Mayor, Matt's gonna be keeping time.

Oh okay.

We have uh we don't have to go back to the letter stop.

Okay.

And it's two minutes for the transitation.

Two minutes page response.

Not everyone has to ask a question.

Let's go ahead and get started here.

We this could be a long meeting.

We all kind of hope it won't be, but it may be when if everybody takes all their time that they're allotted today.

So we want to get started here briefly.

Uh I did we are going to start this meeting with a prayer since typically we do that at a work session and a pledge uh at the regular session, but because this is only one meeting, our last one of the year, I've asked Paige if she'd offer the prayer, and then I will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Do we even have a flag in here?

Should have seen that earlier.

Hi, Father and Heaven.

We are so grateful to be gathered here this day in these chambers in this new building.

We recognize Father that we are abundantly blessed to live in this city.

Where the pioneering spirit and the spirit of camaraderie exist and thrive.

We are grateful, Heavenly Father, for all the hands who have worked to bring us the blessing of these facilities from the staff to the architects to the contractor and all the workers who have sacrificed their time to do so.

We ask at this time, Heavenly Father, that there may be a blessing on these chambers in this building that their use might be for good, that there might be a pervasive spirit of civility, productivity, and the pioneering spirit for which Lehi is known.

We ask for safety on all who meet here and all who serve our city.

That they may do so with thy guidance, that they might always seek out thy spirit and counsel.

And now at this time, Heavenly Father, we ask that thy spirit be present in this meeting in this building, and upon each one of us, and we do so in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Thank you very much, Paige.

Okay.

Uh as a matter of roll call, we'll do it before the pledge, but as a matter of roll call, uh our council members are all seated here today uh for this meeting.

It is December 22nd, 2025.

Uh the purpose for this special meeting is primarily to uh let uh uh oh I'm gonna I I'm gonna do it.

Oh after I just wanted to do the roll call thing.

Sorry, I haven't forgotten.

Yeah, we won't get to the pledge.

I I thought I mentioned that so but uh the purpose is to uh fill a vacancy in the city council seat, and that's gonna take us a while.

That being said, uh we are going to have a pledge right now.

I'd ask everybody if they'll uh stand and uh follow me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which is one nation under God indivisible justice for all thank you.

Okay, we do have uh a couple items on the agenda.

Uh first of all, approval approval of the oh, I do have to make an announcement.

Thank you.

That one I needed a reminder on.

Uh since this is a new building, a lot of you aren't acquainted to it.

Probably if there is an emergency, uh, you're all welcome to use the stairs just outside this door uh to exit the building.

It's probably the fastest way to get out.

Of course, you can't use uh if it is an emergency, you you're not going to be able to use the fire or excuse me, the uh elevator.

So just keep in mind uh those will take you right out the door.

There'll be people who help you if that if that does happen.

We certainly hope it won't and don't expect it to.

Okay.

Uh we do have to approve the minutes from November 18th, 2025 and December 2nd, 2025.

Uh council, are there any questions or comments on those meeting minutes?

Okay, hearing none, I'll uh I'll take a motion to approve those minutes.

Mr.

Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve the uh meeting minutes for November 18th and December 2nd, 2025.

I have a meeting um by Chris to approve.

Do I have a second?

I'll second that, Mr.

Mayor.

And a second by Paul.

Any questions?

Hearing none, uh all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Okay.

Meetings passed, are those minutes passed.

Uh, we do have an item listed for presentation reports, but I'm not aware of any.

Do we have anything?

Yes, uh, Mayor, if if I can take just a minute.

Um, seeing as this is the last meeting for uh many of our elected officials, we just wanted to take a moment and present each of the departing uh mayor and council members uh representing or commemorating their time uh service.

So maybe it's I don't know, Mayor, if we want to go down there.

Um however you want to do it.

You're presenting.

So let's do that.

Okay.

Okay.

As I mentioned earlier, uh we have a series of uh of interviews to take place.

Uh there are 17 that we're going to hear from.

There were uh a couple that uh that backed out.

Uh the procedure is we we have a particular order in front of us.

I will call you up to the podium here uh when it's your turn.

Uh you have two minutes to present why you believe it's important or why the citizens of Lehigh City will benefit uh from you being uh asked to join the city council.

After that, each council member will have an opportunity to ask you a question.

They may or may not do that, that's their prerogative.

Uh, you'll have another two minutes to respond to each one of those questions.

You do not have to take the full two minutes, a yes or no answer.

Sometimes it's completely acceptable.

That's your decision.

So that being said, we're going we're going to start those interviews right now.

Uh the first one is Jim Bratt.

If you want to come up to the podium, introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, esteemed city council, uh, including all of the folks that helped the city council make the decisions uh for this important city.

Um my name is Jim Bratt.

I'm a retired professional businessman, and also uh former um radio and television uh sales advertising salesperson for many many years in San Antonio, and we moved back up here to be closer to family.

I have uh a great interest in uh what this city council does for Lehigh City.

I have six children and 14 grandchildren, and they live here amongst the Lawasach Front, and uh many right here in Lehigh and attend schools.

And I I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of helping the uh infrastructure, uh thriving economy, and to uh have the safety that we need in our city to help the citizens.

And uh I want to say personally thank you to all those who are leaving that uh you've done a great service to the city.

And you're leaving a uh a large set of shoes to fill.

And hopefully the new administration will be able to do the best that they can to fulfill the legacy that you've left behind.

And I thank you for that.

And I'll take any questions that you might have.

Start with that.

So I think we're doing all of the intros person.

Oh, we're gonna do all the intros first.

Sorry.

Oh, okay.

No problem questions, so thank you for that correction.

Uh next one is Larry Banks.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

My name is Larry Banks.

I am a Vietnam veteran with a PhD in business administration and an MBA in technology management.

I've owned my own small business as well as been general manager of JBL speaker manufacturing, where I managed a large budget as well as lots of employees.

I've been provost of the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions and Joyce University.

That gave me the experience of dealing with state and federal regulations and then being in compliance with accreditation standards.

I have the opportunity to speak on institutional effectiveness through the country.

In the past four months, I've spoken Florida, Louisiana, Arizona, and a couple weeks ago in Seattle, where people from BYU, UVU, Enzyme, and other colleges and universities attended my presentation on orchestrating excellence.

I've had the experience of working with the Taylorsville Economic Development Committee years ago.

I've been a county delegate, a state delegate.

I helped Amy Winter Newton in her quest to become governor.

And I have had the privilege and honor of serving as a bishop and a member of a state presidency in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I don't have an agenda.

I really don't.

I believe strongly in listening and learning from the residents and the stakeholders in Lehigh to help govern the city and the growth and the expansion.

My goal would be just that to help you in a way that creates a sustainable growth-oriented Lehigh City aligned with the values of the residents that live here.

Be my honor to serve with you.

Thank you.

Doug Clark.

So my name is Doug Clark.

I'm a Utah County native.

I was born in Provo and raised in Oram.

Uh, married my wife Dee Dee and we've owned homes in Orem and Linden.

Um we had four kids.

I then moved to Florida for about a decade before returning to live in Lehigh in 2012, and we've been here ever since.

We love it here, and we try to live in a way that makes Lehigh a better place.

Professionally, I've worked for several influential software companies, including WordPress in Novell in the 90s, uh, Electronic Arts, and most recently, NICE, uh, who's an international leader in cloud-based customer service software.

I've dabbled in startups, um, including a spinoff from Novell called Metastorm and my own company, Clarkworks.

Um, I've worked in leadership roles in all of those companies, uh, working as a director at the last two, Electronic Arts and NICE.

And I've been responsible for development communication and training initiatives that have had a global impact.

My last role, in my last role, I led teams in North and South America, in Israel, and in India, driving performance and communication across diverse cultures.

I retired from my corporate career in January of this year, giving me time, uh, the time that would be necessary to serve on the city council.

I'm here because I had questions about the tax subsidy given to the Morning Vista development.

Um, I read about it in the newspapers, thank heavens for the Lehigh Free Press, but struggled to find the information about the decision that I was interested in, you know, the justification for the subsidy, et cetera.

I looked on the Lehigh City website, on Facebook and Instagram accounts, and on the Lehigh podcast.

Eventually I found what I was looking for, um, or some of what I was looking for by watching the seven and a half hour uh meeting recording, which I commend all of you who were there.

Um it was quite a meeting.

Um but it was it was a challenge.

And so I'm here to advocate for improved communication between the Lehigh City Council and the residents.

Uh, we need to take better advantage of our existing communication tools.

We need to make our vision and decisions more accessible.

My other priorities include accelerating Lehigh's economic development and protecting our commercial zones, working with Utah and neighboring cities to accelerate transportation improvements, funding our police department, building sidewalks and protecting green space.

I'm heartened to see such a large and diverse group of people here today who have as much interest in serving the city as I do.

And I am, you know, sad to see 50 years of the city council expertise or 50 or more.

Oh, yeah, it means I've got two minutes.

Okay.

Well, uh, appreciate the service that you guys have done, and you will be missed.

Thank you.

Robert Reeder.

Mr.

Mayor, esteemed counsel.

Um I first read the the appointment or the posting of the vacancy in the in the council.

Uh, to be honest, uh I wasn't terribly interested initially.

Uh, I thought about it multiple times over the course of several days and reread the posting several times.

Um I reached what I consider to be a put up or shut up kind of a moment um where I felt like if I have something to offer, I should offer it.

Even if it's just paying my fee and presenting myself before the council and the selection committee uh to uh express my my interest and my opportunity to serve the community that I've grown to love, I've grown to appreciate.

Um I have worked in school districts now for about 15 years.

I uh work for Canyon School District, which is the first new school district in 100 years in the state of Utah.

And this community is going to be deeply impacted by a similar process.

Um that knowledge and that experience, I feel would be a beneficial thing to this particular uh body, as there's a great deal of crossover between the constituency of the school district and the city.

Um, I'm well aware of the challenges that are presented with developing a new a new uh school district, and it isn't without impact to the community at large.

Um I have grown to really appreciate uh good city governance.

Uh, one of my most influential mentors in my life uh was a city administrator, and I gained great appreciation for his work and the work that others like him do.

Um I also with great concern watched after he retired and saw things dismantled.

Um it is important to me.

Uh, thank you very much for your time.

I appreciate your consideration.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

Savannah Johnston.

Hello, Mr.

Mayor, Council members.

My name is Savannah Eccles Johnston.

I'm a sixth generation Utawn.

I'm a mother of four kids under the age of eight.

I'm a wife of a small business owner here in Lehigh, and I'm a professor of constitutional government, civics, and law at Utah Valley University.

We live in Traverse and Traverse Mountain right now, but we spent the first five years of our marriage living in Los Angeles.

And I'm here today to do my part to prevent Lehigh from becoming Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is plagued by outrageous housing costs, by traffic congestion, by water shortages, and by a poor civic life.

But I believe that there are solutions that can keep Lehigh from going down a similar path.

For example, the solution to traffic congestion is not to build more lanes and more parking, it's to decrease car use.

Studies show us, have proven that more lanes and more parking actually increases traffic congestion in the long term.

So let's reduce car use.

We can do this through multi-use zoning, through allowing businesses and schools and homes to be within walking distance of each other, to increase uh public transportation, building it up and allowing for safe and reliable biking lanes.

Second, I want to prevent a multi-generational housing crisis in Lehigh.

And the way to do that is to address the supply issue.

I want my kids to be able to afford to live here, which means we have to allow people to build here.

That means single family homes, yes, but it also means town homes and apartment buildings.

We need to end the stamp the stigma against density and say yes in my backyard.

And third, I believe we can promote civic life and community, which is necessary in a republic through increasing access to trails like the ones we have in Traverse Mountain, through parks, through uh a revitalized and walkable downtown, and through outdoor spaces and venues that can showcase Lehigh's remarkable legacy in the arts.

I believe that my expertise in government, as well as my uh willingness and ability to like people with whom I have mere policy disagreements, would make me a valuable member of the city council.

Thank you for your consideration.

Vern Keysler afternoon, Mayor Johnson, members of the Lehigh City Council.

My name is Vern Keysler.

We appreciate your service to our community.

Um I wanted to introduce myself by saying that I've lived here in Lehigh for the past 20 years.

My wife Jennifer and I have raised our six children, still raising six children here in Lehigh.

Um, and I love this community.

It's a great place to work, live, play, and raise a family.

And that's what I think you guys have said, and that's what I'd like to see us continue.

It's a wonderful place to raise a family here.

Our home ownership rate here is about 77%, our owner occupied units around that same amount.

We have 81% single family dwelling units.

That's awesome.

That's great.

And we have a diversity of housing with townhomes and condominiums and apartment complexes that make up the other 20% of our housing stock.

It's a healthy balance.

We should probably continue to look at that, hold developers responsible for the development agreements that they sign and continue to promote a great community to raise a family.

I'm a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

I have 15 years in the public sector of local government experience, including currently, I work for Provo City as their traffic manager.

I work with UDOT, MAG, Utah Transit Authority, and I work with our local school districts in what I do down on Provo.

The last 20 years prior to coming back to Probo City, I worked in a private engineering firm doing transportation engineering all over the state of Utah and the Western United States.

Thank you.

Lady Coe Viesta.

Can you hear?

Okay.

Laurel Stevens.

I just want to start out by saying thank you to mayor, um, council members, staff, and everything for your consideration and for this process.

Um, I've I applied because I feel like I want to make a difference in the way that uh our citizens are represented.

Um we live in a community that I've lived here for 20 years, and we've raised our family, my wife and I, and and we love this area, and we want to see it um continue to be that kind of a place.

Uh we're grateful for the many opportunities that Lehigh's provided.

And I think as we go forward, we can use um constitutional principles to protect the rights of all of our citizens.

Um currently I'm an electrician.

I am a business owner, and I'm in charge of running schedules, budgets, um, working with crews, managing um disagreements between subs and owners and working working with the owners and working with those people around us that um whenever there's a problem, I usually end up being the one that has to step in and be a part of that.

So I appreciate that.

Some of the service that I've done in the community is I've worked as uh ride leader with the Lehigh High School Mountain Bike team, which has been awesome and is a big part of why we have the trails up here.

Um, I've helped do fundraising for that group as well as fundraising for the arts.

We do a lot of stuff through our business for Habitat for Humanity, where we help uh multiple homes every year be built at little to no cost.

Um, and I enjoy I enjoy that kind of service.

I also enjoy learning and studying constitutional principles, enjoy learning about the founding of our country.

And I enjoy, which is kind of crazy, but I enjoy reading code and learning code from Utah State code to electrical code to whatever it is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Steven Sue of Colo, which is much easier for me to say.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council.

You guys got a tough decision with 17 people have some amazing resumes up here so far that I've gone.

Um I got to know many of you guys during my city council run, and I appreciate the support and the help that I got from many of you guys.

Um, like you guys know, um I'm running because I want my kids to see me serve.

I want them to see me serving more than just my family, but in the community as well.

I'm a civil engineer by trade, working every day to protect our greatest asset, which is water.

I sit there and I I watch it, I manage the assets.

Currently managing a hundred million dollar project.

That's three years in completion and almost and right on budget, actually under budget.

I want to make sure that Lehigh continues to grow in the right way with clear zoning, responsible budgets, and a strong investment in our roads and utilities and services.

These are things that I believe very strongly in.

Um I think I bring a different perspective to the city council.

Um I grew up in Hawaii and South Carolina, served on a mission in Idaho, played football at Snow College, earned a degree at Utah State and lived in Lehigh for six years.

I chose to build my life here because Lehigh reflects my values of faith, service, and family.

I serve in my church and volunteer and global water initiatives, and I never sit still when there's work to be done.

Thank you guys very much.

Thank you.

Josh Sorenson.

Okay.

Let's move on to Derek Shumway.

Well, good afternoon, everyone here.

Mayor Johnson, it was really good seeing you recently at um the Jess for Kids event with Michelle Holbright.

My sister Sean is in that special needs group, and it's wonderful.

Paige, thank you kindly for your service as well.

Um, my name is Derek Shumway, and I would love to be on Lehigh City Council.

I was born in China.

I was adopted to Utah when I was 13 months old.

So I've grown up here ever since there.

I currently work at RCG Law Group in South Jordan.

Uh, I'm their director of HR and IT.

I've helped with onboarding there.

Um, I'm actually leaving at the end of this year.

So I've been there last two years, helped this law firm grow.

I'm just looking for new opportunities.

And I saw this and I thought it would be a great fit there.

My last job, I worked in the United States Senate.

I worked directly for our senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, both at the same time, uh, representing them in immigration casework there.

Really unique because you know, one senator really loves Donald Trump, the other not so much, but I was able to balance that very respectfully and kindly.

Um, not an easy job, but I did it very well, and I was very grateful for that experience working with our senators.

Um, I've done immigration consulting on the side, uh, been an ESL teacher, have a teacher's heart there, um having that federal background.

I moved right into state uh legislature staff.

I volunteer with Americans for prosperity, get ties with um the state legislature there, and I would love to cap it off with city council experience.

Um I'm 29 years old.

I'm I'm young, I've got the time, I've got the energy, and I think this is just really an exciting opportunity to know that this is how things work.

That's how I got involved in the state legislature to learn how they work.

That's how I got a job starting off with the senators to learn how the federal government works.

I really don't know much about how the city council works or how the city operates, but I want to learn that.

I'm willing to learn, and I have that energy for it.

So thank you kindly for your time today.

