Newsletters are published each March, June, September, December. © UMCA ·  · 2009-09-185 UTAH...

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Carel Hicks, MMC Membership Director Utah Municipal Clerks Association c/o West Valley City 3600 Constitution Blvd West Valley City UT 84119 Newsletters are published each March, June, September, December. © UMCA

Transcript of Newsletters are published each March, June, September, December. © UMCA ·  · 2009-09-185 UTAH...

Carel Hicks, MMC Membership Director Utah Municipal Clerks Association c/o West Valley City 3600 Constitution Blvd West Valley City UT 84119

Newsletters are published each March, June, September, December. © UMCA

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

March 2008

Utah Municipal Clerks Association President’s Message

Dana Pollard, 2007-08 President

The coming of our annual Spring Conference means that my term as president is already half over; where does the time go? I really enjoy working with the members of the UMCA Board although it offers some challenges that I was not prepared for. This has really been a learning experience for me to be associ-ated with the great minds on the Board. Years ago a former president had the good sense to compile our “position descriptions” into one place for each of us to follow; it makes our job easy. Another president assembled a booklet for new recorders that I recently found and hope to have to each of you who are new in your positions. We have had so many great presidents, I think of all of you so often and the example you have set for me, however, these are pretty big boots to fill. Former presidents and UMCA Board Members have also created our UMCA Handbook, our Pic-torial Directory and created the vari-ous area regions around our State. Thanks to all of you.

I get excited this time of year because I know I will be going to con-ference and seeing my friends and acting “normal” without my city watching over my shoulder! It’s also the time I look forward to because of the new things I will be learning along with being updated on current affairs dealing with our city recorder/clerk positions. Donna Weaver and the Education Committee have spent hours pre-paring for instructors to teach us for conference; thank you. Rori Andreason has worked hard with UVSC to ensure that we will have everything we need to have a successful conference; thank you.

When I first became the recorder in my city, I only had a few skills and literally bluffed my way through most things. Thanks to the UMCA and net-

working with other recorders, most days I learned as I went along. There are many resources for all of us, particularly you new recorder/clerks. The first is the Utah Code; read it, read it, read it as it pertains greatly to our positions. You can get online at www.le.state.ut.us/documents (or find it by getting on the State website at www.utah.gov.) Also be sure to read your own city code; this is very important. Lastly, our very own UMCA Recorders Handbook is a great guide and has been written and updated as needed by our very own recorders throughout the State. It is also on our website at www.umca.org/resources.com where you can download what you need. If you attend our conferences, Institute and Academy and possibly

IIMC Conferences, these are all great ways to stay on top of things. Sometimes I only remember a few things from the conferences I have attended, but that is still more than I knew when I got there.

Lastly, don’t forget that a call to another recorder is the best resource of all. Thanks to our Webmaster, Greg Shafer, we can now communicate with one an-other anytime we want. Many of you have taken advantage of our website and received answers to

your questions that very day! Please feel free to contact any of us, there is bound to be someone around the State wondering

about the same issue as you or who has had experi-ence in something your city/town might be consider-ing doing.

See you in Orem in a few weeks!

Dana Pollard, UMCA President

UMCA

WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED!

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Conferences & New News!

CONGRATULATIONS Greg Schafer, Delta City Recorder

Master Municipal Clerk

Connie Ashton, Lehi City Recorder Certified Municipal Clerk

March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

Ballard Town---------------------Kaelyn Meyers Eagle Mountain City------------Fionunuala Kofoed, Recorder Taylorsville City----------------- Jessica Springer, Deputy Recorder

Please, welcome these recorders/clerks in your communities and encourage them to attend your regional meetings and UMCA Spring Conference

Sherma Mildon, Uintah City Recorder and Meris Secrest, Ballard City Recorder/Secretary. Meris retired after nine years of service and she looks forward to spending more time with her grandkids and doing some traveling.

One really great tradition at Spring Conference is the giving of door prizes. Waiting to hear your name called and finding out what treasure you get to take home is always fun. Please re-member to donate a door prize so everyone goes home with something.

2008 UMCA Spring Conference

April 16-18 Orem, Utah

——————————————

Future UMCA SPRING Conferences: 2009 City Cedar 2010 Moab 2011 St. George

Future IIMC Conferences:

2008 Atlanta, Georgia May 18-22 2009 Chicago, Illinois May 19-23 2010 Reno, Nevada May 23-27 2011 Nashville, TN May 8-12 2012 Portland, Oregon May 20-24

The Board Would Like to Welcome the New Clerks/Recorders:

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WE NEED YOU!!!

