What was said · Salt Lake City
Council Work Session Meeting
Tuesday, March 10, 2026 — the full transcript. Click any sentence to hear it.
Surprise, it's me again. So because the chair and vice chair are out of town for this meeting we thought it would be easier to have someone else chair and So the duty falls to me most experienced To be clear they are joining remotely. They are yes They are still here, but their ability to call on people would be very difficult So so yes, happy to chair welcome everyone to our March 10th 2026 City Council work session meeting our meetings are public and you're welcome to join us in person or by watching from the Council's agenda page zoom or YouTube We hope you'll continue to join us in whatever way you feel most comfortable This is a work session during which there is no public comment Please join us tonight at our 7 p.m. Formal meeting to share your comments with us of course
We welcome your feedback at any time via mail via email at council comments at SLC dot gov or via our 24 hour comment line 8 0 1 5 3 5 7 6 5 4 Comments we receive on agenda topics are shared with the full council and posted on our website SLC dot gov slash council the first item on our agenda is an
informational briefing on public art allocation for fiscal year 2020 And for this we have Sylvia Richards council policy analyst Lisa Baca arts division director and Renato Mabel Gonzalez program manager for the arts council Hey Glad to have you welcome Take it away Thank you, mr. Chair as a reminder in 2025 the Council members met with members of the administration to discuss adding more public art in the city and during budget amendment number five discussions a legislative intent was created Which details the costs and funding of seven?
Smaller art projects and each council district will receive $2,000 The administration has identified three options for council consideration and If possible the administration prefers that the council adopt a single option for all seven districts And with that I'd like to turn the time over to Felicia and Renato Hi
We appreciate the council's interest in creating small district based artworks in place making Opportunities and we've prepared three high-level frameworks that could be implemented while allowing for public private partnerships and community involvement Our goal today is to share these ideas and get your guidance on how council members would like to provide district Input as the program moves forward and we also want to note that our work centers on engaging artists to do what they do best So once artists are brought into the process their ideas will naturally help shape the final structure and direction of these projects So these are concepts intended as high-level sketches for your feedback and I'll let Renato
Discuss the three possibilities Thank you so much. Thank you council for having us here before I begin I would like to say happy birthday to Felicia Yeah
My name is Renato Mele van Salle's and I'm the Arts Council Public Art Program Manager where I have the honor of leading the city's public art program We work with artists communities and city departments to implement projects throughout Salt Lake City Before I go into detail I would like to tell you about our newest artwork that you can see just down the street It's called Strut and it's a nearly 2,000 foot long public artwork that it's currently being finalized on the 400 South Biodeck Trail between 500 West and 765 West. It is probably the longest art working Utah This was created by Harald Drugan and we embedded an artist into an infrastructure project. So we're super excited about it As Felicia mentioned you directed the Arts Council to develop ideas for small district based arts projects
Using the $2,000 allocated to each district with that the intention that these projects include community engagement Transparency and opportunities for public-private partnerships We began this process by researching seven potential project models and are of these down to three Based on feasibility speed of implementation and the potential for meaningful community involvement Today we're presenting these at a very high level and we're seeking clarity and consensus from council on which direction you would like to see us pursue So we can move forward with developing the program in more detail. I'll briefly walk through each option The first option will be a partnership with the Salt Lake City Public Library System and the branches across each of the districts
They will host a temporary artist residency in this model one artist will work across districts and collaborated with library staff Patrons and community members to develop temporary artworks such as window vinyl sidewalk interventions installation based work Art-making workshops or sessions interior panel like really the possibilities are endless and they will be process based We what makes this option compelling to us is that it allows the project to be highly responsive to community voices The artists will spend time engaged spend time engaging directly with residents library users And the final artwork or artistic experience would emerge from these conversations Depending on how the artists develops the project it could result in one larger installation informed by multiple districts and that engagement or
Several several smaller intervention or experiences across different branches Libraries are also important civic gathering centers, which makes them a natural place for community center art engagement The second option will focus on temporary place-making through painted intersection or sidewalk artworks in this model One artist will design and implement a temporary artwork across all seven districts working with our Partners in transportation and streets to identify the appropriate locations each district will receive one prominent intersection or sidewalk site and The artwork will remain in place for a period of six months, but up to a year This option offers very immediate and highly visible impact transforming everyday infrastructure into a bold and engagement
our work there's also potential in this model for Community participation including design workshops or public paying days The third and last option focuses on community storytelling through temporary panels banners, etc In this model artists would collaborate with residents to produce visual Nair visual or narrative artworks such as portraits poetry photography or local history that could be displayed at places like community centers Libraries parks fences small business corridors businesses, etc One approach we are considering is structuring. This is a small re-granting program where RCO's recognized community organizations or other local partners such as small businesses could apply for support to implement the project in their neighborhood
In that case the arts council will facilitate the program, but the artwork itself will be implemented by community partners This approach could allow projects to feel very authentic to each neighborhood and it also be the fastest to implement All three options were developed to align with the guidance you provided particularly around community participation district based impact and Flexible implementation at this stage like I said at the beginning the ideas are intentionally high level because once artists like Felicia said are brought into the process their ideas will naturally help shape the final structure of the project What will be most helpful from you today is guidance on which one of these proposals resonates most so that we can move forward and
Put a more detailed implementation plan. We're happy to answer any questions
Councilmember young You have done such an incredible job. I love them all And because I honestly think that all three of them would be a value add Related to just things I've heard in our community I would defer to the other council members if there's a preference and I'm happy to support it. Thank you
And love a Chavez Thank you and thank you for putting the time into this I know that last year when councilmember Puillain I made the legislative intent It was a huge focus especially on public-private partnerships. Can you answer for me? I just want to understand because it's with our libraries Do we have to enter into an agreement with them? Is there like what makes it a public-private partnership?
