FAIRVIEW—Fairview City has finally agreed on acceptable job description to hire a new city manager.
Marking the end of a quarter-year-long debate, the council came to an agreement at a meeting on Thursday.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Mayor Cliff Wheeler said.
Councilman Brad Welch then noted that it took three months.
One atypical aspect to the position is that department superintendents (like the police chief) will not report to the manager. The manager will be responsible for grants, assist Recorder Jan Anderson with annexation, be over planning and zoning matters and coordinate with the mayor.
The council considered city manager job descriptions from Manti City and Gunnison City.
Councilman Welch was adamant that the council nail down a description and plan to advertise the position in the coming fiscal year budget, which was adopted the same evening.
The biggest point of disagreement between the council was the powers and duties of the manager.
At one point, Councilman Matt Sorensen said, “It sounds like you are giving them (the new manager) the keys of the kingdom.” But Sorensen later said he was fine as long as Gunnison’s description was reworded.
After a 5-minute public hearing on a tax rate and budgets, the council voted to approve and adopt a budget for fiscal year 2021-22 and amend the fiscal year 2021-021 budget; to introduce and adopt a resolution setting the real and personal property tax; and introduce and adopt an ordinance amending a provision of the city’s local statute pertaining to the adoption of a water conservation plan.
The public hearing invited public comments on adopting a final property tax rate, which translates to $1.05 in tax on every $1,000 of taxable valuation. The tax rate is the same as in the prior year, Welch said.
The proposed general fund budget for 2021-22 is $831,119. Anderson said that budgets would be available online about eight days after publication of this story and that folks can come into city offices and look at them.
Also in the meeting, Nathan Miner, Fairview City fire chief, said that residents will be permitted to ignite fireworks on July 4 and 24 but at no other time this summer. He also invited folks to volunteer as firefighters. Welch said that firefighters are currently doing three and four times the amount of work they should be doing and sometimes getting sick.
“It’s a lot easier if you have a lot of people,” Welch said. “It does make the job easier both mentally and physically.”
In other meeting action, Justin Jackson, Fairview City water superintendent, discouraged residents from turning in their neighbors for inappropriate water usage.
“We are in this together and calling in your neighbor … defeats that purpose,” Jackson told the council.
