Hello friends,

I thought it’s about time to give a little update. Just to be clear, I will be noting some things about my service on city council, but this is not an official page of the city. The things I say here are my personal notes and reflections, not official representations of anything from the city. (I hope I will remember to say this in all posts that mention city stuff, to be crystal clear.)

I have now served on the city council since early January. We have passed a code to comply with a state mandate that we follow their wildland urban fire code, known as the WUI code. This basically means the state wants smaller government entities to help in making sure properties are safe, and that there are ways to help ease dangerous fire situations through code, especially when cities are near open land that can have wildfires.

We reviewed, discussed, and then adopted the Washington County Conservancy Ultra Water Efficiency Standards. This basically means that if new construction subdivisions follow some very strict rules, they can get cheaper impact fees. Those homes will have to follow the water saving rules going forward. I think this policy is a win for affordability as well as water wise practices.

The new council has continued to follow up about the West Field Park project, and we were recently sent the schedule. I just want it noted that the new members of the council are not responsible for this park happening on our watch. The council and previous mayor have been working on that park for a long time. A season of intense building demand made costs extremely high, and a significant amount of money has already been spent to do the improvements there. As a town of fewer than 2,000, the council and mayor opted not to raise taxes to fund the development of the park, but have carefully budgeted and done what they could as they went. The current schedule is for completion in June. Please know that in my experience with local builders, it is wise to set expectations that a plan doesn’t always go exactly as outlined. Usually it takes longer than they initially state.

This week I attended the Mid-Year Conference for the Utah League of Cities and Towns. I learned so much, and toured our reservoir. I attended a workshop on conflict competence, classes on rural taxation and caucuses on rural and rapid growth areas, both of which focused on water.

Here are some of my big idea takeaways.

• I want to focus on interests, not positions, in trying to solve problems for our community.
• I want to be a good listener who focuses on understanding problems thoroughly before trying to solve.
• I want to listen well and help our community solve its problems together rather than think I or the council can solve things for “them”.
• I think we should celebrate America 250 more creatively. I have celebration envy of all that is going on in Santa Clara.
• I want to talk about water conservation more as a city council. I will bring this up. We talked about needing to make plans for if the district has to restrict water, but we haven’t made it more concrete. I would love to involve public feedback on this. I loved how Brian Steed talked about how solutions can be better from the “ground up,” which means it’s better when our own local communities create ways to solve problems instead of waiting for things to come down from the state.

A favorite quote from the Keynote Speaker, brought to us by Abraham Lincoln: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”

That is my hope for our city – that we will be bound together by affection for one another in a way that we always speak to each other with respect and hope to solve problems together.

Last note: I have been at my new job as a technical writer for just over two years now. This is my little pot of succulents. I bought one when I passed a 60 day review, and another at one year. I will probably get another one to add to it to celebrate. I enjoy my work and my team there, and I’m grateful to have a variety of meaningful forms of work for myself right now.