Sheriff Williams

Doug Williams spoke to the council about a number of issues.  

Comp time and overtime were discussed.  Federal law, he says, was changed in 1986 to give employees a choice of comp time or payout. 

The department had 2 offers of employment—1 has turned into an offer for a dispatcher, who should be starting soon.  The other is still to take the polygraph test for the deputy position.  

“We are in not a safe place with the deputies, due to being so understaffed.  This will cause a lot of delayed responses and slower investigations,” Williams stated.  “As summer ramps up, you’re going to start seeing it.  It’s an officer safety and public safety concern.  Ethically and morally I have a duty to tell you I can’t fulfill all of the city contract.  We are going to fail on part of the contract due to lack of manpower.”

Councilman Tyrell Neal stated that “our contract goes to the county, not directly to you.  So if we renegotiated that, it wouldn’t affect you directly.”  The sheriff’s office contract is divided between the city and county, which has been an issue at times throughout the years.

Willliams explained that he was working on a sustainability plan to improve the situation.  He shared that in the 22 years since he has worked in Malad, he has seen the town function as a training ground for people who move elsewhere for higher pay.  “I did research on a county of five thousand people or so, and found we need about 8 or 10 deputies, but also sheriff, chief deputy, a detective, sergeant, and others.”  He expressed the need for a fulltime person to handle sex crimes in the valley before the situation gets worse.

“The thing on the admin side,” he said, “is that when you’re short-staffed, you’re forced to be reactive, not proactive.  It takes a lot to get them back to where they need to be.  I want to make sure they’re part of my vision, because that’s what we need is a kickbutt team in this county.  My plan is probably about a month out.  There will be no more added cost to the city.  I am up there crunching numbers, doing research, and doing everything I can do.”

Williams shared that there were moments of making arrests that directly affected the safety of the community that “were what it’s all about.” 

PZ

The issue of shipping containers on city property for storage has come up again.  The committee was not clear that the ones in question would qualify under the code.  The request is for rental storage space, while the ordinance permits “garaged storage units”.  The mayor asked whether the applicant promised to put up a fence between that and the townhomes.  

Councilman Neal stated that “Containers are not meant to be permanent.  I’m not sure it’s something we want to allow in the city limits.”  The matter was not an action item.

Issues with fourplexes on city lots, and temporary residence in a mobile dwelling during construction were also discussed 

The final touches on the changes to the city Development Code are being reviewed by the city attorney.

Recreation

Recreation director Scott Ray spoke to the council about soccer, pickleball, and baseball

Rec soccer runs in the fall.  

Last year, club soccer approached about working together and the city purchased goals for rent.  They also let the team use the app.  They run the team in the Spring and the Fall.  After the spring, they will do their own registration.  The other thing is that the club is separating.  They will run the 4x4 league on their own.  What they want from the city is a contract whereby the club team would pay 80 dollars in the spring and 80 in the fall to rent the goals.  The club would pay for any damage to the goals.  A contract will be drafted by Brett Evanson and voted on next meeting.

Pickleball.

Cory Ihler will start hydroseeding on the 25 April.  He informed Ray that he could also do it by the pickleball court.  Ray wanted to know if Tyler Webster could rope off the area for six weeks.  He also recommend that the courts are locked up during the time.  He notes that every time they play, balls get hit out onto the grass and people walk through it 

Due the popularity of the pickleball courts, especially as the spring approaches, it was suggested to put sod down around the court for about 25 feet out, rather than close the courts.  “If we can keep the courts open and do that, maybe we should,” Neal said.

“We can get plenty of help to lay it,” Dave Colton suggested.

It was broadly agreed to pursue that course.

Baseball.

The rec department stated that they need to purchase a couple of backstops.  One will go where the playground equipment is.  300$ each.  And the other at the softball fields.  And a pitching machine for 2000$.  Rec can pay for it out of budget.  They would like to increase the number of teams that come to tournaments.

Justin and Heather Howe

The Howes have been running the baseball tournament in Malad during the summer.  He said that Bear Lake is the standard, and he feels that Malad has more to offer than that tournament, and they could attract more teams.  He noted that if they can use the HS field they can get up to 16 teams.  Even with two fields, they can get it up to 12.  They were going to increase the fee to $575.  Bear Lake does 4 games for $750.  “I don’t know why we can’t use those fields” at Pioneer Park.  They have turned teams away in the past, and wanted to know if the city was interested in making the event bigger.

Councilman Neal said that his goal was to make it reputable.  If the experience is better by keeping it smaller, than he is in favor.  “Whatever we can do to support ourselves and come out even, that’s great.  If we can charge out of towners and reduce our cost, that’s the way to go.”  

“I look at Bear Lake and that big lake is all they got over us,” Justin Howe stated.  “We offer a place for tents and RVs for free. If we can get people to come and camp and go swimming, it could be very big.”

“I’m a big atmosphere guy,” Neal said.  “I hate going to Tooele, for one.  I like coming here—the atmosphere is good.”

Scott Ray proposed that the city allow more teams at our tournaments.

The council felt that that decision should be made by those running the tournament,

Superintendent Webster

The crew will be out soon to begin preparing the cemetery for Memorial Day.  

April 1 is the first day that they can start watering from the wastewater plant.  He thinks that the pivots are ready.  

Bannock street starts March 23, at last report.  

The summer irrigation is the biggest load on the water system.  The diversion allowance is just over 2 million gallons a day.  After Scada, the amounts are the same.  They are using about 416K gallons per day in the off season, which jumps to over 1.5 million in the summer.  They will likely be close again this year. 

Education is the best way to talk about conserving water.  

Everybody knows a neighbor who’s watering 24 hours a day, the council half-jokingly agreed.  Plans to increase education about the effects of excess water usage on the communities water resources are being planned.

There are FB posts, websites in the plans.  QR code in the newsletter will link to information.  

The need to eventually meter water was discussed, as were a number of other ways to potentially increase conservation.

Enforcing codes will be important. 

Code Enforcement

John Chirstophersen cited a dog as a vicious dog because it attacked another dog.  He will ask for it to be put down if it does it again.  One time is enough for biting a person.  It will be turned over to the courts at that time.

He thinks that people have been bringing dogs to town and dropping them off.  

The lack of “teeth” in some of the city ordinances was discussed.  

“I think we’ve got to start following through on ordinances,” Councilman Tripp stated.  

The removal of abandoned vehicles is one of those ordinances in need of enforcement, but somewhat hamstrung by laws regarding titling and towing.

The council discussed approaches to increasing compliance with ordinances beyond paying the fines but not fixing the problem.