I think one of the ways that we were kind of approaching this is the possibility that there could be private funding Partners that the while the library is like another entity that's quasi city or outside the city I think there's still possibility to have external support depending on the direction of the program. So We interpreted private to manifest in many ways whether in option three It's with a small business or an entity like that. We may have an option to privately supplement this funding as well
That's helpful. I think yeah, I think the biggest thing was this was an exercise for public-private partnerships So I'd be more in favor towards one and three just because it has that exercise in place And I think that's one or three excuse me. Okay Any other questions Our feedback I'm kind of like with councilmember young on that you know Option one sounded great. Oh option two sounds great. Oh option three sounds great And then you know I read it and then you guys described it and it's like okay Which one was great? Well, it's option three because there's a last one I heard But if I go back to the first of the option one So I really appreciate all and I really Really like the idea of engaging the public engaging the community for their distinct
flavor for the art But since I'm a lover of art, but not an artist I Diver to some of the more artistic members of the council on it. I'm sorry. I'm not much help at all
Councilmember boy I think the explanations helped You know I Versus reading it to me. This was as much of an exercise to to bring more art to the community As an exercise to to see the division implement more creative ways of bringing art to the community so
ultimately we It seems to the division has Has met my expectations And the ability to adapt And to seek feedback and actually implemented so that's very encouraging to me. I I was leaning towards one Originally And now I'm also debating about three since the community already might have some predetermined processes and that you know might actually get this this funding allocated faster and it might actually probably release the Division from a lot of the work Which you know it's also hard to balance a lot of work for the smaller budget that we are talking about here so So if I had to rank them I will probably now have changed since with the presentation if I have to rank them in order I will say three and then one
It's either or no both
Anyone else
His titles. Yeah, sure thing. So at a very high level the first one is an program for artists residency in Solid City Public Library branches Second one will be temporary intersection. So sidewalks, you know a four-way sidewalk One-inch district the third one it will be a small re-granting program to our CEOs or small businesses or community partners for them to implement community panels or banners or some form of art making of this work. Well now I feel like I'm deciding for everyone
Favorite thing to do Chris I that's true Chris I'm I'm just I'm without preference either so you are go ahead. I'm not well and it's Of all the council members who don't have opinions I think there is a council member who suggested that three was their Favorite and I think Alejandro second and the kind of second in that it sounded like So I don't know if that's like a straw if you just want to straw pull that I Yeah, I'm kind of teetering between one and three so if More people like three then I'm happy to go with that and maybe yeah But I'll look for a straw pull yeah straw Can I ask Does every district have to be the same like you know the Harvey Milk Boulevard people have been looking for that crosswalk
for how many CIP applications now like Seems like a little bit of a missed opportunity to not offer it at least to them or do we need to just for like Arts Councils sanity sake choose one. Oh, they want something permanent Yeah, this definitely would be funding for more temporary kind of works because of the dollar amount and just being sort of Fiscally responsible given the dollar amount and implementation, but we're happy to take direction
Okay. Well, anyone can make a
So based off that answer would just it would help me before I make the motion council member Pietro would district one like to have Option two is that what you stated? No, not at all. I Was just worried about historical CIPs that might be satisfied by that but it doesn't sound like that's the case here Okay, I'll make a motion To straw pull
To support option number three the SLC stories community art banners and panels installation Okay, that's the straw poll anyone have any questions Anyone want to speak anymore to this? Okay, let's go ahead show feelings All right that It looks unanimous Okay. Yes, so all in favor for option three. Thank you very much. Thank you And then the last thing I just want to say is we know that our CIP projects can often be limited to jurisdiction for CIP funding and The CRA funding but one of the exciting things about our Bloomberg philanthropies project to the wake the great Salt Lake project Is that it's culminating as you all know and begins on the 25th and 26th of March and that was a project where we
Able to implement temporary public art projects in all seven city council districts and we're really proud of that And we hope you can come celebrate in the public soon Thanks so much. Thank you Happy birthday
I don't even know why this is here And then this is like frozen
Yeah, I'm gonna go off the paper Okay so Agenda item number two is Ordinance for zoning Mac amendment at approximately 256 east 300 south This is a proposal to amend the zoning map for the property you mentioned from its current MU8 or mixed-use Zoning to D1 or central business district the current proposal is to construct Construct and approximately 180 foot hotel on the site The applicant is with us and would appreciate the opportunity to address the council and I'll turn it over to Aaron and Chrissy Good afternoon council members or is it evening five o'clock?
So this let's go to the next slide Like Brian said this is a request to rezone from MU8 to D1 One thing to note is that when this came to the planning commission It was zoned R MU and that was changed to MU8 during the commercial mixed-use consolidation that Kind of reorganize the commercial mixed-use zones They're they're similar, but we'll talk about that to get there At that planning commission meeting the commission Fordent denial recommendation to the city council Next slide, please. Okay. You can see here. It's located mid-block 300 south between second and third east Properties at 300 south tend to be shorter and 200 are 300 east tend to be shorter 200 east is the dividing line between downtown and the east downtown neighborhood and
Buildings tend to slope downwards from there Buildings are zoned D1 facing 200 east and then to MU8 and MU11 farther up the block to the east next slide please Just some context. This is a parking lot It is surrounded by multiple uses next slide Keep going There is a Samson and Altadena apartments that were recently listed on the local register to the east and then a mixed-use commercial building with mostly Exercise or fitness focused Businesses keep going next slide you can see there the That recently finished tower that I'm forgetting the name of that was on D1 there and that's facing 200 east next slide Samson Altadena Next slide Alright, so what would this change in the MU8 district the max height is 90 feet
That is through design review. Otherwise it is 75 feet in the D1 district the minimum height is a hundred feet and there is no maximum For a lot standards There are no setbacks in the D1 their minimal setbacks in MU8 There's no open space requirement either in the in the D1 Design standards of the little stricter in the D1 district. It has what's called an enhanced active ground floor use in our design standards there are active ground floor uses and enhanced ground floor uses active can be residential and things that are Generally a little more active enhanced requires a commercial business something that brings eyes to the street Requires more doorwell exterior materials more windows and more reflective glass next slide, please
So the proposal staff found that is not really comply with Most general plans. I wrote master plan, but it is general plan now so in plant salt lake, you know, there is that expectation of growth but most of the plans point to diluting the dominance of downtown and Really changing that that transition from downtown to other neighborhoods to the east and to the north The central community also says the same thing the downtown plan draws a hard boundary at 200 east for Those central business district zones, which includes the D1 district next slide, please
So yeah, the recommendation is to deny the request and we have some rationale for that recommendation if we go to the next slide First is you know, it's outside of that established downtown area 200 east is that border? That's laid out in multiple plans it disrupts the transition from the central business district to smaller neighborhoods It dilutes downtown's visual interest But 100 foot minimum height really impacts the neighborhood, especially with those historic buildings to the east
Existing utilities do not support the D1 development. There is no stormwater on the south side of 300 south There and water and sewer would likely to be up upgraded as well And then the proposed community benefit that the applicant will will bring and has modified a bit at the time Roughly a third of the single floor would have been a commercial use and that's staff to not find that proportional to the unlimited height requested through this zoning amendment request And I understand after the PC meeting the applicant met with council members and small group meetings to negotiate the community benefit and the next building height through a development agreement But the applicant speak more to that
And that's next slides in my presentation Was that the last slide that was sorry? I thought you had one more that's it. Mr. Chair May I? Thank you. Could we pull up to we have an image of the application? Because I think there was a discrepancy in what was in the application versus the height that was requested oh Yes, I don't have the application here there was a note of like 225 feet Versus 185 foot height because I know in the application the image that was shown doesn't seem to scale Yeah, I don't have that image in the presentation, but it is in the staff administrative staff report I just want to make the comments because it had been a while since I had met with the applicants, but I did meet with them and
Wanted to just mention again in terms of MU8 which we just had our up zone that
D1 is Significantly different in fact it would double the size so MU8 where it's at you can build up to 90 feet The applicant is requesting No higher, you know, no taller density or height larger than 225 feet. I'm not mistaken and so in theory we could More than double the height of this building next to the Samson Altadena next to other participating buildings So at this point D1 I would not be in favor of rezoning to that I think unfortunately it doesn't provide that space that it needs to have a proper setback and side back in place To support the surrounding development so it would not have my support. I believe the applicant also wanted a moment to speak if possible Yes, go ahead Are they here or okay? Hi come on up if you would
