Daniel Town Council Meeting
Monday, January 7, 2013 at 6:00 PM
Wasatch County Services Building, Room 126
55 South 500 East, Heber City, UT
Quorum present: Mayor Michael Duggin, Council members Eric Bunker, Chip Turner,
Kasey Bateman and Jon Blotter were present at 6:03 PM when Mayor Duggin called the
meeting to order. Recorder Merry Duggin was present to record the minutes. Treasurer
Sherri Price was also present.
Members of the public in attendance: Lambert Deegan, Kim Norris, Dennis Ellis, and
Ryan Taylor.
1) PUBLIC COMMENT CONCERNING ANY ISSUE NOT ON THE AGENDA
There were no comments from the public.
2) BUSINESS LICENSES
No new applicants were present, but Council member Bunker informed the
Council that he had contacted American Soda Stripping about a renewal application and
had not yet received a reply.
3) APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR DECEMBER 3, 2012 MEETING
Council member Turner moved to approve the December 3, 2012 minutes as
presented. Council member Blotter seconded the motion, and the minutes were
approved by “aye” votes by Council members Turner, Bunker, Blotter and Mayor
Duggin. Council member Bateman did not vote because he was absent from the
December 3 meeting.
4) REPORT ON TOWN OF DANIEL’S 2012 AUDIT PERFORMED BY
GILBERT & STEWART, CPA
Recorder Merry Duggin reported that the 2012 audit and single audit are
complete, and the Town has met all deadlines for submission of the audits to the Utah
state auditor and other agencies. Ms. Duggin had delivered the audits by email to the
Council as soon as it was received, and at the meeting she distributed hard copies of the
audits to the Council and offered a copy to those members of the public present.
She reported that there are no legal findings this year, and prior year findings
have all been corrected. The Town will continue with the “significant deficiencies” of
lack of oversight (due to the small number of personnel) and lack of expertise to produce
its own financial reports. The Town Council will continue to have oversight and
approval over all warrants.
When Ms. Duggin invited questions about the audit, Council member Bunker
responded that he would like time to examine the audit completely. Ms. Duggin reported
that Mr. Ben Probst, CPA who performed the audit is available to answer questions and
would be glad to attend a meeting or communicate by email if needed.
5) 2013 BUDGET QUARTERLY UPDATE BY CLERK/RECORDER MERRY
DUGGIN
Ms. Duggin distributed copies of the 2013 budget with updated figures
representing revenues received and expenses incurred as of 12/31/2012. The budget is
currently in line with expectations except for a higher amount of engineering expenses
billed by Epic Engineering than anticipated. Ms. Duggin explained that the Town
Council has requested services above and beyond the normal services required by Epic
Engineering, and she suggested that Mayor Duggin, Council member Bunker, and Ryan
Taylor of Epic should meet and discuss the Town’s needs with Mr. Taylor. This should
assist the Council in the event that a budget adjustment is required in the near future.
6) PLANNING REPORT
Council member Bunker distributed a list of permits issued by Town of Daniel
through Epic Engineering and a new fee schedule based on construction valuation
proposed for future permits. Mr. Bunker indicated that current permitting fees are not
currently enough to cover the cost of the services and inspections required. The Utah
State legislature has recently passed legislation which will allow the Town to charge a
permit fee for agricultural buildings (which the Town has not been doing unless electrical or plumbing inspections were required). Mr. Ryan Taylor suggested that fees should be collected before a project starts and then adjust the fee schedule as time passes and a history of fees builds up. Mayor Duggin agrees that “construction should pay its own way”. Council member Bunker believes that the Town is going to have to increase its fees to cover its costs.
7) DANIEL MUNICIPAL WATER ISSUES
CUSTOMER DENNIS ELLIS COMMENTS CONCERNING BILLING ISSUES
Mr. Kim Norris reported that the radio read meter readings have been working
well, and there are only a few customers who used large amounts of water in November
and December. Mailers were sent out with the billings to the users in May 2012 and in
December 2012 to remind them that no discounts would be applied to this winter’s usage.
Many users have drastically reduced their winter usage compared to last year. We are
doing this to educate the users and hope that they will correct any problems in their own
pipe situation if necessary. A couple of customers are running their water through 400-
500 feet of pipe and are uncomfortable with only a “trickle” of water and fear freezing.
Mr. Norris asked the Council to think about how they would like to read meters next
winter.
Mayor Duggin and Mr. Norris informed the Council that they have asked Chris
Anderson to proceed on a bid to implement a new software program to allow the billing
to integrate with our current meter reading system. Mr. Anderson has offered to
download a trial version and test the software for problems with no charge. If the Town
agrees to buy the full version for $439.00, Mr. Anderson will then implement the
application for $1500 for a total of $1939.00 for the full service implementation.
Mr. Dennis Ellis was present to discuss his metering situation with the Council.
He is one of the customers that Mr. Norris had mentioned earlier with a freezing problem
over a long span of pipe and feels forced to run his water to mitigate this problem. This
has resulted in a large over usage amount. He currently is being billed for 3 meters, but
he is not using much water during the summer months and hoped that the Council would allow some adjustment to allow a discount in the amount of usage or a discount in the amount he will be charged for the winter over usage.
Council member Bateman wondered if it would be possible to consider this a one
time mistake and leniently grant Mr. Ellis a discount on his current billing. Council
member Turner felt that the users have been given several notices and felt the Council
should be as consistent as possible in holding to the language used in the letters that had been mailed with the billings to the customers. Council member Bunker felt that the
notices had been very clear about the procedure that Daniel Municipal Water would be
using to bill for over usage at the end of the winter season in May, and he would not feel
comfortable doing anything other than just that. Mr. Lambert Deegan commented that
the problem seems to come from the method of billing.
After discussion and a suggestion by Mr. Ryan Taylor, it was determined by the
Council that Mr. Ellis’ winter bill will be calculated by 1) a total of his usage over the
entire winter and also 2) calculated by what would be considered a monthly billing, and
Daniel Municipal Water will then bill Mr. Ellis for the lesser amount of the 2 methods.
Mr. Ellis agreed with this procedure. In the meantime, he suggested that he may stop
using water from one of his meters in hopes to lessen his amount of over usage.
Council member Blotter left the meeting at 6:52 PM as he had another commitment.
8) RECORDER’S OFFICE: WARRANT APPROVAL, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND
COURT UPDATES, ETC.
Council member Turner moved to approve the warrants as presented. Council
member Bateman seconded the motion. The motion passed by the following vote:
Duggin, aye; Bateman, aye; Turner, aye; Bunker, aye.
Ms. Duggin reported that the art book presented to the Town by Town attorney
Dale Gardiner has now been donated to the Wasatch County Library. Other gifts
presented to the Town over the holiday period were a calendar, a key chain/flashlight,
and candy. These items will be donated to the St. Lawrence thrift store.
Town of Daniel, Daniel Municipal Water, and Epic Engineering have been
recognized by the American Council of Engineer Companies (ACEC) with an award for
the rebuilding of the Daniel Municipal Water system. The Town has received a plaque
and poster to commemorate the award, and these items have been placed in the new
pump station. Mayor Duggin has also been notified that he will be honored as an “Extra
Miler” at the Rural Water Association’s Banquet Dinner in St. George, UT in February
2013.
9) ADJOURN
Council member Turner moved to adjourn. After a second from Council
member Bateman and a unanimous vote by the Council members present, Mayor
Duggin adjourned the meeting at 8:03 PM.
Merry Duggin,
Recorder