Wednesday night the Smithfield City Council approved a noise variance for Jack B. Parson Companies. The variance gives Parson Co. 12 next-day and 12 48-hour variances to operate their cement blend plant before 6 a.m. The letter from Reed L. Toolson states that some of their customers sometimes like to pour from 4 to 6 a.m. in the summer to avoid the intense heat. “The special noise variance has allowed us to serve our customers better and remain on a level playing field with our competitors,” Toolson wrote.

This is the same variance Parson received last year. Toolson told the council in Wednesday’s city council meeting that they only needed to use the variance a few times, but it made a big difference. Councilwoman Kris Monson said that Parson sent letters to the neighbors explaining when they needed to operate the plant early and what to expect.

Toolson also said they have a new concrete sound barrier wall installed and will also reduce noise by exiting from the back of the plant, washing out the trucks at the hot plant, and only using the minimum number of trucks to do the job.

Gittin’s concerns

Jeff Gittins addressed the council as the representative of the Smithfield Irrigation Company. There was misinformation, said Gittins, about the irrigation company and the new Park Place subdivision. The subdivision elected not to receive irrigation water and deeded the shares to the city, not to the homeowners. No infrastructure was made by the subdivision to handle irrigation water. Now if someone from phase 1 starts asking for irrigation, they can’t because there is no infrastructure and where one person may request it, three don’t want it.

“(It’s) very sad and disheartening to the amount of misinformation,” said Gittins. “The council needs to know. They need to make a decision whether to deed (the shares) to the homeowners to water their yards or to the city to meet water (requirements).”

Gittins also added that “I’d like to look at a revamp of the water dedication ordinance.”

“I’d like to strike Smithfield irrigation shares from that,” he said. “I want to prevent irrigation shares from going to USU or other places.”

Gittins added that the Smithfield Irrigation Company built and maintains the systems themselves. Smithfield has more than adequate shares for water. He’d like to remove the Smithfield Irrigation Company shares from the mix to keep it in the system in Smithfield without forfeiture.

Health Days Report

Mayor Simmons reported that it was 32 degrees with a wind chill of 15 on the morning of the Health Days Golf Tournament. He, community member, another mayor and a judge formed a team and played against Richmond’s Mayor Hall and three Richmond council members. “We shot a better score than they did,” said Simmons.

Councilwomen Barbara Kent said she was proud of the library and the youth council. The library passed out books instead of candy this year. The youth council sponsored and managed free games at Forrester Acres.

Monson reported they had 672 participants in the fun run. Last year there were only 504. The first year, 1997, there were only 37. Now it’s one of the largest runs in the county.

All of the council expressed appreciation to the leaders — especially Health Days Coordinator, Stacey Dority, volunteers, and businesses for putting on an excellent Health Days event.

Kids Corner Park

City Manager Jim Gass suggested the council rid itself of a small triangular piece of land jutting out of Kids Corner Park at Wasatch Boulevard and Maple Drive. The little pie-shaped plot shoots out from the rectangular park into an area between two private backyards.

The Hancock’s who own one of those back yards told the council that the area is poorly lit and kids like to hide back in the corner or climb up in the tree.

Gass said the last wind storm damaged the fence on the north side of the park. If they don’t sell the property, they will have to fix the entire distance. If the city wanted to sell the property, it could be for the price of new fencing needed. Specifically, a new fence would be constructed along the west side of the triangle to finish separate the property from the park. Plus a the fence on the north side would have to be rebuilt as well. The city would still have to rebuild the remaining, damaged north fence west of the triangle area.

The council gave permission to Gass to work out an agreement with the Hancock’s to replace the north fence, add a west fence and pay the city to remove the pavilion in exchange for the property.

Friends of the Library

Mayor Simmons discussed the “Friends of the Library” with the council. It is a separate non-profit corporation set up by himself, his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Watkins. They created the Friends organization to assist the library and it is not part of the city. Simmons is stepping down as chairman and that Dennis Watkins will take over. Chad Downs will also join the Friends of the Library to replace Watkins’ position.

Interlocal road repairs

The council renewed their agreement with the county to do road repairs. Gass said they like to chip and seal or slurry seal roads every seven years. This year they want to do Center Street from 420 East to the golf course and 250 East in front of the high school. For low traffic areas they use slurry only because chip and seal needs enough traffic to knead the chips into the asphalt.

The agreement with the county just adds the city roads to the county repair schedule. It’s considered a good deal for the city. Additionally, the county will do weed control for various areas around the city.

Green waste bins

People have to lift waste items over their heads to dump green waste into the current bins set out by the city. In an effort to improve the situation the council approved moving the bins to the area west of the horse arena at Forrester Acres, by the dirt parking lot. They will excavate an area on the east side of 800 West, set down a new base for the bins, set up 20 “jersey barriers” east of the bins, and fill the area east of the barriers level with the parking lot.

The result is a raised area in the parking lot right next to the bins. The bins will be brought in fairly tight to the drop-off point. People can then pull into the parking area, drive right next to the bins and drop off their green waste.

Budget hearing

The council will hold a public hearing over the tentative budget for 2010-2011 fiscal year. The hearing will be on Monday, June 21 at 5:30 p.m.

Other business

• Windows are coming back to the civic center a.k.a the armory. The council voted to match monies from the energy efficiency grant to replace the boarded “windows” of the assembly area with new translucent panels. The match will be almost 50/50 with the city putting in about $28,000.
• There will be a new EMS Rescue Truck. A grant of $12,000 is available to the fire department. They want to replace the existing rescue truck with is almost 20-years-old. The fire department plans to take the boxes off the existing truck and put them on the new truck for the EMS crew. A new rescue truck is $24,000. The council agreed to match the $12,000 from the grant.
• Seven water shares of the Logan, Hyde Park, Smithfield canal are up for sale. The cost is $6,000 per share. The council decided not to pursue purchase of the shares. The city currently owns 420 shares.
• Millville city wants the Smithfield City Council Chamber desk. The u-shaped table where the council currently sits will not be needed after the new city hall is finished. The council agreed to give it to Millville if they will come pick it up.