OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Syracuse City Council Meeting - June 24, 2026

Public Meetings — Wednesday, June 24, 2026
BodySyracuse, Utah
SessionPublic Meetings
DateWednesday, June 24, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:56:16

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Syracuse Library, we're gonna be having a kind of a hot luck style ART event where uh community members in Syracuse are able to bring up two pieces of their art kind of showcase.

0:11

That'll be about an hour and a half long or so.

0:13

Uh like I said, it's all free, and we're hoping to start that up regularly.

0:17

It's just kind of a way to get people out showing their work.

0:21

So it's kind of Instagram 2.0 is the idea in real life.

0:26

So thanks very much for uh anyone else have a public comment tonight.

0:35

So anyone online seeing none, I will go ahead and close public comment, and we will start in with item C, which is uh our victim advocate report, Celeste.

0:49

Well, we'll get sure.

0:50

Oh there.

0:52

Come on up to the table.

0:54

We got a spot for you.

0:56

And share with us the latest report of your work.

1:00

Yes, I would love to.

1:31

Hi, I'm Celeste.

1:33

Um, and I'm the victim's advocate for um Syracuse Clinton and Sunset City, and I'm here to just present the semi-annual report on how the victim service is going.

1:46

Okay, so the goal today is to um show the numbers for victim served and services provided for both FY25 and the current year we're in FY26.

1:59

Um, and then lastly, we're going to go over just Syracuse City's numbers, which would be you know, same the same year services provided, and then we're only going to look at the victimization categories for Syracuse City for the current year.

2:12

And then as always, I would like to end the presentation with a positive story.

2:19

Okay, so here um the number one thing that I um wanna point out with this um slide is if we look over this is the overall number of victims served for uh and compare comparing FY25 and FY26.

2:35

So you can see that Syracuse has definitely had an increase um in victims served in the last year.

2:41

And then um prior to FY25, um, Clinton and Syracuse had always stayed at a pretty um close number.

2:49

And lately, we in the last two years, we've definitely have jumped ahead um when it comes to um victims being served and between Syracuse and Clinton.

2:58

If you look at the bottom corner, this is total numbers of victims served.

3:03

You will notice that there's a small decline or decrease in number of victims served, but we're going to discuss on the next slide show why um I'm still I'm my workload has still increased, although that number might reflect a little um differently.

3:21

Celeste know why the drop in Sunset.

3:24

Um Sunset, you know, let's just knock on wood.

3:27

That is just been a good city to not have any crime committed.

3:33

That's really the only reason.

3:34

Yeah, knock on wood.

3:36

Um so I don't have any other reason than that.

3:42

So for um, this is services provided, and this is kind of this is gonna touch more on the um why that decrease in victim, the total number of victims served.

3:51

So if you notice um the chart with the yellow, so that is FY25 and pink and purple is FY26.

3:59

So you can tell you can tell that there's been a dramatic increase between services provided to victims in the last year.

4:07

So we had a big jump with all of them.

4:10

Um, and just to keep in mind here, the service quantity um is so one victim can be served, provided services multiple times in each category.

4:20

So kind of going for a fresh reminder on what those categories are is information and referrals that um includes providing information on the criminal justice system and referrals to other two community resources.

4:32

Emotional and safety is providing that emotional support and discussing um safety issues and um creating safety plans uh with the victim.

4:41

And finally, criminal justice assistance and advocacy that's just um includes me communicating with the prosecutors, um, communicating with law enforcement and providing notification of criminal justice events to the victims.

4:56

This right here is these numbers are just um Syracuse City again, comparing both years.

5:02

Um you can tell again, there's an increase in services provided.

5:05

So what this really means is that although there's a small decrease in the victim served overall, I'm spending more time with each victim because with each victim they're receiving more services.

5:18

So either the cases um they the victims are needing more emotional support, the cases might need uh more notification of criminal justice events.

5:27

There's just so many things that might be included in those services.

5:33

And then this is a the victimization category for Syracuse for the current year we're in.

5:38

As you can tell, um, domestic violence is still the number one um victim category that I focus on the most.

5:45

Those are the cases that are more likely to go to court.

5:49

So um that's why there's also there's a lot of services that are provided for that category following stalking and harassment and child physical abuse neglect.

5:59

Um, and then the number of victims uh do not they may not add so the total number of victims is not going to add to the not the total number of victimization because one victim can be a victim of multiple crimes.

6:13

So domestic violence involving a violation of a protective order or any other case.

6:19

And then um ending the presentation with the story or a positive impact that um one of our agencies made on a survivor.

6:29

So this case is still very open and very in the midst of investigation, so I can't disclose a lot of information, including where the what agency this is, but I do want to say she is a female, a DV survivor.

6:43

And when I first met this um individual, this survivor, it was actually at the ER department, and at Nike the exam was performed.

6:51

Um we were there for five hours.

6:52

It was a very long night.

6:54

Um we I was there to provide emotional support, um, and really just be there and see because she didn't want to, she needed that extra support for her to be able to um move forward with this.

