Once There Was a Town Council Meeting

An outline of all the agenda items and their resolutions is on page 8. The first item for discussion in this article is C2: whether to change the property next to town hall that the town recently purchased from residential zoning to public use zoning. There were three letters written to Council available in last week’s TSS and here: <https://www.springdaletown.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01142026-1028?html=true>. For a summary of points made in the three citizen letters, see page 8

There were also citizens at the meeting to dissuade council from making that change. There are at least two necessary reasons to make a change to public use zoning. One is that the intended use is appropriate for public use, another reason is there is compelling need for that intended use. Some citizens felt that a medical clinic was not an appropriate entity for public use lands, and pretty much everyone against the zone change felt that the need for a medical clinic had little to no substantiation.

There was public input, public questioning, then council deliberations which went on for nearly half an hour in total. That discussion was pretty much cut off when, the town’s lawyer, Mr. Hardman, let us know that the land was purchased “under threat of condemnation” which is the legal first step towards a government entity using their right of eminent domain. Long story short, if we didn’t change the zoning we would be in breach of contract. (They couldn’t have led with that? No, no, they should have, back when the decision to purchase was being considered, sought public input. Three of the current council members were involved in this transaction.)

What was the point of people doing research, taking the time to voice their opinions (see pg 6), showing up, bothering to care, when it was a done deal? And when people obviously did care, why was there no communication to tell them discussion would be irrelevant? And why, in the name of even a minimal respect for the community, was public input not sought and encouraged before the decision was made? Why was a highly publicized town hall not held? It is not a light thing to ‘take’ a citizen’s property, well, force them to sell. That is what Springdale did — without input from Springdalians.

We can argue the merits of that use of eminent domain, whether it was appropriate (or bullying), etc. But there are no merits to the lack of transparency and public input when it was being done. If I am missing something here, please advise and inform. Mayor? Jack? Randy? And don’t tell me you didn’t have to. We know that. You certainly could have and why wouldn’t you want to?

One can churn out town newsletters praising the council’s transparency, but no amount of ink can cover the lack of it. Transparency is demonstrated through actions, not articles.

This Worked Out Well

It was highly encouraging that the next item on the agenda, to make medical clinics, pharmacies, and drugstores permitted uses on Public Use lands, was tabled. Those uses are currently only allowed on commercial properties, probably because they are usually, ya know, commercial establishments. The deliberation had not proceeded very far when, out of the blue, a motion was made to table. A motion is usually not made until you can tell how council is leaning, often after the Mayor asks for one. I applaud Kyla Topham for making that motion before even a hint of possible majority had emerged. In the years I’ve been watching these meetings, I have not seen that happen before. It passed unanimously. That was the right call. Thank you to all of them with special kudos to Kyla. (Kudos to Kyla - sounds like a good book title for young adult fiction.)

I think a future issue will be a better place for why that was the right call. I know, you can hardly wait. Try to contain yourselves.

Shedding More Light

Another point that needs clarification is the discussion around planning for the future. All of the points raised focused on factors that make the need for a medical center seem inevitable—such as increased visitation and population growth in Springdale (more on that shortly). However, there are also significant future considerations that point in the opposite direction:

• I was amazed that no one brought up the information given by the Fire District representative in regards to a new hospital coming to Hurricane across from Walmart with a strong increase in emergency support and availability
• The east side of ZNP is on the verge of explosion and the more competition, the lower Springdale tourist attendance will be
• Virgin, Toquerville, La Verkin, and Hurricane are all much greater sources of competition for nightly rentals than they used to be and that competition is likely to increase.
• There is increasing use of mail for receiving medications
• There is increasing use of FaceTime type of interactions for medical care, including in the mental health care field
• There are studies ongoing of how to control visitation including reservation systems which have worked well for popular hikes like Angel’s Landing, limiting daily use on specific areas, maybe even park wide caps
• There are plans in the works to expand recreational use outside the most used part of ZNP which is from the south entrance to the east entrance plus the scenic drive.
• if TC members are correct and Springdale continues to see tourism increase, it will become less and less attractive as a place to call home. If people are less attracted to come here, and, as we all know, we already have an older population that is only going to decrease, the population may see a significant downturn. Already, we’ve seen people move to be closer to medical care (not just a clinic).
• The 700 population they quoted is unlikely to be accurate. Springdale has already seen cycles of population decline.
• I bet there are others I didn’t think of.

Mayor Bruno said she read that Springdale’s population was now 700, stating she had read it in a county document. I checked with Washington County and there is no such document. If you do a google search or any AI search you will get many estimates based on the most recent census (2020 when it was 514-521, even that varies) and calculated using various assumptions all of which yielded results between upper 500’s and lower 600’s. One website,<https://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/washington/springdale.cfm> which looks official but it is definitely not associated with Washington County, They do not clarify what metrics they are using. They also said the average family size was four with no definition of family. Assuming they used the census definition, (two or more people living in the same domicile and related by marriage, blood, or adoption), that number is not possible. We all know we have way too many two-person families for that four assumption to be valid. I think their estimates are less accurate than others. The 100 person difference is not really worth getting one’s knickers in a bunch but the way things are stated as having some basis in fact when it supports one’s personal agenda, does, well, chafe.

And, There’s More, including:

1. the contract with Family Health, 2. the Annual Financial Report — lots there 3. 4 of the TC members and the contents of a letter from Rick Wixom 4. asking a citizen for another copy of something he said he had sent them twice before, 5. the letters from citizens and council deliberations 6. comments about overcrowding in the CCC

I will conclude, for this issue, with the contract with Family Health and take other items up in other issues. I’ve got to put this baby to bed. (I also need to get The Springdale Sun out — notice what I did there?)

When asked if there were any guarantees that Family Health would make use of the medical clinic if built, Springdale’s lawyer, Mr. Hardman, said as long as the contract was in force, then, yes, they knew the contract meant they would take over the new clinic with rent at the going rate. When asked how long the contract was for, after checking his papers, he said, “Three years from Nov. 2023.” It’s up this year, IN A FEW MONTHS (they do have the right to renew, but do not have the obligation to do so) In other words, there are no, zero, nada guarantees that we even have someone to use the proposed facility.

How did we get here? Certainly not with public scrutiny or input.

Okay, okay, one more quick, kinda funny, one, number 3. So, at the meeting, Pat Campbell asked a question about the floor plan for the proposed clinic, a floor plan included in the letter Rick Wixom had written to Town Council members. Rick said he didn’t think there was a floor plan there; the other members of town council seemed befuddled. I had previously made a GRAMA request for that letter and voila! I received, among other things, the medical center floor plan to the right. (more legible version on page 15) I suppose they could have inadvertently sent me more than they sent Town Council but I just asked for the same letter that was sent to town council with all the attachments. Is a puzzlement!!!