CSFM
Meeting Notes

February 4, 2004

In Attendance: Liz Yeomans, Lee King, Bob Soenlehn, Kevin Okleberry, Michelle Baguley, Tom Hopkins, David May, Rick Battison, Kristen Thelen, David Colby

Presentation: Kristen Thelen our Web Designer gave us a presentation of our Web page and some hints to help us access information.

She said we could think of phrases or sentence statements that would include words that will aide others in searching for information. Kristen showed us how to search the statistics of hits to the site.
She asked us if we wanted a link to other documents, IE PDF files etc. The creation of the doc web page would be a cost but the monthly 20 changes rule would be included in this service. There would be a cost per page to have documents scanned.

We may want to do a survey of some sort in the future. This can be interactive.
Do we have any ideas?

Tom asked if Fran could include some of the doc's on the EPA server and then we could link to that.

Kristen told us that another feature is that our host can include a password that only members can access if needed.

Many commented that they really like the calendar.

Kristen added that more dates could be included. Do we want to include names of TAG members?

It was decided that we should include a statement inviting others to join in our meeting to observe or join.

Kevin told us that he found Midvale Cities link to the TAG web page.

David asked if anyone has looked at the other TAG sites?

Liz said that she would check to see what data from UDEQ could be included on the site or as a link.
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Lee told us that the City has reached the end of its rope playing nice. He said that this group has been lead down this path for five years. We have all invested many hours to come up with a solution and have been lead to believe that this process was also acceptable to EPA. In December things got ugly. The mayor and the Region Administrator got involved asking why the ground rules have changed. Now every bureaucrat thinks that they need input.
We collectively entered into this process in good faith. The turf battles in Washington are offensive. The City is close to things and thought it might be time for the TAG to send a letter expressing our concerns. We have been wondering this for some time.

Diane Nielsen and Congressman Mattheson are involved in helping.
When the City can't trust government something is wrong.
The regional Administrator has promised Mayor Auger a resolution by 5:30 tomorrow. If nothing comes of this the City is planning a Press Conference for Friday morning. We will say something like "EPA double crosses Midvale."

We are very frustrated! If EPA was not serious about a solution then why have they let us go down this path for the past five years? Our criticisms are not directed at all of EPA but at EPA in Washington.

Truly we are fed up with the process. The Congressman's staff are working on this.

Senators Hatch and Bennett were sent a letter a month ago asking that this does not get hung up in silly games. Obviously we have had not response. The city has taken the liberty to draft a letter on our behalf and would like to have our comment and review of that letter.

Rick indicated that we do feel like we have been kept in the dark.

Lee reminded us that there are some things such as negotiations that we could not be party to. Many things have to be kept secret but this does not. It is ludicrous that the enforcement side of EPA is asking why Midvale City is not also being held liable.

Bob told us that there were reciprocal things in the Consent Decree on how to make the institutional Controls work including government liability etc.

Verdon asked if the owner would hold a press conference?

Lee said that the city is really just trying to get the key peoples attention.

Bob indicated that he thought that we were heading down the right road. This process has stretched them financially. If the EPA takes the lead it will cost an additional 20 Million dollars. It is likely that if this process doesn't work that the site will not get cleaned up because funding is scarce.

Rick said that it is frustrating when EPA makes comments that things are going well and the truth is that it is not.

David read the letter drafted by the city.: See copy...

We made some changes and some recommendations. We agreed that the letter should be sent and that we should copy many people. The letter will be ready Friday. Changes included typed on our letterhead.

Someone said that they had heard the Governor Leavitt was going to distance himself from Utah so as not to show favoritism.

Rick asked if we have the opportunity to get back into the loop?

Lee said that he was not sure if this was true or if he is just trying to fnd a balance and avoid the favoritism accusations. Maybe he has informally disassociated himself. I don't know. But we want him to get involved and get it done.

Rick talked about our frustrations again. We attended seminars in Denver where we were told: "that this was a kinder, gentler EPA" one that was willing to be a team player and look at all the options. We were told that the attitude has changed. This does not seem to be the case.

Lee said that the city feel betrayed as well. The goal of everyone is to avoid another Sharon Steel.

David added another modification to the letter as we were discussing.

Robbie Roberts promised to call the Mayor and tell her a solution by 5:00 tomorrow.

The Tag agreed that we will modify the letter and send it. David will sign it on Friday.

David said that we have assumed that everyone should have come to a consensus by now.