Go ahead and have a seat and just make sure that microphone is on Go ahead and state your name and then you get five minutes for your presentation I I am Sean Wade. Hey, go ahead and start right now I Had a thing I don't know if I should go into this that I have prepared or if I should rebut what has been said
Let me just start off with this in January of 1991 arson claimed my parents historic apartment building at 256 East 3rd South My father worked to rebuild but was what met with many roadblocks He was persistent for many years and trying to come up with a workable solution It has since become a parking lot as a temporary stop gap We have considered all reasonable uses that could go on this lot. I mean we have looked at apartments commercial You know office buildings of condominiums And and the hotel proposed it makes most financial sense I mean we're not looking for the most bang for the bunk. We're looking for it to just pencil We started conversations with the city in 2023 to collaborate on what might be the highest and best used for this property
Along with the collaboration with other parties in the development and building industries. We receive positive feedback from three hotel chains I'm so in June of 2023 we posed an upper upscale luxury hotel to the Salt Lake City design review team The hotel concept was received by the assigned city DRT personnel very positively The recommendations and guidance has led us to this point in requesting a zoning man amendment to D1 We feel this hotel anchored mixed use will be a win-win for Salt Lake City and all of the neighbors on this project This is intended to be an upper upscale luxury tier hotel from a major worldwide brand Many of these hotels around the world have achieved a five-star rating this hotel will have services that will benefit the community
Retail shops a small fresh grocery art gallery cool spa fitness center bars and restaurants Parking spaces will increase over the existing parking lot space count and we intend to make this available to the public as well Safety will increase in the neighborhood as the result of 24 seven staff and hotel security and as far as the Application I don't know that we're applying for 180 we're applying for 225 the current design shows 180 without elevator shafts or equipment on the roof We don't know what final engineering is going to do to some of this height because of added space on certain floors for mechanical floors We feel we can maintain it under 225 feet So I don't know that there's a discrepancy in what we're asking for we're just saying stating the current design is 180
Just to the parapet wall without any equipment on top
We are not adjacent to Altadena we are one parking lot away the picture that was shown was that's not our parking lot That's right next to the Altadena We have done a sunlight study on that and as far as their garden over their fence Their son their own fence eclipses their garden before our building does as far as the perspective of the building The that building was done as a closer up perspective And it was actually done to correct height in AutoCAD, but our I Understand that it may not look a certain way. There's no deception in that It's just the way a 3ds max rendered that from the perspective our renderer chose It is a stone's throw away from I mean literally I mean I don't know if I could do it now, but in my younger days I could throw a baseball and
And I can actually hit the Worthington Tower. I mean if you go and stand on the lot and look at it. It is really close 335 feet tall 31 stories tall The city has also approved
And they have entitlements for the Overland group to do a 125 foot east of us and as well the Planning Commission also approved a similar or a project with similar attributes at
265 east to first south which the Planning Commission gave a favorable approval And their capped their capping theirs at 225 feet So we find some inconsistencies in the way we've been treated from the Planning Commission and another similar project in a similar area So we don't understand the rationale of why That project is approved and ours is not. Thank you Do we have any questions for the applicant? I think and it's not really a question and I appreciate your comments I think what's happening in the Planning Commission is a separate and independent entity. Just so you're aware from the Council But when looking at these reviews and when we set down to discuss Regardless of the neighbors we did just rezone this area and I think impartial what's happening and I shared with you
We do have many hotel proposals along 300 self So I I can appreciate that you found it to work in terms of bringing in a hotel and wanting to rezone I think what I'd like to see though is Considering other types of upzoning that could work for the hotel D1 in particular has no sidestepacks and Regardless if there's a parking lot in between that development group also is seeking to develop and I have real concern about there Not being any sidestepacks in this When we first made application to this under the R.M. U. Zone there was no sidestepacks in that zoning when we first started this application Because of the narrowness of the property it will kill this project if we do not have those side setbacks
Because of our parking constraints I Don't know way around that Okay, I think I'm gonna look towards planning staff to see because in terms of what we're trying to overcome is those protections That's the biggest concern I have today Other neighbors have other concern. I will say this we're trying to meet housing needs And so this is a similar conversation that I'm seeing in other parts of the city So I just wanted to recognize that hotel spaces although they can bring amenities for visitors Those are not shared public spaces and I will say it doesn't meet the housing density that we need for residents So that's that's my statement. I don't know if staff can help us understand the sidestepacks
Let's let staff answer for a sec. Thank you. That is correct and that can affect the decisions is the Proposal, you know one block to the north included housing and the community benefit there was related to housing That's you know in this proposal there. It's purely a hotel
The amenities here we intend to make public so it's not just for the guests the hotel Anybody can come into the commercial space on the main floor And I don't know exactly how it's going to work out in upper floors as well But we intend to make this part of the community as far as residential we have looked at residential hard For the value of this property and as close it as it is to downtown You know to put in apartments here. We can't make it pencil You know, I know housing is needed but in this Area in downtown area as we've looked at this there is a lot of vacancy There was a lot of and to come in and add more to that and compete with that But the value of this property to put low-income housing
We don't feel that this is the area to do that You would have to lower our property taxes quite a bit in in order for this to even be considered
You know and so I you know no matter what's gonna happen. I can't foresee anyone building low-income Apartments on this place It you know, I mean the options are as it remains a parking lot or I mean we've we've been trying for 30 years to put something here that Saltick City accepts and I know that nobody I mean I mean if you went right now today and says hey We're gonna put a parking lot here and ask the community. There's gonna be opposition to that I I can guarantee you there's gonna be opposition to no matter what we propose But we are we have Something that we feel that's a win-win for the city that will be beneficial to the community there You know a lot of people are worried about crime and and so forth in this neighborhood
This will actually not contribute to that at all 24 7 You know attendance with hotel staff and security the hotel will not put up with crime on its property and or harboring as a refuge from crime I Don't know what else to say, but I mean give us some direction what? Give us something viable we can put on here if we can't put this on here What can we put on here?
You know that makes makes money. I mean that makes even sense Councilmember Lopez Chavez go ahead. Yeah, thank you Question to go ahead. No, I appreciate you sharing that I think there's a few comments that I want to make one of them is there an exploration of housing mixed with your current rendition and current plan is possible. I think too
There are other projects in the city that have attained that that have a similar lot size And I'm happy to connect you with those individuals that have developed them to see if that's supportive because I I understand what you're saying We don't want to start the surface parking lot I do want to mention this that in allowing a D1 zone the adjacent property is seeking a very similar request And we're setting ourselves up for precedent as we've already I just want to make this impetus that We have recently up zone that hasn't even been a year since we upset on this neighborhood we haven't even allowed for the density to enrich to bridge that gap yet and in Jumping to D1 what we're doing is destabilizing this neighborhood more so no one mentioned low-income housing
So I just want to say when we say housing it could be market rate It could be luxury it could be a mix of a luxury boutique hotel and housing I'm just stating that my definition of density doesn't mean creating more hotel experiences It does mean trying to fill that gap of housing and so I'm happy to sit again I'm happy to connect because I know you're trying really hard to resolve this and I I really appreciate you coming through this I do think there's Some steps we can take together to make your plan not just economically feasible But something that your family can be proud of as well We have looked at a lot of the housing options in here We have talked with many of the people down here. We've done extensive research over the years
You know this hotel is we can I mean one of the intent and this depends on the hotel brand when it actually comes in But what they've done in a lot of areas is they've actually turned some of them into condos when when they're not
The condo person isn't there They rent them out as a hotel But then that hotel person has an exclusive use of that when they come into town or whoever would want to purchase one of those condo units We don't know if that's going to happen, but that is a possibility Adding apartments on top of this we would have to go even higher In order to be able to have the hotel uses to keep the hotel that we have now and So I mean I don't know how we do that with what is we need the space that we have now We can't have a smaller hotel and bring this type of a hotel in and make this work So we've been you know we have been studying these options. I feel that we are Abreast and a caught up with what's what's going on?
