City Council · 2016-01-20

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OREM CITY COUNCIL/ALPINE SCHOOL DISTRICT 
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING 
56 North State, Orem, Utah 
January 20, 2016 
This meeting was for discussion purposes only. No official action was taken. 
CONDUCTING 
OREM ELECTED OFFICIALS 
OREM STAFF 
ALPINE BOARD OF EDUCATION 
Mayor Richard F. Brunst, Jr. 
Councilmembers Debby Lauret, Tom Macdonald, 
Mark Seastrand, and Brent Sumner 
Jamie Davison, City Manager; Brenn Bybee, 
Assistant City Manager; Stephen Downs, Assistant 
to the City Manager; Karl Hirst, Recreation 
Department 
Director; 
Peter 
Wolfley, 
Communications Specialist; and Jackie Lambert, 
Deputy City Recorder 
Paula Hill and Deborah Taylor 
ALPINE SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMIN. 
Sam Jarman, Superintendent; 
Jess 
Christen, 
Administrative Director of Operations 
ABSENT/EXCUSED 
INVOCATION 
Councilmembers Sam Lentz and David 
Assistant Superintendent 
Rob Smith; 
members John Burton and JoDee Sundberg 
Mark Seastrand 
Mayor Brunst called the meeting to order at 12:06 p.m. 
Items of Common Interest 
DISCUSSION - University Place and Economic Development 
Spencer; 
Board 
Mayor Brunst gave an update on the office building under' construction at approximately 575 
East University Parkway. He said Northstar Alarm Services would lease the top floor and many 
other groups had expressed interest in leasing other suites in the building. He also said the new 
apartment buildings were doing well in their leasing, and the park would likely· begin 
construction in March. 
Mr. Davidson said some of the apartment buildings were close to reaching full occupancy at this 
point. He said the park would be where the Mervyn's building had been, close to the housing. He 
said they would also continue renovating the interior of the mall. 
Mrs. Hill asked about the roadwork in the area the road connecting State Street and 800 East. Mr. 
Davidson said that specific road was currently being worked on, but winter conditions made 
construction harder. 
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Mayor Brunst said Nordstrom Rack was scheduled to open March 10, 2016. Superintendent 
Jarman asked how large that store would be. Mayor Bruns! said he was not sure of the exact size. 
Mr. Seastrand said Outback Steakhouse had moved into a building in the parking lot to 
accommodate the size of the Nordstrom Rack store. 
Superintendent Jarman asked about the smaller building at Midtown 360 that was closest to State 
Street. He wondered why the building was offset, and why it had no elevator. 
Mayor Bruns! said that building was not intended for residential but was intended for use as a 
rental office with other office space available. He said he was not sure why there was no 
elevator, but said the office space on the top floor was particularly attractive. 
Mr. Macdonald asked who was occupying the office space currently. Mayor Brunst said used as 
a rental office for Midtown 360 and he was not aware of any other tenant. 
Mrs. Taylor asked how the building met code without an elevator in place. Mayor Bruns! said he 
was not sure of the particulars, but he believed the concern would be if the building was used for 
residential. 
DISCUSSION - Hawk Signal by Orchard Elementary 
Mr. Davidson gave a brief update on the proposed Hawk signal by Orchard Elementary and 
Canyon View Junior High. He said the project had been bid out twice, and both times the bids 
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returned at almost double what they were initially anticipating. They had reached out to a contact 
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in Salt Lake County but had no luck there. They would bid the project for a third time. He said 
the City had budgeted for their half of the signal, so it was just a matter of finding someone to 
install for a more reasonable price. 
Superintendent Jarman said the Alpine School District would still match the price for their half 
of the system, even if that price was higher. 
Mr. Davidson said he appreciated that, but said from a City perspective they did not want to 
build a signal for double the amount they anticipated. He believed they could build for less. They 
would bid the project again in the hopes of finding a less expensive option. 