7:06

So, anyways, um she has shown so much appreciation towards the agency that she's working with and towards a detective that is um handling this case.

7:16

I do have to say I'm really proud of this agency and the detective.

7:19

Um they have done a wonderful job, not only in um being able to communicate with this victim, but also show compassion and um being understandable about everything there are um she and the family is actually going to and then um so this happened on a Thursday, and then it was over Mother's Day weekend.

7:38

So then we had a schedule, an interview schedule for Tuesday morning, and Jane decided to show up with some red roses, and the red roses worked for me.

7:47

Totally got me off guard.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure██████████████████████████████████████████42%
Public Safety████████████12%
Personnel Matters█████████9%
Fiscal Sustainability███████7%
Recycling Management█████5%
Water And Wastewater Management█████5%
Affordable Housing████4%
Community Engagement████4%
Transportation Safety████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Syracuse City Council Meeting - June 24, 2026

The Syracuse City Council met on June 24, 2026, to discuss a variety of topics including a victim advocate report, a pre-application consultation for a development proposal, amendments to building permit practices, a recycling program for multifamily housing, a utility easement vacation, stormwater agreements, park and ride regulations, a just serve city designation, a transportation utility fee, and a senior employee retention plan. Public comment opened with a presentation about a new community art event.

Consent Calendar

  • The council agreed to move the following items to the consent agenda for the next business meeting:
    • Proposed ordinance requiring recycling programs for multifamily residential communities (already passed through planning commission).
    • Resolution to pursue the "Just Serve City" designation, recognizing volunteerism.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • A community member announced a free, monthly "hot luck style ART event" at the Syracuse Library, inviting residents to showcase two pieces of their art (described as "Instagram 2.0 in real life"). No other public comments were received.

Victim Advocate Report (Celeste)

  • Celeste, the victims' advocate for Syracuse, Clinton, and Sunset City, presented the semi-annual report covering FY25 and the current FY26.
  • Victims served: Syracuse saw an increase in victims served compared to FY25. A small overall decline in total victims served across all three cities is attributed to fewer cases in Sunset City due to low crime.
  • Services provided: There was a dramatic increase in the number of services provided per victim (information/referrals, emotional/safety support, criminal justice assistance). This indicates victims are receiving more intensive support.
  • Syracuse-specific data: Domestic violence remains the top victimization category, followed by stalking/harassment and child physical abuse/neglect. One victim may be counted in multiple categories.
  • Celeste shared a positive story about a domestic violence survivor who brought her red roses as thanks after a long ER visit, highlighting the emotional impact of the work.

Discussion Items

  • Pre-application Consultation (Blocks Development): A developer proposed a multifamily project on the northwest corner of the city (Shiners Bluff golf course and 193, near the West Point border). The property spans both cities. The council members stated they have no appetite for more high-density housing. Mayor expressed reluctance to engage in boundary changes, citing a painful previous experience. The developer was encouraged to submit a formal application.
  • Building Permit Issuance Practices (Code Amendment): The council reviewed a proposal to require gas and electric utilities to be installed before building permits are issued. After discussion about requiring utility infrastructure (not necessarily connection to each home), the council directed staff to send the amendment to the planning commission with a suggested addition: require natural gas and power to be available to the subdivision (at street level).
  • Multifamily Residential Recycling: The council considered an ordinance requiring existing multifamily complexes to provide recycling containers, label them, and educate tenants by January 1, 2027. The ordinance had already passed planning commission. Council members expressed approval; no opposition was voiced.
  • Utility Easement Vacation (Floyd Hamblin): A request to vacate a 20-foot utility easement no longer used by the sewer district or the city. Neighbors were in favor. Staff noted state statute requires a process (possibly a hearing), so it will be brought to a future meeting.
  • Stormwater Coalition Interlocal Agreement: Renewal of a five-year agreement with Davis County cities to jointly meet EPA stormwater permit requirements. A public hearing will be scheduled.
  • Stormwater Management Program Update: A draft update to the city's five-year stormwater management program, also requiring a public hearing. Council approved moving forward.
  • Park and Ride Parking Regulations: A lengthy discussion on regulating parking at the two park-and-ride lots (3000 West and 2000 West). Key points:
    • Prohibit commercial vehicles, recreational vehicles, boats, and trailers.
    • Prohibit overnight habitation.
    • Consider a special use permit system for residents with large vehicles (e.g., trade trucks) that may need overnight parking.
    • Enforce a 48-hour time limit for personal vehicles.
    • On public streets, commercial vehicles must be actively loading/unloading; otherwise, they are restricted. Oversized vehicles that block visibility are a safety concern.
    • The council reached a consensus to move forward with drafting an ordinance based on these preferences.
  • Transportation Utility Fee: Discussion continued on implementing a fee to fund road maintenance. Council preferred a system based on traffic-impact categories (low, medium, high, industrial) rather than building square footage. Staff will update the study to support this approach, with an estimated 90-day timeline. Goal is to bring back a refined proposal for a vote.
  • Senior Employee Retention Plan (Compensation): Staff presented a proposed policy to change wage scale benchmarks: from average of top 3 cities for all positions to average of top 3 for non-supervisory and average of top 4 for supervisory. This is projected to save $90,000 in normal years and $200,000–$250,000 in constrained years. Fiscal projections suggest the city could return to a balanced operating budget by FY29 without additional tax increases. Council members expressed support and gratitude for staff's work.
  • Zone Change Expiration Dates: The mayor suggested exploring an ordinance that would give rezonings a time limit (e.g., 18–24 months) after which the zoning reverts to the original. The council agreed to send this to the planning commission for review.