You know I don't know that A residential option in this location here is is going to happen at this point in time We can't find the investors for that people willing to invest in that Even if it seems viable or natural I don't I don't know how to make this happen And I know hooking up with other people. I mean yeah, we've been doing that We've you know, we're not in a bubble here. We've you know We're we're in contact with many of the developers and many of the apartment owners in the city And we have been researching this thoroughly we our first choice was an apartment building That's what we were going to do. We can't make it work
So yeah, I mean I won't presume to know Know your business better than you do and and what work you put into this but you did say that your families have this for Sometimes I think you said 30 years and that you're just trying to come to the city Find something that the city will accept have you filed other petitions with the city My father did years ago It hasn't been recent This is That was for like what's that what was the nature of that petition? Oh, he first he wanted to rebuild the apartment building that burnt down and
and That's a long story and I don't know if that's pertinent of all the reasons why that went on for several years and he kind of gave up and now that he's older and You know us as children have gotten together and figured we need to do something with this
And and so here we are And and even though it's been 30 years It's I mean it you have to realize the family dynamics and I mean that it was his and you know And then he as he got older it he kind of gave up and and didn't want to Fight anymore, and so there was a period of time in the transition You know it's not like we've held on this for 30 years and all of a sudden it's becoming a hot button issue There's been kind of a change in the in the family my father's still alive but is mostly homebound in a in a walker and and mostly Unable to get out and do things at this point in time and until we were enabled and tell us children were enabled to Have some decision in this it was was kind of nothing happened. I see yeah, I'm more getting it. I think
Similar to to what my colleague Council member Lopez Chavez is saying is I
Would love to see this develop too. I don't want anymore any more surface parking lots in downtown and And but I think that there are
options out there and I know that that
You know if The council member is willing to to talk with you about other potential plans for the area like I would be interested to hear how those discussions go
Because it Yeah, I think if there I would be interested to know what other things that you've explored in addition to this
Council member Lopez Chavez go ahead Thanks, unless someone else has a comment. I don't see anybody else okay. Thank you go ahead If in the future we seek a direction to upzone because we do see that there is friction with MUA or MU11 zoning or whatever zoning less there might be in the future I
Think D1 has been reserved in the downtown specifically for housing So when I say housing, it's not hotel amenities. It's not temporary placements for visitors It is very specifically to the residential experience and permanency So I would love for you to explore that and to come back to us at this point I want to be very clear that a hotel does not meet the needs and we have experienced a huge housing gap both in Utah and in the city So at this point I cannot support this but I can appreciate the time and the tenaciousness that you and your family That because I've really appreciated getting to know you and your family and this parcel I really just want to express that the D1 zoning in particular when we upzone
It's not just coming up with conducive public benefits. It's meeting that need And we can't redirect that you know is it that's a tool for us and we can't redirect it to meet the purpose of just Developing on it and so at this point I cannot support it But I like I said before I'm happy to dig in with you and help as much as I can support this project I have a few ideas, but I also recognize that you've put 30 years of Thinking of developing of partners, you know, however you've written up your performance structured it at the same time This is a lever that we have to use conditionally to meet those needs and goals of our city. Thank you Thank you All right, if there are no other questions or comments on this then we'll go ahead and move on to the next item. Thank you
Thank you, which is
Report on the annual water and snowpack for 2026 and so for this we have lower brief a director of public utilities oh and a bunch of other folks
Sorry, I don't have everybody's name here. Okay. Yes. Thank you. I know Jesse Tamara, I'll introduce everybody Okay, yeah, please do this is the water resources and hydrology team here a lot of expertise so If you don't know Tamara, she's our water resources manager also very involved in our water rights adjudication Administration And then you know Jesse Stewart and then John Wells is our hydrologist and has the job that I want
He gets to go test snowpack Snowpicks yeah and we have a presentation here for you and
John put this together. There's a lot of Really good kind of technical information in here about how we determine our annual water supplies And we always come to you about this time of year because the the water year Which is different than the fiscal year and the calendar year? Starts on April 1st, so We're right around the corner from there So next slide please Just a reminder where we provide drinking water to nearly now nearly 400,000 people Not only in Salt Lake City, but outside of our city along the East bench of Salt Lake County Portions of Mill Creek holiday cottonwood Heights South Salt Lake Murray and Midvale and then of course our other water utilities are limited to Salt Lake City boundaries
Next slide please So just high level how we determine our water supply We have a lot of collaboration with other entities federal state local Non-governmental and academic partners We spend all winter long tracking what's coming from the sky and sticking on the ground And you see some photos here. These are some of our monitoring stations up in the mountains
And what it looks like in the field when you're taking notes at those monitoring stations We're also monitoring a larger scale drought conditions Key reservoir levels and of course great Salt Lake
Next slide please
So just high level overview It's probably no surprise it's been in the news a lot but our snowpack is decimal this year We have been in a snow drought And it is probably about sitting around 60% of the median at this point in the season And that's caused Salt Lake County as a whole to be primarily in moderate drought conditions with some parts of it abnormally dry, which is just one level lower
The good news about our water supply is that our soil moisters are really good because We did get precipitation just not snow We did we received more precipitation as rain It's kept those soils moist which means that we'll have a more efficient runoff of the snowpack that that we do have and then Thankfully fortunately the city a long time ago invested in reservoir storage particularly with our Federal water projects the Provo River project in the central Utah project and our Deer Creek reservoir Looks healthy and will likely fill this year
And I'll just say though that that's good those reservoirs are meant to last us year over year drought So we also want to be really judicious about how we use the water that's stored in in those large storage areas Next slide, please So this is an example of what we look at on a regular basis that we track throughout the season The amount of water that is stored in the snow also called the snow water equivalent or a sweep and This year that snow water equivalent is sitting around 60% of normal and that's what you see on this graph is a map of the range of where snow water equivalent has has been over different years and Where we sit is kind of at that very lower end of that range this year Punch the monkey
We wanted to add a little bit of Light lightness. It's actually my dream that I come to you giving you a forecast that First of all we have plenty of water. We're not in a drought We've fixed all of our aging infrastructure and we're not raising rates
Laura was smart enough to bring in our media team to lighten it up a little bit because the stuff I put together is pretty dry But you put a couple slides Fortunately, it just brings up all the trauma that punchy is in through Yeah, that's true to All right, next slide, please
This is another way we look at our Forecasted water from snowpack as it runs down the streams where we collect our drinking water sources and just a reminder our major us creeks where we receive drinking water our city Creek The parley's watershed, which includes parley's Creek lambs Creek and Del Creek Big cottonwood Creek and little cottonwood Creek. We also have water rights in red butte Creek Mill Creek and it's not shown on here by emigration Creek and those water rights are used for other purposes Not on the drinking water system, but for water supply as well So you can just see the percent average Stream flow projected this year ranges from 29% in parley's Creek to 76% in little cottonwood Creek
next slide, please There's been a lot said about the weather this winter We've had a record winter in terms of how warm it's been Which has been one of the drivers of the types of precipitation that we've seen And the low snowpack
Really was a driver of our snow drought this year
The snow drought at the airport ended in mid February actually after a record-breaking 11 months and
The graphs that you see here are just one of the ways in which we monitor temperature as compared to other years and the black line is On these graphs is what this year has brought us compared to other years and you can see the red areas the lowest