If you didn't notice the email that went around from our webmaster about the new Handbook Committee, please note that with the legislative session completed, it's time to put together a Handbook Committee again to review the changes that have been made to the law and update the Recorder's Hand-book. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact Donna Weaver at [email protected] or 801.229.7298. If you have already attained your CMC and are working on your MMC, for serving on the committee you will receive 1 point in the Professional and Social Contribution cate-gory.

Serving on this committee is fairly easy in that we don't have "meetings" as such. This is an especially good opportunity for those of you in more outlying communities to par-ticipate on a committee. Each member takes a chapter or two from the handbook (depending upon how many people wish to serve) and checks to see if there were any laws passed that will change the chapter in-formation. If you have the Internet, it's very simple. Once the Handbook information is updated and all the chapters are completed, the finished product is submitted to Greg Shafer, UMCA Webmaster Extraordinaire, to put on the website for everyone's access. Thanks in advance for your willingness to serve!

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.”

Bradstreet, Anne

Institute and Academy will be held in a new location and a new time this year. The new loca-tion is at the Sandy Branch of the University of Utah at 9875 South Monroe St. (240 West). The Sandy site will provide us with the room for growth that the Fort Douglas location did not. Please note that the date is a bit earlier this year, with Institute beginning on Monday, July 28th and Academy beginning on Wednesday, July 30th. You can register by going to http://www.cppa.utah.edu/umcia/.

To see a list of the classes and course descrip-tions, you can check http://www.cppa.utah.edu/umcia/course_descriptions.html.

See you in July!

LET THE BIDDING BEGIN Each year the Utah Municipal Clerks Asso-ciation holds it Silent Auction during the UMCA Spring conference. The money gener-ated from the Silent Auction is given to Utah city recorder/clerks, in the form of a schol-arship to attend Spring Conference or Insti-tute / Academy. It also helps pay for other educational programs such as roving classes sponsored by the UMCA.

The Silent Auction is a great opportunity for you to contribute to the UMCA Scholarship Fund by either donating and/or buying Si-lent Auction items.

March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

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March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

Service

By Donna Weaver

UMCA 1st Vice President

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve."

~ Albert Schweitzer A bazillion years ago, when I was in college a film came out called Lost Horizon and was based upon the book by James Hilton. Ever heard of a place called Shangri-La? Well, Shangri-La is in this story, and it’s a utopia.

The book really captured my imagination because of its strong contrast between the war torn real world and this wonderful little lost society the characters find. One of the messages the characters learn in Shangri-La is doing for others, and one of my favor-ite songs (oh, did I mention it was a musical?) is called Reflections:

When you look at yourself do you like what you see? If you like what you see, you're the person you should be. 'Cause your reflection reflects in everything you do, and everything you do reflects on you. When you wake up each day do you like how you feel? If you like how you feel, you've got nothing to conceal. 'Cause your reflection reflects in everything you do, and everything you do reflects on you. Doing something for someone else isn't really for someone else. It does twice as much for you as something you do just for yourself. When you lay down to sleep do you like all your dreams?

If you like all your dreams, life's as happy as it seems. 'Cause your reflection reflects in everything you do, and everything you do reflects on you.

The part of the song I’ve bolded above has a lot of truth in it, I think. I’m a sucker for quotes about the mark we may leave on the world. In the film Little Lord Fauntleroy the boy’s mother tells him that “the world should always be a little better because a man has lived.” Does this mean that I think we should all go out and run for President of the United States or some other such nationally or worldwide public con-tribution? No! I think that we as clerks and recorders are making a contribution to our communities by our public ser-vice, especially when we take the time to go above and beyond the call of duty. But I would like to sug-gest that each of you consider where you can broaden your impact on your little part of the world, and I hope you will consider running for the UMCA Board.

Going back to the lyrics above, I want to affirm that my time serving on the Board has been a very edu-cational experience for me. I hope that I have con-tributed something to our organization as well, but I know that my service has done much more for me than I could ever hope to do for each of you. It does-n’t hurt that, for those of you working on your MMCs, you get lots of points in the Professional and Social Contribution requirements category.

We have the secretary and two director positions up this year. Please consider sharing your talents with us.

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

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March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

Colin Powell

ROVING TRAINING TO BE OFFERED Each year the UMCA Board provides train-ing opportunities closer to home for its members. In September UMCA will be sponsoring instruction in Introductory and Intermediate Excel at Bridgerland Technol-ogy College in Logan, Salt Lake Commu-nity College, Southern Utah University in Cedar City and Snow College or the Col-lege of Eastern Utah at a minimal fee to its members. These classes will run four hours each and the fee will include an instruction manual. Specific dates and fees will be available at Spring Conference so we look forward to seeing you there. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at [email protected].

The Board is interested in providing roving training that will benefit all of its members. If you have a specific subject you would like to see in a roving training class let me know at [email protected] or (801) 525-2710.