DISCUSSION - Welcoming Jess Christen 
Superintendent Jarman introduced Jess Christen who had previously served as administrator over 
high schools and would now serve as administrative director of operations. Mr. Christen had 
been asked to work with Assistant Superintendent Rob Smith to assist with the operations side of 
things, like maintenance, building projects, district transportation, etc. In taking those 
responsibilities, Mr. Christen would help free up Mr. Smith's time to work more on things like 
property acquisition, and to be a liaison to cities and legislators. Mr. Smith would still be over 
the accounting and administrative services for the district. 
Mayor Bruns! welcomed Mr. Christen and said he looked forward to working with him. 
DISCUSSION - Legislative Session 2016 
Mayor Bruns! asked Superintendent Jarman if there were any particular issues the ASD was 
concerned about for the coming legislative session. 
Joint Orem City Council/ Alpine School District Minutes -Januaty 20, 2016 (p.2) 
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Superintendent Jarman said the district would continue to grow and would need additional 
support. He said from SB 97 the Alpine School District had received $7 million for capital needs, 
which they had put to good use and had shown accountability for. He said there was additional 
funding that Was supposed to be available to them, but that money was not accessible currently 
because the legislature had not used a correct formula. He said they were hoping that would be 
corrected in the early rounds of the coming legislative session. He said that funding would help 
not only Alpine School District but districts that were below the mean or-what other districts 
were receiving on a per student basis. Superintendent Jarman said Alpine School District had 
been one of the lowest in the state for per student spending, and they hoped the money that was 
currently inaccessible would flow in years to come. 
Mr. Macdonald said a bulk was from property tax, but the bulk also from the state. He asked if 
SB 97 was intended to equalize districts with lower property tax revenue. Superintendent Jarman 
said that was a part of its purpose. Since the money was n_ot currently flowing to the school 
districts, there was concern that special interest groups might try to claim some of it. They 
wanted to make sure that did not happen. 
Superintendent Jarman said there were several bills the district was watching closely, bu_t Mr. 
Smith was more familiar with those. He would forward a leaflet that Mr. Smith had prepared that 
covered the points the Board felt was important. He said they were also trying to improve 
relations and communications with legislators, and would have Mr. Smith take a more active role 
in his position as a district liaison. That was one of Mr. Smith's strengths, aiid·they hoped to give 
more of a voice to Alpine School District issues. 
Mrs. Taylor shared a leaflet identifying the updated Alpine School District legislative priorities. 
She said one item of note was to have schools recognized as infrastructure and to potentially 
allow for impact fees on new home construction for schools specifically. Those funds could then 
be used for school construction or renovation within the municipality where the funds were 
raised. She said they were surprised by the support for that. 
_Mr. Davidson said it was the City's experience that impact fee bills at the legislature were 
introduced but were not passed. He said he would love to be "a fly on the wall" in a discussion 
where someone was advocating for impact fees. He said the City had looked at impact fees- for 
similar issues where there was no financing mechanism in place to pay for aging resources. 
Superintendent Jarman said he was shocked to learn that legislators did not regard schools as 
infrastructure; he felt that public schools served a public purpose and should be viewed as 
infrastructure. They were trying to keep the discussions open so that schools could benefit from 
impact fees for infrastructure reasons. He said they wanted to be careful to make sure everything 
was done properly so that impact fees would not have to be returned like in Park City. 
Mr. Davidson said the development community had a very active voice at the legislature. He said 
probably 50 percent had some sort of property or development interest. It had been a challenging 
topic because property taxes were used to fund operating expenses, but there were capital needs 
that were outside of that scope. He said similarly, cities had sales tax but there was no dedicated 
resource for capital other than impact and user fees. It was a tough conversation, and he was 
interested to see how the district would navigate it. 
Joint Orem City CounciVAJpine School District Minutes-January"20, 2016 (p.3) 
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Superintendent Jarman said he would be surprised if there were movement on that issue this 
year, but there would be continuing conversations in years to come. He said the district was I
currently celebrating the approval of a new elementary school in Saratoga Springs City. That 
school would be on the fast track to be built and hopefully finished by August 20, 2016. 
