One of the things I get asked a lot by residents is who is over what, and what board, commission, or council has the authority to approve deny or hear what type of items related to city decisions. That is a very tricky question to answer. Eagle Mountain has the City Council (Legislative Body) and the Mayor, Planning Commission, City Staff, and other boards (Administrative Body). To help with this, I am including the training that the Planning Commission and City Council received this year.
Every year the City Council and Planning Commission meet to go over some training from City Staff as well as cover some items that both bodies should discuss. On October 9th, they held this training as well as discussed potential changes to the current zoning code to make it align more with the currently approved General Plan. I am only covering the training that was presented in this article, I will discuss the zoning changes when they are more refined and go to the Planning Commission for consideration.
Tom Westmoreland, the current Eagle Mountain Mayor, made this comment on the importance of these trainings. “Just like mastering any other skill set, ongoing education is vital to good government. In order to adhere to legal, ethical, and transparency standards, we need to know what those standards are, why they exist, and how to implement them. On a local level where emotions run high and we know the individuals that we will impact it is even more important that we use disciplines based in law and proven principles. Because it is so easy to make mistakes that have lasting consequences we are emphasizing ongoing education for all of our representatives at Eagle Mountain City.”
Melissa Clark a member of the Eagle Mountain City Council was in attendance at the meeting, and made this statement. “I appreciate the time that the staff puts into the training, and giving the updates on the legality of our roles and decisions. I always look forward to collaborating with the Planning Commission and City Council. It gives us all a chance to glean a new perspective and to break down some of the bigger issues we face as a city.”
The training was presented by Fionnuala B. Kofoed, City Recorder and Steve Mumford, Community Development Director. The members of the City Council that were present were Colby Curtis, Melissa Clark, Donna Burnham, and Stephanie Gricius. Mayor Tom Westmoreland was also in attendance. The planning commission was represented by Rich Wood, Brett Wright, DeLin Anderson and Jared Gray (by phone). The meeting was held in the City Council chambers and was attended by several residents and a local scout troop. Staff attending the meeting included Paul Jerome, Asst. City Administrator/Finance Director, Ifo Pili, City Administrator, Michael Hadley, Planning Manager and Tayler Jensen, City Planner II as well as Fionnuala and Steve.
Finn started the meeting by training the attendees on “Open and Public Meetings”. The training is required by Utah code for each of the “members of the public body”, in this case the Planning Commission and the City Council. She started by defining “Public Body”, “Meeting” and “Quorum”. NOTE: The definitions are included in the presentation documents below. They then discussed what an “Electronic” meeting was, and the rules around having closed meetings. Closed meetings can be called for a variety of reasons, but do require a quorum, and starts as an open meeting that then 2/3 of the members vote to close the meeting. Records for open meetings are to include the Notice, the Agenda, and then the Minutes and Recordings of the meeting. Written minutes and recordings are required for all open meetings. The Public Record includes the minutes of the meeting and must be available to the public within 30 days. Approved meeting minutes must be posted on the website within three business days, as well as the audio recording. The official record consists of the written minutes not the recording of the meeting. Records of a closed meeting are protected under GRAMA and are subject to disclosure by court order.
Steve Mumford, the Eagle Mountain Community Development Director, then discussed Roles and Responsibilities. Specifically the separate roles of Legislative Decisions and Administrative Decisions.
Legislative Decisions are broad discretion based on public input or opinion, subject to referendum and based on reasonably debatable standard. Referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision. A reasonably debatable standard is upheld as long as it is reasonably debatable that the decision promotes the purposes of LUDMA (The Land Use, Development, and Management Act). Some of the purposes of the general land use authority include: health, safety, welfare, promote prosperity, improve morals, peace, comfort, and aesthetics. Legislative action is required on General Plan & Amendments, Land Use Regulations, and Zoning.
Administrative Decisions are based on Substantial Evidence Standard, and are not subject to referendum (vote by the electorate), do not require a public hearing, and public opinions are not applicable unless they are code related. Substantial evidence standard is a municipality’s decision will be upheld if it is supported by substantial evidence, and is not arbitrary, capricious, or illegal. Some types of administrative actions would include items like subdivision plats, site plans, and conditional use permits. Conditional uses shall be approved by administrative decision if reasonable conditions are proposed, or can be imposed to mitigate the reasonably anticipated detrimental effects of the proposed use. The conditional permit can only be denied if the proposed use has detrimental effects and they cannot be mitigated with reasonable conditions.
Administrative decisions are based on code, where legislative decisions have more leeway and can put provisions on current code. It should also be noted that the codes that are applied to a decision are based on code enforced at the date of the application, not the date the decision was made. There are also instances when vested interests are applied that legally force the legislative decision based on previous actions done by the legislative body.
Mike Kieffer is an IT geek by hobby and trade, with a BS in Information Systems & Technology. He is a proud father of 10, a grandpa, an author, a journalist, and internet publisher. His motto is to “Elevate, Inspire and Inform”, and he is politically conservative and a Christian. Mike has a passion for technology, writing, and helping others. With a wealth of experience, he is committed to sharing his knowledge with others to help them reach their full potential. He is known for his jackassery or his form of self-expression that encourages boldness, creativity, and risk-taking. It can be a way to push the boundaries and challenge traditional norms, leading to creative solutions and positive change.
Tom Westmoreland, the current Eagle Mountain Mayor, made this comment on the importance of these trainings. “Just like mastering any other skill set, ongoing education is vital to good government. In order to adhere to legal, ethical, and transparency standards, we need to know what those standards are, why they exist, and how to implement them. On a local level where emotions run high and we know the individuals that we will impact it is even more important that we use disciplines based in law and proven principles. Because it is so easy to make mistakes that have lasting consequences we are emphasizing ongoing education for all of our representatives at Eagle Mountain City.”