Key Outcomes

  • The recycling ordinance for multifamily and the Just Serve City resolution will be placed on the consent agenda for the next business meeting.
  • The building permit amendment will be sent to the planning commission with a direction to require gas and power infrastructure at the subdivision level.
  • The transportation utility fee study will be updated to use traffic-impact categories; the fee proposal will return to council.
  • The park and ride parking regulations will be drafted into an ordinance consistent with the council's consensus.
  • The senior retention plan will likely be voted on at the next council meeting.
  • A discussion on zone change expiration dates will be initiated at the planning commission.

Meeting Transcript

Syracuse Library, we're gonna be having a kind of a hot luck style ART event where uh community members in Syracuse are able to bring up two pieces of their art kind of showcase. That'll be about an hour and a half long or so. Uh like I said, it's all free, and we're hoping to start that up regularly. It's just kind of a way to get people out showing their work. So it's kind of Instagram 2.0 is the idea in real life. So thanks very much for uh anyone else have a public comment tonight. So anyone online seeing none, I will go ahead and close public comment, and we will start in with item C, which is uh our victim advocate report, Celeste. Well, we'll get sure. Oh there. Come on up to the table. We got a spot for you. And share with us the latest report of your work. Yes, I would love to. Hi, I'm Celeste. Um, and I'm the victim's advocate for um Syracuse Clinton and Sunset City, and I'm here to just present the semi-annual report on how the victim service is going. Okay, so the goal today is to um show the numbers for victim served and services provided for both FY25 and the current year we're in FY26. Um, and then lastly, we're going to go over just Syracuse City's numbers, which would be you know, same the same year services provided, and then we're only going to look at the victimization categories for Syracuse City for the current year. And then as always, I would like to end the presentation with a positive story. Okay, so here um the number one thing that I um wanna point out with this um slide is if we look over this is the overall number of victims served for uh and compare comparing FY25 and FY26. So you can see that Syracuse has definitely had an increase um in victims served in the last year. And then um prior to FY25, um, Clinton and Syracuse had always stayed at a pretty um close number. And lately, we in the last two years, we've definitely have jumped ahead um when it comes to um victims being served and between Syracuse and Clinton. If you look at the bottom corner, this is total numbers of victims served. You will notice that there's a small decline or decrease in number of victims served, but we're going to discuss on the next slide show why um I'm still I'm my workload has still increased, although that number might reflect a little um differently. Celeste know why the drop in Sunset. Um Sunset, you know, let's just knock on wood. That is just been a good city to not have any crime committed. That's really the only reason. Yeah, knock on wood. Um so I don't have any other reason than that. So for um, this is services provided, and this is kind of this is gonna touch more on the um why that decrease in victim, the total number of victims served. So if you notice um the chart with the yellow, so that is FY25 and pink and purple is FY26. So you can tell you can tell that there's been a dramatic increase between services provided to victims in the last year. So we had a big jump with all of them. Um, and just to keep in mind here, the service quantity um is so one victim can be served, provided services multiple times in each category. So kind of going for a fresh reminder on what those categories are is information and referrals that um includes providing information on the criminal justice system and referrals to other two community resources. Emotional and safety is providing that emotional support and discussing um safety issues and um creating safety plans uh with the victim. And finally, criminal justice assistance and advocacy that's just um includes me communicating with the prosecutors, um, communicating with law enforcement and providing notification of criminal justice events to the victims. This right here is these numbers are just um Syracuse City again, comparing both years. Um you can tell again, there's an increase in services provided. So what this really means is that although there's a small decrease in the victim served overall, I'm spending more time with each victim because with each victim they're receiving more services. So either the cases um they the victims are needing more emotional support, the cases might need uh more notification of criminal justice events. There's just so many things that might be included in those services. And then this is a the victimization category for Syracuse for the current year we're in. As you can tell, um, domestic violence is still the number one um victim category that I focus on the most. Those are the cases that are more likely to go to court. So um that's why there's also there's a lot of services that are provided for that category following stalking and harassment and child physical abuse neglect. Um, and then the number of victims uh do not they may not add so the total number of victims is not going to add to the not the total number of victimization because one victim can be a victim of multiple crimes. So domestic violence involving a violation of a protective order or any other case. And then um ending the presentation with the story or a positive impact that um one of our agencies made on a survivor.

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