you. Council Member Caustin. I just want to say similar to Council Member Petros comments of it's nice to see positive negotiations result between an employer and an organized group of employees. And so thank you for demonstrating that positive. What happens when both parties come to the table in good faith.

2:38:07I'd also particularly like to call out the bilingual pay as something that I think is significant and important in terms of setting an important standard and message for those skills that an employee brings to the workplace. I have some questions, maybe more for Austin, you're able to answer them. But it seems that part time employees were included in this agreement because of the significant share of employees who are part time.

2:38:35I'm curious what the impact of this inclusion may or may not have on our other collective bargaining agreement with other entities. I think that might be difficult to say because this is just such a separate agreement. Even though it is with AFSCME and AFSCME also represents our city employees here. They're considered completely different bargaining groups.

2:39:01So it's something that I may not have a solid answer for you now, but certainly something I can follow up with after consulting HR. Thank you for that. I want to, you know, obviously this happening, I think it happened very often that we, you know, the portion of our city employees, you know, petition for a union and go through the long process.

2:39:30At the same time the state go in a completely different direction. While we were discussing this in public meetings that were voting to undermine the right of public employees to seek, you know, and unionize themselves. And fortunately right now we are in a place where that bill has died and it's not a reality anymore.

2:39:51But it also proves the values of our city and the values of our employees and how we can actually be physically conservative and forward looking on progressive at the same time to protect the service and our workers and the institution that they are part of. Certainly I have a concern and the concern doesn't relate necessarily about the process of this moment.

2:40:17I think this is a moment to celebrate for sure. But it relates to the combination of our tax line item between the library and the city. And I would like to know if there is any update on that process because that complicates things and makes things more, you know, less transparent, I believe, for taxpayers. Also makes accounting a little more complicated.

2:40:42I would love to see if there is a more update or not. I can chime in maybe with just a little bit of an update. And this is an update as of even last week. Things have been changing and evolving and not necessarily in the way we're hoping the county is now is going to be combining the revenues from the library property taxes and our property taxes, which would then mean those revenues would come into our general fund and we would pass it back to the library.

2:41:15That has the potential to impact what our required fund balances because obviously it'll make our revenue look bigger. I also think it's less transparent for taxpayers because taxpayers won't be able to see, you know, what money they're paying the goes to the library and what money they're paying the goes to the city.

2:41:30So I think it's fair to say we're still working on that. The county has pointed out that they need legislation in order to clarify that they're separate, that they should be separated. Obviously everyone here knows how successful Salt Lake City is during legislative sessions sometimes. And so it worries me that we're relying on legislation to fix that problem when really they created this problem to begin with.

2:42:01And so, yeah, and the combination of this conversation, the library and city being combined with the conversations that the state is engaging in in terms of capping property tax increases has me very concerned that the fate of the library will be inextricably tied to the fate of the city and not in a great way and fortunately for you guys.

2:42:24I think there's a lot more conversations that need to happen and we'll keep the council posted as those change. But I think the legislative subcommittee will probably be the place where a lot of those conversations kind of happen. So, thank you very much. I appreciate that Jennifer. So that would also just also impact the bonding because that would be part of that combination.

2:42:50How we bond and how we separate those bonds. And if they're, yeah, so. And so that also kind of leads to the next question we have a lot of big capital projects going on. We have the ballpark library. We have upgrades. And how does that affect your staffing and how does that affect your budget moving forward? Because I know some things will be moving and projected before 29.

2:43:18Possibly. Yeah, Council member. Questions around increases in staffing as we look at new buildings. I think I heard. I particularly as we look to a new full size branch. There likely would be implementable in. Yeah, got implications related to just overall headcount. That that is probably several years in the future and we're in really good dialogue with the mayor's office.

2:43:52Mary about the CFO just in terms of some of the potential different routes around addressing some of those capital needs as well as the timeline. So we're working with them. We hope to update city council soon. I think none of that is really in the near term. Some of those projections that I did share though in the last slide were based on kind of the assumptions that we've been operating under for the last several years though and to Jennifer's point.

2:44:22Some of those assumptions might be really different. Thank you for the information and it seems like we are scheduled to take action on this on February the third. So. Well, this next month. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Moving on to the agenda right now. Thank you. We're going on to item number eight, an ordinance related to a budget amendment number four for fiscal year 2025, 2026.

2:44:50Follow up meeting. So we jumped all over the place mostly because of my fault last time. So I trust you, Kate, what word? Council policy analyst. Maybeth Thompson is somewhere around us. I feel her presence. Oh, yes, she's there. And Greg clearly budget director is a good feeling. It's a good feeling. It's a good feeling.

2:45:16Similar to the Holy Ghost. So I trust you, Kate, to tell us what to discuss next. Great. So the plan today. Unless you have a different plan, which is great. I miss to go through the items in the order that is remaining. If we run out of time, we can jump or we're not enjoying the order. We can jump around too. But that being said, we're going to start in section eight and we're going to go.

2:45:47It looks like one through nine and then we'll do a few skips from there. A one. Scott, if you want to go ahead and pull that up, that'd be great. A one is a vehicle replacement for urban services division. The administration is requesting $37,000 to replace a compliance vehicle that was totaled in April of last year. The totaled vehicle was auctioned off for $142.

2:46:17And that money was totaled. Yes. That money was put in the fleet replacement fund. So those funds are encumbered for future replacements and aren't available for this. And so to offset the lost vehicle, they have been using a fleet, a loaner vehicle as well as a bicycle. And the division is proposing to transfer $37,000 from their operational budget to fleet to replace the electric vehicle.

