Lehi City Council Work Session and Meeting Summary – February 10, 2026
Lehi City Council Work Session and Meeting Summary – February 10, 2026
This summary covers the Lehi City Council pre-council work session and regular council meeting held on February 10, 2026. The work session included discussions on telecommunications agreements, ordinance amendments for council and mayor compensation, and a noise control ordinance. The regular meeting featured public comments on the noise ordinance and a presentation from a county commissioner candidate, followed by council deliberation and a vote on the noise control ordinance.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda for purchase orders and city council minutes was approved unanimously (5-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Former Mayor Johnson introduced Isaac Paxman, who is running for county commissioner. Paxman spoke about his experience in local government and his readiness to serve.
- Teresa Gonzalez requested the city consider increasing fencing requirements between residential and commercial properties to eight feet and adding noise buffers, noting she had raised the issue multiple times over six years.
- Ross Carter expressed support for the noise ordinance changes but raised concerns about enforcement, particularly regarding nighttime disturbances.
- John Hatfield, owner of HADCO Construction, opposed the noise ordinance as drafted, stating it lacked exceptions for historic businesses. He noted HADCO has operated in Lehi since the 1980s, employs over 750 people, and that a buffer was created when the facility was built. He requested the ordinance not be applied unconditionally to businesses like his.
- Mike Bentley, a resident living near HADCO, described being woken up 4-5 nights per week by loud truck noise and said his family’s use of their backyard is impacted. He acknowledged some efforts by HADCO but stated coexistence has become difficult.
Discussion Items
- 4.1 – Option and Lease Agreement with New Singular Wireless (ATT): Staff explained that ATT will place equipment on an existing pole, requiring a small property lease. The agreement is one of only five or six such arrangements in the city.
- 4.2 – Telecommunications Franchise Agreements: Two franchise agreements were discussed: a renewal for CenturyLink (now Lumen) and a new franchise for Emery Telecom. These agreements grant right-of-way access for internet service and include a 2.5% municipal telecommunications tax, considered reasonable compensation under federal law.
- 4.3 – Ordinance Amendment for Mayor and Council Compensation: Staff proposed clarifying the compensation process by adopting salaries annually via a public hearing and ordinance, aiming for transparency and compliance with state code. Council members debated whether salary increases for elected officials should be automatic (as “shall” for city employees) or discretionary (as “may”). Councilmembers Emily, James, and others favored “may” to allow flexibility and avoid locking future councils into automatic increases. Councilmember Stallings raised concerns about the “shall” language potentially forcing council salaries to rise whenever employee salaries increase. The council also discussed distinguishing cost-of-living increases from merit increases for elected officials, with consensus that merit increases are not appropriate for council members.
- 5. – Noise Control Ordinance (2026-04): The council discussed enforcement practicality. City Attorney Ryan noted that enforcing a specific decibel level requires a calibrated device and trained personnel (code enforcement or police officers). Police Chief confirmed that officers would have access to a calibrated device and training. Councilmember Freeman raised concerns about regulatory takings for historical businesses; Ryan responded that the ordinance is not a land-use ordinance, and the decibel levels have not changed, so vested rights arguments likely do not apply. Councilmember Harrison argued the ordinance ensures fair and equal application across the city. Councilmember Lockhart noted that the decibel levels are mild compared to other cities. Councilmember Lockhart also objected to a proposed exemption for sounds from city municipal buildings or property, except for essential government functions, arguing the city should be held to the same standard as others. The council supported amending the exemption by adding the word “essential” to specify essential government functions.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda: Approved unanimously (5-0).
- Noise Control Ordinance (2026-04): Approved unanimously (5-0), with an amendment to Section 5-3-7-6 to include the word “essential” before “government services.” Councilmember Lockhart voted yes but expressed concerns about enforcement and asked staff to report issues so the council can pivot if needed.