ORDINANCE WEBSITE

Have you ever been asked by your City Council to write an ordinance and didn’t know where to begin? Well there is help out there. The State of Utah has a website dedicated to sample land use ordinances from around the State. The address is http://planning.utah.gov/library.htm. While the library is not intended to be comprehen-sive, it will provide you with several ordi-nances to help guide you in tailoring zoning ordinances to your own unique situation. Below is a sample of some of the categories of ordinances on the website:

⇒ Critical Lands, Recreation, and Open Space

⇒ Infrastructure and Transportation ⇒ Land Uses, Districts, and Zones ⇒ Landscaping, Lighting, Con-

struction Methods, and Design ⇒ Subdivisions, Planned Develop-

ments, and Density Incentives ⇒ Signs, Storage, Junk, and Nui-

sances ⇒ Variances

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March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

UPDATE! – State Noticing Website

Gina Peterson, UMCA Education Chair Last year the Legislature amended the Open and Public Meetings Act to require all agendas for public meetings to be posted on the Utah Public Notice Website (UCA 63F-1-701) beginning April 1, 2008. Tiffany O’Sheal from the State Archives division has been assigned as the website adminis-trator. Most of you have been aware of this re-quirement for some time and may have already attended training offered regarding the website.

As an update, The Legislature passed Senate Bill 38 – Transparency in Local Government. This extends the compliance date for posting on the website from April 1, 2008 to October 1, 2008. The Archives is still planning on the website go-ing live April 1, 2008. The six month extension will be a good time for trial and error, as well as getting Recorders/Clerks used to the extra step in our noticing requirements. As a note, Senate Bill 38 contains many provisions that might be inter-esting for you to review. Remember, for those cities and towns that have an annual budget of less than $1 million, you are encouraged to post your agendas on the website, but not required.

Senate Bill 38 also prohibits a court from voiding a final action taken by a public body for failure to post an agenda on the State website if the posting is made for a meeting that is held prior to April 1, 2009. Restated, this means that for meetings held after April 1, 2009 actions taken during that meeting can be voided if not noticed on the website. Certain criteria apply including that any legal action must commence between 30 and 90 days of the meeting, depending on the action; or if the failure to post the meeting was a result of an unforeseen technological failure. We all know those can happen!

One additional bill that affects the Public Notice Website is Senate Bill 32 – Local Government Bonding Act. The effective date of this bill is

May 2008 and requires public hearing notices for bonding to be posted on the State website. In my experience, often these notices are generated by bond counsel who then submits the notice to the newspaper on the city’s behalf. You’ll need to ensure you work closely with your bond counsel to get the information posted on the Public Notice Website. In talking with Tiffany O’Sheal she noted that currently this will be the only public notice (aside from agendas) that will be required to be posted. Standard public hearing notices for zoning, etc are not required to be posted on the website outside of the agenda. This may change in future Legislative Sessions.

Lastly, if you have not submitted your city infor-mation to Tiffany O’Sheal, this needs to be done as soon as possible. She is completing the frame-work for the website that will include each city’s information. You can contact her at [email protected] and view training schedules for the website at http://www.archives.state.ut.us (At members requests, UMCA is currently working on getting approval for this training to count for certi-fication points. We’ll keep you posted if it’s ap-proved.)

I realize this is a lot of information, and there is no need to be intimidated. Feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you have questions. The Utah Public Notice Website was designed to assist the public process and encourage public aware-ness… and that’s a great thing. If you’d like to see the full versions of these bills, please visit the following websites:

Transparency in Local Government:

h t t p : / / l e . u t a h . g o v / ~ 2 0 0 8 / b i l l s / s b i l l i n t /sb0038s06.htm

Local Government Bonding Act:

h t t p : / / l e . u t a h . g o v / ~ 2 0 0 8 / b i l l s / s b i l l i n t /sb0032s02.htm

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March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

Guidelines for Certification

Gina Peterson, UMCA Education Chair

IIMC has extended the grace period for compliance to the CMC/MMC certifications until December 31, 2008. They are encouraging all members to do their utmost to take advan-tage of the extra time to finish up the necessary work for your CMC or MMC designation. I’d like to personally challenge those of you close to obtaining your CMC or MMC to push for it before this deadline. Let’s make this a record year for certifications in Utah! I’m willing to mentor or assist anyone in the process.

IMPORTANT: The requirement for pre-approval of classes still applies. Prior to attend-ing an education or certificate program offered by other organizations, the student shall seek and obtain approval of the program from the IMC Education Department.

Now, a little bit more about the grace period:

If you’re working on a CMC designation and:

1. If you’ve successfully completed an Institute course at the University of Utah prior to January 1, 2007 – keep reading. Otherwise go to Section 2.

a. Your criteria for obtaining Education points toward the CMC designation is 50 Education Points / 100 Institute hours.

b. If you have not completed your education requirements by January 1, 2009 the remainder of your point accumulation shall be the same – 50 Educa-tion Points / 100 Institute hours. However, instead of points from a college degree counting as 50 points, the point level will vary from 5 to 20 points based on the type and level of college degree.