2:46:47Hopefully the employee was fine. It seems that would seem like it was a scary situation. Go ahead. Is there any insurance reimbursement expected on something like that? Or if it's a fault of an employee, we can't expect something like that. So the city is self-insured with respect to vehicles. I believe there was an animal involved.

2:47:09They were trying to avoid an animal. Okay. So it's not likely that we'll see anything from the threat. That animal wasn't insured. It better not have been a rose park turkey. That's a big turkey. Move on. Great. A to trailer for facilities division. The administration is requesting $30,000 to purchase a drop down trailer to support the clean city team.

2:47:40This trailer will carry sidewalk scrubbing equipment and they are proposing. Well, this trailer will support them in increasing their capacity to respond to calls. So they have been using the facilities trailer, but facilities also need to use their trailer and they are both needing it more than they can handle right now.

2:48:04Great. With that, we'll go to a three wildfire fighting expansion funding with Michael. Okay. So the fire department is requesting $88,000 in general funding to strengthen their wild land fire preparedness and response capabilities. This funding is going to support increased staffing during red flag days, expanded wildfire training opportunities for firefighters, and the position of wild land PPE and tools and replacement of aging wild land operation radios.

2:48:51Approval of this item will add $75,000 ongoing to the general fund. Moving on to item A4, which is public lands one time personnel services. Oh, excuse me. Just real quick about A3. Sorry. Is this a service like in a training that we can provide outside of Salt Lake City or is it just specific to our Salt Lake City fire?

2:49:20So the Chief isn't here. He is out. He was here last week, but he's not in the city, but I will get back with you on that. Perfect. And I guess my question, my follow up to that is if the answer is yes, we offer it elsewhere. Just is there any sort of like cost sharing or is it just we just make it available in terms of being able to provide that as a service to others.

2:49:48Great. We'll get back with you. Thank you. Thank you. Ready? I think we're good. Okay. So A4 is public lands one time personnel services budget rescope for equipment purchases. This would be a one time transfer from the general fund to fleet for $163,900. The Department of Public Lands proposes to purchase new equipment using 163.

2:50:13Well, I already said that number that $163,000 approximately of FY26 personnel funding from attrition and vacancy savings. Over the next six months, the equipment includes utility vehicle to water newly planted trees in district two. It's a trincher to replace a unit that was stolen a few years ago. An aerator for the regional athletic complex, which has is currently sharing that with other parts of the department.

2:50:40And a small excavator for trail building and other tasks. I know where you're going to ask. No, there was a public services one by sure. There was a public services one last time. And one of those items actually included a public lands piece of equipment. Yes. Okay. And I remember that answer was that that particular vehicle would not be used for trail building.

2:51:20This one will be. So tell me about that. I would suggest that someone from the Department of Public Lands could tell you more about that. Okay. There's a right and the wrong answer seems like. Thanks, Council. Good question. I would add that it's primarily for trial maintenance at this point. I think once we come back to the Council to discuss further trail planning, then we would use it for trail building.

2:51:50But at this time, we do do a lot of trail maintenance primarily with handwork or will use rented equipment. And so it'd be primarily used for maintenance until we get full approval for the future of trail construction. Yeah, go ahead. Just noting that we have lost several things due to like them being stolen. Are we also as as part of these funding?

2:52:14Like do we have a solution for like locking them up or making it less likely that they're going to be stolen. Good question. We are adding a lot more security to where we are housing some of this equipment. So both at Liberty Park, Jordan Park, this specific equipment, if allocated would probably be stored at the cemetery, which would allow easier access into the foothills.

2:52:38And we would look to have the same kind of added security at that space where we're adding cameras. Awesome. So that would just be my request. As we're accumulating and replacing equipment, if we know it's likely to be like high on a threshold for being valuable to somebody else and having that stolen, whatever we can do to take the security precautions would be awesome.

2:53:01So we haven't had we haven't owned one of these before, right? Okay. So, I mean, I just want to make sure that. Let me clarify that, Chris. We do own one in public lands. We just don't have one allocated for a trail work primarily. So it's often used primarily in other areas, our department. Got it. Okay. I mean, I just want to make sure that this doesn't, if we're still kind of implementing the plan, we haven't released the funding yet.

2:53:38Why does this need to happen right now as opposed to during the general budget? Good question. We have grown our operation teams a lot. So we have somebody now skilled in operating this piece of equipment, which is important. And I also think primarily it would just give us the advantage to do maintenance in-house on our own and save a lot of money in comparison to hiring.

2:54:06So the last several years we've hired a contractor to come and do this maintenance. So it's really a cost efficiency piece for the department. Let me see. Okay. Thank you. The next item A5 will be discussed in closed session. So I'll move on to A6, which is a pedestrian bridge over the surplus canal at Glendale Golf Course.

2:54:29And I just lost my notes. Here we go. This would be a general fund cost one time for $250,000. It would fund construction for improvements under an existing pedestrian bridge, which spans the surplus levy levy at Glendale Golf Course. The improvements would treat existing erosion and prevent further erosion around the bridge piles and protect the structural integrity of the surplus canal banks.

2:54:54Construction is considered urgent because FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, updates their flood insurance rate maps based on levy conditions reported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Any levy deficiencies can lead to increased flood insurance rates for homes and businesses that are protected by the levy.

