A special session of the Utah Legislature on Wednesday passed bills aiming to help Operation Rio Grande attack crime and bolster homeless services in the downtown Salt Lake City neighborhood around the state’s largest shelter.
Lawmakers in a quick afternoon session also approved settling a lawsuit over a problem-plagued highway for less than half of what the state had once sought from the contractor.
One of the Operation Rio Grande bills, HB1002, makes changes in law to allow Salt Lake City to temporarily close Rio Grande Street near the downtown shelter and lease it to the state (at no cost). Crews recently constructed fences there aimed at keeping out drug dealers and creating a “safe space” for homeless people.
“Social order is being restored to that area, and this is a key component,” said House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who has helped lead efforts to clean up the Rio Grande area.
Fencing off the street creates what he calls a bigger courtyard where people will need to show identification to enter.
Hughes said that courtyard will include portable toilets, hand-washing stations, bike lockers, and protective shade in the summer and heat in the winter — plus workers to help with housing, medical and mental-health care, and employment. He said it will be patrolled by drug-sniffing dogs and security cameras.
“It will be a safe area,” Hughes said. “We have had too many barriers to service for people who have needed it for far too long,” including worrying about “having your things stolen, being a victim of violence, falling back into a drug culture. Those are things that this directly combats.”
Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, was the only member of the House to oppose the bill, saying it may hurt the homeless by scaring them away from needed services. “In many eyes, when they see a fence, it reminds them of a prison. When they have to have a card to get in to get services, it scares them.”
State officials and area service providers have said a card won’t be needed to stay at the shelter or eat at the dining hall.
House Majority Whip Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton, who sponsored the bill, said plans call for the street to be closed only until The Road Home shuts down in mid-2019 and three new homeless resource centers open in other areas.
Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, was the only senator to oppose the bill, worrying that it puts no firm time limit on when the street may reopen.
Lynn Pace, adviser to Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski, praised the legislation during a morning hearing, saying it is “a wonderful example of the partnership that can and does exist between the city and state.”
Closure of the street had earlier sparked a short-lived public fight between Hughes and Biskupski. Hughes had accused the mayor of holding up the street closure as a bargaining chip to gain more from the state — an accusation she denied.
Also Wednesday, lawmakers passed HB1001 to shuffle around $4.9 million in existing funding to cover Operation Rio Grande costs through January, when the general session of the Legislature convenes. It will then delve into how to cover projected long-term costs of $67 million.
Rep. Merrill Nelson, R-Grantsville, expressed reservations about spending state money for what he said is a city problem created by lax law enforcement that allowed trouble to grow until it became a crisis. “It seems unprecedented and beyond the proper role of the state,” he said, warning it could lead other cities to seek similar help.
Nelson, however, ended up voting for the bill, he said, because problems in the capital city have “reached crisis proportions and we must do something.”
Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, bristled after Nelson criticized local police, saying city law enforcement has done a good job and should “not be demonized.”
Rep. Ed Redd, R-Logan, also disputed Nelson’s arguments.
“This really is a statewide problem,” he said, adding that officials in many small counties that lack resources to help the homeless simply give them bus tickets to Salt Lake City — and addicted people also often go to Salt Lake County from rural areas because it is easier to find drugs.
Separately during the short session, lawmakers unanimously passed SJR101 to settle lawsuits against a contractor that built the problem-filled Timpanogos Highway between Lehi and Alpine. The state originally sought $29.4 million, but approved settling it for less than half that amount — $11.4 million.
That rebuilt six-mile section of State Road 92 was finished 10 months late in 2012 amid quality complaints — including crumbling retaining walls, 500 cracked cement sections and leaking bridges. The state also had charged $4.5 million in late fees to the contractor, Flatiron/Harper Joint Venture.
Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, sponsor of the bill, said $8.4 million of the settlement will be set aside to handle possible future problems on the highway.
Carlos Braceras, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation, said he would give the current condition of the road a letter grade of C or B-minus, but said taxpayers still received their money’s worth despite only merely acceptable conditions.
Under the settlement, worked out through mediation, contractors will receive $102 million of the original $113 million contract.
One of the contractors, Flatiron, was also part of a different consortium — Flatiron/Skanska/Zachry — involved in huge controversy in 2010 after disclosure that it was quietly paid $13 million by the state on claims it was cheated out of a $1.1 billion contract to rebuild Interstate 15 in Utah County by the way UDOT tweaked scoring of bids.
That contract went instead to Provo River Constructors. Principals in that group had contributed $82,500 to Gov. Gary Herbert’s election campaign in the months before and after the bid was awarded.
A state auditor’s report later found no wrongdoing or political pressure by UDOT and Herbert over the bid, but said it could not be determined whether the bid process and settlement payment were fair because of a lack of documentation.
A law enacted after the controversy requires some settlements involving more than $1 million to be approved by the governor and Legislature before an agency such as UDOT may sign the agreement.
Sen. Karen Mayne, D-West Valley City, supported the settlement but said the situation “is a train wreck.” She added, “We need to make sure [we have] good companies, tested and true. … It’s a lesson to be learned.”
Braceras said Flatiron has no contracts with UDOT now and has moved out of state.
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