Temperature and the blue air or no If you look at all if you look at the black line, that's us and the purple line is the highest on record So we broke the record times yeah Next slide, please We also look at our forecasts
And Both both monthly the next the forecast for the next month And then we also use a product from the weather service around a three month weather outlook and The weather outlook for the next three months trends Is leaning toward higher than normal temperatures over the next few months and leaning towards lower precipitation over the next few months So that kind of factors into how we look at our water supply as well
Next slide, please And then this is this is the one bright spot for us soil moisture at different depths You can see are actually above average both at eight inches and 20 inches which will result Should result in a more efficient runoff of the water that we do have
Next slide, please and then our key reservoir levels will be ending up close to normal levels, which is good news particularly deer Creek reservoir and then a lot of people don't realize that you tell the levels of Utah lake are really important for us to You tell like is not a drinking source drinking water source for us But you tell like levels govern in some part the access we have to the water storage at the upper reservoirs such as deer Creek
Next slide, please And then finally we are tracking great salt lake levels the record low for great salt lake was an elevation of 41 88.5 in 2022 and we all remember that record low We are currently at 41 92.1, which is one foot lower than we were last year And so great salt lake will is also
Seeing the impact of the snow drought and temperature increases So we have a new low you're saying No, not quite yet the record low. We have a few feet before the new low and we don't we don't want to get there again And you know get taken all of these things are our water supplies and great salt lake We will be asking people to conserve this year
Next slide, please I think this is our last slide But it's it's just an impressive list and there's some that aren't on this list such as Utah State University But an impressive list of partners that we have in forecasting our water supplies and monitoring where we're at
federal partners state partners Salt Lake County partners and and our academic partners, so I want to give John and Tamara and Jesse a lot of kudos for how closely they monitor and keep us all updated on this and
That's the end of our presentation. Thank you Thank you questions
Council member Dugan Thanks, all right. Thanks for the presentation. Thanks for the conversation. We had about a month ago on the same subject and We're in a pretty good shape of breaking the record from 88 feet Because we're already a foot below with less snow pack, but we do have the Moisture contact which helps us out from that year prior to that low but I'm not Taking any bets on Not breaking that record even if we just get close to it And we've had the conversation about you know we may And I'm gonna not use the word may I think we we will have to we must conserve across the board not just from the residents but across the non-resident of the The bigger users and I'm really pointing my finger at the University Utah and the
religious institutes they have a lot of green space and
And as our discussions or how do we incentivize them to to going to the drought tolerance grass? It really does wonders. I think it you know saves a lot of water right there Now it's not gonna change maybe by an inch in the great Salt Lake, but we it's a it's setting the tone for the residents How's that how's that conversation going or is it do we if we had it do we need to have it? How do we incentivize into?
Stop watering we are having those conversations with our institutional Customers and we will be having more of those Some of those conversations have happened over the course of the last year with our new rate structures There was a strong conservation message with those rate structures and we did hear from many of those institutional customers We are also looking at a drought a stage recommendation in our water shortage contingency Plan this year that would actually require government and institutional customers to reduce their water use by a certain amount both indoor and outdoor watering and I also want to take a minute to say with respect to great Salt Lake the most important conservation
We can do right now is to reduce our outdoor watering because outdoor watering due to evaporation removes water from this watershed and We have a lot of opportunity in all of our customer classes from residential to multi-family to institutional to industrial and commercial to greatly reduce outdoor watering one of the challenges is finding the right people to talk to who are managing the irrigation systems for some of these larger outdoor water users
You know, you don't have you can still have Turf, but maybe not water it as much some of these some of these areas We've seen through some of our investigations We've seen watering that is well over what the
landscape needs So there's quite a lot of opportunity for those customers to conserve and that's that's messaging we will be putting out there and When you talk to stages, can you? Can you modify the stages to say that okay, it's it's more of a volunteer at say the residential level, but it's mandatory at the commercial and above level and just say
Sorry, no outdoor watering for you Yes, and that that is outlined in our drop contingency or water shortage contingency plan We have five stages and to meet different stages We have to meet certain thresholds in terms of our water supplies And so stage one is voluntary across the board where we are Basically, St. Just encouraging people to reduce water and that's actually been quite effective with a good Communications and engagement program Stage two is one step further where it puts the requirement on It's still voluntary for all users except for
government and institutional types of users so Like Salt Lake City would be subject to stage two restrictions As would be like the state Capital or state properties but on that on the You said we had to meet certain thresholds and what I'm trying to push for is Not so much that we meet the threshold on March 10th 2026, but we know we're gonna meet that threshold on August 10th 26 and so instead of waiting till August 10th to meet the threshold let's think ahead and say let's set the standard now because I Don't want to have to meet that threshold because the pain is gonna be so much worse than then it is Now and I'm just trying to set that also that intention for the rest of the state and the water users
That creates all like we can't wait to the threshold we hit the threshold Because what I would say in the flying term Terminology if you're now behind the power curve you're gonna hit the ramp and you're gonna kill yourself And it's not good so you need to make the correction before you get to the point where the correction is There's no correction. That's right and that's what we're trying to do with the stage two is be ahead of that curve based on what we're seeing right now And it we have in the past increased our stages we've actually never been stage three
On our system You haven't gone that far
I mean, I think you've done a wonderful job of managing that I just don't think The rain gods are helping us out here and we need to be a bit shorter So
There's also I should just point out in there's city ordinance under title 17 that sets a threshold related to commercial and industrial use and So we do have sort of an ordinance a Threshold there that might be worth looking at yeah, I'm and so you're not gonna You can have a Friend if you want to do it earlier then later Thank you Thank you Councilmember Pietro and then councilmember Lopez Chavez
Hi, and I want to thank your team for all of the great work you did during legislative session One water policy was so front and center and I really appreciate you all Taking care of not just us and the people you serve but literally the whole state. So thank you for that If we are successful with our conservation Or let's let's say one because I'm gonna I'm gonna manifest that we're successful
Do we anticipate this will create a budgetary shortfall that we should be? Prepared to have to address in the next budgetary season In this year's budget we are anticipating conservation in our revenue projections. So hopefully that that doesn't happen, but it is true that we have a pretty bad business model in You know that we we want Conservation but we badly need the revenues to take care of our aging infrastructure and meet our regulatory compliance So the budget that we prepare to conservatively addresses conservation projections And and because of that we you know we may not be doing as much as we would like to be doing
Okay, I just I'm I'm happy to do whatever groundwork we need to do I mean in my neighborhood There's two dimensions to survivability first of all is making sure There's water available to sustain basic life function and then the second will be making sure that they can continue to pay their bill once we've survived that first one so anything I can do to be of assistance there and For council staff that's tracking. I'm gonna add myself to Dan as the second council person Who is willing to be aggressive with whatever ordinance we need to to be proactive and protective on this Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Chair Thank you to the public utilities staff for putting this presentation together My question was related to the Colorado compact it expired on February 15th, 2026 My understanding is that we don't have an agreement in place and that the lower basin and upper basin states are Still coordinating and need to take action I want to understand how that may affect our reservoirs as well as our Water rights and how we utilize them in our city. Can you help explain how the how that might?