2. If you have entered Institute at the University of Utah in or after 2007 you fall un-der the new criteria of 60 Education Points / 120 Institute hours. Any points for a college degree are also based on the new criteria.

If you’re working on your MMC designation see the flow chart on the following page prepared by IIMC:

Murphy’s Work Law Don't be irreplaceable.

If you can't be replaced,

you can't be promoted.

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March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

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March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

BEAR RIVER AREA GROUP

President Sheila Lind, River Heights 1st Vice President Char Izatt, Smithfield City 2nd Vice President Darlene Hess, Tremonton Secretary/Treasurer Beverly Schiefer, Paradise Town

(BRAG)

Box Elder, Cache and Rich counties

.

CENTRAL UTAH RECORDERS President Mary Burgin, Pleasant Grove City Vice President Debbie Cullimore, Lindon City Secretary Gretchen Gordon, City of Cedar Hills Treasurer Lori Yates, Saratoga Springs City Past President Venla Gubler, Springville City

(CURA)

Carbon, Juab, Utah and Wasatch counties

Chair LeeAnn Peterson, Ogden City Vice Chair Erika Ahlstrom, South Weber Secretary Theida Wellman, Layton City Treasurer Sue Richey, North Ogden Past President Annette Spendlove, North Ogden

DAVIS, MORGAN, WEBER RECORDERS

(DMWRA)

Davis, Morgan and Weber counties

.

GREATER SALT LAKE CLERKS/RECORDERS President Konni Thompson, Oakley City Vice President, Sharon Dawson, Tooele City Secretary Melanie Briggs, West Jordan City Treasurer Kate Black, Alta Town Past President Cindi Lopicolo, Park City

(GSLCRA)

Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties

NORTHEASTERN RECORDERS President Roxanne Behunin, Vernal City Secretary/Treasurer Nikki Kay, Naples City

(NRA)

Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties

SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH RECORDERS President City Conae Black, Green River City Vice President Sherri Westbrook, Salina City Secretary Jeane Wood, Elsinore City Past President Jimie Jones, Huntington City

(SCURA)

Emery, Piute, Millard, Sanpete, Sevier and Wayne coun-ties

SOUTHEAST UTAH RECORDERS Contact Person Rachel Ellison, Moab City [email protected]

(SURA)

Grand and San Juan counties

SOUTHWEST REGIONAL MUNICIPAL CLERKS Chairman Nancy Leigh, Brian Head Town Vice Chair Michelle Thone, Hurricane City Secretary Vickie Schulkoski, Escalante Town Treasurer Renon Savage, Cedar City

(SRMCA)

Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and Washington counties

REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

President Dana B. Pollard, CMC South Ogden City Recorder 3950 Adams Avenue South Ogden 84403-1822 801.622.2713 V 801.399.1410 F [email protected]

1st Vice President Donna Weaver, CMC Orem City Recorder 56 N State St Orem 84057-5508 801.229.7298 V 801.229.7197 F [email protected]

2nd Vice President Rori L. Clark, MMC Midvale City Recorder 655 W. Center Street Midvale 84047 801.567.7207 V 801.567.0518 F [email protected]

Past President Rose Mary Jones, MMC Millville City Recorder PO BOX 308 420 E 300 S Millville 84326-0308 435.752.8943 H 435.750.0924 V 435.750.6206 F [email protected]

Secretary Lee Ann Peterson, CMC Ogden City Chief Deputy 2549 Washington Blvd, ST210 Ogden 84401-3111 801.629.8155 V 801.629.8154 F [email protected]

Treasurer Stephanie N. Carlson, CMC Holladay City Recorder 4707 S. Holladay Blvd Holladay 84117-5402 801.272.9450 V 801.272.9384 F [email protected]

Education Chair Gina Peterson, CMC Highland City Recorder 5378 W 10400 N Highland 84003 801.756-5751 V 801.756-6903 F

Education Director Nancy Dean, CMC Clearfield City Recorder 55 S State St Clearfield UT 84018-1027 801.525.2710 V 801.525.2869 F

Membership Chair Mary Kate Christensen, CMC Brigham City Recorder 20 N. Main Street Brigham City, 84302-1005 435.734.6621 V 435.723.8132 F [email protected]

Membership Director Carel Hicks, MMC WVC Deputy Recorder

3600 Constitution Blvd. West Valley City UT 84119 801.963.3207V 801.966.8455 F [email protected]

March 2008 UTAH MUNICIPAL CLERKS

UMCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS