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Water Documenters: Read meeting notes from the Utah Lake Authority

The Nov. 17 meeting included an invitation for the Utah Lake Authority to join the Jordan River Commission and discussion about hiring a new executive director.

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Meeting attendance

Bigger room, city council style. The meeting officially started at 9:12

Present from the board:

  • Sam Braegger, ULA Program Manager
  • Caroline Lundberg, Mayor of Lindon
    • Thanked volunteers and partners from the Utah Lake symposium.
  • John Mackey, Division of Water Quality director
    • Inquiry from Eric (Ellis?) about fish advisories that had been placed on the Lake and if they needed to be updated
    • Noticed that on the invoice the ULA is paying for algae treatments.
  • Terry Peterson, Orem City Council
  • Kamron Dalton, Director of Operations, GO Utah
  • Marty Larson, Genola Mayor
  • Julie Fullmer, Chair, Vineyard Mayor
  • Isaac Paxman, Deputy Mayor Provo (Mayor Kaufusi is missing)
    • Kaufusi may join later.
  • Curtis Blair, Utah Chamber of Commerce
  • Hillary Hungerford, Utah Valley University
    • Studying in Mongolia for the next semester, will be joining over Zoom.
  • Ben Stireman, Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands
  • Brady Brammer, Utah House of Representatives
    • Asked for Mike McKell to be excused
  • Mark Johnson, Lehi Mayor (joining online)

    • Missing: Chris Carn, Saratoga Springs; Mike McKell, Utah Senate; 16 visitors

    Staff and committee report

    Report from Addy Valdez, conservation biologist from ULA

  • Utah Lake Resource Management Symposium
    • This is the first time they’ve hosted a symposium. They had 15 entities present about different aspects of Utah Lake (especially related to resource management).
    • Maybe include recreation and community involvement as topics next year.
  • Pollinator habitat program
    • Got plants on September 30th, housing at UVU
    • Planted on October 4th
    • Plans to do more in the future.
    • Used grant money from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

    Report from Jenna Ahern, Outreach Coordinator

  • Revamped the website, it looks a LOT better.
  • Been working with the BYU on-campus interns.
    • Doing social media marketing for events next year.
    • Building a story map for the lake access page.
    • Rolling out mid-December.

    Report from Sam Braegger, Programs Manager

  • Utah Lake Symposium Recap Part 2.
    • 95 in person, 37 online.
    • Will host another symposium, alter the format to be even better.
    • Hoping to have these be annual meetings.
  • Small Grants Program
    • Support and encourage other events and businesses at the lake.
    • Hoping to launch Dec/Jan. Applications are due by Feb/Mar. Starting efforts for the summer.
    • This supports the management plan.
  • Access enhancements
    • ULA is seeking funding for general lake access enhancements. This could include improving roads and boat ramps.
    • The following access points are currently funded through the ULA budget.
    • The Request For Proposals closed yesterday, ranking of bids happening over the next 1-2 weeks, permitting will be afterwards.
    • Eventually, a concrete boat ramp may be looked at for Mill Race, repair/replace fencing, put up signage.
    • Ben Stireman said that FFSL has extra gates from another project that could be used.

    Curtis moved to accept consent items.

  • Mayor Lundberg seconded.
  • All in favor.

    • Presentation from Soren Simonsen, Executive Director from Jordan River Commission

  • Utah Lake Commission used to be a part of the Jordan River Commission’s governing body.
  • Important connection between Utah Lake and Jordan River Commission.
  • Invitation to the ULA to be a part of the JRC as a part of the partnership initiative.
  • Jordan River flows through several counties and then enters Farmington bay.
    • A lot of the river is diverted.
    • 12 natural tributaries in addition to Utah Lake, several man-made tributaries.
    • 1/4 of the river has a trail on both sides.
    • Interested in a potential trail that goes around Utah Lake.
  • Regulatory Jurisdiction
    • 16 cities
    • 3 counties
    • Special service districts
    • State and Federal
  • History and background of JRC
    • Organized through an interlocal agreement.
    • In 2008, developed a vision to improve the Jordan River.
    • Happened under Envision Utah, guidance from SL County.
    • Same amount of shore along the river as Utah Lake.
    • They do regular paddling excursions during the summer.
  • Governing board
    • 16 cities, 2 counties, legislative appointee, Governor’s appointee, representatives from the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Transportation, Utah Transit Authority, 6 special districts, 15 ex-officio partner organizations appointed by the board
    • Looking to align ex-officio with Jordan River Watershed council
  • Jordan River Watershed Council
    • Working for the Jordan River Commission to become the watershed council.
  • They also have a technical advisory committee
  • Event Advisory Committee
  • They put out a best practices guidebook in 2013
    • Enhancing open space habitat.
    • Looking at low-impact river development.
    • Recreation.
    • Stormwater practices.
  • The Jordan River commission was designed to support the Jordan River management plan created by the state.
  • Refreshed the Jordan River Blueprint plan in 2022
  • Saw a 400% increase in trail usage between 2018 and 2020.
    • Likely due to COVID-19
  • Open space and wildlife habitat were the two primary goals that people wanted to see enhanced around the Jordan River.
  • River developments
    • Big park in Saratoga Springs by the hot springs.
    • Revamping and developing the former prison land in Draper.
    • Revamping by North Temple.
    • $5 million grant for preservation and restoration, realigning portions of the river, creating wildlife sanctuary and park
  • Added 20 new access points and portages in the past year.
  • Added lots of wayfinding and signage.
  • Lots of volunteer coordination for cleanups, restoration, education, etc.
  • Mitigating impacts of homelessness along the river.
  • Improving beneficial water flows.
    • Bluffdale section, almost 100% of the river is diverted into 7 canals.
  • Invitation to have a strong connection with the Utah Lake Authority
    • Sam will be sending out an email with information
    • Come back in January to discuss more about this partnership, interlocal agreement
  • Mayor Johnson has a question
    • On the Jordan River trail, lots of maintenance is needed, not good for biking right now. Do they contact the county?
    • A: In Utah County the trail is under the jurisdiction of the county.
    • Mark Johnson asked Simon to reach out to collaborate on this