Yeah, so Salt Lake City through our wholesale provider Metropolitan Water District has access to central Utah project water which that water is From a tributary of the Colorado River. So that is that is part of the Colorado River discussion it is an important source of water for us in terms of Kind of having or in the past for a reliable water supply and we I think I want to say we have access to 20,000 acre feet That right of sea of central Utah project water
and We're not at the negotiating table for for this discussion that's being handled at a state level with all of the different states But it is something that we're paying close attention to because And we don't have an idea yet of what those outcomes are going to be so if there's an outcome where There are mandatory cuts in the upper basin There is a potential that Salt Lake City would be affected by those cuts, but we really don't know by how much Because of that we are conservative in our water supply and demand planning and in our conservation projections Thank you for explaining that. I've had the privilege of having conversations with senators from the lower basin states Federally and I know since we're headed to DC
I just wanted to mention that if there's any information we can take with us to share with our congressional delegation Yeah, that's something I think about often is not just that our reservoirs are coming in under Um, they're about a little bit over halfway full. I do worry about how Uh, if and when the Colorado compact now that it's expired if it will be renewed And what those circumstances might cause for our residential and industrial intake That's great. And I'm glad to hear you'll you'll be visiting with the delegation. I will also be out there in April So it would be great to coordinate on A list of things that I think would be important for our delegation to now including water supplies, but also infrastructure and those types of things
Yeah, I'd love that. I I don't know if we've already reached out to get that, but I'd love to coordinate that before we leave Thank you We are a little behind so we're gonna move on from this but thank you very much for all your great work getting us through the legislative session and Yeah, count me as council member number three to help get the word out and and be concerned about this It was a terribly unnerving winter
All right, thank you a really good way of putting it Thank you. Oh, it's so pleasant and yet I'm terrified
Thank you All right, um, we're gonna skip Um, we're gonna change the order and do um citizens compensation advisory committee after our board appointments. So we'll go instead to um Our board board appointment or first board appointment appointment or the airport board Jonathan Garner is he here? And we're gonna go to At least some Ramsey Adams instead while we try to connect with Jonathan
Um former council member Great to have you Yeah Great to have you back Um, not that you need to but please tell us a little bit about yourself And why you're interested in serving on the airport board
Served on the council Uh, to get the new airport going and that was absolutely fascinating to me And I kept telling James Rossers that I should be one on the board Because they're what was in his district It would be anything I'm sorry. Yeah I can it says push and speak. I'm sorry. Um, I can resay that if you need me to I think we're okay. Um Anyway, I So I was I've been really fascinated by that. I also Um, my background is uh, I'm an attorney by training and I'm a mom by practice And a volunteer by nature So kind of have done a lot of things over the years worked
with Children in difficult divorces and I have um, been very involved in education issues over the years I was lived in salt lake for the most part except for reef stint in london and a brief stint in new york and um I I'm really interested in the airport board because I have four Traitors children who all have moved away from salt lake Therefore meaning they have our grandchildren with them Okay, that much about the kids for the grandchildren that matters. So fortunately, um I'm in a position that I travel a lot to see them and I try to not go more than 60 days without seeing them So I am in and out of a lot of airports all around the country in san diego and chicago leguardia jfk Newark And so I've I pay close attention to what airports look like how things are running what is a disaster
What is working well? And I've really watched um as our airport has Developed and things coming online and I heard so many complaints from people about the long long haul to south west and It's like be patient be patient and I'm not in charge, but I did know this was coming So that is that's really held an interest for me As far as things I like to do when there's snow. I love to ski Have not made it one time this season yet
I love to read love to do things with our family with friends and I love being part of salt lake And great. Thank you. Sure. Um anyone have any questions for
For Lisa
Yeah, thank you so much. Uh, I think you'll be a great representative for the city with all of your experience having been on the council and your
Personal travel experiences Um, so thank you so much for being willing to serve us again in solid For being willing to serve solid city again in this new capacity We're glad to have you as you know, we'll put your name on the consent agenda for tonight at our formal meeting and uh, you need not be present to win so, um Yeah, I'm leaving town tomorrow. So oh, yeah So yeah Yeah Excellent But I'm going to my first meeting tomorrow. So before I leave town. Oh perfect. Okay Well, thank you so much. We appreciate you and I and I you're so welcome and I'm looking forward to it I have to say I was worried because the lawyer in me was counting and I was like you don't have a quorum Quorum and then I heard people
From the heavens speaking. That's a whole new thing that we did not have Those eight years ago when I was on the council. So thank you again. Thanks for the opportunity to serve and thank you for your service I have a little bit of an idea what that takes and thank your significant others for making it work Thanks so much. Thank you. Bye
Okay, do we have Jonathan?
