The Lehi City Council held its regular meeting on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Mayor Mark Johnson presided with Council Members Paige Albrecht, Chris Condie (excused), Paul Hancock, Heather Newall, and Michelle Stallings present. The meeting covered routine approvals, a zone change, a final subdivision, an interlocal agreement to aid the unsheltered, and several infrastructure contracts. All votes were unanimous (4–0) with Councilor Condie absent.
February 14th, 2025, our first uh full council uh meeting of the new year. So welcome. Uh as a matter of roll call. Uh we do have all our council members here except for Chris Conde, who was not feeling well a little bit earlier, and he asked to be excused. So he is excused today. Uh we do always start out our regular session with a pledge of allegiance, and I have asked uh Michelle Stallings if she would be kind enough to lead us. Thank you, Michelle. Okay. As is almost always the case with uh when we start our regular session of city council, we have a we have uh uh short period where we uh listen to citizen input. And uh we have we have things that are going on in our community that we may not necessarily be aware of. So here's an opportunity if if you think there's something that needs to be brought to the attention of myself or the city council or the administrative staff. Uh we're here to listen to that and we can make notes and and see what we can do to correct something that's if there's something that we can indeed correct. Um there's rules. If somebody has something to speak, you come up to the podium, you have to give us your name. Uh that's just kind of the way it is because it goes on the record here and and uh it's that's a good thing. Uh but is there anybody here who would like to uh come up and speak? We do usually limit the comments to about three minutes. So that's just go ahead and stand up. Hi, I'm Brianne Beckstrom. I reside at 579 North, 1100 West. As a wife, mother, small business owner, accountant, supporter, a blue-collar, and skilled trades, I chose Lehigh to be my hometown. November 2024, I sent a letter in the mail informing more than 500 registered home occupations of the circumstance I found myself in. Yeah, our business was registered and we had a business license laminated and hung on the wall in my office. I was now several weeks into questioning if it and it was hard to hear the accusations of illegal home activity by an anonymous source. I felt violated. Yet no one from the city came to our home to view the reported obscene business practices. During this time of our privacy, safety, and sense of home were violated. For several weeks, I was kindly questioned by Jacob Curtis and Kim, leading to the determination no matter what we did, we would never be in compliance. As I was directed to the fine print of the code. I am sure the previous resident of our home had a family-owned home occupation registered as well. Did the previous resident get a free pass? Did the city turn a blind eye? What small town code of conduct was I not privileged to? My rebel heart, large opinions would never get me into the good old boys' club of Lehigh. It was beyond belief the power and anonymous complaint received. Hundreds would be faced with the same news I received. We didn't belong here in Lehigh. And we might find a solution for you. So submit the amendment. This still has not sat well with me. Would it pass DRC and then on to city council? I felt it would be a hard no. It was providential timing. We found a commercial space just off State Street. Perfect for us and our construction company. No longer will the anonymous neighbor be breathing down my neck during the amendment process. So we moved forward and signed a lease. As it sits, there are currently more than 500 registered businesses that are operating beyond permitted use. So here I am doing something about it. I have never done anything like this in my life.