Thank you.

Next is Jess Green.

Mayor, Council members.

Thank you for uh having me today.

I see recognize a few familiar faces.

And my wife and I actually just live on the house just up the street that just recently recognized the uh Smith Mansion.

So my name is Jess Green.

I'm married, I've got four kids, uh, two younger kids.

Um I'm currently a uh licensed uh Utah real estate agent and uh do some consulting and uh contract for a company called Par Alloy.

Uh we uh sell materials to power generation power plants, help keep the lights on, which we all tend to enjoy.

So uh it's been interesting and fun.

So a little bit about me, uh Utah County resident for uh 43 years.

Um do we call progressiveness?

I if this is what we call it, I'm not sure I'm really on board with it.

I've got a couple of uh I've got a couple of uh issues with maybe the way the city's going, you know, some of them would be, you know, um safety, you know, public safety, um, financial clarity, overall city communication.

Uh I know uh some of the numbers on the recent elections.

I mean, we had less than you know 10% turnout for the mayoral votes.

You know, we've got more 90,000 residents now, you know.

We're quite a big place.

I think that uh the communication seems to be off just a little bit.

So I myself have a few concerns.

Maybe unlike some of the rest of these people, I have no idea how any of this works.

If I'm being honest, I'm not sure I want to know, but I do have two kids, and therefore I feel it's my duty to actually be here to stand in front of you to actually maybe learn how these things work and place my voice to input on you know, maybe some of these old values that that I believe that should make our small town that might not be such a small town, but there's no reason why we should abandon those.

I notice these beautiful murals and paintings here.

I don't think that we're moving in that direction as much as I'd like to go back.

I'm not sure how much we can, but uh I think that there just needs to be uh a voice for upholding those small town values, and I'd like to be that person.

Thank you.

Emily Lockhart.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor and Council members.

Thank you for having us all today.

About 10, 15 years ago, the leaders in this room worked with Utah and our state leaders to put in the frontage roads for 2100 North.

At the same time, they were planning the Mountain View Corridor.

Also at the same time, the leaders in this room were planning a development called Holebrook Farms.

Now, what do these have to do with me and my perspective here today?

Five years ago, I got a divorce and brought my two toddlers to Lehigh.

And I was able to afford something here in Lehigh because of the thoughtful planning of the leaders in this room.

When you designed Holberg Farms, you put unique and different product types that allowed me to purchase something and raise my kids here.

With the thoughtful planning of 2100 North, I was able to travel along that road every single day for two years to go to BYU where I received my MBA.

From that point, I was um able to get a job at a local steel company right off of Mountain View Quarter, where as of last week there is now a seamless path that I can get to work to and from every day.

My service on the planning commission over the last four years has given me the understanding of land use development and the way that the city works, but my personal experience is why I believe I'm ready to be your peer.

I understand that every application that comes before this body is more than just land use.

It's more than economic development, it's more than roads and freeways and compromises.

It's opportunity for the residents of Lehigh.

An opportunity that I will be forever grateful you have given me, and I will be sure to make sure that every resident of Lehigh has access to.

With a little hard work and opportunity, really amazing things can happen.

Like a single mom who can who can rebuild her life, provide for her kids, and give back to her community.

And I want to just be clear.

No matter your decision today, I'm committed to Lehigh and serving it in whatever capacity you choose.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello.

You know my background, you know my history, my service to the community.

Over the past several months, I've spent a great deal of time meeting residents, listening to their concerns, learning firsthand what people love about our community, what their frustrations are, what they worry about.

I heard consistently about traffic, infrastructure, fiscal responsibility, and the importance of preserving the character of our community while planning wisely for the future.

What I bring to the council is a steady, practical approach.

I understand how decisions are made, how budgets work, and how important it is to balance long-term planning with immediate needs.

I believe good governance starts with listening, asking hard questions, and making thoughtful, well-reasoned reasoned decisions, not rushing, not posturing, and never losing sight of the people those decisions affect.

My past service within the city, combined with my professional background and life experience, has prepared me to step into this role and contribute immediately.

I believe that experience makes me well qualified to complete the remainder of this term.

I'm not coming into this role with an agenda.

I'm coming in with a commitment to show up prepared, to listen respectfully to all sides, and to work collaboratively with fellow council members, city staff, and residents.

I value transparency, fiscal discipline, and solutions that are realistic and achievable.

This vacancy matters because continuity matters.

With just two years remaining in this term, the learning curve is short, and I am ready and prepared to go to work from day one to help keep the city moving forward without missing a beat.

May I also say, since it sounds like I have some time, thank you to those who are outgoing and to Mayor Johnson to all of you.

I've had opportunities to work with you, to sit with you, visit with you.

The amount of selfless service given is absolutely commendable and should never be forgotten.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jared.

Derek Phillips.

Oh, mayor, council members, thanks for allowing me to come up here and say what I've got to say.

Uh, names Derek Phillips, born and raised in Lehigh, been here 42 years, with the exception of a couple of years I lived in American Fork.

Love this town, love everything about it.

Some concerns and things that you know I've got interest in are public safety and just traffic and infrastructure.

There's things I see both ways that we can solve the issues that we currently have.

Um married, five kids, ranging from four to 19.

I would consider myself heavily invested in Lehigh as a whole and what takes place over the next 20, 30, 40 years, however many years I've got here.

Uh professionally, I own and operate a global sales company based out of Denver, Colorado.

Um there's a lot involved in that that I think could help things that go along in the city.

So that's all I've got.

I appreciate you guys' time.

Thank you.

Montana Hamilton.

Thank you.

Um couple runs for council.

Um, I've thought it is important since I've owned a home to always be involved in my government.

Um, all the way down to the HOA level, as fun as that is.

Um, but uh through a couple of those runs, Mayor Johnson suggested I become part of the Lehigh Sustainability Committee and in the three plus years that I've spent in that role now as chair.

We've transformed that committee from being more of kind of an outreach committee to starting to push for some policy.

I'm looking forward to some some productive conversations that I've had with Paul Benz on that.

With development code and ordinances being one of the things that we can affect with Paul, what we've talked about is what we can do to quickly change how we use water, right?

From a city level from a commercial level, and from a residential level.

There are things that we can do to change the code now to reduce water for at least all the new developments while considering what we can do to people that have already invested in that.

And to that end, I want Lehigh to be a leader in smart development.

Development that connects more residents to mass transit, reduces pedestrian and motor vehicle fatalities, is consistent with what MAG and WFRC see and envision for the region at large.

We've got to fit into that.

It needs to provide both residential density and job density so we can reduce those trips like Savannah is talking about and not be LA.

So there's a lot of new things.

We're at a we're at a crossroads.

What has worked for us in the past is not going to work for us in the future.

And I think it's time for some new ideas to really make Lehigh what it can be for the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

It's kind of nice coming on a blast.

Came up last in the general election ballot coming up last year.

So kind of getting used to that a little bit.

But anyway, I'm Tyson Hodges.

My professional background has been in uh construction, uh, primarily plumbing and HBAC.

The last 18 years of my life has been with Intermountain Health.

I'm currently the facility manager for the three smaller hospitals here in North Utah County.

Uh I'm not over the Lehigh Primary Children's Hospital, even though it's a beautiful building.

I do everything else in North Utah County.

So I've got uh employees, I've got a massive budget, I've got forecasting and planning to do with them.

Um and I got to keep our healthcare system up and running so everybody in this room can come to our buildings.

Um beyond that, the reason why I want to run for council is I think my expertise and background can make a difference for Lehigh, um, be able to collaborate with everybody involved.

Um then uh I've got a wife, four kids that I want to see grow up.

My daughters just started high school this year at Lehigh High.

Um, I've got elementary and junior high kids as well.

So um got a gambit from top to bottom.

My wife was an educator for 20 years, um, put service in with that, teaching uh elementary school here in Lehigh, um, from River Rock to Fox Hollow.

Um, she just retired in May.

Um, but beyond that, uh, if I can leave you with one last thing, um, don't worry about the past because you can't fix it.

Don't worry about the future because no one can predict it.

And don't worry about the present because I'm sorry I didn't get you one.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh now is the time to come up and and uh the council will ask questions.

Jim Brad, if you would like to step up here again.

And uh I think we'll go through kind of start the questions with a rotation order, if you will.

So we'll start with Michelle.

So the first question is a reminder.

Uh two minutes is a maximum, you don't have to take it, but we would appreciate if you hear the chime go off that you know, time's cut off at that point.

Okay, hi Michelle.

Hi, thanks for applying.

Appreciate all of you coming out here.

Um read through the resumes and the letters.

Um, you mentioned that you want to work to continue the great work of the previous administration.

Can you expand on that and share with us some of the policies you think are important to continue for those for the new council to continue?

Can you speak up a little louder?

I clearly screen okay.

There just eat the mic.

All right.

So you mentioned in your letter to the council um that you will um continue the work that pre the great work at the previous administration.

So, what policies do you think are important for a new council to continue based on the for instance at the last council meeting?

Uh they talked about the master plan for downtown Lehigh and State Street.

And I appreciated very much the back and forth.

And Michelle, even though you you disagreed with uh uh the preliminary uh finding as the that you wanted to table the plan until the new administration came in.

I thought that the way that the other council members uh gave their points of view were were practical, uh spot on, very common sense, and made a lot of sense to me as to why that master plan should have been approved, and it was.

And I appreciate the way that you spoke up, and I hope that I have the courage to do the same in the next administration to speak up when I feel like things are not the way that I think they should be, and but listen to the other voices on the committee on the on the council to uh strive to do those things that will make them the best future for Lehigh City.

Uh thanks, as Michelle said, thank you for applying.

Thank you for being here today.

Um is that good?

I can hear you, but I don't think your microphone's on.

Um I'm very impressed with your experience.

Thank you.

The diversity of your experience as well as the the vast and southern.

Um, I guess the one thing, the one question that came to my mind as I was listening to you is how would you suggest or what things do you think Lehigh City could do better to market itself?

That's a great question.

I do have a PR background.

I was the regional public relations director for the church in uh South Texas.

And I was able to meet with the media and the newspapers to uh talk with them about the things that we needed in the uh the region and as a church to represent um the members of the church there in South Texas.

And I know that you advertise in the local newspapers, you you do whatever you can to make sure that the publication of events get out, but uh I would be glad to help and give my voice in any way that I could to help uh public relations for the city.

Uh I think the mayor had a great public relation uh opportunity at the last council meeting with Payson's mayor and did a great job of uh correlating that public relations with the things that needed to be done, and I appreciated that.

Right.

Your background involves a lot of persuasion and advocacy.

So, how should a council member ensure that public communication informs rather than persuades when legal limits are constrained?

It's a great question, Heather.

I hope to be able to fully understand exactly all the uh nuances and the things that need to be done to make our uh city council work together with the others uh in the in the city and in the public and in the state government as well as federal government.

Um we have a lot of different uh views, and we need to voice our opinion just like Mayor Johnson did uh uh getting the funding.

Well, was it over five million dollars for the the uh the city downtown?

And that was great.

And I think uh utilizing the the laws and legal ways that we can uh to help get those uh things done is uh is a way that we progress.

And I I'm a common sense kind of guy.

I I don't want to do anything that makes uh unreasonable requests, but I I do want to hear and uh listen to those voices of different viewpoints.

Thank you.

Thank you, Heather.

I'm not going to ask for an overall.

So I'm gonna ask a question kind of in a similar vein to Heather.

She talked more about uh informing and persuading the public.

Mine is more around uh informing and persuading your fellow council members as you only have one vote on the council.

Uh so you know, in in your professional career, you may have been able to make you decisions unilaterally uh as a council member, you have to get two other people.

So talk to me about kind of what your approach would be in working with other council members that may come in with different views uh and uh how you might approach that.

Very good question.

Um I've served on four stakehigh councils, and I had different viewpoints a lot of times and had to be able to convince them of uh what would be the uh my choice in a situation.

Sometimes I disagree, but most of the time I uh spoke my piece and gave the um the council my input that would help them and guide them as well.

And uh I've also been on the San Antonio community of churches executive board as the treasurer, and we had to uh have differences of opinion uh talked about in uh from different religious perspectives too.

And I know that not everyone that lives in Lehigh is a member of the church, and I will be able to uh listen to that and uh hear the voice the voices as they they come forward to the council for their different in uh input, and I look forward to the opportunity to serve it any way I can and help the different types of voices, but on the council, I think what you did in the council meeting last Tuesday was a great example, and I wish I could have worked with all of you during uh the future on the council, but I I take your example to heart.

You uh spoke your mind, uh you did it in a calm manner and in a demeanor that wasn't putting down anyone, and I think that's the way to you know gain um alliance and help everyone to work together as a council.

Okay.

Thank you.

Paige.

Hello, Mr.

Bratt.

Huge respect for your abilities as a communicator.

Um obviously your resume speaks for itself on that, so I'm gonna change direction just a little bit.

Um, what would you say is your familiarity with the city budget?

What's your general budgeting philosophy?

And what would you change if you could about our current budget?

Again, common sense.

Use the resources that you have, uh, plan ahead, make sure that you have enough resources that you don't go too much in debt.

I know we have bonds and we have to pay those off.

And we've done a good job as a city council, I think, in paying those bonds off on a timely manner.

And when it comes to budgets, um, I've had practical experience uh as a um stake auditor for the stake that I worked in.

Uh I had to go over budgets and all the audit financials of each of the wards in my stake and make sure that uh everything was accounted for correctly and used properly.

Thank you.

Um I'm not going to ask a question.

I think you've done an excellent job.

Thank you very much.

Just uh as a side note, uh, personally, um married for 44 years to my high school sweetheart from Pleasant Grove High School.

I won't hold that against you, and I hope you don't hold it against me that we were former Vikings.

Uh, but my father-in-law taught at Lehigh High School.

What was his name?

Now I'm gonna ask you a question.

Neil Christensen.

Oh, okay.

And he became the principal of Pleasant Grove High School.

Yeah.

So thank you very much for your time.

I look forward to being a service.

And I feel like this is a fulfillment of uh of a call and the whispering of the spirit to come here and be a part of this council.

And I hope that I can in the future serve in that capacity.

I look forward to your votes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Larry Banks.

Um, Larry, thank you too for fine for being here.

Um as you spoke and as I read through your resume and things, um, again, very impressive.

Thank you.

Um, as an as an educator and as one that served in the role of the general manager, uh, one who's in that leadership role and and looking for advice and consent, but making the decision in your on your own life in a lot of ways.

Well, um, in a city council format or a six-month council, um, and you have similar to the questions I guess asked to um previous.

How do you see yourself counseling with four others to try to push banger to come to a decision that you think is best for the city as a whole?

Well, there's a lot to that question, Chris.

But uh a council is a council.

We share ideas, we collaborate, we bring our points of view, and they'll be diverse, and that's okay, you know.

But when we come to a decision about how to allocate resources or uh a strategic plan issue, you support the council.

Have there been any instances where you've had those opportunities in Lehigh, or what would you be interested in doing it should you not be appointed to council?

I I would just like you know, I love Lehigh, lives here 15 years, and I've lived in other places too, but uh um I think the uh infrastructure has a lot of pressure right now, and so anything I can do to help problem solve, implement systems.

Um I would be interested in in helping, no matter what which way it goes.

And and um I I happen to be very good at, and I don't know why, it's just a talent that I have, but identifying a problem, reviewing the data, and isolating it to the vital few things that really will make a difference.

You know, sometimes we solve problems, and there's lots of things.

The truth is there's just a few things that will few levers that you pull that will make a big difference in the system in the process.

And so um I have the ability to break it down, make it simple and understandable.

So any any where I could help, I'd be happy to do that.

Thank you.

Thanks, Paige.

Okay, I'm gonna kind of copy Paul but go into a little more detail.

So based on your experience on the economic development committee, in your opinion, what's the best way the council can promote economic economic development?

Um especially in regards to things like tax increment financing, um, a regulatory process or the city's purchase of property.

Well, I think the most important thing to do is to go out and meet with business owners, educators, uh, government officials, and develop a relationship.

Talk to them, what are their needs, and do your best to uh develop a good solid relationship, even though you might not agree, still knowing individuals, um you can garner the support to develop the economy, to develop the uh necessary resources to achieve your strategic plan, whatever that might be.

Thanks, Michelle.

Thanks again for the opportunity to uh be here.

I um I'm a little nervous.

I will be I'd much rather be playing my guitar, Paul.

Thank you.

Uh Clark.

We will start the questioning with Heather.

Hi, Doug, thank you for being here.

Um you emphasize that understanding matters even when people disagree.

So, how should Lehigh City Council explain difficult decisions so residents feel informed without overpromising outcomes, the city cannot deliver.

I think the thing that I'm personally missing is justification.

And so the thing that I would like to get better information about out to the residents is why decisions were made.

So, you know, I I've been to city council meetings, I've watched city council meetings, and I see the votes, but I don't hear as much information about why the members of the council are deciding the way they are.

You can infer some things, but I think it would be valuable to the community to be able to understand why certain people are voting a certain way, what their their feelings are about this particular strategy versus that one, you know, growth versus not growing, or you know, incentives versus not incentives.

You know, I again the the things you're dealing with are clear because they're documented, but the whys are just not there.

At least they're not as as transparent as I would like them to be.

And so it would be helpful to me as a resident to be able to understand, okay.

This is why Heather did that, and this is why Chris chose that instead.

And yes, yeah.

Yeah, uh, thank you.

