Riverton City Council Meeting - June 17, 2025
Riverton City Council Meeting - June 17, 2025
The Riverton City Council met in regular session on June 17, 2025, at 7:02 PM, with Mayor Pro Tempore Buroker presiding (Mayor Staggs excused). The meeting included presentations from the South Valley Chamber and the Riverton Police Department, approvals of several budget resolutions, a tax rate certification, and a vote to admit Herriman City as a full member of the Trans-Jordan Landfill. All votes were unanimous unless noted.
Presentations & Recognitions
- South Valley Chamber (Jay Francis, President & CEO): Highlighted chamber programs including the Women in Business (with 25 junior participants in 2024-25), Business Institute, Accelerator, Boot Camps, and Titan Awards. Riverton had 14 new chamber members in 2024 and approximately 120 Riverton businesses attended chamber events.
- Riverton Police Department (Chief Taylor, Officer Wolfgramm, Officer Ashley): Recognized Sergeant Ruch and Officer Westover with life-saving medals for rescuing a drowning victim on April 12, 2025. Officer Ashley reported on community-oriented policing (COP) outreach, including block parties, school programs, fraud prevention, and the "connection ball" initiative. Councilmembers expressed strong support for the department's culture of connection.
Consent Calendar
- Items approved unanimously (5-0) via consent:
- Minute Approval: June 3, 2025
- Resolution No. 25-34 – Amendment to Personnel Policies & Procedures Manual (with addition of a fraud reporting hotline per Councilmember McCay's motion)
- Resolution No. 25-39 – Authorizing Mayor to enter into First Amended and Restated Agreement of Utah Risk Management Agency
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jill Bateman (email): Expressed concern over Resolution No. 25-36, stating that not billing city departments for culinary water might reduce conservation incentives. Staff clarified water use is tracked and reported monthly/yearly; the non-reciprocal transfer is a state accounting requirement with no cash movement.
Discussion Items
- Resolutions No. 25-35, 25-36, 25-37 (Budgets): Staff presented the final amended budget for FY2024-25, the non-reciprocal utilities transaction for FY2025-26, and the final budget for FY2025-26. All passed unanimously (5-0).
- Resolution No. 25-38 – Tax Rate for 2025: Staff reported certified rates: Riverton Law Enforcement Service Area at 0.001058 and Riverton Fire Service Area at 0.001140. The City itself levies a 0% property tax rate but must certify it. Unanimously passed (5-0, Councilmember McCay recused for the Fire Service Area? Actually minutes say McCay recused on the motion, but vote recorded as Buroker-yes, Haymond-yes, McCay-recuse, McDougal-yes, Pierucci-yes – motion passed unanimously with recusal).
- TransJordan Landfill Discussion (Councilmember McDougal): Herriman City seeks full membership in the landfill cooperative among seven member cities. Herriman currently pays the commercial gate rate ($41/ton) vs. member rate ($26/ton). Under the proposed agreement, Herriman will continue paying $41/ton, with the $15/ton difference credited toward a membership buy-in over 15 years. Additionally, Herriman will pay $400,000 annually for four years toward its share of the landfill's estimated $44 million value. Councilmember McDougal emphasized that other landfill options exist and losing Herriman could financially harm Trans-Jordan.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution No. 25-35 – Final Amended Budget FY2024-25: Approved (5-0).
- Resolution No. 25-36 – Non-Reciprocal Utilities Transaction FY2025-26: Approved (5-0).
- Resolution No. 25-37 – Final Budget FY2025-26: Approved (5-0).
- Resolution No. 25-38 – Tax Rate for 2025: Approved (5-0; Councilmember McCay recused on the Fire Service Area portion).
- Resolution No. 25-40 – Second Amended and Restated Trans-Jordan Cities Interlocal Cooperation Agreement (admitting Herriman City): Approved (5-0; Councilmember McCay recused).
- Upcoming Meetings: July 15, 2025; August 5 & 19, 2025; September 2, 2025 – all work sessions & council meetings at 6:00 PM.
- Adjournment: 8:35 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good decisions for our city that we'll be able to have the spirit with us and please bless those families that are going through difficult times within our city and we're so grateful for the great community that we live in and for the hometown feel and please help us that we'll always have the spirit with us. We say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Repeat after me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you both very much. Okay, let's start with a citizen comment. There's anyone here that would like to address the chain council. That would be great. Just come forward. Thank you very much. Since this is my first meeting conducting, that's really nice. Okay, second of all, let's move on to presentation. Oh, sorry. Let's do our council and manager reports. Um, Councilmember McKay, can we start with you? Sure. There we go. All right, thank you. I just wanted to give an update that we have started to have our TRCC county meetings, and they did discuss the projects that could that Riverton currently has underway, and I'm excited to learn about some of the different city projects and to see what Riverton is bringing forward as they're trying to design the new park, the 10-acre park just west of South Hills Middle School. So I will give you an update on that as it comes forward. Thank you. Thank you very much. Councilmember Peruti. Yeah. I so uh since our last council meeting the following day, I we had the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District uh Board of Trustees meeting where we adopted the final budget for next year. Um I was the loan no vote on the budget because it included a uh significant well it's significant to me is an 11% property tax increase. And um I I've said this before in other meetings, I said it several times in the Jordan Valley meetings as well. I think that there are opportunities to make additional cuts, and before we ask residents to pay more, I feel like we need to tighten belts. And so um, yeah, that that happened, and so there will be a public hearing on that in August. Uh encourage those that have opinions on that to speak up at the public hearing for the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy Districts Tax Truth and Taxation Hearing. And then appreciated the opportunity to talk with people in my district about the budget that we're going to be voting on tonight for Riverton City. I had a couple of town halls at a park in my my district. A handful of people showed up, and then I've received actually several emails and phone calls and texts from residents that I wouldn't have gotten if not for the outreach and opportunity to talk. So appreciated the feedback and engagement. Um this is the city's budget, not our budget, and so I appreciate any opportunity that we have to talk with the public about the money that we're uh directing for them. And that's it for me. Thank you very much. Councilmember McDougall. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Um, just one quick comment. I I'll reserve my comments on Trans Jordan for a presentation that we'll have later on in the council meeting. But just wanted to thank uh our chamber. We had another opening. We seem to have openings all the time, but had a wonderful time attending the Goddard School opening with other members of the council. I'm excited to have another business and uh another education provider in our city that can meet those needs. So I had a wonderful time there and thank again our chamber for the the hard work and hustle that they're doing. So thank you. Thank you very much. Councilmember Heyman.
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