Mayor Bruns! asked why the school would be on the fast track. Superintendent J arrnan .said it 
was because the population was continuing to grow in that area. He said they were looking at 
potentially building another new elementary school in the area in coming years for that same 
reason. 
Mayor Brunst asked the typical capacity of an elementary school. Superintendent Jarman said 
approximately 860 students could be housed in a typical brick and mortar elementary school, 
knowing that portable units would likely be brought in to expand in growing areas. He stated 
again how pleased the district was to be able to build a new school in the Saratoga Spiings area. 
He said the developer D.R. Horton had stubbed in utility infrastructure that would allow for near 
immediate connection once the construction got underway. 
DISCUSSION - Cascade Elementary and Bond_ Issues 
Superintendent Jarman said they were reviewing the five-year Capital. Improvements Project 
(CIP) plan, which they reviewed and tweaked every year. He said they would keep the City 
posted on those plans.· 
Mayor Bruns! asked if Cascade Elementary was being considered in the CIP plan. 
Superintendent Jarman said they had identified many projects they hoped to address with the 
proposed bond, but projects were not "locked in" at this point. He believed Cascade Elementary 
was being looked at. He said they were going to send out a survey and gauge the support of the 
public for certain projects, which would help solidify the CIP plan. He said it his calculations 
were correct they could go out for a $310 million bond without changing the tax level. He said if 
the public was in favor, they would like to be more aggressive as the district was already well 
behind CIP needs. 
Mayor Brunst as
0ked about the possibility and schedule of future bonds, assuming this bond 
passed. 
Superintendent Jarman said if he had his way they would consider a bond during every 
presidential election year, because those elections typically saw more voters. He said they tried 
to pay of bond loans between fifteen and seventeen years. They had been .conservative in their 
funding and were looking for a favorable AAA rating; that would show the public that the 
district was a good investment and bonding now with a favorable rating would save millions in 
the long run with interest rates. He said the district had no control over income per household to 
meet The district's needs, so b,onds were the option. 
Mr. Davidson said the City faced similar funding issues. 
DISCUSSION -All-Together Playground 
Mr. Davidson turned the time over to Mr. Wolfley and Mr. Downs to present information about 
the All-Together Playground. Mr. Downs said they had recently been to elementary schools to 
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes -January 20, 2016 (p.4) 
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initiate the development of the playground plans. They hired Leathers and Associates from New 
York to design the playground, which was a company that focused on community builds for 
these kinds of project. As playgrounds affected children, the City wanted to reach out to the 
district. 
Superintendent Jarman asked the location of the playground. Mr. Davidson said it was the City 
Center Park. He said they City had met with district representatives previously to discuss the 
location. 
Mr. Downs showed a video titled, "What is the All-Together Playground?" featured on Orem 
City's Y ouTube page. 
Mr. Wolfley said they had recently taken a trip to Pocatello, Idaho to see an all-abilities 
playground Leathers designed. He said January 14, 2016 was "Design Day" to reveal the design 
of the playground. He and Mr. Downs had gone into elementary schools to ask the children for 
suggestions of what they wanted to see in the playground. He said he was in Scera Park 
Elementary and the children had been very enthusiastic, giving many fun and imaginative 
suggestions. The Leathers representatives took the children's suggestions and incorporated them 
into the playground design. 
Superintendent Jarman asked about some of the playground equipment and if they could be used 
while still in wheelchairs. Mr. Wolfley said some of the equipment like swings would allow 
children to use them while still in wheelchairs. Other equipment, like the zip line, would require 
the children to be moved into harnesses. 
Mr. Macdonald asked how many where in attendance for the playground design reveal. 
Mr. Wolfley said over 200 kids had attended. As different amenities were announced the kids 
would cheer and get excited. He said the playground would include sensory things for children 
with autism, things for children who used walkers or wheelchairs, and more. They had partnered 
with United Way, Kids on the Move, and Habitat for Humanity. 
Mr. Downs said some of the playground buildout would be a part of the United Way Day of 
Caring. He said it would be a six to seven day build period with volunteers doing the building. 
Mr. Wolfley said Jimmer Fredette would be holding a "3-pointer-a-thon" to help raise funding. 