2:55:12Great. Going on to A9, Public Services, Facilities Division, Old Library and Needing Facility needs. The Old Library is also known as the Leonardo. They are requesting $195,000 for maintenance and security updates to the Leonardo. $130,000 of that will go to update a defunct access control system and to install security cameras.

2:55:49$65,000 of that will be used towards maintenance, security, repairs, janitorial services and moving. Majority of that $65,000 you will see again in the fiscal year 2027 budget as an ongoing request. How much of that money is ongoing? Is that like one time? One time is $130,000 for security and cameras. The security access panel update and cameras.

2:56:22And then $65,000 for ground maintenance, security, repairs, to doors, janitorial services and moving. Okay. First to me that there are going to be more than that for ongoing the landscaping of that place. It's incredible. The Council Member Young. I would say not any specific concerns with this request. I do think we're probably going to be nearing the space as we look at the future comprehensive budget where it would be helpful to know what are the comprehensive costs related to that building in particular related to the use cases.

2:56:59Just so that we can kind of get our heads around like what that is. And as a part of that maybe having a comparison to like if we were to not like, you know, use that building but still had to go about acquiring space for staff. Like what that type of cost comparison would be for an asset that is the cities versus going out to more of a like public market.

2:57:24Okay. Next up is another item related to the old library, A11. We already did attend. So with this, it's the old library, PASA 349 and related to the justice court. And capital improvements to address the personnel space constraints. The administration is proposing capital improvements to the old library and PASA 349 to support the additional justice court personnel and also other city staff.

2:57:58These improvements should deal with the space needs for the justice courts. And as well as some general fund departments for a few years. The old library improvements include elevators, HVAC, and related systems and conversion of the existing galleries and classrooms to a mixed use and office space and meeting rooms. PASA 349, it'll be upgraded to aging building systems and relocation of a portion of the justice court staff.

2:58:31These capital construction costs will be funded using the crude interest from tax exempt bonds. A portion of it personnel costs cannot be taken from that interest. It's $889,000 for fixture furniture and equipment, which also cannot be funded by bond interest. That will come from the general fund. Thank you. Appreciate that.

2:59:02And I do acknowledge the need for the upgrades to Leonardo and Plaza 349 and to house our justice court because they're busting at the seams of the court. But I look at this price tag and this current state that we're in as far as the budget is concerned and current state the city is in as far as infrastructure is concerned.

2:59:25And I see that there's less of a need than other areas. This is more of a desire. We do need to do this, but I also see some really needs for street maintenance. And I mentioned this to the administration earlier in the month or so about this and how we could use some of this funds to use sooner in this fiscal year. I mean, this is $5.5 million for this fiscal year's budget, even though it won't be spent this fiscal year, but it'll be allocated.

2:59:59But we could actually use some funding for streets out of house. I mean, if it was just $889,000 from the general fund that would be there, we could use that because we're in dire need. And my constituents, I think a lot of city constituents, understand that the city needs wants this, but we need roads. And we did not approve some CIP road improvements because we didn't have the CIP funding for it.

3:00:30But when we see this, they go, so you're speaking at both now. So I would really like to just to look at this maybe a little closer and possibly take some of this money and put it to the streets out of the house. Now that's me speaking here. I mean, there's also always some ideas of where the money comes from. But I'd really like to look at this funding and see how we can get some more money to our streets that are in sort of desperate needs.

3:00:56Thank you. Yes, please go ahead. Maybe I could just explain the plans for the building and why it's kind of critically important right now. So the plan is to put 70 employees from three departments on the third floor of the Leonardo. And that will free up space in 349 for the additional Justice Court judge. And so everything's a little bit linked there.

3:01:27And we are at capacity in this building and at the public lands building. And so I will share the three departments that we're moving is sustainability out of this building. The city architect out of 349 and public lands professional staff. And so that includes their planners, their events people, their communications team and their leadership.

3:01:57And those three divisions, departments work together often. Hopefully that will create synergy. But what it really does free up space at 349 that we can have overflow for the Justice Courts as we hire the new employees there. That is also in this budget amendment. I appreciate that. I totally understand. I'm not discounting the want and the needs for it.

3:02:25I just think there's a higher need in other places. I look at all the other equipment that we're buying and those equipment are more than the need because we need them and we need to do our job. In this case here, I really think that we need to take a hard look at our infrastructure side of the house and with the current budget.

3:02:44And then when the fund bounces the original was 11%. And then we had the infusion of additional funds that make 16%. I thought, okay, this is an area where we can actually add some more money to our streets. Because we're going to get briefed down here in a few, hopefully in a few weeks on the street conditions of OCI overall conditions index.

3:03:11And we're going to see that it's going to be a big bill. And I really want to make sure we can ship at that early now. So that's where I'm sitting right now. So. Council chair. Just a reminder, remind the council that 889, you're correct, can be used for street maintenance. The additional interest cannot be used for street maintenance can only be used for construction.

3:03:35And that's what I figured. I figured that that was a caveat for the interest, but the 889 could be used for street maintenance. And I'm not sure if that money could actually be spent this year on this side of the house because this is a budget year, six months, and all this work is not totally contracted out for that for that month of time.

3:03:57And we have another fiscal year coming up on July 1st. And so we could actually use some of this money this fiscal year on our streets because the weather is great for street maintenance right now. The one other thing I just wanted to add is it will take us about six months after the money approved in order to get both buildings ready for staff.