So you referenced specifically the morning Vista tax development, and that initially you couldn't find some information.

You said you ultimately did and had some information there.

Uh, be interested to get your take on what your opinion is on that.

Uh obviously it's already in process, but what it would it would help me inform me on kind of how you be those.

Sure, yeah.

So um bringing large valuable you know, companies to Lehigh is is a great benefit to all of us, right?

Something that the community is interested in.

Um it's not surprising that you have to give something to be able to get something.

Um my concern initially with that with the information I had was that it wasn't clear what Lehigh was getting for the eight million dollars of you know tax in, you know, that they were giving back.

Um reading, you know, listening to the recording and even going through the documentation.

Um I'm I'm satisfied with the idea of giving that money to the developers to have that kind of development come in.

I am not satisfied with the actual agreement and the justification in the documentation, the area plan, because it was really just a whole bunch of stuff that you know, we're gonna be spending this much money, you know, there's you know, exponential growth in building costs, which isn't actually true.

Um, you know, there's lots of potential benefits to Lehigh City, um, but none of them are you know concrete and something we're for sure gonna be able to have.

I would have preferred the document to have nailed down the developer to provide you know X number of of you know value for the $8 million we gave them.

But as far as the general philosophy, definitely I want things like Whole Foods to be able to, you know, businesses like Whole Foods to be able to come to Lehigh.

Thank you.

Mr.

Clark, obviously, whoever sits in this seat is not gonna have a whole lot of time to prepare.

Um, and a big part of the job is zoning decisions, land use decisions.

How conversant would you say you are on Lehigh zoning and code and how do you intend to get up to speed if you're not you know, I don't have an extensive knowledge, right?

I've done a little bit.

Uh the one issue that I've come to the council twice about with my neighbors is the Beehive home on 2375 West.

Um, we initially came to the council to talk about um concerns about the size of development.

The the owners were going to build a second 16 um bed facility on the that size of information of property.

There was there was not the parking available for that, um, given uh I can't give you the exact zoning uh number, but um, and so we we presented our concerns to the city council.

Um they voted to go with the um owner's proposal that was never built, and subsequently uh codes were changed, restricting the size, which were some of the things that we had presented that other cities had had, you know, had different zoning in those kind of areas.

And so I was happy to see that that was changed.

Um, and you know, eventually was involved when the last owner was trying to redo the the 16-bed facility.

So I will say I've been in the documents, right?

I I understand the work I need to do to get around.

I understand generally where I need to go to find out information about a specific thing, but definitely I've got a learning curve to get up to speed to you know, every every issue will likely be something that I'm gonna have to do some homework on.

Thank you.

Okay, um, in your letter, you express concern about our weaker than possible tax base.

So if you're appointed, what would you do to grow our tax base?

So I think it's important.

I'm I'm not familiar with what our economic development group is doing in the city.

Um I need to be more familiar with that.

Um I I think we need to be working with the landowners, right?

The people who have the commercial property to understand what it is that they're looking for, what their time frames are, what the problems are that they're having, and whether it be you know attracting the right kind of tenants or you know, those sort of things.

And I think we need to be actively involved in making sure the coordination is happening to bring us the commercial um entities that I that will grow our tax base.

And so personally, I think that is where I'd like us to focus, as opposed to increasing taxes on the residents.

You know, if we can grow our commercial base, then there'll be less need to rely on the citizens for additional things.

And I and I definitely think there's opportunity for collaboration.

You know, PR was talked about before.

I think the right people to be talking to are the people who are the companies that are interested in building in in Lehigh.

And if there's anything we can do to get those folks aligned with the people who currently own our, you know uh the land that they can build on, then I think that would be valuable.

Thank you.

Um I I'm gonna try to sneak two questions in one.

If it fits in two minutes of an answer, I'm I'm good.

Um of the things I also suggest one of the things that I struggled with in my terms, um, is on the city council.

One of the things I learned is that you have what's called these a closed sessions, or um you're asked to participate into a non-disclosure agreement.

So I I find it uh fascinating.

The kind of the theme amongst a lot of the candidates by this transparency, which I think is great.

Um but with that, if you are in a closed session where you can't say anything outside of that session and tell it's ready to be made public, or you're in a non-disclosure agreement agreement.

How would you suggest?

How do you how do you help educate residents or to give some of those specifics that you really can't get at the point like you were looking for, right?

I I can see almost visually in my head as you're looking for information that there's some things you're not gonna find because of a non-disclosure agreement or other methods, right?

So there's that limitation where you know specifics that you as a resident want to know, but you can't share those.

So how do you approach that?

And then secondly, um, I I know that in the campaign season and in my years of service, are is there a way to provide some of the same type of incentives that we tend to give large businesses to our small, medium-sized local businesses in your mind here and so as an executive at a large company, there are many times that we had information about things that were happening, deals that were being done, changes that were being made that the general you know employees weren't available or weren't weren't aware of, or at least didn't know what was going on with the decision making.

And so I think what is critical is that if people are aware of what's going on, what's being discussed, then you have to be transparent in being able to say, yes, we're discussing this, right?

Share what you can when you think it's appropriate.

Um I think it's important to be able to agree as a council to what you're going to communicate, right?

As you go along, maybe there are things that you're concerned about getting out early.

Maybe there's things that would be helpful to get out early.

But I think it's important that the council is in agreement.

And so you don't have people trying to unduly influence each other by trying to, you know, leverage the public.

Um but I do also think it's important that eventually information that is educational to the community gets out there.

And you know, definitely feel like it it is worthwhile that there be some effort being made to you know collaborative collaboratively as a council, be able to put forth you know, the information, the decisions that were made with as much background as can be shared.

Um so that so that we as citizens really understand what it is you as a council are doing, not just what you've done, but why.

Um not sure that helps.

Um the second question was economic development for smaller developers.

In that uh March 13, March 18th meeting, I think there was another um business owner or land commercial landowner from Holbert Farms that had come with a concern about um he had lost uh grocery store or something, and he was having trouble finding um, you know, the right sized um businesses to fit in the land that he had.

So questions that I had having you know processed that meeting are you know, we're giving eight million dollars to a large developer, and it wasn't really clear to me, still isn't completely clear to me why, other than we want that.

What other what other options are available to that landowner, right?

He may not be as big, but we want tax revenue from his land as soon as we can, you know, within reason.

And so I definitely think we need to be prepared to have a package of support for our landowners so that they can be able to more effectively find and bring in.

So some of that might be advertising, some of that might be sharing with that landowner, you know, business businesses who have expressed interest in Lehigh and trying to collaborate with the landowners and the city so that we're not individual islands, but we're kind of working together on that.

If that makes sense, okay.

Doug, thank you very much.

Uh Robert Reeder.

And uh Paul will start the questioning.

Okay.

Yeah.

Uh thanks for uh being here and uh and throwing your hat in the ring.

Uh the, you know, you said the put up or showed up, so that this is your this is your moment to shine.

Absolutely.

Uh so I appreciate your you know, your perspective that you were bringing from the Canyon School District.

Uh obviously we're our own governing body, our own taxing entity.

Uh, but I I guess I'm gonna steal Chris's, I'm gonna sneak two questions in.

Uh, one is how do you think the city council can collaborate best, especially with a newly formed school district?

How do you envision that?

Uh, and then two, maybe you could talk a little bit about your budget and philosophy just in general for uh for Lehigh, having served in this school district.

I don't know what kind of budgeting roles you may have had there, but would love to hear your insight on that.

Okay.

Um so in terms of the impact to the community, and I I think really what what we're talking about is the impact of a new school district to the community and how the community can support the new school district.

Um there is a lot of crossover in that you support the similar constituencies.

Um obviously uh there's there's a lot that's not the same, but there isn't a lot, a lot that is crossover.

Um, one of the things that I think you will find as we get closer and closer to the full implementation is the temperature of the entire community will raise a little bit.

Um, as there's anxiety and anticipation and uh to a certain extent, probably a little bit of frustration as the infrastructure is going to be built as it goes.

Um probably the best way to for the community for Lehigh City in particular to support the school district is to do everything in your power to bring that temperature down and to uh help to establish some continuity and some structure and and really strengthen the ties to to the school district as they really are trying to do some heavy lifting with creating infrastructure where it doesn't currently exist.

Um the there was no real uh example to go on when when Canyus was built, um, where this new school district will have an advantage where where others have gone before.

Um, we've already uh started meeting with many of the of the uh decision makers involved with Alpine School District as well as the new school district uh to try and help provide some some guidance as that process happens, but but one of the most important things is to broadly just bring the temperature down and do your best to provide stability to the community and reassurance to the community that that Lehigh City is is there to support and to uh advocate for the the citizens and this the students within the community.

Um in terms of budgeting, um my budgeting perspective is is you know, there it's a lot about transferable skills.

Um, there are a lot of similarities in the school district as a city government.

Um, and budgeting is one of those those similarities.

Uh everybody is trying to split that very delicate pie as many ways as possible, and understanding that giving to one endeavor often means taking away from another.

Uh and so trying to establish priorities and trying to um mitigate uh the down the the uh the frustrations and the the implications that come with advocating for one thing over another is always a challenge, and that's probably the the biggest thing that I feel is that we need to strike a balance between uh the different priorities and understanding that unfortunately when budgets are finite and the funding is finite, there are occasionally winners and losers uh where a priority takes precedence over other things, and those are hard decisions to make, and that's in my opinion, one of the the most crucial decisions that need to be made on a governing body like the city council or a school board.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Mr.

Reader, obviously, your experience in that particular field would be enormously valuable.

Um, I'm sure you've watched as we've struggled to navigate the line between municipal government and school district, um, trying to make those work together.

But I'd like to switch directions a little bit because I found it very informative to to learn Mr.

Clark's experience with land use in his own neighborhood.

Have you had any personal experiences in terms of um what goes into your community, how you communicate with your leaders, and what your opinions were on the decisions made.

Okay.

Um by and large, uh I I've support support most of the decisions I've seen in terms of the uh of the growth in the community.

Um it has been challenging to say the least to the community over the last 20 years to see such unprecedented growth in the community.

Um it has brought uh infrastructure challenges uh in terms of roads, schools, um, power needs all the way across the board.

Um likewise I've seen struggles in those who want to keep everything very small as well as those who want to see things grow very rapidly.

Um I think Lehigh City has done a very good job at striking a balance between those two uh somewhat conflicting interests.

Uh I think it's important for us to always respect and reverence uh the past and where we've come, but at the same time, we are experiencing challenges as we see an ever-increasing uh need to build and support the infrastructure.

Um in terms of of my personal experience.

Um I've seen a considerable amount of growth in my area in North Lehigh.

Um of the things I've seen have been wonderful, and I welcome and I support and some things that I've seen them, I'm scratching my head going, what was the thinking in behind this?

Um one of them being the interchange there on 2100.

Um it's uh but by and large, I I understand the challenges and I support what's been done.

Uh, and I look forward to uh the opportunity to having uh at least a little bit of of input in view in the future uh as to how things progress and continue to try and strike that balance.

I think that's one of the biggest challenges we face as a community is trying to balance that growth while at the same time reverencing the past and strengthening the current uh the current status of the economy and the growth.

Thank you.

Yes.

Paul, I think you've literally took my question.

Thank you.

Like great minds think alike, I guess.

I don't know.

I have to say right after him.

He takes all the five.

But to follow on his second question, as you pointed out, you know, with budgeting, there's always opportunity costs.

You have to give up some things to fund another.

So can you tell us a little bit about how you would decide how to what to fund and what not to fund with a city budget?

Well, that's that's really the biggest challenge, right?

Uh is because you've got finite resources.

Um I think the crucial thing to really in terms of budgeting is to try and understand the priorities of the community and where the future is going.

Um, and so that we can allocate the resources needed to support that that growth, uh, as well as support the infrastructure that we don't want to lose.

We don't want to see disappear from the city.

Uh so the that's the that's the the difficulty that we run into.

Um my personal preference is I I'm a big believer in balance um and balancing priorities, but it in it's a critical thing for me to listen to the constituents, to listen to what's happening and to keep an eye on the future because it's one thing to kind of talk to talk to people and they are concerned with the here and now.

They are not necessarily looking forward with an eye to the future.

Um, and as a governing, a member of a governing body, I think that's one of the crucial things is you have to not just see things the way they are now, but you have to envision where things are going.

And that does need to be a priority.

And uh listening to to where people are and what their concerns are and plan for the future, I think it's a critical thing.

Thank you, Robert.

Um the term infrastructure challenges has come up quite a bit over the last several years.

Um as I as I hear that, what what does that exactly?

What was specifically does that mean to you?

And what are one or two things you'd like to address if you're um appointed to this role?

Okay.

Uh anytime you see growth, there's going to be challenges.

Um we have had unprecedented growth in this community over the last 20 years.

And the challenges that have come of that is just supporting that growth.

Um, primarily roads, power, and those services that that our community not only uh expects, but demands.

Um in terms of what I hope to see in the future, I I believe that that the uh again kind of keeping that eye on the future that I uh that and focusing on on the things that uh where we need to to kind of plan for things going forward.

Um the things that I would like to see um is definitely uh planning economically.

Uh that's a concern that I have as I've seen silk silicon slopes grow and build over the course of the last 10 years.

Um and then the creation of AI, where AI can now in 10 times faster than an entire team of software professionals.

Um the concern that I have is is as we have grown to be reliant on the technology as a key component of our economics.

Um what happens if there's a downturn?

What happens if there are challenges to that?

So to a certain degree, I think diversification uh within our economy is is a crucial thing to keep an eye on in the future uh to make sure that we aren't inadvertently creating a boom or bust kind of a circumstance for Lehigh City.

All right, a considerable amount of time the last two years has been spent by the cities to determine decisions regarding the school district.

Yes, a lane that we never signed up to enter, but was put on us regardless of taking the responsibility for it.

So considering your involvement and being a resident of Lehigh going through this and also working in Canyons, I'm curious about your perspective of what did the cities get right and what did the cities get wrong as following and learning from the Jordan Canyon split.

Okay, what have they done right and what have they done wrong?

Um I think there are a lot of things that has been that have been done right.

Um and really the the biggest thing is that that when we went through it originally with canyons, we didn't know we didn't know.

Um and there was a considerable amount of knowing that there would be challenges and there would be issues associated with with developing a new school district.

Um and so you went into it with a little bit of a better scope of knowledge or scope of of understanding than we had initially when uh you know 15 years ago when we were going through this process initially.

Um a great deal of credit needs to be go needs to go to Alpine School District.

They read the writing on the wall.

And largely for the last 15 years, they have been looking at this as a possibility and kind of planning for it.

So that has been a helpful thing uh to uh uh I believe to the communities in general, as they've they've recognized that as it's balloon to a size that was really untenable for many of the of our um of our of our community.

I think that's that's been one of the things that they've kind of looked at.

They've already developed some redundancies, they've already started to look at the systems and what would be required of that.

Um I don't it again back to you to your question.

It wasn't something that the cities themselves had signed on to.

Um, so you know, kudos to you guys for for taking that on and just kind of going, okay, it is what it is.

We're gonna do what we can to manage this and to support the process as much as humanly possible.

So in terms of anything that you've done wrong or could have done better, you know, hindsight's 2020.

Um, I at the top of my head, I can't think of anything because this is such an unusual set of circumstances, and you can't really see the the end from the beginning when you start this kind of a process.

I don't see any issues with that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Savannah Johnston.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh we will start the question with Paige.

Thank you.

And Keith or Chris just should change seats.

Well, it's still going to keep you in the same place.

That's that's my so hopefully you'll hear it.

Very confusing.

You just made a hard on it, but that's okay.

Both said they couldn't hear me from my mind.

So Ms.

Johnson, thank you for your application.

I regret that I did not have time to read the latest publication that you had.

Um, but the title is intriguing the rising electoral role of polarization and implications for policymaking in the United States Senate.

I'm sure you're aware that there's recently been um uh larger role for partisanship and municipal politics than Lehigh.

So could you please frame that brief um in the context of municipal politics?

Gosh, I love this question.

And share with us that, please.

Yes.

Uh partisan politics is a beloved belong in municipal politics.

Democrats and Republicans alike believe that the trash should be taken out and the water should be clean.

The infiltration of partisanship into local politics is poisoning our ability to govern and governance occurs best when it is as local as possible.

Uh so I reject it wholeheartedly.

That's my response.

Thank you.

Okay.

Sure.

Um so in your opening comments statements, you um talked about your support of uh walkable communities, less car dependence um in favor of high density, mixed use and more transit.

So as a council, we've seen recently um with a development Thanksgiving point that that is actually not economically feasible to build for the developer.

And so, in to support that, the city um previous councils have voted to give them HTRZ financing, which gives them to 80% of property tax, including property tax that otherwise would have gone to a school district.

And it appears that that might not even be enough.

They're now looking for taxing authority for themselves and um municipally backed bonds.

So if you are supportive of that kind of growth and development, are you also supportive of supportive of government financing that type of growth?

Yeah, it's another great question.

I believe in free markets and where governments need to step in to uh provide incentives that is going contrary to market forces.

So uh I am unsure about uh the kind of funding and taxing power that local government should be giving to developers correct.

Oh, correct.

I've already messed up.

Um thank you for being here.

Uh one of the things that caught me with your experience and such is um the walkability that you think a city should have, correct?

Um in Lehigh Cities, you're probably aware.

We have uh some bike lanes that we've put in.

