During the regular City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 10, the council discussed the downtown dispersed parking project and a renovation permit for 98 Center, a local restaurant.
Andy Smith, the director of Grand County Emergency Medical Services, gave a presentation on his department: each day, the department staffs two ambulances (and during busy seasons, three). In 2022, there were 1,649 calls for service to EMS—the most, 176, occurred in May, the least, 100, in February. Four months in 2022 set new high call records.
Over the past ten years, Smith said, there has been a 42% increase in calls. But he does expect calls to drop off over the next few years: 2019 was the last “normal” year, he said.
“That puts a lot of tax on the service, when you’re talking about responding to ten or eleven calls per day,” Smith said. “Three ambulances can’t handle that, so our administration is frequently out running calls and trying to fill in the gaps where we can.”
Most calls come from locals—in 2022, 61% of calls were from locals, 39% from non-locals. Most calls are also standard medical calls, for concerns such as difficulty breathing; 34% of calls are traumas. Abdominal pain is the most common call. The most common location for calls is the jail: “We go to the jail a lot and assist with medical issues there,” Smith said.
He also reported that in 2022, EMS performed at least 15 lifesaving interventions. This year, EMS received a grant to focus on employee mental health and wellness: EMS is a difficult job, Smith said, and the staff has been on the scene of 36 deaths this year.
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Consent Agenda
Indigenous Peoples Day 2023 Proclamation
Approval of minutes from the September 26, 2023 regular meeting
Approval of bills against the City of Moab in the Amount of $1,113,538.18
- Discussion began at 24:33, passed unanimously
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General Business
Consideration of approval of the Utah Renewable Communities program utility agreement
- The URC is a coalition of cities, towns, and counties working to launch a default net-100% renewable electricity option for Rocky Mountain Power customers. This ordinance is the next step in the process; the program won’t be implemented for another few months.
- Discussion began at 25:22, passed unanimously
Consideration of a resolution declaring certain property owned by the City of Moab as surplus
- Three vehicles, a woodchipper, and a number of cameras and bags owned by departments in the city will be auctioned off. The items will be available at www.PublicSurplus.com.
- Discussion began at 33:17, passed unanimously
Consideration of a contract award to Kilgore Companies (LeGrand Johnson) for the downtown dispersed parking project
- In 2018, Moab received funding to decrease traffic congestion; this project is one of several aimed at that objective. . The downtown dispersed parking project specifically would add more parking spots in the city; staff has thus far received a few bids for the project, but all were over budget. During the meeting, the council discussed alternative bids to save money, such as implementing a sales tax revenue bond, or reducing aesthetic elements of the project.
- Staff recommended reducing aesthetics of the project (such as landscaping and pedestrian amenities), an alternative that saved the most money but still required the city to come up with an additional $1 million in funding for the project. City Manager Carly Castle said staff will look for grants to come up with those funds.
- The council deliberated if the project would be worth it—Councilmember Tawny Knuteson Boyd said she wasn’t sure the city needed it; Councilmember Jason Taylor asked if it was financially responsible; Councilmember Rani Derasary made a motion to table, which failed. None of the councilmembers were especially supportive of the reduced plan, but most agreed it was still necessary.
- Discussion began at 34:51, passed 4-1 with Derasary in opposition
Consideration of an encroachment license agreement for 98 Center, LLC
- 98 Center, a local restaurant, is renovating its kitchen. It needs to build a chase for a kitchen hood exhaust that will encroach on city property; the city has to follow a specific process for allowing private infrastructure on city-owned property.
- In the past, the council would decide if an encroachment on city property would necessitate a chance for the public to weigh in. In this instance, Councilmember Luke Wojciechowski said, by bringing this process all the way to the city council, the restaurant lost potential days of revenue. He argued that processes like this should sometimes be administrative only, and not require an official vote. The policy that influenced this consideration will be updated during the city’s upcoming municipal code rewrite.
- Discussion began at 1:48:56, passed unanimously