- **Councilmember James noted that Councilmember Freeman announced she is exploring term limit options for the council, and that staff time has been approved to research this; a future proposal is expected.
- Next Steps: The compensation ordinance amendment will be brought back to a future meeting with proposed changes to make council salary increases discretionary (“may” rather than “shall”). The noise ordinance as amended will be adopted.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, so we'll uh pick up where we left off. We'll pick up with item number four and go to 4.1 discussion of option and lease agreement with new singular wireless. And we have a representative from ATT, I believe, on the line if you have any questions. But I brought this to work session just because this is the first time that this council have seen franchise agreements or sell um cell tower agreements and this agreement as I was talking with council member Freeman and then refreshing my recollections because it's been a while. This isn't for a new poll. So ATT will be putting some of their facilities on an existing poll, and so they need a little bit of property for like the power to s to serve that. And so that explains the difference in the price. So we'll we'll make sure that that's both the language and the table, the language or the They're consistent with each other. But we don't have a lot of these yet in Lehigh City. Um maybe five or six spread throughout the city. But if you have any questions about any of the language, um I can try to answer those, or we have um somebody from ATT that could answer those as well. And then I'll if you don't have any questions, then I'll explain 4.2, but they're very similar as far as the process. Um I think I asked you my question, so I'm thank you for explaining that. I yeah, I wasn't familiar with that before, so thank you. Okay. 4.2, we we do have quite a few of these. These are telecommunications franchises, so different than a cable franchise, which it's kind of you know 34 years ago, th 30 to 40 years ago, that's what we saw initially were cable franchises, 5% franchise fee. These are basically for um internet service. And so the the one for Century Link is um a renewal, it's a new one, but based on the old one expiring a few years ago, and they've been acquired um by a company called Lumen. So we've been working through some cleanup issues and those have been resolved, so we're comfortable moving forward with the franchise agreement. I don't think it will be too long until you'll also see a poll attachment agreement. But one of our requirements in order to have a poll attachment agreement is that you first have a franchise agreement. So we'll be working on that in the future. So that's been they've been an existing provider in our city for quite a while. Emery Telecom is a new one, and so they want to run fiber in in the through the city, and so that's just our standard telecommunications franchise agreement. Um I can't think of anything that's unique or out of the ordinary from the others that we've done over the past you know, five years, ten years. And so again, if uh we have representatives from both of these companies on the line if you have any questions that other than that, then we'll bring this back to you for a vote at the next council meeting. This was just so you could ask questions. I do. This is just for right-of-way access, right? Not okay. I thought I heard somewhere that we can't tax internet providers or something, but this is something different, right? No, that I mean we can't, so we can't charge a um a traditional cable franchise fee, which is five percent, but the state has a municipal telecommunications tax that's two and a half percent. And so we use that um under federal law, we're allowed to charge reasonable compensation, and so that's what that's what most cities have gone with that they have in their franchise agreement, is that two and a half percent telecommunic telecommunications tax, and so that's the that's what's in this one. So yeah. That that we can get reasonable compensation, and both parties have agreed that that represents reasonable compensation. I I asked you my questions earlier today. I think I'm good. Thank you. Okay, with that we'll move to 4.3. Okay, I'm actually gonna talk about this one. Okay. Um David, I've been working with David on this, and so um he probably knows more about it than I do, but I'll do my best. Um so the reason that this came up is um after the election and kind of during the turnover changes between the council. Uh internally, we had some like processing questions about what the compensation is. And I don't know if you've looked at our code and compared it to the current salary, but it's very different. Um and that was it was designed the code was designed that way on purpose, but um we kind of saw this that um it might it's not maybe the most transparent way to do it, um just because the salary that's listed in there is so off from what it is right now, um, even though there's an explanation for it. Um so we just wanted to kind of bring this to you. And we had like a couple of goals in mind when we were doing this. Uh the first is that we we didn't really want to change very much of the code, so our intent wasn't to rewrite this whole this whole section.
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