3:04:16And we do not have space for a justice court for a new judge at the justice court without bringing up space up our own. So you're saying that because of the older moving parts regarding the justice court and the conversations we had last week about this, we're going to potentially approve the funding to the new judge and all of the supporting staff that needs to be to happen.

3:04:45But we don't have the space for that to actually happen. So either this or something else needs to happen for the up to be able to have a judge. Now, okay, that is important clarification. And my concern, I mean, the building itself, this seems like a drop in the bucket for what my understanding is of what that building needs.

3:05:08And I'm not even a political science person. I am not a building expert or an architect, but I know a lot of people that used to work in the building and tell me how bad it is. My concern is that we are allocating this money and then the administration is going to come back in six months and in a year and two years. And they're going to keep on asking us for money.

3:05:31And I'm not saying that we shouldn't, but I would like to have some sort of certainty, not that you can promise things are perfect or not, but that maybe the direction is to bond for like to do a right and to do a big and to have all the... the tools to do it, including this building, that also is needing some love potentially.

3:05:55Maybe it is my perspective too. But I will have your thoughts on that. I do think that there are... and I look to JP too. I don't know if he wants to come up, but I do think there are additional repairs. We would have to figure out alternative solutions to one being the escalator. That is not included in this. The escalator is 50 years old or something, maybe longer.

3:06:20It's a significant piece of the architecture. So we definitely will be coming back to the council with some solution for the escalator with recommended ways to pay for it. Just to address your question, council member. The building itself isn't as in a bad shape as you may have heard. Part of that 163,000 we just asked before we've been addressing a lot of the deferred maintenance issues that have been building up.

3:06:52But we're chipping away at those. So other than the elevators and the escalators, obviously, there aren't really any major systems that need to be replaced. So as far as a bond or really big ticket items, we don't foresee those coming up. So, the secondary question to this, and I know that this is, you know, might also require some money, but it's, you know, the asset management of the properties that we own and the departments and how they are in different places.

3:07:26And if there is a vision to consolidate some of those, they may free up some other land for development or for other goals of the city. And I know that some of that has been done in the past with probably a very big price tag to it, but I would like to freshen up on what our vision was then. It may not be on the cards right now because it may be too expensive, but I would like to explore what are you thinking about potentially consolidating some other departments into that building, which to me will make sense.

3:08:04Right. There is an easy access to the city. Everybody knows that the city government is somewhere in here, either in this building or across. So there is a benefit to that, but I would love to see a longer vision on that council member. Yeah, I just, I very much appreciate all of the comments from my fellow council members.

3:08:27I also want to make sure I show appreciation for the city. This was not an expected like, oh, in our five to 10 year plan. And it's definitely been one of those assets that is obviously important to us, but we also don't want it to sit, you know, unused because even in an unused capacity, we're going to have to dump resources into it from both a security standpoint, as well as just a basic maintenance.

3:08:55I appreciate that we are trying to find that like thread the needle moment where it's like, how can we use it to the best of our capacity at this time. And I do think that, like I said, as we look ahead to the future budgetary planning process, hopefully that gives us a little more time to consider what would our long term solution in this space be as it relates to the civic campus and some of those larger scale conversations.

3:09:23So thank you. I know that you didn't ask for this gift and that you're certainly just making the best of it. And again, I do appreciate the solutions that you've brought forward to help us bridge that gap. Consume a warden and then Pietro. And that's really the exact point that I was going to make is just that this is going to continue to cost money.

3:09:51And there's no way that we're going to get it to a workable place without without that investment. So I'm supportive of this, but I really do want to know more comprehensively what the plan is between these buildings. This the Justice Court through Plaza 349 and this building.

3:10:13I know that I have many ideas, but this is an administrative decision. So I don't want to like insert myself into that, but I guess I just need to to better understand. And I hope that whatever build out we do with this money, if it's approved, isn't going to be limiting that effort in the future. And I'm sure that that's on all of your radar as well.

3:10:42So yeah, the sooner that we can be able to kind of explain what the general plan is for all of these things, I think the better and the more these questions will be answered. But thank you. I just want to go on record to saying I'm a lot closer to Councilman Young. I think this is pretty forward looking with some unexpected inventory and opportunities that we had with the building we didn't proceed.

3:11:13My only question would be the things that we're investing in now. Are they things that we would potentially have to undo in the future? Or are they things that if we decided it's not the courts that are going to go over there, we're going to put business licensing over there? Is it something that could be repurposed and not require either a redundant investment or a completely undo this investment and lay over top?

3:11:37Yeah, if you'd like to get into detail, we have our city architect Sean Fife here. You can speak to some of those things in Jacob's ass. I think what we're proposing right now is simply just freeing up some space, some office space. So it's not a dramatic remodel of any type that Sean can speak to the details on that.

3:11:58I will say that our tenure outlook for office space needs, just office space alone is roughly 50,000 square feet and this will get us a pretty big chunk of that. And it'll buy us a lot of time in terms of office space. So on the third floor, there's that opportunity. This office space issue is one of the few places that you all let the elected feel the same pain as the people who work here full time.

3:12:23So no questions about that. Yeah, just briefly, the study we performed was pretty vanilla. We were really trying to see what we could fit on the third floor. So it's a very preliminary kind of layout, but we can fit around 70 or so staff members, which includes open office space and private office. And the question about being able to undo any of that, I don't think it would take much of an effort to change things because a lot of it is open office already.