Lee said that because it is unique everyone is afraid to make a decision. It is an education process for the enforcement side. The goal is to get management involved. We are certainly hoping this process will be solved . The Governor will be sensitive to the allegations. We understand the "Golden Rule" "he who has the gold, makes the rules"
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The RDA process is moving forward. There is a meeting tomorrow to determine what the increment will be. The next step is the project area plan and the project area budget.
So far no one has opted out of this process.

The plan an budget will be available for 60 days then adopted to take to the tax entity committee. It is a cumbersome legal process. There will be public hearings on the financial issues.

Rick asked if the time was set?

Lee said that it is flexible. There may be issues pending at the legislature.

Rick asked if all of the parties had signed off?

Lee said the tax entity committee has assisted in the process. At the end the budget is submitted to all of the taxing agencies. All are involved with the decision about how long and what degree the increment will be.

Sharon steel new owners have not formally applied to the Planning and Zoning commission but the blight survey is done and the study area clarified. The same process is applicable. This will be a parallel but separate legal process.
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Liz told us that the next riparian meeting for Midvale Slag is tentatively scheduled for March 18th. Sharon Steel was purchased on January 26th. The Jordan Bluffs geo-technical evaluation will be done. They will drill into the cap as UDEQ monitors for a subsurface soil investigation. 60-80 ft. 8 holes will pierce the cap.

The annual Ground Water report is done. Things are stable. One hole that always shows contamination still shows contamination. The wells that are dry are still dry. The information is static.
The quarterly inspection will be done at the end of the month.
Kevin asked if he could go with Liz. She asked if he had certification and agreed he could go.
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Rick and David C. report: Utah Technical Fiber Optics??? UTOPIA
Will allow all homes and business' to connect to high tech fiber optics.
There are currently 18 cities involved in the study to connect all of the Wasatch Front. This is a Utah test. For Municipalities to get into the telecommunications business.
The Legislature ruled that they could not get involved fighting public industry. 18 cities have laid the underground cable for implementation.
The Senate introduced the bill to negate a service agreement. The money to fund this must come from User fees not Tax dollars. 2/3 will be born by private industry. The cities will give a guarantee of 1/3 the interest at a feasible rate. Qwest and that cable TV fiber optic system allows anyone to rent power lines for transmission. ATT will rent and provide a service. Because this has not gone to a bidding process it could be billed. Cities are voting on it. Probably the bonding money will never be needed.

The risk is minimal. We are actually behind other countries who allow fiber optics. You can download and upload at the same speed. Midvale City voted last night 4-1 to join. It is an infrastructure project at this point. Based on subscriptions it could be very profitable and Midvale may not have to pay anything. This is no different than a road as it will be for public use.
They were looking at the access to the Superfund sites. The plan is to have it built out within three years and available to every home in Midvale.

David C. Told us that Cedar Falls and Waterloo Iowa were comparisons of economic development. The Property values in Cedar falls went up and the property taxes were able to be decreased because of this opportunity. Waterloo on the other hand had to increase their property tax.

Fiberoptics will allow wireless technology to explode. Murray, West Valley City, Salt Lake City, West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton, Taylorsville, Cedar City, Lindon and Brigham City are some of the cities involved.

Sandy did not join.

The system will provide 10 megabytes to homes and 100 megabytes to business. You will be able to download in about 2 seconds. There is a plan to change out electronics to increase speed as technology is available. It is cheaper to do fiber optics on the Superfund site than it would be to run copper lines. Every home will have am adapter to interface.
There is a bill sponsored by Senator Bill Hickman. Senator Al Mansell is behind it.
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Riparian meeting report.

David C, brought a copy of the agenda and slide pictures. He said that the initial meeting was to try and establish common objectives and a consensus. Midvale Slag Reach
22 people were in attendance. There were 5 different State agencies represented.

Some of the issues were: Increasing Channel stability, Economic Development, Enhancing habitat, ROD requirements, goals.

Some objectives bent over into the process of EPA.

Many wanted to make it park like.

Rick told us that they were trying to establish talking points. The mediator was very skilled at getting information focused and well represented.

David May thanked David C. and Rick for their time and for sharing this information with us. This is good information.

It was decided that we should post the minutes of our meeting on the website so that others can refer to them if they need information. We will post after we have group approval.

We will get approval by email. Michelle will type and email the minutes to the members who will send corrections to her via the internet or by phone call. After posting and approval we will send the minutes to Kristen to be posted on our web page.

The meeting minutes for Jan. 7, 2004 have been approved as written and will be sent to Kristen to be posted.

Members will watch their email for this months minutes and respond in a timely manner.

Meeting adjourned.

Next meeting march 3, 2004

Michelle asked to be excused from this meeting.