Some of the funds would also go toward the Fredette Family Foundation program called 
"Jimmerosity", which teaches children about issues like bullying. 
Mr. Downs said children with disabilities were sometimes targets of bullying, and this program 
was meant to help children understand one another and learn from each other. He said he had 
been working With the district to potentially get the "Jimmerosity" program into Orem 
elementary schools. He said some Provo schools had a Kindness Club where children would 
participate in "Kindness Week" and make pledges to be more kind. He said the "Jimmerosity" 
program had resources they could put toward those kinds of programs ih Orem schools'. 
Superintendent Jarman said the district had similar programs already in place, and he would 
reach out to those Mr. Downs had spoken to. He said it was unfortunate that children with 
Joint Orem City Council/ Alpine School District Minutes -January 20,.2016 (p.5) 



disabilities were sometimes the targets of bullies. He added that sometimes children had no I
filters and asked tough questions trying to learn about a disability. They were not trying to be 
mean or bully, but their bluntness sometimes led more sensitive parents to worry that their 
children were being bullied. 
Mr. Downs said he felt the playground would be a great resource to allow all children to interact 
and play from early on. He said the cost of an all-abilities playground was a minimum of 
$600,000 as the equipment was expensive. Approximately $50,000 had been raised thus far from 
private donations, and there were other opportunities to for fund raising. IHC, UCCU, and other 
various donators had already contributed, and comedian Brian Regan had committed to give a 
portion of ticket proceeds from a local show to the playground. 
Mr. Davidson said this kind of playground cost seven or eight times what other playgrounds 
would cost, but the need was there. He was surprised by the number oflimited ability children in 
Orem alone. 
Superintendent Jarman asked if Orem had approached the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce 
about the project. 
Mr. Davidson said they wanted to have the design in place before approaching them. He said 
they hoped to gain momentum for fund raising once they had something to share with the 
community. If the community took ownership of the park, it was more likely to be successful. He 
thanked the Alpine School District for allowing Orem representatives to go into the schools. 
Mayor Bruns! said it would be fun to have a donation board showing the progress. 
UPDATE- MVHS property swap and School Resource Officers 
Mr. Davidson said some progress had been made ih the discussions. of the property swap with the 
district regarding the ball fields near Mountain View High School (MVHS). He said they had a 
better understanding of the needs of the district, and the district now had a better understanding 
of the needs of the City. He said Mr. Hirst had a concept plan that he hoped to discuss with them. 
Mr. Hirst added that the concept plan/map still had much work to be done before it was finished, 
and they wanted to keep everyone in the loop. 
Mr. Davidson said the City had an agreement with Alpine School District for School Resource 
Officers (SROs) that was set to expire on July I, 2016. He said they were looking to renew that 
agreement. He said there was great value to having officers in the schools, and the demand for 
that staff was increasing. Many officers had expressed that they would be more than willing to 
serve in that capacity. 
Mrs. Hill said some schools in the district had offered free lunches to officers to give them the 
opportunity to eat with the students and get familiar with the student body. She believed it was a 
successful program thus far. 
Superintendent Jarman said Mr. Smith would be the contact to reach out to for the renewal of the 
contract. He said he heard tremendously positive feedback on what SROs were doing in the 
school and they appreciated the partnership with law enforcement. 
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Mayor Brunst said there had been a discussion last year where police were encouraged to get 
maps of the schools and be more familiar with the individual school layouts. 
Mr. Davidson said Chief Giles had made that a priority and he believed Chief Giles had good 
working relationships with school administration. He had ongoing dialogue with administrators 
to coordinate active shooter trainings and other drills in the schools. 
Superintendent Jarman said if any additional information was needed that the City should contact 
Mr. Christen. 
Set Date and Time for Next 
The next meeting was scheduled for March 16, at noon in Orem. 
The meeting adjourned at 1 :21 p.m. 
Approved: February 23, 2016 
Joint Orem City CounciVAlpine School District Minutes -January 20, 2016 (p.7) 
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efc;nna R. Weaver, City Recorder