Skip to main content

Sandy Journal

Highlights: City Council honors late city employee, approves utility vacation and hears parks and continued budget hearings

May 25, 2016 11:44AM ● By Chris Larson
 Dariusz "Darik" Josef Sulich honored 

The Sandy City Council presented a honorary placard to the surviving family of late Sandy City Parks and Recreation employee Dariusz "Darik" Josef Sulich. Sulich died while snorkeling on vacation in Cancun in March 2016, his first vacation in years. 

Councilman Steve Fairbanks read a resolution commending Sulich for his dedication, work ethic and time working for the city. Department director Scott Earl expressed his appreciation to the council for their recognition and also made the point to commend Darik Sulich's dedication and love of working for the city. 

Darik's son, Brandon Sulich, is one the Unified Police Department officers who rescued two people from a house fire in Kearns en route way to the funeral services of fellow Unified police officer Doug Barney in Jan. 2016.

Council approves vacation of utility easement 

The city council approved the vacation of a utility easement along the shared property lines of 885 and 897 Silver Sage Drive. The report from the Planning Commission attached to the resolution said there were no utilities to access along that line and saw "good reason" to approve vacating the easement.  

Wayne and Cathie Wagstaff want to purchase the property from their neighbor to build a garage. 

Neighbor Tony Gallow took issue with the process and expressed his frustration with the supposed lack of information provided by the noticed that are required to go out to neighbors when the city considers such actions. 

Gallow specifically claimed the notices were misleading as to what business the city would transact and the addition of a large structure—city code allows structure to reach up to 30 feet high—would obstruct his view of the mountains. 

Parks and Recreation budget hearing

Parks and Recreation head Scott Earl presented a final budget tot he city council. 

The budget claims that in 2014 about 3,600 volunteers contributed nearly 92,000 hours, saving the city $1,012,166 or about 46 full-time employees. Totals for 2015 are incomplete in the budget presented. 

Earl highlighted a high level of institutional knowledge and experience, like several other city departments, with the average employee years of services of 11.2 years. 

He also highlighted exceeding the 2005 Master plan goal of having 6.5 acre of park space per 1,000 residents with 7.1 acres per 1,000 residents currently operated by the city. 

Earl noted an improving economy as a weakness and as a threat with hiring seasonal employees, who made up over half of all 2015 positions. Often, candidates are able to find similar for better wages; turnover rates are usually very high; and, candidates are often eliminated form consideration because of background checks during the hiring process, Earl said. 

Community Development budget hearing

Community Development head Michael Coulam said the Community Development Department also employees several experienced employees and leaders, but also struggles with maintaining or acquiring new talent. 

Future plans for the department include strengthening technology use like an in-house intranet system and an electronic submission platform for both interdepartmental and external file sharing. 

He further noted a lack of a plan and resources to store and maintain extensive paper records that detail department action and interaction.