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council meeting previews
Proposed Daytime Curfew Ordinance
During next Tuesday’s Council Meetings there will be a vote to consider implementing a ‘Daytime Curfew Ordinance’. (At 7pm in the council chambers at 351 West Center St. Provo)
I have already heard from parents of children that attend various public schools, as well as charter schools and home school. They have all expressed concern about an ordinance which will cause children to be detained any time they are outside school during the day regardless of the reason.
This proposed ordinance will require our already overworked police department to stop, search, and detain any child that appears to be under the age of 18 that is outside during normal school hours. For example, under this ordinance a home schooled child riding his bike to his grandmother’s house could be arrested, searched, and fined simply for being outside (its happened in other cities).
This ordinance has been widely criticized, the local paper has taken a stand against it, the tribune has questioned its constitutionality, and several council members and school board members have expressed concern over an ordinance that will essentially force every one in Provo that happens to look under 18 to carry an ID at all times or face possible arrest. This type of an ordinance has directly targeted and harmed homeschooling and charter school programs in other cities.
While the actual ordinance language has not yet been made public, past discussion indicates that home schoolers will be required to request a pass from the school district in order to be permitted to go outside without being arrested or fined.
I am writing this because unfortunately, there is still a strong push to pass this ordinance. Consideration of this ordinance has spanned the course of nearly a dozen meetings making it impossible for the public to adequately follow what has been happening. We need more residents to make their opinions known to the municipal council!
Please take the time to forward this via email to other concerned residents, to contact me at sterling@sterlingbeck.com with your thoughts on this ordinance, as well as contact all of the municipal council members by clicking this link.
Please also consider attending the council meeting on Tuesday March 1st at 7pm to speak against it. Additional information can be found here.
Council Meeting Preview for February 15th 2011
Next council meeting will see the council discussing whether or not it should increase the trash pickup rate by $1 per household in order to recoup the losses suffered in Provo’s composting program. The fee will not increase city revenues, as the city has actually been subsidizing the fee for the last year, the dollar goes directly to the sanitation district.
Additionally, there is a proposal being considered to dramatically increase Engineering Permit fees, which have not seen an increase for quite a few years. Most of the fees deal with large construction projects and the increases hope to adjust the cost of the fees to the actual cost incurred by the city to administer street improvements.
Next, we’ll be discussing allocating $67,000 to improve the efficiency of the city buiding with an estimated yearly savings of $88,000 as well as a heavy drop in utility usage. We’ll also look at allocating $12,000 to keeping the Eldred Senior center ballroom roof from caving in. I opposed moving the allocation forward as the building is already slated for being torn down to make way for the recreation center. I will try to visit the Eldred center to ascertain if any danger is posed by the current roof, I don’t think anyone wants to see it fall down.
The discussion on Truancy will take place on the following meeting on March 1st.
Provo Municipal Council Study + Council Agendas for Dec 7th.
The upcoming study meeting looks interesting, especially the BRT update – it’s a dedicated bus line that will run down the middle of University Ave. Additionally it looks like we’ll discuss the possibility of permitting Residential Beekeeping (Really, how would we prohibit or enforce that one?).
Additionally, it looks like business licensing may be modified – I know there has been some discussion regarding changing the fee structure on businesses so that small businesses pay less (and large ones would pay more).
Full agendas follow.
Last Council Meeting of 2010!
The agenda for the last meeting of the year still remains to be seen, but it’s likely that it will include a discussion on making some repairs to the city building to reduce our energy usage. These repairs will cut the city building energy usage so drastically, it’s anticipated that the $68,000 allocation will be recovered in less than a year as realized savings.
Additionally, Stacy Sommers will be considered as an appointment to the board of adjustment, and a sweage-franchise fee discussion will likely follow.