3:13:01Part of the general fund money is for furniture that can be reused, repurposed, reorganized, however we need to have a flexible use. Thank you. Go ahead. I also have some questions about just the building. And I feel like she's an old bird. And once you get in there, you start to realize all these other things that I say this is someone with an old house.

3:13:29You start to uncover a lot. So I do anticipate that there will likely be other things that come up in this process and wanting to be as clear about those as early on as possible as we can. The next question I have is regarding the employees or the departments that would be moved there. How did you decide those were the departments that could move there and what creative explorations or insights or opportunities are you hoping by bringing those employees into the same space?

3:14:00I think it really started with the justice courts and knowing that there was absolutely no additional capacity there. And so it made sense to try to create space at 3.49 for overflow at the justice courts. And we really explored all of the divisions that are housed at 3.49 and probably we've explored every single department and division in the city.

3:14:27And certainly the goals we had are what work groups work together so that we can create that synergy.

3:14:40Maybe I can just add one more thing. Certainly the goal of this, you all did have the space briefing I think a month or so ago. So you're kind of aware of the capacity that JP just mentioned. The goal of this is to delay the need to bond for a new administrative office building for at least five years. You had the briefing from Mary Beth that showed you when a bonds fall off so that we would have additional capacity.

3:15:08Without necessarily raising taxes to bond. And so that's the goal. We hope that this does buy us five to ten years. I'm excited to be able to see that building shine a little bit. Again, it really is sad to see how it is right now. And for those that like the brutalist style, I think there are former Councilman Romano was very adamant about how beautiful it was.

3:15:39But no, I'm excited to bring some life to it. And one of the questions I have is what are you going to do with the plane? But I mean, you know, we can go into that in a different meeting. Question for the future. Thank you. I think we are on time. Am I, are we? I'm supposed to know this. Yes. We have a few minutes. You know, I also would like to bring up an item to the Council.

3:16:19The I would like to include in this budget amendment $50,000 for to match what the Mayor's office puts on legal support to our community. So I would like us to consider also pitching another $50,000 to that effort. And so I would like us to discuss, you know, to see if there is any concerns about that and see if we can actually include it in this budget opening.

3:16:50No, no, no, just from general fund. And it's one time. Yes. And it would be a Council added item, which the Council is legally allowed to do. Is that what did that put our fund balance at? I know it's we're still so I think you're. Mary Beth, help me remember the dollar amount above 13% with the finalizing of the audit.

3:17:19That took the fund balance percentage back up to like the 16, 17% range and we'd still be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have 20 million above 13. Okay.

3:17:32Do you have an item of two that we can discuss still? We have many. Okay. Okay. The next item on the list is a 12 trailer for public services street division. This is a separate trailer from all the others. Oh my God. So this is a wear and tear item. It's been getting a lot of use. It was scheduled to be replaced in fiscal year 27.

3:18:03They are requesting $58,000 to replace this permanent value item. And they are proposing to transfer $58,000 from the streets budget to the fleet budget to fund this replacement. Why the streets budget? It's a streets trailer. It's a streets trailer. It's streets trailer. Maybe help me understand because I just I am in council member Dugan's bucket of where people are like we've been asking for our street for ages.

3:18:39I'm like, I hear you. And so when they see like, Oh, just kidding. We bought a trailer like help me help me explain like how this helps us in the long run with our streets. Yes, I can do that. Julie Crookston public services. This trailer is used to move equipment to streets so we can repair it. So without the trailer, we can't go repair the street.

3:19:00And we have already owned this trailer. It broke unexpectedly. So normally we would have replaced it next year through the normal cycle of things. But it will need to be used this spring and streets has some money because we haven't spent as much money on salt this year because it's not snowing as much. So we were able to find, you know, we pulled our pennies together and said, let's move this money from streets into fleet so that we can get this trailer sooner so that we can still do our work this spring to repair the roads rather than, you know, trying to share our other trailers and then every group is less efficient and we're not doing as many repairs.

3:19:38I love it. So I heard two things. I'm going to repeat them back and you can be like, that is incorrect. Council member Young. So one is that we didn't cut any streets off the list to be able to do this. So everyone who was already there is still there. This is like, you know, saving pennies in the couch and that if we want those projects of which I have one that is slated for this spring to happen on time, this trailer is necessary to be able to keep us on track.

3:20:09Correct. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm still worried that the city is in the pocket of big trailer though. Let me jump in just through the previous item that I brought up on the council added item. Will the council members be okay if I make a request and we just show our feelings about that right now? Okay. $50,000. Okay.

3:20:42Seems like it's unanimous. So now jump back into. Next up is A13. All right. So A13 is from the police department. The police department is requesting $292,833 ongoing from the general fund to fund a homeless resource center mitigation officer. This position was previously funded through the state homeless mitigation grant.

3:21:08However, the grant fund, the grant award for FY 2026 was reduced by the amount being requested from the general fund in this amendment. This funding would allow the police department to maintain current HRC staffing levels of 19 FTEs.

3:21:33We're still subsidizing this issue that I have all of us concerns about this. No, because we don't think there is a need, but because the rhetoric is usually that we are not doing enough, but then yet they don't fund the needed services to make sure that this happens. I'm supportive of it, but it really is a subsidizing estate problem yet again.

3:22:06So I think we're okay to move on. Do you like to continue, Mr. Chair? Yes, one more. Okay. I believe we are on A18 because you passed several of the or you heard several of the others in the interim between A13 and 18. So A18 is parking wayfinding signage would be one time funds from the general fund for $584,000 and change.