Okay Okay Then yeah in another switch up. We're going to go to CCAC now and uh and then yeah, Jonathan joins us. We'll take that after this presentation So, um, this is the annual um report for the citizens compensation advisory committee We've got um dave you cannon chief human resources officer mike gents and senior compensation analysts and clear bulb and committee chair awake and someone else Michael gents sorry Claire bulb one okay. Oh, oh, okay. Great. Excellent. Glad to have you both All right, take it away Hey Can we uh start the slides please
Good evening. My name is clare baldwin. I currently serve as the chair of the citizens compensation advisory committee Also known as the CCAC It's comprised of myself Leandro tane who is vice chair Brandon do T. Larson Casey Lund Mike terry and david warknock We acknowledge and thank outgoing members jana bake and jeff wortington We thank you for the opportunity to present our report for 2026 We thank the department of human resources for their assistance in gathering and compiling data analyzed and considered in our recommendations
We understand and appreciate the complexities the city must consider in making fiscal decisions from year to year That being said The CCAC is charged with making independent recommendations based solely on statistics and trends in the current labor market for city code The CCAC was formed for the purpose of evaluating the total Compensation levels of the city's elected officials executives and employees In making recommendations to the human resources department mayor and the city council each year the committee prepares and submits a written report to the mayor and city council to include Recommendations for the city to remain competitive in compensation practices of comparable employers This includes all city employees officials and executives
We also provide city officials with the most valuable and relevant information to include salary budget forecasts and local area Market wage analysis for benchmark jobs differentiated by each one of the city's three primary employee groups They include the nonrepresented employees Ask me and public safety which includes firefighters and police officers If we can go to the section one slide, please
One that's good Go one more one more slide The charts that we use
this year include those from Several different different groups which i'll get into in just a minute Currently economic uncertainty is pushing employers to keep pay increases flat The state labor market is cooling with an uptick in unemployment and 1% year over year job growth Employers are in a low hiring low firing mode And they are retaining labor Within Utah and beyond organizations are pulling back on salary increases due to economic uncertainty 2025 and 26 data show organizations adopting a conservative and consistent approach We are not seeing dramatic salary budget swings like we have in the past few years
On the charts we we use data from salary.com and world at work They show trends of total salary increases of 3.5 And if you want to look at the details of each report i'll leave that to you because but that's that boils down to What what the information provides is that 3.5 Factors including state industry and organization size indicating employers Indicate employers and solid city labor market are likely to see the same 3.5 increase Considering the impact on need for salary structure and adjustments a 2.5 median increase is projected Our recommendation to this point for section one is this Considering the impact of current market conditions including labor shortages Increase cost of labor and inflation on employer salary budgets in
2026 The committee recommends leaders increase the city's overall salary budget by no less than 3.5
In conjunction with the city's plans to grant actual general and or merit increases The committee recommends an overall increase to the structure of the city salary ranges of no less than 2.5
They can we move to section two please
Effectively attracting and retaining key talent depends on sound paste structure administration competitive base wage and salary rates and the city's ability to adapt to market conditions The committee reviewed market paid data from multiple locally based private Or public employers with operations along the wasatch front This approach reflects historical recruitment data Showing the city primarily draws talent locally and competes with other wasatch front employers This information was compiled and presented to the committee by the city's human resource staff primarily michael jensen Who helped us immensely The city organized if we can go to the next slide please good The city organized 88 benchmark groups from its
1,074 active jobs, which is roughly 8 percent of jobs The committee reviewed job pricing information obtained for each of the 88 benchmark job titles highlighted in this report In total these benchmarks cover 1,546 employees which represents 43.5 percent of the city's regular full-time workforce If market pay data indicates a particular benchmark job is significantly below market Then all levels of the job should be reviewed for potential pay adjustments not just the benchmark job This way the pay differences between levels of the same or similar jobs are appropriately maintained
The analysis displayed in three separate work groups This is done Not only to account for the differences in each group's unique wage structure and pay practices But to also gauge the city's success more effectively at positioning itself as a pay leader
Once again, these three groups are the nonrepresented employees ask me public safety Which this includes firefighters and police officers The committee follows the guidelines listed when determining an individual benchmark jobs compensation position relative to the market there are four categories used
Significantly lagging is when the data indicates the benchmark jobs position relative to the market Is less than or equal to 90 percent slightly lagging is when the benchmark Jobs position is between 90.1 and 98 Competitive is when the data indicates the benchmark jobs position is between 98.1 and 109.9 percent Significantly leading is when the benchmark job is Greater than 110 percent Based on the market The the first chart that you see You'll see the red yellow white and green that indicates
Which group is which?
There were 42 benchmarks used in the non-represented group representing 213 employees Which is 48 percent of the total jobs surveyed Market pay rates were calculated as the 50th percentile and they were aged out to july 1 of 26 They were compared to current actual median wages and salaries The chart you see Does reflects those benchmark jobs with the red being significantly lagging yellow slightly White competitive and green significantly leading Let's go to the next slide as you can see there's only two jobs in the non-represented that were red and very few in the yellow Most jobs are in the competitive range with a few in the green
The next two groups let's go Ask me as begins this one if you can go to the next slide, please The next two groups pay packages are negotiated per mou That actually there would be three groups because the fire and police being separate Only one of those groups is currently being negotiated which is ask me
And the the ways that we came at what the chart is the same Even though there are mous and to a large extent These mous are the unit the labor in each group determines the salary structure within each group That being said the committee believes it's important to evaluate benchmark jobs using similar criteria in compiling our report
So with ask me there's 37 benchmark jobs 411 employee ease 42 percent of the total jobs were Were surveyed And the pay rates were compared to the Salt Lake City wage schedule for for top rate as negotiated for fiscal year 26 The charts used for ask me were do follow the same format as those used for the non-represented group
As we understand it ask me is the only group that is currently under in negotiations for this current year and police and fire I believe fires next year in police the following
Hey, let's go to The next group, please Good, okay As stated in resolution number 20 It's in appendix e in the report as passed in june of 2023 by the city council The policy objective is to ensure that the city's firefighters and police officers Are paid wages commensurate with or close to top of the market wages paid by public entities for such occupations in the state of utah Especially among the state's largest public safety agencies With committees desire to be consistent year over year with certain criteria for comparison While striving to follow the intent of the resolution the committee has again decided that the primary focus should be Comparison to the highest rate of pay found among the largest agencies in the in utah
The threshold established on what constitutes a large agency was set at 90 or more full-time sworn employees for either fire or police The agencies that participated in the custom salary survey Admit this threshold are included in the salary survey chart shown As you can see in in the report The difference there are a few differences between 25 and 26 Some are based on size change of agency. Some are based on that they did not participate. Let's go to the next
side, please Hey For police and fire a total of nine benchmark jobs were used they covered 922 employees About 10 percent of the total job surveyed for the public safety work group The market comparison for each job for both entry rate and top rate breakouts is illustrated Utilizing the same comparison guidelines as was used for the other work groups
Our recommendations for section two are as follows The committee continues to express its support for the city's compensation strategy to position Salt Lake City as an area payleader for employees
The committee has long recognized that salt lake city employees deal with a volume of diverse situations and problems to all Not seen by most other municipal entities in the state Therefore as the capitalist city It is in the city's best interest to attract the most capable employees To all positions and to encourage them to stay
The committee believes that compensation should be an important factor in this equation And that this policy will prove beneficial to the city's citizens in the future Furthermore as funds permit The committee recommends the mayor and the city council appropriate financial resources To grant market salary adjustments for employees In the benchmark groups identified in this report as lagging market With priority being given to those that are significantly lagging and secondly to those that are lagging slightly
This concludes my presentation of this synopsis of our report I know there's a lot of information in there And there may be questions and we're open for any questions at this point All right, thank you for that Any questions council members councilmember yon Thank you and thank you for doing this important work. It really makes such a difference Um to be able to have an advisory board be able to provide this unique insight related to how we're compensating our employees So i'm just very grateful that you volunteered for this opportunity to help us and to help the city in those next steps Um a couple of pieces that I would just like to highlight in the great information you've provided Um, so the comprehensive recommendation is for 3.5 million total increase in budget line