Um we have looked at a revitalization uh uh program for historical downtown Lehigh and such.

Um comment's been made by a councilman elect uh in a prior meeting that we're a car-centric city, and that's not going to change.

How do you approach that when there's that kind of diversity, which is not wrong, but that kind of diversity and how how are there ways that we could become more walkable?

Um, or ways that we can improve that that in difference to what we've done in the in the past.

Yeah, I think one thing that's required is a change in mindset.

We often think that uh people want to be in their cars and live and die in their cars, and therefore infrastructure is built up to support that, but historically that's not the case.

Infrastructure is built around cars, and therefore people are forced into their cars.

So I think infrastructure actually changes behavior if you make it more difficult to drive places and easier to walk in bike places, people will do that or take public transportation.

I also believe there's a hunger and a thirst to be able to walk and bike places.

For example, my husband for the last two years has biked 14 miles on the Murdoch Trail to work in Oram from our house in Travers Mountain every day.

Just recently, he opened up a small business here in uh by the rodeo grounds, and there is no safe biking trail from our spot in Travers down to the rodeo grounds.

So I have pleaded with him not to bike because I don't want him to die.

We can change that.

We can make it so that people like my husband can bike, reduce traffic, improve their cardio health, all good things.

Infrastructure can change behavior.

You teach constitutional law and separation of powers.

So what is one area that city council members are most tempted to exceed their lawful authority?

And how uh should a council member resist that pressure?

Ah uh city council is a legislative body, it is not the executive body in a uh municipal government.

City council is not in charge of administering policies or uh overseeing, I guess oversight, yes, but not directly controlling, for example, police or or other functions like this.

And it can be very tempting to say, I don't like the way you're doing your job, Mr.

Mayor.

But he's the mayor and he's the executive.

Our job's policy.

Awesome.

Thanks for being here, and I appreciate the brevity of your responses.

Uh so uh my wife grew up in Southern California in Diamond Bar, very familiar with kind of what's what's transpired there.

Uh I appreciated your comment about kind of the stigma of high density and whatnot.

And we we hear that a lot of you know, is it's the NIMBYism you said that we need to start saying uh yes in my backyard.

Uh I live up in Travers Mountain as well.

It's a very diverse community, a mix of townhomes, condos, apartments, and I think it's a thriving community.

Uh and I've I've been up there 20 years.

Uh curious in your mind, you know how how you know, kind of borrowing on Chris's question about the the car centric side side of things.

How do you how do you help change that perspective?

Well, there is uh a plan as I understand it to put in a track line right uh by the uh uh frontage road there on Traverse, and it'll involve lots of multi-use.

There's one way to change walkability.

I mean, here's what I can do.

If there's a track line there, I can walk from my house to that track line, and I can from the tracks line go into central Lehigh, and then I could get to a front runner station and get to UVU.

How cool would that be?

I would never even get in my car.

And I'm sure there's a lot of people like me who would do that.

We chose Traverse Mountain because of its accessibility to Salt Lake County and to Utah County.

That's why I'm there.

And by the way, thank you for the good work you've done for Travers.

So uh if you build it, they will come.

Is I guess the mentality on walkability and uh bikeability.

She started you start.

Sure, you think you sure did?

It's because Chris is here.

Yeah, it's just technically mask.

Yeah, you may want to rethink keeping them in the same spot.

Yeah, force them to go first.

Actually, we should have just moved microphones down.

I will change seats after the next three applicants.

Do I come back down here and we'll just slide the microphones over one?

Oh, okay.

Can they move that far?

Oh, yeah.

Taking the water glass to your room.

Okay.

That's easy enough.

Okay.

That's why you don't manage very much.

Oh, I'm done.

Yeah, you're done.

So I appreciate it.

Firm.

You're up.

Yeah, okay.

Uh we are starting with Michelle on this one.

Oh, okay.

Um so you have an impressive resume.

You've had a lot of experience as the municipal planner, traffic manager, planning commission, if I remember right.

Um, so based on your experience and in your opinion, um, what do you think?

Um as a city council member that we should do better in our long-range planning.

What are we lacking and how how can we do better?

Uh I have participated in some of the open houses that we passed the last uh general plan.

Um MAG is getting ready to do their new regional transportation plan starting in January.

So they're on a four-year cycle required by federal law to do that for metropolitan planning organizations.

It would be great if we got on a similar now.

We don't need to do a transportation master plan every four years.

In fact, um, about 10 years is about the state of Utah average for municipalities, because usually they only implement about 25% of their plan in the first five years for the capital projects, but getting on the same cycle using the same travel demand model that MAG has that encompasses all of Utah County, there's a lot to be said for that.

So a minor update using the new travel demand model with our capital facilities plan that does a couple things that also allows us to update our impact fees.

So that's one of the things that I would probably recommend that we try to get on that same four-year cycle of updating the travel demand model with our capital facilities plan.

Thank you.

Is that do you hear it?

You're okay.

Yes, I can hear you, Councillor Call.

Um first of all, I have to say I know there's a few of you that have degrees both at BYU and University of Utah.

Um, my wife is a BYU grad, and my 17-year-old daughter just got accepted to the University of Utah.

And so um, I get to figure out how to manage the the that relationship there.

But um, go youths and go kooks, I guess.

Um you talked about in your opening statement, you talked about holding a uh developers accountable.

Um, in a in a an environment where we have this the state legislature uh and a governor who tend to be on this housing housing crisis uh mode and are trying to demand cities to build X number of thousands of homes in a certain period of time.

Um how how do you suggest or how do how do you think we as a city influence that or to work around that where their their uh goals and their objectives, their vision for the state of Utah may not align completely with um the city for which you might serve them?

Yeah, that's an interesting observation.

What we've seen is the state legislature has really disliked it when the federal government has come down on them and mandated things, and I think this League of Cities and Towns and our communities are also disliking some of the mandates that the state legislature is placing on our local communities.

I think land use decisions should be made at the local level now.

Recognizing that there are the I won't mention names of certain cities, but uh they tend to try to exclude a balance, a healthy balance of mixed housing types.

Lehigh has not done that.

Lehigh has a very good balance of mixed housing types, and we want to continue to see that.

Uh, I think your new ordinance that allows detached um accessory dwelling units is gonna go a long way.

We have attached dwelling units that you allow as well.

I think having moderate income housing, an American dream of being able to afford your first house.

By the way, the national average is 40 years old, people buying their first home now.

That's tough.

You'd like to see that less.

And I got many of you were able to purchase your first home a lot lesser than 40 years old.

So single family detached houses or a mixed use of houses in neighborhoods is probably the way to go.

Still trying to achieve what the governor is saying, but the local level of the density or the size of the parcels should remain with our local government.

Thank you.

You spent much of your career advising councils, implementing policy.

So to change that and become a decision maker, how is that different when you're the one casting the vote rather than recommending?

It is very different.

I've presented to hundreds of planning commissions and dozens of city different councils, right?

Uh in my 35-year career.

I will tell you when I was appointed uh six years to the Utah County Planning Commission.

The first couple of meetings up there, I was pretty quiet.

And it took me a little bit of confidence to get up there and start making motions and reviewing the staff reports where I felt confident enough to do that.

Um I have confidence in doing that.

I've been working for local government for 15 years, private sector for 20.

I've seen a lot of city council members, and I have huge respect for anybody that puts their name on the ballot.

By the way, this is gonna work against me, but I'm only gonna serve the two years of appointed.

I am not gonna use my name as a stepping stone on the city council to run for city council in two years.

I want to get in, I can hit the ground running, and then I'm going to get out.

I believe my experience will help with development agreements, so holding developers responsible.

One of the things uh that I'd like to see us do is follow up on those development agreements.

We're really good at signing them.

We're really good at reviewing them, but we're not very good at looking the checklist to see if the things have been done, and that's where I think we should do.

Awesome.

Uh yeah, so uh in your opening comment, you talked about the fact that you've lived here for 20 years uh and would want to have a continuation of this being a good place to raise your family.

Uh so mine is more of a having been here this long.

What are maybe one or two of the more impactful things that you've seen Lehigh government do to make it a good place to raise a family?

Well, the land use decisions, it kind of really starts with the budgets and land use decisions, right?

Identifying or prioritizing our capital projects and our maintenance.

Um, it's okay to defer capital projects, but it's not okay to defer our maintenance.

Um that can catch up to us really quick, and then we're stuck with some using our rainy day funds, right?

What I've seen Lehigh City do recently is provide transportation choices and options for all residents.

I really like seeing, and my personal philosophy is I want people to be able to choose how they want to get to work.

If it's automobile, if it's a motorcycle, if it's walking, if it's biking, whatever the case they choose, transit, it should be safe.

That's my big thing.

It should be safe.

And as a traffic manager for Provo City, I deal with safety on a daily basis.

Thank you.

Um actually, you just changed my question.

That last sentence.

Um, clearly, you have extensive land use experience, which is a good fit.

Um, how comfortable are you with making budget decisions and analyzing the budget?

And as a specific, um, how would you um prioritize funding public safety um along with the other needs that maybe there are, and uh and what would drive that decision?

Yeah, I appreciate the the question and your service, by the way.

Thank you, Paige.

I really do.

Um I am an American Institute of Certified Planner, so I've had that since 1999.

Um, it's the PE equivalent for us engineers or plan engineers, as we call ourselves.

Uh, budget prioritization is important.

Public safety, no one's really gonna argue a lot with public safety.

Our police, we want that.

We want law and order.

We want our emergency um people services to be able to respond quickly through fire and through ambulances and unfortunately some of the crashes that we have, right?

We do have to be fair though.

My experience is in public works, and so planning, engineering and public works budget, water, sewer, storm drain, transportation utility fees, impact fees, those are all important things, but I can't be selfish.

That's what I tell my other departments and the citizens when they call and I want this specific crossing, right?

I can't be selfish.

We've got to balance an entire budget.

We got to balance on just one department of public works.

We have to balance out with every other department.

And they have needs too.

We're never gonna have enough money to go around.

So we have to prioritize.

And that's how we'll have to do it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson.

I noticed that uh Katie Koe Visto came in.

You missed your uh introduction, but I honestly think if anybody who's gonna miss their introduction, it was probably you because we all know who you are.

Would you like to participate in the questions?

And we will be starting with Chris.

Hi, Chris.

Hi, Katie.

Hi.

Um recently, um, as a member of the TSSD board, I felt it was important to switch that over to um staff, uh, knowing that you've also served in that capacity.

Uh what is your thought or opinion on as far as when city council members are appropriate to serve in a board of that capacity versus maybe an administrative staff member.

Are you specifically referring to TSSD or just in any position?

Using TSSE as an example that you and I can relate to.

Um, but yeah, yeah.

I think TSSD was interesting because when I first got on the board, I remember when I first got elected into Lehigh City Council and the very first budget meeting that we had, there was a fight for TSSD, and that was so surprising to me.

And I realized when I showed up there that it's because it's a paid position.

There's no other paid positions on the committee like that, or any other the committee positions like that.

And uh when I showed up at TSSD, I had a couple of the members that actually shared that with me.

They're like, yeah, it's because it's paid, whereas the other ones aren't.

So I think that serving on any of those committees are great.

I don't think that there should be a fight, whether it's paid or not.

Um, I think that if you're gonna serve in those positions, I don't think that should be paid whatsoever.

But the people who were fighting over it were the ones that wanted the pay.

So yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Um, what's one decision or pattern from your time on council that you would approach differently today in why?

One decision or pattern on when I served on the council.

Okay.

So um, well, one thing that I I think is really interesting is uh when I took an oath of office to participate on the council, I promised to keep that oath of office, and I never was gonna quit.

And that's one thing that I think is very important and very um ethical to do.

And so I think that if you're going to if you're going to be on the council and if you're gonna serve and you make that oath of office, you keep it.

So I think that that's something that's really important.

Yeah, thanks.

Yeah, so I I think uh first of all, good to see you again.

Hope your family's doing well.

Uh, I think if any anyone having served on the council, you would step into the role relatively quickly.

Uh wouldn't be the learning curve.

And so I don't have any questions.

Okay.

Okay.

Um I I don't know how much um you've watched, but I I'm sure you've stayed involved.

Um what would your opinion of the current budget be?

And how would you change it?

The current budget, I think that our finance team is amazing.

And I think that if any of the candidates are trying to say that they would want to change or manipulate these things, um, I I think that those you have to be careful when you do that because we I think anyone on this council, including myself, we are not qualified to even touch that budget, to be honest.

But Lehigh City is so lucky to have the finance team that it has to be able to look over those numbers, and we are lucky enough to even grace to be able to have the opportunity to approve those numbers.

So there's nothing that I could even add to that that our amazing finance team can't already do.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Okay, so as the only applicant who has been elected and served on the the city council, um what would you consider your biggest accomplishment on the city council to be?

You know, that is such a great question.

So um, first and foremost, can I just say how excited I am for the new council that is coming in?

I mean, there is a special feeling knowing that the majority of Lehigh did not want you guys.

And I've been chasing that feeling for the past couple weeks now, and you guys, it is it is amazing.

And the thing is is I had some some of my friends and neighbors that reach out to me and they said, Katie, you should seriously consider running.

And I was like, I don't think I'm actually qualified to do this.

Um they said, well, you know that Paige has turned in her resignation, and you should you should consider it.

And even then I said, I don't, I don't know, I don't think I'm the best fit for it.

But I waited until December 16th to see who all the applicants were on the list.

And while we have a great pool that is here, I actually am the most qualified person for the position.

It's for three reasons.

Number one, I am the only candidate that has never lost an election.

Like I'm gonna lose tonight.

I know that because I know the council's already picked someone, and like it's kind of a waste of time for everyone here.

So but I am the only one that's actually won.

And you guys, I won the very first time I ran.

Okay.

So whether you agree or not, Lehigh City loves me.

Okay.

Number two, I am the only candidate that's actually served four years on a council, you guys.

And shocker, it was this council for four years.

No one else, none of the candidates here have ever done that, right?

We do have a couple that have served on like planning commissions and that.

There's one in particular who actually, I don't know if you guys know this, I'm sure you do.

She submitted her resignation a few weeks ago, which scouts honor.

I will never ever when I take an oath of office, like pull that back.

I will never quit.

I will fulfill my roles and complete them.

And then three, this is probably the most important.

You might be telling yourselves, well, Katie, if you think you're so hoidy toy and heidi mighty, why don't you put your name on the ballot like any reasonable person would do?

Well, a couple of things here.

Number one, I don't know if you guys remember, but we didn't exactly kumbaya on the council very well.

And um, this was not a symbiotic relationship.

And so when I chose not to run, I was actually doing you guys a favor.

So you owe me one.

But in reality, the new council that is coming in, you guys, they love me.

And there will be very little contention that'll happen when I serve with them.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, Laral Stevens.

Heather will start the questioning.

Yeah.

Um, you've lived in Lehigh 20 years.

Yep.

And those of us who have lived here that long have uh definitely benefited as homeowners from being able to be here in that time.

And and it's uh for us, it's a choice to be here because there's definitely um no one's keeping us in our homes.

Um because of that, because you've been here through all that growth and change.

What is something that you've seen through Lehigh that you feel Lehigh City, the council got right?

What's been really good that you've seen in that past 20 years?

Um, it's been really good.

I really like the trails and stuff up here in Traverse.

Yeah, um, like I said, I I worked with the Mount Bike team, and it's that that's been awesome for our youth and for our city.

Um I know that um there's a lot of other areas that uh the city's done well.

Um some of the Thanksgiving Point stuff that I I really enjoy the beginnings of it, but as it's grown, I've I've had some contention with some of the the things that have happened more recently.

But some of those types of facilities and some types of those benefits that I really appreciate Lehi for.

Thank you.

Uh yeah, I I appreciate that you've already run for city council uh and I don't have any questions.

Okay.

Mr.

Sedans, um, one of the things you mentioned in your introduction was fundraising for the arts.

Um so I assume you know that it's quite difficult often to fund the arts in a community.

Um on the council, you would have direct oversight over the park tax funds.

Um, the distribution, how that pie is carved up.

Um what is your opinion of that tax?

What would your approach be?

Um, and and what would the reasoning behind that be?

That's a good question.

I appreciate it.

Um we've got it, we've got to fund our local arts.

Um I I honestly not 100% up to date on what those budget numbers look like right now.

I know that we give an awful lot of money to Thanksgiving Point.

And um I haven't looked to see where they're spending those funds.

Um, I think that some of that could be redirected to some of our arts programs here in Lehigh.

I have a daughter that works with the Springville Arts um down there.

She's in a lot of the plays and stuff that they do down there.

And so I I feel that that's an important thing for our youth and for our community to be a part of.

Thank you.

Okay.

So um, so I appreciate the fact that you were willing to run and put your name out there and put the work into it.

Um, if you had been elected, what do you think your biggest priority would have been serving on the uh biggest priority?

Um I'm very concerned about how I feel our police department is starting to fall behind in the manpower that it needs and the funding that I believe that it deserves.

That would probably be the biggest thing that I would like to see worked on or changed.

Thank you.

Um I guess I'm gonna go off that statement there.

What what would you what are some ideas or what would you suggest the city do differently to uh improve the police force and what what information are you going off of that leads you to believe that it's under undermanned and underperforming?

So I'm looking at our basis of how many officers we have per our population.

And um similar cities around us are considerably higher.

Um I know that we've got one of the the best police forces out there.

They've they've done incredible with what they've got, but I think that we can support them better.