    Action items

    Discussion for appointing a new executive director

    This wasn’t discussed in the meeting, but several weeks prior, Eric Ellis, the former Executive Director of the Utah Lake Authority resigned and almost immediately got hired by Vineyard City. This happened soon after several documents were released to the public that revealed Eric’s unauthorized engagement with Lake Restoration Solutions, a company that was trying to build islands on Utah Lake.

  • The recommendation is that Sam Braegger be appointed as Interim Executive Director.
  • Kamron Dalton asked a clarifying question if salary will be increased from program director up the midpoint between ED and PD Answer is yes.
  • Kamron Dalton motioned to accept the appointment, and Mayor Larson seconded.
  • All in favor.
  • Review and approve the executive director hiring packet.
    • As part of the hiring process, staff will review applicants, board will join panels of interviews for the top 5 applicants.
    • The top applicant will be brought before the board for a final decision.
    • Terry Peterson: asked about the decision to have the interview panel between December 17-27.
    • Curtis Blair suggested accelerating this process before Dec 17.
    • Job opens up tomorrow (November 18).
    • Carolyn Lundberg suggested moving the decision later.
    • Brady Brammer suggested extending the deadline so we can get managers applying from people outside of Utah.
    • Isaac Paxman: This is a 10 to 20-year decision for who is hired, longer opening, longer vetting, and headhunting. This is a unique job, a big decision.
    • Lundberg: Keep it at a 3-week opening, then extend the deadline depending on the volume of applicants.
    • Mark Johnson: Hasn’t had a great experience with headhunters. Suggest that the board search for people on their own.
    • Kamron asked what would the board consider a “sufficient pool” of applicants.
    • Brady is concerned about complying with the open and public meetings acts if the board is involved in the decision-making.
    • Ben Stireman made some comments about the job description still referencing the commission. Also, there is no current technical team, so in the job listing make sure to reference a future team. Include a benefits package, etc.
    • Hillary Hungerford: no statement of what type of person we want.
    • If Sam applies, Curtis, Hillary, and Ben will review his application.

    Approved from first-ever Policies and procedures

  • Much of this was pulled from existing policies and procedures.
  • Approved unanimously.

    • Public comments

  • Teri Harman, Conserve Utah Valley
    • Huge thanks for adopt a shoreline program. Their organization did 4 cleanups this year with lots of people. Hopeful that ULA will participate in preserving this area.
  • Kaye Nelson, Conserve Utah Valley
    • Conserve Utah Valley had sent a letter about Eric Ellis, the former Executive Director of the Utah Lake Authority, soon after he resigned. They shared their concerns about the lack of transparency under his leadership and urged the ULA board to ensure more transparent and publicly engaged leadership when choosing a new executive director.

    Summary

  • Simon Sorensen gave a presentation about the Jordan River Commission and invited the Utah Lake Authority to consider joining the Commission in an interlocal agreement.
  • Sam Braegger was appointed as the interim Executive Director of the Utah Lake Authority until a replacement is hired.
  • The executive director job position will be posted on November 18th, open for three weeks, and then the ULA will determine whether to extend the application period until after Christmas. Final interviews will be held by January 17th (the next ULA board meeting).
  • Follow-up Questions
    • What will be done to ensure that the new Executive Director is more transparent than the last one?

    Water Documenters is a collaboration between The Salt Lake Tribune and City Bureau and funded through grants from the Great Salt Lake Collaborative and the Rita Allen Foundation. College student journalists from all over Utah are hired to attend and take notes at public water meetings in Utah. These notes are then published for anyone to read or use. The project is aimed at providing better public access to meetings where major decisions are made about a limited Utah resource. For more meeting notes, click here. For more information, click here.

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    By Nathan Thompson | Brigham Young University