with then Unadditional like with a baseline of a 2.5 percent for all employees And then on top of that it's also the market rate or that 3.5 includes addressing those highlighted in red, okay, just addressing is a 3.5 total The 2.5 percent if you look within the salary structure, especially in the non-represented group There is a Am avian job and it's an adjusting inside those those pay differentials within the solid city structure of 2.5 in those structures is that You want to weigh in at all? Yeah So 3.5 percent to salary for actual base wage, okay
Multiple forms that that could be administered through general increases merit pay increases And then the 2.5 percent was to the structure or the salary ranges So as claire was mentioning for our non-represented there's a salary range designated for each job The recommendation is to adjust to that salary range by 2.5 percent Okay, so our guidelines on how to compensate our employees if we look historically there are many in the non-represented group I'm a former employee I was with the fire department But then the non-represented group at times they felt like That there was no way for them to get beyond midpoint in the salary structure and so the structure the idea was to Adjust those structures by the 2.5 percent. Yeah, that's super helpful. Okay. Thank you for the additional clarification
And then oh, I'm sorry. Can I have more? Okay. Um, so I think it's important to note It looks like the state is doing 2.5 percent and so To me like that is the ultimate floor In terms of you know, what's possible related to where we are and I appreciate that we have a lot of hard-working Employees and that we want to be thoughtful with taxpayer dollars But I also appreciate that those individuals live in the city and they're facing the same economic Challenges that so many of our residents are as well. So it's a balance Um, the other one I just wanted to double check in on so I saw the entry level wages related to both fire and police Were noted in the red being, you know noted as significantly below
And I know that that's been an area that has been a part of the conversations as we've been negotiating With the various union leaders over the last couple of years I was really hopeful we'd make more progress in that space and it doesn't look like we have Are there any insights related to that? If we look at one of the jobs specifically it It actually is in a category that It mentions firefighter engineer and and and we don't have Typically we don't have firefighters in their
Until they've served at least two years that can even serve as an engineer. So What we need to focus on more is is the The entry level pay in general for firefighter now as far as That's why the caveat of the mou So the mo these are determined by the labor organizations in their negotiations and quite often that They're focusing on Those that have been around they're looking at a lot of things that that we as a committee don't have any control over We can only identify the information that it shows that they're still lagging And then of course the mou is up to the city and those labor groups Thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, I know I will speak for myself in this space I'm one of the best ways that we attract really great people into these lines of service is by
Being competitive like right from the get go and sometimes, you know It's hard for those who are early in their career to see the the value over time And so I hope that's something that we just continue to work on In terms of our ability to attract that top talent here at the capital city Yeah, I just want one thing the one thing we I know that If we go back seven years to the time I retired We were at the top and we were having many people come to the to Salt Lake city to be firefighters because we were significantly above everybody else this becomes a Chasing your tail to a degree. So I think that's something that as a committee we're aware of but once again We can only identify the information but as far as the negotiations go that that's
There are problems with always trying to be the number one And when we realize that as a committee, that's why we had that caveat that All of our recommendations are based on statistics not on emotion Thank you And councilmember karleson
Thank you for presenting
As the study
In this first i have a little bit network bandwidth. Can you hear me? Okay We can but you yeah, you're broken up a little bit. So maybe you want to turn your camera off all you asked your question
Okay, I'll try that I see a lot of a salary comparison and Benchmarking as it relates to market salaries and comparisons what insight or
Further information can you provide related to total rewards compensation as we think about health benefits and other other
Compensation that it relates to an employee
Employment Hopefully that got through yeah, I made me let me just answer this year We actually introduced a total rewards package that both employees and potential candidates can view And so it takes into consideration not only their base wages, but their vacation their retirement All of that that makes up your total rewards We think that that it's a great question because that's more than Or that that total rewards is more than just what they get on an hourly basis And so we have been working towards using that more in recruitment to bring in people We will look at that base wage, but sometimes that's offset by The retirement package they get or the 401k and the other benefits So we do utilize that quite a bit and we're going to push more and more towards that having said that we're also seeing health care costs increased
Dramatically and so the city has to be prudent and how it approaches the total rewards package understanding that there's going to be additional costs there this year too So we we look at that entire package
Thank you for that Any other questions? All right, thank you so much for all that hard work and information. We appreciate it. I'm gonna see you all All right, we have our last board appointment Who is here with us? Jonathan Gardner?
Jonathan, thank you for For being here and for your willingness to serve in this position This is your opportunity to tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're interested in serving on the airport board Okay, thank you. Are you able to hear me? Okay? Yes, you can hear you all right? First of all, I apologize that I missed the five fifty timeslot
You're fine. I was racing racing to get home and it's always a fun time in that five o'clock hour or so That's okay. We're running behind schedule. So you're actually on time Thank you I have known a few people that have been on the board so I've been aware of some of the things they've been involved with and understand more that it's an advisory role not necessarily one of great authority but more informational and I think that from my background where I've been involved with
a lot of different real estate investments and other what we'll call alternative investments A Salt Lake City is a is a major thoroughfare for a lot of different companies that come in and out and the airport's the first point of contact and so I'm clearly interested to see that
Or to hear, you know where the airport may go How do we keep it at the top of the nation? I was involved early on with big D construction when They won the General contractor to help build it out and so it's been an intriguing part of you know the last 10 plus years But I'm a i'm a salt lake city native I and hey a diamond medallion on on deltas. So I'm in and out of that airport quite often I think it's a wonderful airport and if there's anything that I can add as a citizen or on an advisory committee That might be able to make this even better or just offer input I welcome the opportunity. So I I think You're looking for some information about me. I do live in Salt Lake City I'm up in the kind of the eastern sugar house area
My children go to highland high school I have five children and I run a business called a silia investments and we invest in Real estate and other alternative investments and we have a a big interest in the salt lake city market We've played a lot in all of them kind of major food groups of real estate from multi-family to retail Hospitality We are the largest affordable housing builder in the state We built nearly 900 units on north temple Which has also been a bit of a feeding ground for some of the employment at the airport So We have a big interest in the salt lake city the airport's a major a major part of kind of who we are And I'm excited for an opportunity to serve with you know the other committee members
And offer any any insight that I might be able to
Okay Thank you. Any one have any questions for Jonathan?
I just appreciate your volunteering to the advisory board and appreciate all your insights from your travels But also just from your your business side of the house. So appreciate that. Thanks a lot Thank you Yeah, I'll just say that
The board, you know might not have a lot of actual authority, but it is a very important board and Webnet definitely has I think a lot of influence and so
We'll be really glad to have you and your experience on join that group
We will place your name on our consent agenda for adoption at our formal meeting tonight You need not be present to win And but you're welcome to join if you'd like virtually that starts at seven o'clock But otherwise You're all set and thank you so much for your willingness to serve Salt Lake City. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to it Okay Council members that is our last agenda item for the work session I oh no it isn't We have announcements
Unless the chair vice chair have anything that they want to chime in with I'll go to announcements
The first announcement is just to notice that the chamber is hosting a one-time gala in place of the giant in our city event that they usually do It's called the under one sky 2026 awards gala It takes place on thursday, may 21st from 6 to 9 at the grand america There is a scheduled work session for that day and by that point in the budget we may actually need that day so but we can work with Our team to make sure everything's wrapped up by five if a majority of the council is interested in going to that event So let us know if you're interested. Yeah, I would be interested
Um then the next item is
We're asking for approval of the attached letter um that would Add support for representative more at the federal level to add support for police department funding Um, we've confirmed that it does not include armored vehicles, but it would help with um the department, uh to transport people in sort of large gathering
situations So if you want to take a look through the letter and let us know what you think I think they're hopeful to get a unanimous council support Um, and we can figure out a way to get it electronically Um to the folks that are online
Okay, that's it Okay Thank you everybody. We'll go ahead and enjoy the work session and reconvene at seven o'clock for our formal meeting Thank you
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