Council Report
by Brian McNary
Reporting on the April 5, 2023 council meeting.
A couple of observations. Some opinion and a bit of an introduction.
Having attended somewhere between 300 to 350 council meetings in the last ten years of my career, I am no fan of meetings in general. In those days, it was part of my job as Police Chief. In essence, I was paid to attend meetings.
I did not think a team of wild horses could ever drag me back to another city council meeting. In my younger days, I thought people simply practiced indifference when it came to city business. Meetings were mostly vacant. People are busy working, raising children, paying the bills. Most folks just didn’t have the time or the inclination to pay attention to local government until some big change was about to happen. At the 11th hour, people would finally show up when the issue at hand was about to be decided. Too little, too late. We’re hoping to get ahead of that curve.
Conquering my own apathy and memories of those historic, marathon meetings was essential. I attended my second Toquerville City Council meeting. These were my observations. I took notes and recorded the meeting. I try to write responsibly.
The doors were locked and opened a little after 6 PM.
The council is comprised of 6 men. The city attorney was present.
The agenda was fairly concise. City department reports came early.
There was some discussion about city code enforcement and the re-writing or editing of vague city codes. This includes business licenses, vicious animals, and short-term rentals among other items. I noted a lack of information regarding who actually enforces city codes and the penalties for violating city codes. I wrote “more to come” in my notes.
There is a “Public Forum” section where parties can talk to the council. Apparently, for reasons yet unclear to me, council members do not respond to speakers in this section.
One speaker seemed irritated that council business was done in a closed, sort of ex parte fashion. Ex parte is a one sided discussion where all parties are not invited to participate. Whether this concern was borne out of attendees being locked out of city hall or the speaker had other concerns, is unclear. He did not state his name on my recording.
There were 7 items on the “Business” section. The first 3 items were in regard to the Toquerville Parkway Project.
The 4th item was a zoning change presented by someone on behalf of Bob Lichfield, property owner. I noted that the speaker was rather evasive with regard to the reason for the zoning change from residential 20 acre (R-1-20) to multi use (MU). After several queries, one of the council members mentioned that the applicant might want an RV Park in what is currently zoned R-1-20. This assertion went unchallenged.
After some discussion about the wording of current zoning ordinances which did not specifically address a number of definitions and permitted uses, the council was unwilling to grant the zoning change. Applicant and the council agreed to table the item for now.
The 5th item was a dark sky proclamation. I did not hear the term, “light trespass” which had once been a popular phrase in my younger years. The proclamation passed.
The 6th item was a fee reduction for “neighborhood markets” from 125.00 to 50.00 and noted that a home occupation “permit” had been changed to a “license.”
The 7th item was for funds needed for an FCC license to operate an emergency radio tower located on the Bence property. Council agreed to fund the licensing for an amount not to exceed 5,000.00
And so we reach the end.
Brian