3:22:33These funds would repair or replace 54 wayfinding signs that were once located downtown. Of these 54, only 17 remain in service. The city does not have the equipment needed to produce these large signs, so the administration proposes that council consider two potential options for the 17 existing signs. The first would be to use a vinyl overlay to repair them at $3,100 each, or the second option is refurbishing them at $4,900 each.

3:23:01So that would be a difference between the two options of $52,700 total for the vinyl overlay and $83,304 refurbishment. They also add that some of the foundations of the 17 existing signs may also need refurbishment at $1,700 each for a total of $28,900. The remainder of the total $584,495 that's requested for this item would then be used to pay for new signs at $12,400 each to replace the 37 signs that no longer exist.

3:23:37Go ahead. Can you just describe what wayfinding signs are? Are these for when I'm looking to park and you're telling me where I can and can't park? Are you directing me to the public parking lots? What qualify would a wayfinding sign is for me, please? I will defer to the administration. Thank you. Sorry. Hi, everyone.

3:24:03Tammy Hunsaker, Director of Community and Neighborhoods. So parking wayfinding is a systematic approach to guiding individuals driving to available parking within the city. So not only on street parking, but there's a lot of privately owned parking garages and also city and CRA owned parking that the public doesn't know exists.

3:24:25So it would have uniform signage around the city directing people to available parking. Any chance those privately owned pitch into this? Because it's like guiding to our parking seems intuitive, right? But we don't point to other people's businesses, even though I get it's a benefit to us for people to park in legal places.

3:24:44But it does feel like if we're going to direct customers literally to that business that they should be contributing to the signage cost. That is a good point. I think it's a public benefit for the city to be able to point out publicly available parking. This actually came up. It's been on the city's radar for quite some time that the wayfinding signage needs to be updated.

3:25:09But it really came to a head with SB 195. One of the issues that was identified by public outreach done by Yethot and the city has a lot to do with available parking. And so we have committed to the state to come to the council to ask for budget to replace and improve the parking wayfinding signage. In a lot of cities, there's actually also a technology solution through an app.

3:25:37And so this wouldn't go that far, but it would have coordinated and branding to have uniform signage around the city. And we think it will help a lot with some of the parking issues. I think the parking downtown has really been compounded by the major population growth that has happened downtown. In 2000, there were just a few thousand people living downtown.

3:26:03Thousands and thousands of units have come online. It's happened so fast. I don't know the current data, but I think there's like 20,000 housing units now in the greater downtown area. So there's more competition for parking downtown, curb space. We also have in recent years Amazon deliveries, Uber Eats, DoorDash, all of those things.

3:26:23So there's a lot of competition for the curb space. Some of the recent street improvements we've added parking in some areas. Parking has been removed in other areas, but we do know that on street parking is inadequate to deal with the parking needs of the city. So I think from the administration's perspective, we think it's a public benefit to have point out to the community where that publicly available parking is, even if it's privately owned.

3:26:50Thank you. This may be a dumb question, but I see that there used to be 54 and looks like only 17 remain in size. So how's it been going with the decline of these signs and is there a need to truly replace them? I actually, when we started to talk about parking wayfinding, some of us were like, oh yeah, there is a wayfinding system, but it's so old and so many of the signs are missing that people don't even notice it.

3:27:22They're kind of brown in color and there really isn't a pop to make them stand out to the community. So there are pieces of signage infrastructure that we can still utilize and leverage, but we really need a new design and a new comprehensive program for the wayfinding. Thank you very much. I appreciate the effort here and I understand the need for parking.

3:27:48I just went to Google Map and that showed me all these parking spots needed. And when I look at this application right here and I'm on the oldest end of the spectrum, and the technology is out there and I don't see us needing to spend $600,000 on signs to tell people parking where to park with this. Now, I will caveat that I look at those signs, but I also go back to John Larson's point when John Larson tells me about we need an extra stop sign here or speed sign here, and we are inundated with signs on the city streets.

3:28:27And we have so many signs on our street streets that people are buried in there and we actually are over signage across the board. We over signage in manufacturing worlds when we tell people, hey, they need to wear their safety glasses. They need to wear their safety gloves. We need to wear their stuff. We over sign it.

3:28:44No smoking. All that stuff is just blurs. And so when I look at this and go $600,000 on this and I don't really see the need for this in the modern world and we have technology that's people look at 24 hours a day. And so the sign on the street, though, may be important in some areas, I think is a better use of spending that money somewhere else.

3:29:10Hmm, wonder where. But I think we need to really look at it a little bit further than just spending $600,000 on signs to tell people where to park when they're going to use your phone. That's my soapbox. We're young. I too am old, Council Member Dugan, despite my last name being young. And I will say that although I do appreciate the technology that you're highlighting as somebody who is not a proficient enough driver to be able to use my cell phone and drive, like sometimes you're just limited to like showing up and being like, okay, like what am I seeing?

3:29:49Like what's available in the area? Do you wonder if there's maybe an opportunity to say what would the proposal look like if it was just specific to like the city, the city owned parking and the private parking is at least like a start in that direction that maybe doesn't take us like all the way into the private parking space unless you're like, yeah, but that points you to like five spaces and therefore wouldn't serve any purpose.

3:30:16Yeah, there aren't many city, most of them are CRA owned like the one over on Broadway. So I don't think we would have economies of scale to have it be effective if we only pointed to the city and the CRA own parking. I will, I do appreciate Council Member Dugan's points, but the administration feels that this is also important in preparing for the Olympics and some other big events that are coming downtown.

3:30:45Well, and I guess I will say that the piece that's more compelling than my bad driving and my personal needs is more specific to, you know, that we've gotten feedback related to visitors that be who come for 45 days every year in terms of, you know, what they're believing as some of the challenges are. And if this is the token that demonstrates like we are committed to solutions that allow Salt Lake City to get back the control over our streets.

3:31:17To me, this is then a valuable investment. Can I just add, I think this is very similar to the conversation you just had with the downtown Alliance that as you look across the country, most cities are size or bigger have very standard parking icons that you can find throughout. I took picture after picture when we were in Seattle with the downtown excursion there. And so I do think we're a little behind not to have these wayfinding signs on all of our parking graduates.

3:31:47I would like the administration to explore a little more of, it seems like we value the way finding idea and make sure that people know that there is actual parking. For those that are in the legislature to know that we have done studies also because we know that there is parking. But I would love to, I know that in Galivan, many times it's underutilized the parking and teaching people that Galivan is there, there is several floors of parking under that building.

3:32:24So it's something that is very important to me, it's in the middle of downtown. So I also struggle with the idea of just like these signs that will just solve the problem. I don't think that's true, but I am hoping that maybe there is a way of investing maybe a little more money or different money into more technology that will help us help our visitors or residents find the parking.

3:32:53I was trying to figure out what signs those are, there's 17 out there, I don't know if it's just a little sign, another sign, most of us don't even pay attention to those. But maybe there is better technology out there where it tells you how many available spots there are in the near area. I wonder if that money could be better allocated with higher technology.

3:33:20But certainly I would love to focus on Galivan for us because that is underutilized, my accent is kind of all the way right now, underutilized asset as far as parking goes. But generally supported, but I have some questions. Go ahead and look, Chavez. Thank you. I just had one comment and that is as we seek to integrate other cloud systems, just making sure that on the back end, if it's a smike, excuse me, a smart, an Ike smart city board.

3:33:49To be able to integrate with that, I think that's part of what we're seeing is if we can integrate the experiences, whether you come up vehicle, you need pedestrian walkway accessibility, maybe scooters. I think there's lots of ways to get that information. And if we're planning for the Olympics, I would hope that we're able to integrate them eventually into an application that people can just download and have this easily accessible.

3:34:11And the proposal right now is just still metal signs in the street. That's why you're trying to replace and maybe my direction and maybe a council member of Chavez is maybe we want to explore a little bit different direction to accomplish the same. It doesn't mean that I'm not supportive of some of the signs and some key areas that might be useful for me.

3:34:34But any other thoughts? Just one final comment. Thank you very much. Public transportation. Then you don't have to worry about cars. I'm parking. But we build a parking. I'm sorry. This one might point there, but we realize that we are in a time of year where the budget is going to be tight. And we've got to start looking at our wants and our needs and how we're spending our money across the board.

3:35:06And though we have a good strong fund balance, we look at the deferred maintenance. We look at our, again, I'm going to continue to go with the harpers on the streets of the house and deferred maintenance and other issues that we need to really address. And when we look at that and we look at some signs, we go, where can we make those hard cuts?

3:35:32And this is one of those areas where I go, hmm, is this really where we need to spend as much money on signs? And is there a better way that's not there that we're not looking at because we've always been kind of flushed with money over the last few years? And that's my one caveat over the last two items that I've kind of still out there is are we not looking at it in a, with all eyes open?

3:35:56Thank you very much. Thank you. You're very consistent today. Thank you so much, everyone. I think we are through with the items for today. I appreciate the time. We're a little behind now. Moving, we have pulled item number nine. So the legislative briefing follow up. It's been removed from the agenda. We're moving to the board appointments for the business advisory board, Candy Tissen.

3:36:23Candy. And then following that, we're going to have another business advisory board. Mass Hart, Kathy. Are those potential board members online? Oh, yeah. There's one person. Let me see. It's Candy. Hello. It's online. Okay. Candy. We would love to hear from you for a few minutes. Why are you interested in joining this board?

3:36:54One. I'm Candy Tissen. I'm interested in joining the board because I have a special love for downtown and for Salt Lake. I currently own a business myself downtown. And so I just have a passion for the businesses there. And I started in the downtown farmers market. And so just go like a love for it. And I just want to be a part of something that helps other people achieve their dreams.

3:37:26I use the bat myself to for a loan for my business. And it was one of the best things that ever happened. And I feel like I would love to be able to get out there to other businesses and help them learn about this program because before I met the individuals from there, I had no idea that these resources were even available to me.

3:37:50And so for me, I just want to connect other businesses to be able to know that there's resources out there, that there's things that they can do when they're not doing so well or when they have questions or concerns. And so for me, I just really feel like doing that in Salt Lake and especially for Salt Lake businesses would be near and dear for me.

3:38:12That's great. Thank you. That's where my love is. Candy, I miss you for everyone. I want to brag. So you may remember in 2024, Candy and her business partner and husband Byron received the EDLF loan fund to start to eat bakery. So now they're on third east and third south right on that corner. And they've been nothing but exceptional to the business community and in central city, but also to those minority owned and black owned businesses.