Some of the things that I think we can do to get them the financing and and that without actually pulling it out of general fund budgets and stuff, is I'm aware of people that do things like car shows or different other things that we can do to help raise funds for those to help support that kind of stuff.

Thank you.

All right, so thank you.

Sweet.

Cool.

What you got for me?

Thank you as well for uh running for city council this last time around.

It was good to get to know you uh during that.

I look forward to your service on the planning commission, and I have no questions.

Thank you.

Paige.

Um, I understand that you have extensive experience in engineering, which would prove very valuable, of course.

Um is relative to well, with the water and the engineering.

Yeah, all of that I think would would be really useful in this position.

Uh, and it's frankly something that I wish I had had more of when I started.

Um what would you consider to be your things you want to concentrate on most as you prepare to serve on council?

Um, what what do you consider to be the the blind spots, the deficiencies, the things that you would want to really get up to speed on?

Um I won't ever pretend that I know every answer to every question.

I mean, that's why I do my job um to find answers to to questions.

That's that's it's what we do every day.

So with city council, it'd be looking at areas that um uh information we have coming up, votes we have coming up, uh projects that we have in the near future, um, and those relative those areas, and I would study code, I'd study the planning um uh the general plan, what we have look at the budget.

I would um counsel with other people, uh experts in those areas and reach out to peers who are experts who have more experience in that area.

Oftentimes I'm in my job, I'm calling people who have 20 plus years of experience and leaning on them for counsel, where I only have seven, eight, nine years.

So it just depends what I'm working on.

Thank you, Sean.

So with your background in water, your knowledge and expertise, do you feel that um there's any role in the availability of water in regards to um approving development or maybe our city ordinances and water use?

I think water in Utah as a whole needs to be looked at as a big picture, not just at an individual city or at a household thing.

We're all one unit.

It's it's a really complex problem that is debated at the highest levels as well as down to a city council office and even in our own backyard or how much our kids should be showering every day.

Um, but I think gaining unbiased education about water, where it's coming from, um, what we have.

I mean, we're in three days away from Christmas and it's dry and 65 degrees out.

It's it's it's not looking good right now.

But luckily we have good reservoirs at the moment.

And I think just becoming more educated and aware of what we're using um helps every every citizen.

Something that um I liked that Weaver County did, or is it Weaver, it might be Weaver River Water Conservancy District, is that they used um the pressure irrigation meters.

All the citizens have access to that information, allowing them to essentially play a game and have the information.

They haven't put restrictions on them, um, to my understanding yet.

But my friends in those in Weaver County that have those water meters essentially play a game between each other of who can use the late least amount of water and have the best looking law.

So it almost information is power in my mind.

Thank you, Chris.

Okay, folks.

Thank you.

Um in your um application, you meant mentioned that you want to make Lehigh, you want to make sure Lehigh continues to grow the right way.

Uh and you talk about clear zoning, responsible budgets, um, strong investment in our roads, utilities, and services.

Um, in Lehigh City right now, the philosophy, the methodology, I guess, when it when it comes to roads, curb, and gutter, is to not build that until development comes in.

Correct.

Is that a responsible approach, or is there a different type of approach that should be looked at and why?

Unfortunately, that approach is what the state legislatures left us with.

Because of the uses, um, because of the way that impact fees are restricted and how we look out, we are a very reactive state.

Um, in order for that to change, we need to change the state legislature and work with our state partners on that way.

Other states have more of a proactive um responsibility where they'll build the infrastructure, they'll build the highways, but oftentimes in Utah, what we see is that we are reactive and we hear grumblings.

We hear how bad 2100 north is, how bad pioneers, but those are state roads that the state has to be responsible for.

And unfortunately, we get stuck with the blame for that.

Thank you.

Can you explain the difference between the planning commission's role, the city council's role, and how the city council should view um recommendations from the planning commission?

That's a great question.

I don't have a complete answer on that, but I'll find that out and get back to you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yep.

Learning about all this at the moment.

So you'll learn more.

Yeah, hopefully next week.

So thank you guys.

I no, don't go away.

Sorry, I haven't asked a question, but I'm gonna ask you one because of your water background, which I appreciate greatly.

I got pulled in and uh into a conversation last week about the future of water rates and water acquisition in the state of Utah.

I anticipate that those conversations are going to continue just based on the individual who is asking me those questions.

Uh if it wasn't for the Central Utah Water Project, we'd be in a world of hurt here in the Wasatch Front.

So, you know, that that was that uh was uh a project that expressed great vision.

Uh it was timely, it's been very helpful.

Uh, it went through some expansions, so we're just very beneficial.

Uh but they look at our rates in the state of Utah and and recognize that we have some of the lowest water rates in the entire country.

We do.

And so they look at that immediately, say, well, we just need to raise rates, and that's going to force conservation and conservation is the key to our future water uh crisis that we understand is coming.

I'm not sure I subscribe to that theory.

I I believe it will curb uh use.

That's obvious from the example you gave.

Uh the concern I have is we don't seem to have some large uh water development programs going on right now in the state.

And somehow I think we need them.

What are your thoughts on that?

I know that's an extremely general.

It's a it's a very um generalized question that has a very complex answer with a lot of different nuances to it.

Um the Central Utah project did do a great job at bringing um hundreds of thousands of acre feet over to the Wasatch Front from the Duchesne Um River, the strawberry rivers and different things like that.

Um as far as raising rates to save water, I don't think I think that's a portion of the answer.

Again, one of my philosophies is I don't believe there's a silver bullet to every problem.

Um, I think there's multiple portions that need to come in.

I mean, if if there was, we wouldn't need a council.

We just have a mayor that makes all the decisions.

But because we have a council of five people to bring different ideas to the table, we can come to these solutions.

And that's kind of the same approach I'd look at with water conservation in the future.

Um Central Utah currently is doing a lot of big projects right now at the mouth of Probowl Canyon, as well as Metro Water is doing a lot of big projects at the mouth of their canyon.

A lot of what I don't see us building new reservoirs here shortly.

Um, I see what it's doing is moving water trans basin more efficiently.

Um, as far as the big water projects in the future here.

Um, and then part of that was water conservation, right?

Yeah.

Um I think just information is power at the moment.

Um, as we see uh we got to figure out what's going on as the state of Utah with the Colorado River Pact and what's happening there, because then that would allow us to, depending how that shakes out in the upper basin, it would allow us to create more big water projects.

But right now, until that finishes through legislation, I think we're on hold at the moment.

Thank you for your answer.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh Josh Shorenson was not here.

Did he did he come in?

Okay.

I was gonna give him the same opportunity that gave to uh this coe visto, but uh he's not, so we're gonna go directly to Derek Shamway.

And Paige will be uh reading the questions out.

Um I was very impressed with um your knowledge of legislative procedures at the state and federal level and your willingness to um focus on collaboration amongst people with different opinions.

How do you see that translating to city council where so often there are conflicting opinions?

Um and and it's so essential that people come to a consensus if possible.

Well, thank you, kindly Paige, for your question.

It is a tough job to understand what's going on with many different views.

Um I view it as clear communication is very kind to people.

Um if we tell them what we can as much as possible, as well as possible, that's the kind of sway to people the people respond to that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um in your packet, you stated that you're committed to making the best decisions um that will put the city first, even if if it may be upsetting to some.

So working at the Capitol and in the legislature, you probably know that's um kind of a subjective opinion about what the best decisions are.

So um can you give us some examples of um what you see as best decisions, how you how you will and how you will come to that determination.

Yes, thank you, kindly, Michelle.

Um I I think that there'll be decisions that we would have to make that some count, some residents would probably look at us and say, I just do not like that.

I I don't like that at all, actually.

And there'll always be those fans who will say, Oh man, like no matter what they do, no wrong can be can be done.

Um that is really difficult to balance.

I think that when you make decisions and they involve different viewpoints and different people there, if you have understood the situation, you have run the data, you've you've looked at numbers, you've understood the motions behind it as well.

Um, I think there's a point where you do have to go home and bet, go home at night in bed and uh be content and be at peace with the decision with the decision you made.

Um, and know that there will be some people who think otherwise.

But even when those situations happen, what made that a really good team uh in the Senate with Senator Romney and Senator Lee?

And so I mean, very different opinions that sometimes where we would have very candid conversations with our staff and so well, this is just that's not what the constituents of Utah want.

Um, but because we are kind and we were clear in our communication, we were able to go home and feel at ease and know that this was the best thing for the state of Utah.

I think that the decisions we would make, we will have gone through enough information, enough emotions of a roller coaster up or down that we will be able to take ease and knowing that we did the best we could.

Um, I'll quote a book that I really like.

It's from Bob Berg called The Goal Giver.

And he he says in there that you should be able to give more value than the payment you take in.

And that's how we teach our attorneys and clients stuff.

You know, we want to, you know, it's expensive, it's hard to work with attorneys and stuff.

We we do divorce law and stuff.

Um as city council, we should be able to provide more value to our citizens than the payment that we take in through our taxes or other revenue.

Um that that policy, I think, would be a very good policy to follow.

Hi, Derek.

Thank you for for being here.

Um, your your federal experience is is pretty impressive.

Um my question to you is is the federal government a partner for a city and why or why not?

And helping with its infrastructure needs or you know, funding needs and things like that.

Is are they an appropriate partner or not?

Yes, I think they are.

They have a time and a place to work with us and be friends.

I've seen it working with Burgess Owen's office, John Curtis's office, um, Blake Moore up in Ogden.

Uh, there's certainly space, and we should be friends with the federal government.

We should be friends with the state legislature, and we should be friends with each other and with the residents too.

Thank you.

Um, I'm very intrigued by that you've worked for um political opposing views.

And so I'm gonna kind of piggyback on what others have talked about with that, but switch it a little bit.

So, how should a council member disagree publicly with colleagues while still maintaining trust and institutional credibility?

That's a great question.

Thank you kindly, Heather.

Um disagreeing does not mean that you have to sit there and and just stew in it.

And if you just sit and stew over this, you know, I can't believe that they would do this after all that we've been through.

You're just hanging on to this piece of charcoal while trying to wash your hands and your hands will you'll never get them clean.

You always have this laying down, all this gossip and hoopla and everything, and it's just not healthy.

Um working with people who disagree with you is not easy, and we may not love them to death, we may not like them every day and stuff, but that doesn't mean that it has to ruin your whole day.

Uh you can make every day a great day.

And um, even if it's not a great day, there is something great about that day.

Um disagreeing there means that we can still be a team.

You still have a vision.

Lehi, we want to pioneer Utah's future, and not everyone will be on the same page, and that's okay.

There may be some wins and there may be some losses.

We had to share that with the senators.

I had to share that with people I met with in the state legislature, even just my boss when we'd have to talk about employee this morning in a meeting about you know, they're not performing.

Do we keep them?

Do we not keep them?

What do you do there?

Despite what happens there, you can still support the overall future.

But we're gonna pioneer something great here in Lehigh.

We're still gonna run this company, we're still gonna go to work the next day.

Things will still be okay, and we're gonna try our best there.

Um, so I hope that helps answer your question, Heather.

Thank you.

Yeah, uh, thanks for being here.

Uh I guess my question, cr Chris kind of asked the question about, you know, should the federal government be a partner.

I'm gonna maybe take flip it on its head a little bit in that there are times where the federal government or the state legislature will force mandates upon a city.

Uh, you know, the uh pressurized irrigation system is one.

Unfortunately, that one was not necessarily not entirely an unfunded mandate.

They provided some mechanisms for us to pay for that, but that hasn't been a very popular decision.

There were other times where the city has been tried to be proactive on uh excess redwelling units and whatnot, and the state came in and said, Yeah, that's adorable, we appreciate your efforts, but we're gonna go ahead and force uh basically override what you've done.

Uh so with your kind of federal and state interactions that you had, how would you approach that when you see potential legislation coming down the pipe that's gonna override what is a city council we we've been trying to accomplish?

Well, I I I like a lot what our governor Spencer Cox has done to try to address this very issue, Paul.

So thank you, Conley, for your question.

Um his disagree better campaign that we can disagree better and still do it with kindness and compassion.

Understand, but without sacrificing what you believe in, though.

He has fought hard for some of our policies where sometimes he felt like the the administration, the presidential administration came down hard on the state and and fought back on that there.

And um, it's not an easy job there to be governor to be even a governing body to do that to face your residents every day that you drive to work with and you know go to school with and stuff.

Um I think that if we follow those good points from our governor to disagree better, and I'll even cite um Melania Trump had this really kind campaign called Be Best.

Um, we can we can be the best we can.

Um, and and we're going to get through it.

It's going to be hard, but we're going to get through it.

We're going to disagree better.

Um, I joked with my friends in the Senate.

Um, you you get to learn a lot from the Democrats and Republicans and liberals and and just nonpartisan people, independents as well, and people who aren't involved in politics and don't care about them.

That's okay there.

We still respect them, we still treat them with kindness.

Um, I learned that some of my best friends were Democrat liberals.

And you know, you you you talk about these I can't believe they did this, you know, and and that's okay too.

Um, I want to make sure that when we communicate decisions, and even if we disagree, I also look to how Supreme Court justices when they dissent and those decisions come out, they don't sit there and eviscerate their their opponents and and their co-workers right there.

We support each other because if we don't, you really won't pioneer the future if you're just sitting there with all those infighting.

So again, clear communication is kindness, and that I think how we can solve those issues.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Derek.

Okay, we've been in the states for a little over two hours now.

I'd like to uh council would like to take a break.

I'm going to advise it.

So if that's okay.

Okay, let's take about a 10 minute break.

Uh it is now five third five fourteen.

Uh let's just come back in about 524 we'll continue with the interviews.

We'll continue with the interviews.

I like these chairs.

Thanks for coming.

I think right now it's the Christmas season.

Yes, you know.

Right now, still running behind.

I was sorry, I didn't make it to the mounting thing, though.

Um twenty three fifty and twenty one hundred.

Um, when that wrote up, everybody starts like classic cars and the old son wrote it.

It was straight from cars of the movie.

We all did a lot.

Yeah, I wasn't either but it was fun.

Remedy is on the way.

Oh, of course, thank you.

I'm sorry, I just have to go on the time.

Oh, it's got a crash.

I don't know if it's like just the catch and burning it on the file.

I don't know why it was so we just turned the microphone.

Yeah.

Well, Zen.

I'm trying to keep two lists here.

Yeah.

Who starts next?

Paul goes to Paige.

Page is starting next question.

Uh yeah.

Uh no.

Oh, Michelle is.

Yeah, just let's get started.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

If I can get everybody to take their seats, please.

Okay.

You need Matt.

Or is Matt.

All right.

No, I can't.

I don't know where the timer is.

All right.

Huh?

Okay.

All right.

Appreciate you being patient with us.

Like I said, it has the potential of being a long night here, but we're making good progress through this agenda.

And uh the next applicant is uh Jess Green.

So Jess, if you'd like to come up, and we will be starting the questioning with Michelle.

Fireway.

Okay, I get to go first.

Um I believe you live in the downtown area.

Correct.

Okay.

Um I just wanted to uh get your opinion on the downtown revitalization plan.

Um it includes things um like infill increasing the density, mixed use, and since you live in there, what are your thoughts on that?

And how could the city have done better to get input from the people who live there and work there?

Uh I mean the only thing that I got, I mean, there's just a it's a a couple part here, a couple parts here.

The only thing that I that I recall receiving from the city was just a uh a pamphlet that was left on my door about the potential zone changes and the revitalization process.

Not saying it's right or it's wrong.

I don't know what the city's allocation is, I don't know what the budget is, I don't know what's in entitled to a lot of that.

It's obviously with my background, I mean I'm not probably as adept as some of these other people, so I'm just the lay man that lives here and just see some challenges, so just bear with me.

Uh the revitalization process, I think there's some good things and some bad things.

Um I've got some concerns from a real estate aspect, uh, being a real estate professional.

I don't know anybody, I've never sold a town home or a condo or anything like that that somebody says that this is where I want to buy, live and die.

The ultimate American dream is still a single family home.

Um, I'm highly opposed to the high density stuff, the high density leads to a lot of different things.

Also stand there's some tax, you know, advantages to high density, but it's currently you know, 5 30, 6 o'clock, and it takes 20 minutes to get down main street.

High density also brings a lot of infrastructure problems, brings a lot of public safety problems.

There's just a lot of things that go to high density that a lot of people from the outside looking in.

Yes, people need homes.

I just don't know that it's the high density and mixed use is the right way to do it.

Um ADUs have been a good way for some of the cities to utilize existing homes, basements, easing some of those uh you know, legislative processes so that you know family members or you know, somebody can rent out a room that have traditionally been kind of frowned upon by cities.

So I mean that I don't know if that answered your question.

Uh again, I mean I do.

We lived in we've for 14 years we live in the the Smith mansion just up here that my wife and I we've spent a lot of time trying to revitalize and and restore and maintain the history of the home and the character of the home.

That's something it's important to me.

I enjoy my main street.

I enjoy any main street that across the country that I've ever been on.

That's where I think you find the real heart of the town is on Main Street.

It's mom and pops, it's small businesses, and not saying that the big tech companies don't bring certain benefits to it, but there's a lot of downsides to those types of things as well.

And so I think when you know we lose sight of, you know, our main street mom and pop businesses, the way that local families feel about it.

Um, I think that it's a real problem.

So I mean, that would be that would be my that would be my take on it.

So thank you.

Hi.

