Spring City will show council meetings on Zoom

 

By Rhett Wilkinson

Staff writer

11-11-2020

 

SPRING CITY—The mayor of Spring City announced that even when the city can meet in person again, the city will hold its council meetings on Zoom and in-person “simultaneously.”

“This is the way we are going to be conducting the meetings,” Mayor Cynthia DeGrey, said in a meeting Thursday, Nov. 5

A resident named Tennessee asked if a person could record meetings on Zoom, and DeGrey replied the city would need to check with its legal counsel.

The Zoom program where the meeting was taking place indicated the host needed to give permission for a meeting to be recorded, Tennessee said.

DeGrey pointed out that the city records the meetings and puts them on the Utah Public Notice website. Tennessee had a positive reaction to that.

In other meeting action, DeGrey said she told families that were going to prepare Thanksgiving in city facilities cannot because a wedding is already on the schedule. The city is going to try to have Santa Claus come, but is not going to have hot chocolate or hot cider as part of its Christmas festivities, the city staff said.

DeGrey then noted it’s sad when loved ones are in hospitals or long-term care facilities or when there is a death in the family due to COVID-19. She made mention of two folks who died in Spring City. One was a 92-year-old woman who was involved with Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, was an election judge for “a lot” of years and was on the historic preservation council. Another was a man who DeGrey called “just a tremendous asset to our community.”

“We’re losing our good, long-term residents here and we’re becoming the older residents,” DeGrey said.

Councilman Joe McGriff said he was told by a resident that a councilman said the town does not give speeding tickets. McGriff said in the meeting that the town does issue speeding tickets and that the council members need to support that.

Also in the meeting, Tyler Timmons, CDBG manager/regional planner for the Six County Association of Governments, said that Six County has been working on a hazard mitigation plan that covers specific hazards for Spring City to put into a document. Right now, the document is with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for approval.

Timmons told the council that once Six County gets the “green light” from FEMA, the city can adopt the hazard mitigation plan. He added that there is “no obligation” by the city to do so. However, there are two pots of money that are available if the city were to adopt a plan. One pot is to prevent hazards. Money is available from FEMA to keep danger from happening in the event of a wildfire, earthquake or other disasters. The second pot is available that in the event of a disaster, it helps the town to recover. It pays for roads and other things, Zach Leavitt, Six County regional planner, told the Sanpete Messenger.

“While there is no obligation, by adopting it, you get access to those two pots of money,” Leavitt said.

Six County is waiting on FEMA, Timmons said.

DeGrey talked with Leavitt about the document for the city’s watershed project, she said.

Kimberly Stewart, a resident, asked Timmons if he got any input from the city’s “emergency management group.”

“Or is this something that you guys put together?” Stewart asked.

“We did work with local officials,” Timmons replied. He added that he was a hire of two months and that Leavitt knows more about that corroboration, but yes, Six County took local input.

DeGrey said Six County went through each city and county and identified the top areas for disaster mitigation.

Stewart then asked if Six County corroborated with a Kenneth Law.

Timmons replied first, saying that while Six County did get input from locals, the document is “fluid.”

“So we can add to it,” Timmons said. “Once you adopt the plan, [we] can go back in … whatever you want to do.”

“I think Tyler answered my question,” Law said.

Law asked Timmons if the city is in a position to tell Six County what they think, asking if there is a deadline for that.

The public input ended when Six County sent the document to FEMA, Timmons said, noting that if people see something they want to change, they should get with Timmons or Leavitt.