The Helper City Council tackled a number of items on Thursday evening, with one being the RFQ (request for qualifications) for a Brownfield Grant.
To provide background for the council, it was explained that the Brownfield Grant is the city working with Carbon County, who secured it a few years ago.
“In 2018, Carbon County was awarded a $600,000 Brownfield Assessment grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to transform underutilized properties from liabilities into assets that revitalize our communities and bring our neighborhoods back to life,” Carbon County shared.
The grant is coming to a conclusion in September. Stantec approached and suggested seeking an EPA grant to do the actual remediation of the findings in Helper.
Mayor Lenise Peterman explained that this was on the agenda as a request for qualifications, not any engaging. At this point, the city would like to know who is interested in working with them to perhaps secure another EPA grant to conduct some of the repairs for the findings from the evaluation phase.
Evaluations were done on the Renegade property at the end of Bryner Street, the old city hall, property owned by Gaylene Hunsaker and the rail house that is located at the end of Main Street.
Mayor Peterman explained that with another EPA grant, it would queue them up to go in and take these properties from a blighted state. In regard to timelines, she feels as if it would still fit though minor adjustments would need to be made. This was approved.
Also discussed was the possibility of partnering with Smuin, Rich and Marsing for consulting services. The reason for this is that there has been changes and enhancements with governmental accounting standards in terms of what auditors are allowed and not allowed to do.
In the past, the city has been able to do more modifications and adjustments but is no longer allowed to conduct some financial information adjustments, corrections, etc. This was previously discussed with Helper Mayor Peterman and City Recorder Zack Tonc.
Standards require that there is someone in the council, or the recorder, that possesses the skills to draft an audit report and understand it. It was stated that this is an opportunity for Helper City to move forward. This proposal is up to 10 hours per month and was approved by the council.
Another topic was concerns regarding employee time used for personal needs by Mayor Peterman. Terri Saccomano stated that Mayor Peterman had a personal event during a recent weekend and city employees erected the tents that Mayor Peterman had rented for the event.
Saccomano explained that she had called Mayor Peterman previously but they were unable to come to a conclusion, which resulted in her approaching the council in this formal way.
Saccomano stated that she wished to see clarity and went through various Helper City codes that went against what she believed to be a blatant violation of the use of employee time.
Mayor Peterman explained that on April 22, she had requested a rental form for tables, chairs and tents for her event and explained that when an individual rents the city hall for an event, the city sets up for them. The mayor said that perhaps she did not understand, but assumed she was also paying for the setup. She also stated that at the time of ordering, she had paid more than what was charged initially.
“I would never do anything to risk or disrespect the community,” said Mayor Peterman.
Saccomano stated that she believes that Mayor Peterman should, at the least, re-pay the city workers their wages and donate her time cleaning up areas of the city to compensate. Councilwoman Malarie Matsuda also suggested reviewing the rental form and making changes so that incidents such as this do not re-occur.
Saccomano and the rest of those that were in attendance at the meeting were informed that a resolution will be made at the next council meeting, which should take place on the first Thursday of September.