In their meeting Oct. 20, Spanish Fork City Council dealt with traffic, North Park and City employee salary adjustments, H1N1 infection prevention and North Park.

* Mayor Pro-tem Wayne Andersen said he had met with local business and they and the City are trying to encourage UDOT to rethink their priorities on the I15 Corridor Expansion project (CORE). Andersen said instead of HOV lanes narrowing down to a bottleneck at the Spanish Fork Main Street exit the City maintains that money could be used to rebuild the Main Street exit and HOV lanes could be added to I15 later. He told the SF17 audience and those in the room about the meeting planned with UDOT CORE engineer Dal Hawks the following Thursday.

* Seth Perrins, Assistant City Manager gave the council information of the Salary adjustment for all City Employees. The rate/scale has been adjusted to reflect present day salaries. Contract consultants , Hay Group recommended adjusting the ranges between 1% and 1.5%. Perrins told the council the City employees understand that there is actually no money for the upward adjustment, but they appreciate the fact the City is keeping current with rates. During the public hearing portion of the salary range adjustment discussion, citizen Pat Parkinson commented "To me this is an odd thing to do." Why are you spending money and time on something you cannot implement, she wondered.

Perrins admitted the adjustment meant very little monetarily in the current economic climate, but it meant a lot to the employees who know where they stand.

Councilman Jens Nielsen moved to approve the adjustment because it demonstrated the City's conviction to stick by salary range plant. The plan was adopted.

* Don Thomas, City Employee, gave the Council H1N1 statistics and infection prevention information. He said there was a concern for the ambulance crew because of their work. And he outlined things people can do to decrease the chance of infection. He recommended hand sanitizer be used frequently, hand shakes be avoided and anyone feeling sick to stay home until they were sure what they had and if it was H1N1 to follow recommended guidelines about returning to work and infecting others.

* Junior Baker, City Attorney introduced the second amended development agreement concerning North Park. At the beginning of North Park development West Field Development came to the City and said they had signed with Target to go into the development. At that time Target submitted a building permit, which has since lapsed. Target's in-company construction requirements were more expensive than the usual construction -- $1 million more was needed. The City ponied up the $1 million to get the big box in North Park.

Now Target's construction permit has lapsed the City wanted to be assured they'd get the extra one million back. The amendment does not change the the city obligation on the money outlay, just revised it. If Target does not build their store on North Park within a six year period the developer will be responsible to the City for the $1 million. Baker said "I think it's a good thing, it protects the City." The Council agreed. The project has been reversed. Originally the stores were to go in and the park would be constructed last by the developer. Now the City is building the park and hefting the load to pay for the needed infrastructure for the park. The economy slowdown necessitated the City reverse the time line.