Um, in your application, you mentioned that you want to provide maximum transparency.

Yes, sir.

Can you explain to me what maximum, what you mean by that, uh that term maximum and how can what are some ways the in your mind the city can improve its communication with trans thinking about transparency?

Sure.

Uh I appreciate the conversation.

I appreciate the question.

I'm actually glad that you answered asked me that question because I've been sitting and kind of pondering and stewing on that since one of the other ones, somebody you'd asked that some to somebody else.

Um, I believe you guys are all elected officials, correct?

Yeah.

So one, I find this particular setting a little bit interesting that we can fill a vacancy without having a separate election for that seat, and it can just be a vote on somebody that's not, you know, somebody gets to come fill the seat that isn't elected by by its constituents.

Um, so I find that kind of funny.

As far as maximum transparency, I think it's interesting because you've mentioned an NDA.

I guess I would question why you have an NDA.

If you work for the city, if you've been elected by the city, why should you not be able to go out and express your opinions, your thoughts, your opinions, your beliefs to the people that elected you?

Now, take that with a grain of salt, because obviously I I've never been on your side of the seat, so that I'm sure there's some things that you know that I don't.

So, you know, it's not a personal attack on anything, but I guess I would question why there would be a non-disclosure to protect a position where I'm actually supposed to be as transparent as possible to the people that would put me in this particular seat.

Does that make sense?

Yep.

Does thank you.

Yep.

Um, in your opening statement, you talked about uh public safety as one of your top concerns.

Yes, ma'am.

Um, in my first budget season, I brought up uh per capita for police station funding and was quickly rebuked by somebody much smarter and more experienced than I was.

Sure.

Um, and was told that that was based on uh national average, decades old study that doesn't apply to uh Lehigh City being one of the safest ranking cities of the nation.

So with that in mind, what metrics and data driven support would you use to determine if our public safety has enough funding and enough staffing?

We have a police department right across the street.

What do they need?

This isn't rocket science.

I know as I know as a resident of Lehigh City.

The first concern that I have is a dad and a husband is I want public safety.

I want to know if my house catches on fire that the fire department's gonna show up.

If there's a crime committed, that the police department's gonna come.

There's an accident involved, they uh you know, their their call times are the best.

I want the best in the country.

I don't care what other cities are doing.

I want my city where I live to be the very best.

I could care less what the national average is, but I do have some people that work, you know, for the police department.

And I actually just had an opportunity to speak with with Chief Paul.

They need whatever they need, they should get.

Now, I understand that there's a budget and it has to balance, and I'm not privy to that.

So it's easy for me to stand here and say that.

But public safety comes first and foremost.

Nothing we can't have a thriving, growing city without public safety.

I just that's just plain and simple.

And then second to that would be infrastructure for me.

But I can go right to the horse's mouth and say, you know, have be told that, you know, yeah, we need more people.

You know, we from a real estate standpoint, we're part of uh it's called RPAC.

We get numbers that are coming out, you know, by 2050.

The city of Utah's expected to be, you know, at another two million, three million people.

Like we're gonna double in size.

Well, where the hell are these people gonna go?

I mean, a lot of them are gonna come here.

And one thing that I think that we forget is that if they can't fit here, which they clearly can't because everything's designed to high density.

Well, they're going out west.

Well, the problem with that is they have to come to our city to get there.

And do what we may, like you dot is, you know, takes their sweet time getting whatever it is they need to get done.

Therefore, Pioneer Crossing is a mess, state streets a mess, main street's a mess.

We all live here, we all know it.

We can fill it.

Yeah.

So, anyways, that that would be the long-winded question, the answer to your question.

Thank you.

Yes.

So uh, first of all, appreciate your effort.

Uh living downtown, working on the Smith Mansion.

I think it's important that we do as best we can to you know preserve the history that we have.

Uh, as far as I'll just address you mentioned kind of the weird process here from an appointment perspective.

That's the state code.

Like, that's what we're following.

This was not something that we as elected officials here decided, oh, yeah, this will be fun, fun way to do it.

Uh, this was dictated by the state.

Uh, so just putting that out there.

Sure.

Uh the the question then uh is living downtown.

Uh what do you see as the biggest challenges for downtown residents or downtown in general?

We did we did just pass the downtown revitalization plan, which can obviously be adjusted and amended.

Uh you living here and seeing it day to day.

Uh, what are the biggest challenges that you see as a resident?

Travic, traffic's a problem.

Infrastructure traffic's a problem.

Um, you know, I again for me, I like downtown.

I like being able to walk down and get a donut.

I like being able to walk past the police station.

In fact, my girls will come down and the little ramps they'll come down, will walk down and they'll ride their bikes and do all that kind of stuff.

Like they like that's their that's their thing.

So I think it's like from my perspective when it comes down to like what we would consider revitalization.

It mine wouldn't be revitalization, it'd be preservation.

I think we should figure I think we should be doing everything we can to preserve what the people have you know given to us.

Uh for me, that I mean, listen, I'm a small town guy, like I've been here for 40, you know, 43 years.

Like I remember what this place was like when it was just the Lehigh Roller mills in the high school and a four-way stop.

We didn't take the freeway, we took State Street.

And so, you know, it would be about preserving Main Street, figuring out how to help those businesses, you know, get more walking traffic to them.

You know, I just think that that's important, you know.

I I understand that maybe there might be some money that comes from Silicon Slopes, but everybody, if there was some attractions, if there was something here for, you know, downtown that would think that would prove vital and important to the city.

And I don't think that's mixed use.

I don't think that's high density housing.

I don't think that's main street storefronts with condos on top of them, personally.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I've also chosen to live downtown for some of the same reasons.

I love it.

Um, have you tried the new bread place?

It's great.

I well, I haven't, and not to interrupt you, I haven't because I make my own sourdough, which I'm I'm I'm stressing because you guys are keeping me from my stretch and folds.

I'm having to tell my wife how to do it.

Well, um, we've made several trips there because it is within walking distance.

It's delicious.

Um, I appreciate what you've done with the mansion.

Um, we we've also looked into doing some restoration stuff.

It's incredibly difficult to restore.

Um you make an excellent point about um the communities out to the west of us and their impact on us in terms of traffic and infrastructure.

Um, there is a balance to be struck between constitutional property rights zoning and how we can deal with it here.

What would your suggestion be with regard to the burgeoning population out to the west?

How what should we do for that?

I mean, I guess if I was a scholar, I'd have a great answer for you, but to be honest, Paige, like I don't I don't know what I don't know.

I don't know what the right answer is.

I clearly I don't know that anybody does because it seems like we're all kind of battling the same mess.

Uh, and unfortunately, I think that the the can just keeps getting kicked down the road.

I think I mentioned before, like if I'm being completely honest, I really don't want to be here.

I don't want to do this, but I feel like I'm almost compelled to do it.

I found out about this position in Denver uh a few weeks ago, and I was like, man, like I don't want to do it, but maybe I really should.

Um, you know, for multiple reasons.

I just I don't know how to be anything but honest, you know, so that goes back to the transparency thing.

Like, you know, I if I'm elected, like you work for the people of Lehigh.

Whatever the people of Lehigh want, like that's what we should be doing, and that maybe not be what I want.

And then I have to make a decision whether or not I want to come or go as a real estate agent.

I'm one of the one of my frustrations is I'm constantly looking at, man, maybe I should pick up and leave.

Maybe I should go find a new small town.

But I don't know if that's my duty.

I think my duty is maybe to stay here and fight for this one.

I've been here for almost 15 years.

This is where my kids, this is what my kids know is my home.

And so everybody wants, everybody wants a home, everybody wants their property rights.

Like everybody needs a piece of the American dream.

And I just think that we're missing the mark drastically.

And I again, I'm not been on your side, but I can tell you what the residents, what my neighbors say, and this is not a dig at any one person or anybody, but what's being done is not being done the right way.

It certainly doesn't feel that way.

You can walk outside your door and you can see the way that the city is growing.

It just seems to be a problem.

And there's a lot of things, especially coming from like the power generation.

And listen, I'm a little over my skis because I don't know what I don't know.

But I mean, if they really do introduce a nuclear power plant out there, like that brings a whole nother set of issues that we should probably be starting to figure out.

Thank you.

Jess, I I'd like to ask you a question.

She brought up high density uh housing several times.

I I understand that argument.

Uh I've been involved with a lot of economists that are very, very concerned about uh the future, you know, of our children and our grandchildren.

Uh, if they don't find housing, if they can't get into housing in their mid-20s or early 30s, they will never have the opportunity to get ahead financially to be able to even retire.

And you know, those numbers are very concerning.

So if we don't create housing that people can afford so that they can get in a situation where they have financial stability in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, how do we how do we deal with that?

Because we can't keep building million dollar homes and expect 30 or even 40 year olds to be able to purchase those as their first residence.

Sure.

Um man, that's a big that's a big question, Mayor.

And I think if I had the answer to that, I wouldn't be here.

I would be on some boat in the Bahamas somewhere because I'd be making a bunch of money.

Um the high density, the high density housing issue is not just high like the high density thing is just an easy thing to say it's high density and high density is a problem, right?

It's not high density, it's the cost of everything else that leads to high density.

And so what we keep doing is we keep doing a lot of quantitative easing and we keep doing all of these things to help combat inflation.

People can't afford to buy a house because wages are stagnant, like especially in the state of Utah, they've stayed pretty stable.

There's a reason why first-time home buyers, I think somebody would say it was 40, it's actually 38.

Um you allow a giant influx of people from out of coastal cities to come to your town and your city and to realize what they think the market value is.

Uh, it makes everything unaffordable.

Like I'm 44 now, I'm not sure how the hell I'm gonna retire if I'm honest, let alone if my kids are gonna buy.

I can tell you right now, my kids can't afford to buy a home in the city that I live in.

I mean, a half a million dollars for a 1900 square foot house just down the street.

Are you kidding me?

This is madness.

I don't think there's anything you can do from this spot that's gonna fix that.

I think that that's I personally believe that that's uh a national problem that we have that is being driven to where we are affected by it and the how the high density housing is just a it's a band-aid easy fix to say let's put somebody in it.

I guess my issue that I would bring to you is as a real estate agent, there's two outcomes to this.

Somebody gets into high density, a condo townhouse, share shared purposes, because one, they can't afford it.

It's not where that they want to live, it's just all that they can't afford.

Or two, we now have large corporations and organizations that are building these things and then dictating and and and managing rent control that then also affects what mortgages do and what the value of housing does.

Okay, thank you.

Right now, time.

Anyone else?

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Emily Lockhart up next.

And Chris, you'll start the question.

Okay.

Hello, and thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you for having me.

Um, I want to go off a comment you made in your opening statement about 2100 North and Mountain View Corridor.

Yeah.

Um, and kind of dovetail a question I asked earlier of another can't applicant.

Um, where we in the state, we tend to be more reactive in our infrastructure and we build, you know, uh, for example, as I said earlier, road curb gutter, um, after development comes or when development comes, right?

Not prior.

Um, if you drive through, I mean, as we've all driven through the city, right?

We see many areas where you'll have full road and then it goes down to two lane road or whatever, right?

Um, and that's because the development hasn't come in for that stretch.

Um, is there something as a city council member that you would uh do differently or that you would um argue differently for the state to help remedy that issue?

Yeah, I really appreciate the question.

Um so as you know, I'm a I have been serving on the planning commission, and during that time I've developed relationships with our state legislature and elected officials, and I have been working with them on an infrastructure first bill.

So um the way that that would work is well, let me start by saying we have a hundred thousand um housing units that could be built across the Wasatch Front and permits could be pulled tomorrow if um there weren't massive infrastructure costs in the way.

So what this bill would do is it would effectively um identify the projects that would have the largest impact, and then the state could come in and fund the infrastructure first so that those housing units could go in.

It would increase the supply across the Wasatch front, which would help with the um with meeting the demand and lowering the cost.

Um I'm actively working with House representatives um today, and we'll see if we're successful in the 2026 session.

Um, but like I said, my commitment to Lehigh is strong, and no matter the outcome of today, I'm gonna continue working on that bill.

Thank you.

Um I think you can agree that we have some incredible candidates in the room for this appointment.

Absolutely are well qualified.

They can hit the ground running and be a major asset to city council.

So as someone who's ran an election in this last um election cycle, how did that prepare you to be appointed to a two-year seat?

Yeah, I really appreciate that as that question as well.

Um we were making a joke during the break a little bit um that I keep showing back up, and I'm not sure if that says something positive or negative about me.

Um, but I I really believe in service.

And I um as you campaign, you go door to door, you meet with residents and you hear the concerns, you develop a true love for your neighbor.

And through that um love and understanding that I have for their concerns and pain points, I I want to meet the hour and I want to deliver results for them.

I happen to have this skill set, both from my education, my profession, and my civic um involvement on the planning commission that gives me the skill sets to help solve those problems for my neighbors right away.

Um, and so it's just that love for those that I um live with and care for, um, met with the unique skill set that I have that make me ready.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, so Emily, appreciate your service on the planning commission.

It was uh interesting to see you share your uh being out for the Mountain View Corridor opening.

Yeah, that was a great event as far as just expanding the regional transportation issues that we have.

Uh having run a run a campaign uh and get gotten to know you during that time, I have no questions.

Thank you.

Um I have I'll take his hand mine.

Okay, because I have a two-fold one, but they're entirely different.

Okay.

Um first one is because you have those ties with the legislature.

Um, I'm sure it's non-news to you that sometimes municipalities feel like uh there are policies that are being pushed upon us that perhaps don't work for our community, aren't the best fit.

Um, how do you intend to navigate those times when um you need to get along with the legislators, but also you perhaps object to the things that they're doing.

And then my second question is so sorry.

I mean, try and remember if I forget, call me out.

I will.

Uh the second question is easy.

I you're well versed on the different council assignments.

Um what liaison assignments do you think you could be of the most use in?

Yeah.

Okay, so when it comes to the state legislature, and I have um background working and pass passing legislation.

Um, and what I've found, especially on the big controversial stuff, is you have to get to the why.

You have to explain to them very clearly the practical impact that this is going to have on your residents and on and essentially their constituents as well.

Once they see the dominoes fall, once they can see the long-term impact, they're ready to come to the table.

But you can't just walk up there, knock on the door and demand a meeting, right?

You have to have these relationships that you've built over time.

Um, and I know that you guys have them, and I look forward to just adding to that and continuing those relationships.

Second question, if I've got more time.

Um, I have a lot of business experience.

I'd love to um work with the chamber, um, but I'd also love an opportunity to work with the historical society.

Um, but I am willing to serve in whatever capacity um is asked of me.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um during your four years on the planning commission, um the issue of property rights for developers has come up quite often.

Um, and based on a question you raised um during the planning commission, uh, what rights do residents have?

Are you referring to a specific thing I said in a meeting, or is that question you've asked me, Seth?

In general, we hear about the developer having property rights, but what rights do residents have?

Yeah, so um property rights are a funny thing, you love them when you have them and you hate them when you don't.

Um, so within your zone and within that table of uses applicable to that zone, those are your rights that you have.

You also have health, welfare, and the safety.

So um when the council um makes a final decision, their job is to work on ensuring that the surrounding properties don't have any negative impacts that would impact their health, safety, and well-being.

Um, and so like a good example of that is if you um put something down next to a use that's incompatible, um, like the smell of burning tires or things like that.

The um city council can work with the other developer to come up with mitigations that will help the residents surrounding them.

And and just to be clear, my record on planning is I often do have advocated for mitigations and included them in my motion to protect the surrounding residents.

And I can provide examples if I have time.

Do I have time?

We have another minute.

Okay, great.

So um uh there was an applicant who came before the planning commission about a month ago, maybe six weeks ago, who wanted to um have a concrete uh recycling use, and we had to fix the zoning, and then we also had to approve the use that that he wanted, but there was a residential property next to him.

And so we talked at length about how to protect that resident from the dust and all of the sound, and then we ended up not giving him manufacturing ability and just keeping it to recycling to protect the resident.

Any other questions?

I don't think so.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Emily.

Okay, Jared Peterson.

Uh Heather will begin the question.

Jared, um, I love your extensive financial background and the experience you bring with that.

So I was curious.

Developers often come to us and present really optimistic projections.

Um, what indicators would you look for on council to distinguish what's realistic?

Um financial assumptions from overly aggressive ones.

Well, there's no question that uh developers and builders are always very aggressive, very optimistic in in what their projections are and whatnot.

Uh what you have to look at is what's what's realistic in the market, what's really happening in the market.

Are units, our homes really selling for that price.

Is that are your costs, is that really what they are?

We live in a time now where that kind of data is extremely available.

I mean we've never had more data than we do today in our decision making.

So in you have to review that data and understand and just and just have a feel for and ask the questions of are your costs really in line?

Because here's some examples that would show that you're not in line.

Okay, Jared, uh, thanks for being here.

Uh appreciate you running and got to know you a lot during that.

Uh just want to thank you for your service on the planning commission.

I'm pretty sure you're the only candidate here that whose public service has taken you inside the rodeo ring.

So thank you for that as well.

Uh and I have no questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Paul.

Um another two-parter.

I I love that you have um served in Lehigh when it is thankless, uncompensated and quiet.

Um, you've taken the time to give to your community, and I appreciate that throughout your years of being on the Roundup Rodeo side um and the other things that you've done.

Um one of the things I have noticed amongst city committees and things is those who serve on them are tending to be older.

And I'm one of them.