3:38:44And so I just wanted to highlight again that they're ultimately, they came from the farmers market, they took advantage of our loan program and they've taken advantage of a lot of resources. So they have been really great advocates for other businesses. And I think as they look to improve different areas of our city and to grow their business, that they have a lot of expertise in this as well.

3:39:06So I'm just really excited, Candy. I was super excited when I saw your application come through and you're in nomination, but it's been really awesome to be their council member representative. I know how much they care about our city. And so I would love love love if we approve this tonight. Councilor Carson. Hi, Candy.

3:39:24I just want to say thank you. I saw on your application that you're a veteran and to say thank you for your service. And thank you for responding to the call to serve again this time at the city level and appreciate you putting forward your name and to the benefits that you've brought to that community. And I mean the community where your Eats is located, but just in general.

3:39:45So thank you for that. Thank you. It's been my pleasure. Let me tell you a little bit about the process now. So you're going to be placed on the consent agenda tonight at the 7 p.m. meeting. So there is no need to attend the meeting. And usually we approve the consent agenda automatically through the process that we go through.

3:40:07So that's the process. So after that the administration will contact you to follow next steps. Okay. Thank you. Am I able to say one last thing before I go? Sorry, I'm a talker. You mentioned about service and that's another thing that I, my mind went blank, but service is just something that I feel like has just been put on me in my heart and serving my country and then now being able to serve my community in a way of having a business, but even just being able to serve my community in a sense of showing people that there's opportunities there that they don't know about and helping them achieve their dreams.

3:40:49Like someone helped me achieve mine is probably just as big a service as all the others. And so I just feel honored to even be considered for this honestly. I mean, it's just amazing. So thank you for your time. Thank you for your willingness to serve and impact our community for the better. So it's amazing to hear you.

3:41:10We're going to move on to the next board appointment for the Business Advisory Board, Ms. Hart-Cathy. You come in, you can sit down right here on the first chair. You can push the button and it turns green. When it turns green, you can speak to it and tell us a little bit about why you want to serve. That's the mic. So my name is Mazar-Cathy and I have recently started a business development consultancy, which is located on the Broadway and the main.

3:41:43And the focus of my organization is towards the immigrants from the East. There have been a lot of immigrants coming in from the East part of the world, especially to Utah Valley area. A lot of Afghans, a lot of Syrians. But in the economy, there are not that many facilities and services available to cater their cultural needs.

3:42:07Like the way they celebrate their birthdays, the way they celebrate their debts, the way they celebrate their weddings and anniversaries. There are no businesses and there are no services for them. So I am identifying individuals who have the skill set and who have the capacity and helping them start their business in Salt Lake City.

3:42:29That's great. Any thoughts, any questions? Can one more? Be true. I am so incredibly excited for him to be sitting here. This is part of the commitment we made during this past year. My campaign this past time was not traditional because it felt a little silly to raise money when we were in the middle of a world that is reconstructing the social contract in ways that are so damaging.

3:42:54And so one of the lovely things that came out of a year of campaigning was a relationship with the mosque. And my commitment to the community is to make sure that I am not representing them, but I am elevating them so that their voices can be heard individually and they don't need me to pass them a microphone. They have one.

3:43:12And Mazar is one of the first people to stand up and assertively, no one has pursued this with the sort of consistent passion. This is an opportunity for us to hear from another community, but this is one of those ways where I tell everyone who says DEI is something negative to shove it because this man here will make us better.

3:43:32His tenacity, his persistence, his insight, his desire to serve are all things that we desperately need and it doesn't matter if you're from a minoritized community or if you're trying to do something new in America or if your family has been here for generations. This man's service makes us all better and elevates us.

3:43:51So thank you for being willing to give of yourself. Thank you for your persistence and tenacity. Thank you for being one of the first people to step out from that commitment we made to each other, the mask and I, to elevate voices and may you be the first of many. Thank you so much. Thank you. You heard the direction.

3:44:08You're going to be placed on the consent agenda at the 7 PM meeting today. So there's nothing for you to do. You know, you can attend but you don't have to and the administration will contact you when that's done. Perfect. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Moving on right now to standing items. I have a report from the chair and the vice chair.

3:44:29Vice chair do you have anything to report? No sir. I don't either. That's very exciting for everybody. Item 13 report and announcements from the executive director. Yeah, Mr. Chair, this has one. The process for council members to request attendance at conferences that are not on the pre-approved list is to put them on announcements to discuss.

3:44:49Council member Puis interested in attending the 43rd annual conference of the National Association of Latino elected and appointed officials. It's in July in Los Angeles. So two questions. One is the council support sending council member Puis and two are there any others interested? Okay. Support said. Okay. Great. That's it.

3:45:12And then I think we'll just need a motion to go into closed session. Yes. We need to go to closed session. The items to discuss is the purchase exchange and lease of real property and attorney client matters. Anybody can make that motion? Mr. Chair, I move that we enter closed session for the purpose of discussing the purchase sale exchange release of real property and to receive advice of council.

3:45:39Second. I have a motion on the table by Chris Wern and second by Council member Huigen. I'm going to call the question council member Young. Hi. Council member Pietro. Hi. Council member Wharton. Yes. Yes. Council member Carson. Hi. Council member Lopez Chavez. Yes. Council member, you guys are confused. Yes. Yes. And I'm a yes.

3:46:01This motion passes unanimously. Please, please, please, this motion passes unanimously in that side of the room. And we're going to be in closed session right now. And we're going to convene in formal session at 7 p.m.