How calling how are we going to how are we going to keep that Lehigh tradition and history with so many new people moving in?

How can we bring in the younger generation to understand their heritage and want to preserve it for the future?

Yeah, no, that's a great question.

And I would say that's something that I actually during uh the campaign and in several conversations with people.

Uh one of the great things about Lehigh and the community is is the spirit of volunteerism and the spirit of community people want to be involved.

Um I said it before, if you don't feel like you're involved, that you don't uh you don't feel connected to the community of Lehigh.

Well then you need to get involved.

You know, put a chair out at the parade and and come be with us as we as we celebrate as we do these things.

So, how do we get the younger generation involved?

We need we need to create those opportunities.

Something that we've talked about on the Lehigh Roundup Rodeo committees.

How do we get uh these younger generations involved and and bringing them in, giving them assignments and letting them see those inner workings?

Uh it's imperative.

We see it also, you know.

I where I am now, where I kind of am concerned the most is in the historical society, right?

Uh you know, the the history of Lehigh is great and it's amazing.

I love to see the murals that hung in Lehigh State Bank here in the building.

Um so how do how do we get people involved?

And there's just education and and providing those opportunities and uh inviting people to participate in events and all of those things is how we get and garner that excitement for uh whether it be history, whether it be the celebration, uh whether it be the parades, the heritage days, uh what whatever it is, uh we have to make those invitations and uh and just really garner that that support and that willingness and and foster that spirit of volunteerism that we that we have in our community.

Okay, um, so I did listen to an interview you gave um during the campaign.

And I just wanted to follow a question.

Uh you mentioned in that interview that you recognize that we did lose businesses to Saratoga Springs, and you mentioned that we need to um develop our tax base here in Lehigh.

So as if you get appointed city council, uh how would you go about doing that?

Yeah, that's really really tricky, right?

And it's super easy to stand here today and look through today's lens decisions of the past and see where uh things could have been done differently.

Uh where maybe we could have done this or kind of done could have done that, right?

But we have to we're to point you you can't go back, we gotta go forward.

So how do we how do we do that?

Well, we have to be identifying, we have to be uh reviewing the great thing about the general plan is it's a living document.

We have to be reviewing that.

And is there opportunity for business growth?

Are there opportunities uh for small business?

Uh Main Street is is an amazing, amazing place.

I work on Main Street, I commute commute up and down Main Street multiple times a day.

We have great small businesses.

Are we supporting those small businesses?

Are we creating a way for people to come downtown, park, and be a part of those businesses?

And it's the same uh, you know, if you look along Pioneer Crossing, are we doing are there ways to get people there?

I mean, there's a lot of challenges in the part in Pioneer Crossing area, and I get that.

Uh, but are we are we looking far enough into the future that we're providing opportunities in the future?

A lot of these things can't happen maybe today, but in the future.

One of the things I really believe, and you've heard me throughout the campaign, if you've listened to me, is that we have to be taking a much further view than the next few years.

We need to be looking at what is this, what are we going to look like when the city is completely built out?

And are we doing things today to get there to provide those opportunities for business, for retail, for small business, and all those things uh in all parts of the city and and around and are we supporting the small business that we have and are we doing things to encourage uh those small businesses not only to come but for people to take advantage of those small businesses?

Um with your with your background and you look at um personal situations or business situations when someone comes and applies for a loan or uh and you're looking at certain criteria, what kind of criteria do you look at that would be similar to looking at a city's budget that would help you to determine if if that city has a healthy budget or economic uh is economically viable?

And do you feel that Lehigh City is is economically viable with you know as understanding that changes will be made by different councils and such going forward or or not and why?

Yeah, no, great question.

One of the C's of in banking, we use uh some people use four, some use five C's of credit, and one of those being cash flow, uh, and how well does the does a business manage their cash flow uh when you're reviewing a loan, or they do they have the cash flow historically and projected cash flow to maintain and to cover that debt?

Well, this the city is very similar, right?

What's our cash flow?

What's what's the cash flow that we have coming in?

How is that being allocated?

Uh are needs being met.

I mean we we've heard tonight that there's probably way more needs than what we have dollars for, right?

We could get really carried away if we had an unlimited budget, but we don't.

So it comes down to prioritizing those things, and we have to prioritize in a way that we take care of the things that need to be taken care of today, but recognize the things that are gonna be taken care of in the near future and plan for that and prepare for that so that they don't become larger problems.

We don't want a problem in some department to percolate year over year over year because we haven't been willing to allocate some budget funds to that because we're we're too worried about taking care of something else, and it becomes unmanageable and it becomes a real problem.

So, you know, when we look at cash flow and the uh where our funds come from, where our funds are going.

The city has used bonds, which I think is is fine, it's a great way to finance capital uh projects, and you know, do we have the cash flow to support those kinds of things?

And yes, we obviously we do.

We have a an amazing finance team here in Lehigh City Dean and his group are uh really truly some of the very best.

And I would also say, I mean, the state Natalie Gotschner is the lead economist in the state, and she has spoken very, very highly of the economic situation here in Lehigh.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um, real quick.

So a couple of things, yeah.

Natalie Gaulkner, she really pays attention to Lehigh.

I'd say more so than probably any other city in the state as far as the economic advantage.

Uh and you did say something that is really important.

I don't, you know, we've been working on this for a long time, and that is our pride, our planning horizon needs to be built out.

It it can't be uh 20 to 30 years in the future, and that's what some of our master planning organizations are doing, but that is not searching serving us very well right now.

Yeah, no, and I think that you can make an argument that that's been one of the challenges throughout history is we we've had a hard time having uh vision far enough out into the future to prepare for it.

Uh I think even with Eagle Mountain Saratoga when they came in, there wasn't enough planning for the future, and and we ended up with some traffic challenges that uh maybe we we didn't expect uh to come as quickly as they did.

But today we have the data that we've talked about, we have great data about where we're gonna be at build out, where the county's gonna be, and we really need to be uh working as a city with our neighboring cities and all of those other uh state entities on those things.

Thank you, Jared.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, next is uh Derek Phillips.

And leading off the question will be Paul Derek, uh being thanks for being here.

Yeah, uh so my question uh two of the council members up here you would be serving uh with if you were to be uh appointed, which is Heather and Michelle.

Yeah, uh with the experience that you've had here in Lehigh, I'd love to get uh maybe your take on something that you've seen each of them do well or advocate for that you uh appreciate it as a Lehigh resident.

So I'm gonna be honest, I've avoided politics in Lehigh my entire life.

Okay, it was when I seen this meeting that I thought, why not?

So, as far as anything anybody's done specifically, no, I don't have an answer to that.

Thank you.

And I appreciate the frank honesty.

Yeah, um building on that.

Um obviously we are a quickly growing city, and there's a lot to take in and a lot to train for.

Um, what steps would you take um between now and the first of the year uh to get up speed and hit the ground running?

What I can tell you is I'm a very quick study.

Um when I get into something, it's all in with my business, same thing.

Like I run a global sales business.

The learning curve would be fast-paced and need to be done quickly.

And I you know, that's the only way to answer it is I would have to dive right in to get to learning what takes place and everything with this.

Thank you.

Michelle.

Okay, I won't hold it against you.

Can we accomplish that?

It's okay if you do honest.

That's great.

That's what we need in politicians, right?

Um you mentioned that you're fiscally conservative.

Um city currently has a policy where every two years we look at raising increasing property taxes to adjust with inflation.

Um, you know, despite the fact that we often have budget surplus or that uh revenue sales, excuse me, sales tax revenues increase.

So um do you uh knowing what you know, probably a little bit.

Um, do you support that policy and why or why not?

I don't like taxes to begin with, so um I think there's a time and a place that it has to increase.

I think that needs to be looked at at the time that it comes up for the increase.

Um yeah, that one's that one's tough.

My my goal is to represent the people and what the people want.

So that's where I'd have to lean back to.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Um in your in your opening, you talked about public safety and that you um had some concerns with that.

So I I know I've addressed this with a few other candidates who have addressed uh mentioned it as well.

Um in my 12 years and going through 12 years or 12 individual budget cycles and such, there are times where um I've asked personally for additional officers than what was requested or what we saw the need for was at the time, right?

Um when if you're speaking with a department head, so I'll take it even outside of police, right?

But this is something that seems to be a common theme.

If you're talking to those who run that department, so we'll use police, right?

Um, and they say no, they're they're really good.

So uh one gentleman mentioned that he didn't care about national rate uh statistics, he didn't count, you know, he just cared about what our city was doing, right?

Yeah, and and I agree with that to a point, you know, it doesn't in a way matter if we can do something better, more efficient, great.

If we need a little more to do something, you know, as well as we need it, then then that's great too, right?

Yeah, but what if if the person who's in charge of that department is saying that no, they they have what they need, um, but yet you still feel like it's a concern.

How do you balance that?

I mean, you'd have to have the conversation with the person in charge of that organization.

So because if you look at the same orders, organization in another city, which we are now bigger than, and say we have less employees for that organization, it's it's with the police force.

So us compared to Oram City right now, we're now officially bigger than Oram City, correct?

I believe so, yes.

Very close, pretty close.

Yeah, and so with the police force in mind, how many officers does Oram City have on staff?

Over a hundred, it's close to a hundred.

Yeah, I think it's like a hundred and two.

How many officers do we have on staff?

And I I love our police department, they do amazing.

Where do we fall in that?

We write about 75.

So I I feel like we're understaffed for the population that we currently have.

But if your department head is telling you we're not, how do you balance that?

That's a good point.

Are you still gonna tell them that they're wrong?

No, not necessarily, but I I would have to have that conversation with the department head and hear that for myself.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, I really want to piggyback on that.

Um go ahead.

But there's like so I got two parts to um so my metric is call lock.

So if Orum takes considerably more calls than Lehigh does, their officers are taking more calls.

In fact, their officers take more calls than our officers do.

Do we still add more officers in?

And does that mean that then our officers lose over time?

Um they don't we have an excess of officers.

Maybe there's a call, you know, a cutback because we don't have the same needs as Oram, even though we have roughly the same um the same population, because they're taking considerably more calls than we do per capita.

I I feel eventually we're gonna catch up to the same amount of calls that Orem City currently takes.

Yeah.

Um I mean, we've got a great city.

Nobody can argue with that.

But I think over time we're going to catch up and be in that same boat where had we planned ahead and brought those on over the course of time rather than 10 years from now when we're like, oh wow, we're we're getting way more calls than Oram City does, but we're 25 officers less.

But I think over time we're going to catch up and be in that same boat where had we planned ahead and brought those on over the course of time rather than 10 years from now when we're like, oh wow, we're we're getting way more calls than Oram City does, but we're 25 officers less, you know, since we're using the police department as the so I don't know.

Not easy.

It's it's not easy.

And I I don't claim that any of your jobs are easy.

But thank you.

Yeah.

Just just a couple things here.

Yes.

I know the police would love to always have more police.

So I'm looking at our chief back there right now and he's green.

Because that's true.

But what's also true, and we can't deny facts is two years in a row, we've been uh rated as having the safest community in the entire United States.

That is measured from any uh they they haven't looked at every small town, but they've looked at every city within 50 miles of a major uh major city of a hundred thousand population, and we are bigger than Oram right now.

So because Oram has a declining population and ours continues to grow.

But it's hard to ignore statistics like that, right?

Yeah.

I mean, we're safe, there's other things going on in this community that is that is protecting us, and I can't tell you what those are, but it's probably important to understand that that statistic is out there, and it's one that we didn't, it's not one of those things where you apply for this and you get considered we didn't even know this was coming, right?

Yes, and it's happened two years in a row, which is a real big thing.

But anyway, I do have a quick question because that was just this is a when I was going through all the applications last night, I was reading them.

I noticed you and Jess both work at the same company.

Yes, sir.

So just out of curiosity, did you guys know each other was applying for this job?

Jess has known me for 42 years.

He's 43 and I'm 42.

He's my cousin.

Oh did you talk that hey, I'm applying and you're you've applied too.

So we were actually at our corporate party out in Denver when I seen the thing on Facebook and I was like, hey, check this out.

And then we both apparently had the same idea.

Okay.

I did, I just I I thought I actually be there to the water.

I just never seen that before.

I just thought it was interesting.

I'm not sure.

Yeah, yeah.

Jess is my cousin.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Okay.

That's really it.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you guys.

Okay.

Uh Montanae.

Come on up.

And it will be Paige.

Hey, Paige.

Hi.

Um, we've known each other for a long time.

Um and you've heard me say it more than once tonight how much I value volunteerism in the community because it really is a lot when you're willing to give your time um in a position that is not in the limelight that requires a lot of hard work.

You've served on the environmental sustainability committee for quite some time.

And you and I had numerous conversations about how we can make Lehigh more sustainable, make Utah more sustainable without stomping on property rights.

Um you expound a little bit, maybe your thoughts specifically with something like uh water conservation, how you would go about doing that.

Yeah, it's it's complicated in that respect.

Um, I think first of all, you don't want to surprise people, right?

And you know, we all have what we have, but there's people we're still growing.

So I think it's really important for us to know where we want to go and make sure to start to change policy for the what we're going to develop.

I think we're missing the opportunity there.

There's a longer conversation about how we deal with existing stuff and how long people have to change if we want to force that change, or is that change gonna come just because we start charging for water?

I there's some hard conversations, but the the through line there is there's no reason for us to not get ahead and make sure new development is built in a way that accomplishes our goals for the future.

Thank you.

Okay, so I have the um I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked before, which you said that you are favor in favor of um high density and job density and the walkable community kind of thing.

So you understand the problem with our Thanksgiving point development, that's where we have front runner in transit and to put in the density and the commercial there to sustain it.

Um, it's not economically financially feasible for the developer.

So they've come and asked for incentives that takes property dollars away from the residents to provide city services to help them build a parking structure, ironically for walkable community, right?

And also the high-rise apartments.

Um so if you support that kind of density and it does require um government financing, are you in favor of that?

And how would you help finance it?

That's complicated.

I don't love the idea to be honest, right?

And we've had these conversations about high density.

Um, I don't love the idea that we have to pay for things that other people are going to make money off of, right?

So we social we socialize the costs, but they get to privatize the gains.

And I don't think that's fair.

So I don't love that idea.

But there is a time and a place where to redevelop certain things that getting government involved is important.

Um, a lot of the municipal planning author authorities or organizations that have been set up in places like Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis have done things where they do buy land around their transit.

And I think especially with Thanksgiving Point, we have it's the it's the best transit station we have.

This or transit connection we have, we have to find ways to to build density there because that's the only real transit we have now, right?

And I I don't love us giving away the taxes.

We have to find ways to do it without it, in my opinion.

Um through serving on the environmental sustainability committee.

Um what have you learned about um encouraging a diversity of thought, but also working to come to a decision?

I mean, I think I mean sustainability is an interesting thing for Lehigh, right?

Lehigh is is staunchly conservative.

Um I find it funny that you know conservative is part of conservatism, right?

Like it's literally part of.

We want we should be aligned on preserving our environment.

So what I have learned though is through the that is how to shift the mindset a little bit, right?

To to placate, not necessarily not in a bad way, but but to take the message and be able to shift it towards people that maybe don't value the same things the same way that I do, right?

And and instead, say for like power and energy, right?

They don't want to hear about this woke stuff about you know green energy, but when we can talk, when we can couch that in terms of energy independence and energy sovereignty, that we have control of price and and how it's con how it's made, it can be a very productive conversation.

So I think you need those diverse um opinions and you need to learn to work with them so that you can get your point across and that we can meet our shared goals for our community.

Thank you.

Um you ran a couple of campaigns, and I'm sure the hot topic during your campaigns was growth.

Yep.

Was during mine, I'm sure it will be for the next 20 years that uh residents want to hear how you're going to slow growth.

And that's there's campaign promises that are made broken, and it's a lot different from making a promise as a candidate to then being in this role.

And so I don't want to talk specifically about what you could do to slow growth or to meet those things that the residents have, but more of what would your approach be?

How would you talk to residents, knowing that you know you look back the last election and it was pretty split, you know, and no one had like an overwhelming win.

Um, so there was a lot of you know points that were being um set out there that basically our our residents are kind of divided on.

And so how could you be a spokesperson to residents and be effective, um, perhaps in an educational way or just so people understand, you know, what we really do have to deal with here that's quite different than what we're able to sell as uh running a campaign.

Yeah, I mean, it's it's a very I mean it's campaigning doesn't allow for nuance very much, right?

Like it just platitudes work and short sentences work.

Unfortunately, this issue is really complex.

And I mean, I've had the conversation with Michelle, you know, I understand the anti-growth uh as far as high density movement.

I understand the other side that says, hey, property rights, everybody should have them.

And it's a really hard balance.

I I think when you get to the bottom of it, all the problems that we're having, and I've told Michelle this, is because of growth, right?

And I mean, we can have six kids and 14 grandkids, it's great, but I don't think if you look internally and say, okay, I'm doubling my population every seven years because of this kind of growth.

What am I supposed to do?

Right?

Like we have to really come to grips with the reality that we've caused that that and it it comes to our economic system, it comes to our religious systems to some extent as well, and understand the effect that we've had on our society.

And what we and to me, now we're kind of in a position where we just have to do our best to mitigate it until society catches up with oh crap, maybe this wasn't a good idea to grow like this, right?

And it's happened in Europe, right?

They've had that and they've gone through wars to because of it to some extent as well.

So I mean, I think to me, that's why high density, I know everybody hates it, but there are good places for it, right?

The WFRC and MAC have already identified centers within Lehigh that we can build out, but we're gonna need transit.

And that's why I think Thanksgiving point is really important to us.

Unfortunately, geographically, it's not the best either, right?

But at least let's do the best we can with with an asset that we have, working then with UDOT, etc.

over time, UDOT and UTA to bring more transit connections so that we can possibly pull some of this population out of the deserts.

And when we know the MPOs are saying there's a hard fast limit to our urban development, we're feeling the pains of not establishing those.

Go ahead, Mayor.

Sorry.

Yeah, so uh I want to point out that Montana is the third candidate uh from my little neck of the woods in Traverse Mountain.

So we're overrepresenting on applicants.

I wish our voter turnout was as good as our city council application uh turnout.

Uh, but appreciate the involved little portion of Lehigh that I'm in that that we are concerned about these uh issues.

Uh also appreciate your service on the uh environmental sustainability committee in your opening statements.

You talked about kind of advocating for policy around sustainability and certainly moving from a committee to a legislative body would allow you to actually initiate some of those things besides sustainability issues.

What might be some of the other issues from a legislative perspective, policy perspective that you would want to advocate for if you were to be appointed to this position?

Yeah, I think again, Michelle and I have great conversations.

Um conversation that we were talking about was mixed use, right?

And I think mixed use is something that has to happen, especially if we're going to build these small centered communities that allow the residents to meet most of their daily needs within a walking distance, right?

That would be an ideal situation.

But as she brought out, one of the concerns that we have, or one of the problems that we tend to have in those mixed use developments is the commercial doesn't get really utilized, right?

And and so one of the one of the interesting policies that we could put in place is is making sure to change how first four floor development goes, right?

And saying first floors have to be a certain height, floor to floor to ceiling to accommodate, which to accommodate commercial eventually.

So it could be used for residential initially because well, we all know you know you have to have a certain critical mass to make that commercial work, but build in a way that looks to the future of what that community is going to need.

And so changing our our our policies as far as our mixed use um code would be really could need some cleaning up in that respect.

And I think changing that height, making sure that you know that that first floor can be used first of all for residential, but then later can be converted to commercial would be a really um interesting concept to look at.

Awesome.

Thanks, Motley.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mark.

Tyson Hodges is our last reviewee.

And if we uh start with Michelle on him with the question.

Okay, I'm actually gonna change the question I had planned a little bit.

But um, in your resume, you talked about how you have been um you've overseen operational budgets and capital projects.

Um it's been discussed here about our police department and whether or not there's a shortage.

Um one of the things I found that sitting in on budget discussions that um I heard from our department heads that there is a staff shortage in our patrol officers, and I was given a study um that shows that as well.

So if you're elected to or appointed, excuse me, to the city council, how involved will you be in the discussion um budget discussions?

Um, as much as a counselor is given.

Do you feel that's important?

And um, what would you do to give more oversight to the budget?

Yeah, so anytime you can participate in budget meetings, I think is the plus because you get to know what the needs are.

So, with my background and experience.

Um, my director has all the hospitals from Utah County to St.

George.

All of us have meetings daily.

When we go through our budget process, it's just not me and my boss trying to determine what my facility needs.

It's every facility from mine to St.

George.

That's nine hospitals, and we're allocated maybe five million dollars for capital improvements, and nine of us have to fight for five million dollars.

Each one of us wants seven.

So we play a game called catchball.

You go back and forth about what's necessary.

We all get to find out what needs each other have.

And do my needs actually, do I feel my needs are worse or needed more than my counterpart?

And so sitting in some of those discussions helps you get it to know what their needs are and where things can kind of maybe relax a little bit till the following year, or no, they're really broken, they need to get fixed.

And so it's just having collaboration and tea building to be able to find out what the actual needs would be.

Thank you.

Thanks, Tyson, for being here.

Um, if in your opening, you talked about forecasting and planning and how important that is, and how you've um have worked with that in your role, which um I appreciate.

When when you think about the questions that have been asked about budgeting, um, you have your needs that you need today, right?

And like you said, everyone wants seven when there's only five million available.

Um, we find that often too as well, you know, right?

Um, and so you have to find that right balance, right?

Um, but if you're also looking towards the future and and and forecasting, as you've indicated an importance to how how do you how would you approach that budget process when you're looking at what the needs are today, what or what you're being told are the needs versus a forecast or uh a vision that you're seeing for the for the future.

Yeah, that's that's getting to know what your needs are.

So for me, it's easy with equipment and life expectancies, things like that of what I look at.

And so when you look at what the city's needs are, whether it's growth, whether it's um uh other things like that, is you you look to see what the needs are, and we usually have a five-year plan.

So I know what I'm gonna be asking for funds for in the next five years.

And I keep that rolling five-year average.

And I do that by knowing what my building's doing, knowing what everything's function functioning inside of it.

Yeah, you get to get the occasional surprises when something breaks and you didn't expect it to break.

It didn't last as long as you thought it would last.

Um, but you take your best guess at planning for the next five years.

And that way, not only that is you got a baseline budget for what you're looking for.

So if you need increased taxes or if you need to uh if you can decrease taxes or you know, sales tax revenue, things like that.

It's it's a game that you can play is just knowing what your five years down the road looks like.

Thank you.

Probably one of the biggest, probably the biggest keys to be an effective council member is relationships and maintain relationships.

Um and one of the difficult things with campaigning is there's a lot of people who want something from you, even beyond developers.

There they have expectations of how they want to see the city developed or grown or policies that you're gonna put in place.

And sometimes when you get into these seats, you realize that you're constrained.

You, you know, you the you can't do it legally, or the code doesn't allow it, or there's things where you have to say no to somebody who basically supported putting you in that chair.

How would you handle that situation and be able to still maintain that really important relationship with the person who you just had to say no to?

Well, then you know, if it's illegal to do, then you just can't do it.

It's not within your legal bounds.

Um to me, making promises for somebody's support to me isn't a good way to be campaigning or to do it.

They can support you for the way that you see and your vision is for the city if you've got one.

Um trying to push agendas from other people for profit making for if it's a developer, something like that.

I don't I don't agree with that at all.

To me, this is a collective body with different experiences and background to trying to do the best for Lehigh, not best for individuals or corporations.

Thank you.

Yeah, so Tyson, appreciate you uh applying here again as well as your campaign.

Uh and especially for yourself and the majority almost all of the can our applicants tonight that uh were willing to put the $35 forward to have participate in this process in a meaningful way and not just to uh have an open mic.

Uh having met you during the uh campaign process, I have no uh other questions, but thank you so much for being here.

Thanks, Paul.

Um so we've talked a lot about your management experience, but having read your resume, I know that you also know what it's like to be lower on the totem pole.

Um how have you balanced that during your career and how do you see your management style in terms of working with people who um serve underneath you?

Yeah.

So for me, it's I've always had a drive.

Um, not necessarily management was the goal, but I saw something that I can improve from previous leadership or just something within the system that I'm working in.

And so me having the foresight to go and have the initiative to push for more, push more learning, push more explanations, and then just having that drive is what's gotten other people to see what I'm capable of.

And that's what's gotten me to the management level that I'm at.

Um, I ended up going back to school when I was 36, got my degree in healthcare management and at 38, raising a family of four with a wife working full time, did a four-year degree with zero credits to start and finished at two and a half years.

So um drive education and just the the push to get to learn more so I can do more things to fix more problems.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Now we get to the point, I think that uh everybody stuck around for because I don't think anybody's left until we reach the vote.

So uh this is an interesting process.

It's a little bit different than most.

Uh we are looking for a majority vote from the council.

Uh we this is a vocal vote.

Uh starting a one end of the council and going opposite direction from what I took questions.

Uh if we reach, if we reach three names that are the same.

The vote is over.

That's what it is.

Uh once we receive, once we determine who will serve or take the seat for the next two years, we will actually perform the uh oath of office tonight.

And uh we have a resolution here where I'll actually write their name in and then we'll have to pass that resolution.

So uh that being said, council, is there anybody here not prepared to vote tonight?

We're gonna do it tonight anyway.

So it better be prepared.

Okay.

Uh Paige, I'm going to ask you to start.

You will.

Uh I let me before the vote takes place, let me just say this.

I've been pretty impressed tonight with some of the responses we've heard here.

They they've been a good mix.

Uh, I've got to know some people I've never known before, some that I do.

I've got to know them a little bit better through this process.

Uh I appreciate that quite a bit.

Uh but if you but I've also seen some people in this process tonight that I just hope run for election the next cycle if they're not chosen tonight.

And we're going to have we're gonna have a number that's not chosen tonight.

But there are some very, very good applicants that we listen to tonight.

So I I appreciate that a lot because I think that's important for the future of our city.

So don't get discouraged.

It takes a little bit of time to be involved.

Some people, like myself, friend two campaigns and lost both before I won my first, right?

And uh you don't want to get involved again after you lose.

There's no shame in not being selected tonight.

I just want you to know that you you need to carry a lot of pri uh pride that you actually showed up tonight and threw your hat in the ring.

So I commend you for that.

That being said, Paige.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, it's no secret that this is um my seat that we are seeking to fill this evening.

Um for a lot of personal reasons, but I'm grateful to all of you who have thrown your hat in the ring because it is truly amazing.

Um, and it will send me out the door with warmth in my heart for how many people want to serve the community and how many people are prepared to do so and have volunteered in that capacity.

Um just to briefly, I know it's been lengthy, but to briefly uh understand some of the things that I was looking for tonight.

Um it's no secret that I value people who serve their community when it is thankless and anonymous.

Um for each of you, whether you have or whether you haven't, I would urge you to ask the new council, ask the new mayor, ask the city administration and the people in the community how you might serve.

There are countless committees.

Um so many things that happen in this city to make it so great.

Um and I could see from the feeling and the attitudes in this room that you are needed um outside this room to help keep this community going and help keep that spirit strong.

Another thing that I uh had been looking for throughout this evening is um someone who has had the experience of running for public office because those who have, and this room is full of them, um, know that it is truly a gauntlet.

Uh, and it is difficult and stressful for you and for your family.

Um so I would echo what the mayor says.

If you feel like you have something to add and something to give, I would urge you to run for office because it will really help you refine your knowledge and be a better servant to the community in the future.

Um, the last thing I was looking for, especially was um someone who would always, always, always revert back to the importance of the constitution of our nation and of our state, because when it comes down to it and those tough decisions come before you, that should always be your first question and where your first allegiance is.

So that those are the qualities that I was primarily looking for, but there are so many others who have come up here that have gifts that really would serve this community well.

That said, I believe and my vote this evening, should anyone else agree with me, would be that uh Emily Lockhart replaced me in this chair.

Thanks, Paige.

Uh yeah, I I'll echo what the mayor said.

Uh, I've actually been blown away by the quality of the applicants that we had tonight.

Uh many of who I had never even I I like I wouldn't be able to recognize you on the street.

I've never met you, but your applications that you submitted, the thoughtfulness in which you answered the questions and your deep, clearly deep concern for the community in which you live and are raising your family uh means a great deal to me as a resident, even though I won't be on the city council uh moving forward.

Uh running a campaign is a challenging thing, and it's getting more and more uh expensive and more and more toxic uh as time goes on.

Uh I I will congratulate both um Mayor Benz, James Harrison, and Rachel Freeman for having survived that gauntlet.

I look forward to their service uh to our community and and wish them all the best.

Uh I I think Lehigh is a great city.

And it's a that's why I think we're fortunate to have as many chose to run for city council and as many as came here uh this evening.

Uh and I and I hope uh that that we can continue to make Lehigh the great place that it is.

Uh as far as uh the vote before us tonight, uh, and it I would also uh throw my support behind uh Emily Lockhart to replace uh Paige.

Um we saw that there was 19 candidates, two that have dropped out that were applying for this position three days before Christmas.

Um I don't think I'll just speak for myself and say it was not something I was excited to come and do.

Um this has been worth every minute.

Um this I there many of you I wish I could continue the conversation with um because I feel like there's a lot that I could learn from you.

Um but I'm thankful for your desire to be here and to be a part of this.

And that there are things that you want to do.

Um I encourage you to stay involved.

Um, reach out if you want to know our why, reach out to us and we will tell your why.

Um, I know a lot of us try and post on social media too, but like we we we're here for that reason to be able to, and it's a it's different than a job application when you're here really to be able to represent and engage the residents.

Um so I'm looking for that person who has had that experience of where residents feel that they can reach out and be able to um fill that seat.

That's a it's a pretty big seat to fill with um Paige and everything that you have done for the city and your involvement.

And I have learned so much from you.

That is because of your encouragement that I decided to run.

And I think this is um something that uh is uh is a big thing to fill for someone.

And um, with that, my my decision is also for Emily Lockhart.

Okay, Emily, congratulations.

We do not have to take any more votes according to our procedure here.

I I'm looking down the road, and I think councilman stallings would like to have her comments as well.

And I'd be interested in hearing hearing both from her and we'll get to some closing comments here, but according to our procedure here, once we get three votes and we're done voting if they're unanimous.

So uh I would like to say before the swearing in that you know uh Paige, I'm I I want to I want to say thank you for your time.

Uh you you've represented well.

There's times I wish I would have been as good a diplomat as you are.

Chris and Michelle, I'll let you guys go ahead and make any comments you'd like to make.

Well, you want no um I just want to thank um as everyone else is thank everyone for for attending tonight for all of you that have applied.

Um I want to say it, you know, being honest to mix motions, uh, being in the seat and and uh not being in this role come January 1st.

Um, but I was talking to some residents this morning, and one of the things that I think we can all agree on is there's much more good about Lehigh than there is bad.

Um, I think that in election cycles, we tend to focus on all the wrong things, the bad things, the misperceptions, and it's unfortunate that elections are run that way, but um hopefully that can change in the future.

Um, because it really is.

There's a lot of good in Lehigh.

And if there wasn't, I don't know why we're all living here.

Um but uh I love Lehigh.

I love all of her residents, all of you.

I I love the families, I love the community.

I I love all that Lehigh's striving to be.

Um, and I understand we all have different perceptions, um, and that's okay.

Um, and that's why we run elections.

That's why um we feel that desire that that that push in ourselves to get involved in different ways.

And I I not only encourage each of you, but I encourage myself to keep doing that, not to allow myself to just stop and say, hey, I put 14 years in, I'm I'm done.

That's good enough.

Um, if I if I want to see Lehigh move in a positive way, then I can't just sit back and hope that that's the way it goes.

Um so I I too, as it's been said, I wish the new administration, uh the new council in January the best of all that I can.

Um, I hope that uh that they have as much success as they that they um hope to have, and that if I can be a part of that, I'd I'd be happy to help.

Um, and with that, I'll just say thank you.

I want to thank all of you for coming out and spending the long hours here.

There are many of you who are very, very qualified to fill the seat.

Um people who give given decades of their lives to serve who haven't quit when it's gotten harder.

I don't like that we were put in this position.

I thought after the election results, we didn't have to worry about it.

I am a strong believer in representative government, and the person best qualified to serve in this position is a person chosen by the people.

So I hope that each of you come back in two years and run.

You'll run against me.

That'll be great.

I'll I if I find somebody better than me, I will be happy to vote for you.

I promise you, it's a tough job.

Um I just don't sure what to say at this point, but thank you for honestly coming out here, expecting a fair hearing and fair judgment.

I appreciate that.

And Katie, you're the only one who was elected by the people.

To me, you fit that qualification.

My vote would have been for you.

And there's something to be said about those who go through that the fire of campaigning and come through it and win and serve the people.

And I'm just gonna say one thing that I appreciate about you on the council.

First of all, that you stuck through being that lone voice.

I know what that's like.

It's tough.

You stuck it through to the end.

You weren't unelected, you chose to step down.

But more importantly, I think your voice mattered.

You were one against others, but it mattered a great deal when it came to our general plan and limiting our our build-out numbers to what our infrastructure can actually handle.

So even though you were that one voice, you made a huge difference, and I appreciate that.

Um again, thank you to all of you.

And I hope I do hope you'll come back, and I hope you will step up and serve in other ways because we we can use your brains and your minds and your creative ideas on things, and I mean that with all my heart.

I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, council.

Council, we have resolution number 2025-103 in front of us.

It's a resolution appointing Emily Lockhart as Lehigh City Council member pursuant to section 28-1-510 of the Utah Code to serve until January uh 2028.

I'm looking at Emily.

Can I get a head nod?

Yes, I'm in agreement with this.

Okay, there we go.

Thank you because I didn't want to have a second vote up here.

So it's it is a hard thing to do, and it was going to be a very hard decision for anybody up here.

Uh council, I'll take a motion for this resolution.

Mr.

Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve resolution appointing Emily Lockhart as a Lee High City Council member pursuant to section 20A-1-510 of the Utah Code to serve until January 2028.

Okay.

I have a motion by Chris to approve.

Do I have a second?

I'll second that, Mr.

Mayor.

And a second by Paul.

Uh any questions on that motion.

Okay, this is by resolution.

So we take a roll call vote.

I'll start with Michelle.

Yes.

Chris?

Yes.

Heather?

Yes.

Hall?

Yes.

And Paige.

Yes.

Okay.

Uh that being said, I don't believe we have any more business for tonight.

Uh everybody is welcome to stick around if you'd like for the swearing in.

We will take care of that.

But for right now, I'm going to call this meeting to a close and we'll perform the swearing in immediately.

Thank you.