THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and for said City
November 11, 2025
Minutes of the Richfield City Council meeting held on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Richfield City office building located at 75 East Center, Richfield, Utah. Mayor Bryan L. Burrows presiding.
- CALL TO ORDER
- OPENING REMARKS
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE by invitation
- ROLL CALL
- CONFLICT OF INTEREST
- MINUTES APPROVED – Consider approval October 28, 2025, minutes.
- EXPENDITURES APPROVED – Consider approval of the warrants and cash disbursements for August and September 2025.
- BUSINESS
a. Planning Commission Report.
b. Judy Christensen property issue
c. Consider the purchase of .75 of an acre from Corey Winkel for a future road located at approximately 500 East and 1300 North for $50,000.
d. Canvass to certifying the results of November 4, 2025 Municipal General Election.
e. Crack sealing bid.
f. Jones and DeMille to contract for engineer.
g. Consider increasing a part-time position to full-time. - OTHER BUSINESS
- ADJOURNMENT
1) Call To Order
2) OPENING REMARKS Rob Jenson offered the opening remarks.
3) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Council Member Hansen
4) ROLL CALL. Present: Bryan Burrows (Not voting), Brayden Gardner, Kip Hansen, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Tanner Thompson, Michele Jolley (Not voting), Rob Jenson (Not voting).
Also, Kevin Arrington, Michael Snow, Russ Brightwell, Judy Christensen, Gage Christensen, Daryl Christensen, Valerie Christensen, Corwin Christensen, Sandy Christensen, Alicia Gleave, Micklane Farmer, Carson DeMille, Kristi Allred, Barbara Crowther, Steve Wall, Amy Meyers, Keith Mogan, Trent Lloyd and David Anderson.
5) CONFLICT OF INTEREST – Council Member Kendrick Thomas declared a potential conflict of interest on item 8A of tonight’s agenda as he is an employee and minority stakeholder in Jones & DeMille Engineering.
6) MINUTES APPROVED – Consider a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting held on October 28, 2025. Motion: Approve the minutes of the meeting held Oct. 28, 2025, Action: Approve, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Elaine Street.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5).
Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.
7) EXPENDITURES APPROVED – Consider a motion to approve the warrants and cash disbursements for August and September 2025. Motion: Approve the warrants and cash disbursements for August and September 2025, Action: Approve, Moved by Kendrick Thomas, Seconded by Brayden Gardner.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5).
Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.
8) Planning Commission Report. Planning Commission Chairman Josh Peterson gave the report. He said the commission hosted a discussion concerning a group home being operated on 888 North Indian Hills Drive. No one from Rise, the company operating the home, was at the meeting to discuss the issue, so it was passed on. A public hearing was hosted on the State Institutional Trust Lands proposal to create a missing middle housing development encompassing 22 acres on the south end of Richfield and establish an overlay zone to facilitate such. The public offered no comments.
Next there was a hearing to discuss modifying the use table to limit where self-service storage facilities can be located. No comments from the public were offered.
The Commission approved the concept of the missing middle and forwarded it to the council for consideration. The Commission also approved the modification to the use table limiting all self-service storage businesses to manufacturing and industrial zones. The commission also discussed some signage questions on the pending La Quinta development. The commission also received expressed concerns regarding the storage container on Ted Christensen’s property, so the commission is looking at ways to modify where shipping type containers are allowed.
9) Review and discuss a request from Judy Christensen to have her property, which was undermined by the Cottonwood flood channel located at approximately 600 North and 700 East, restored.
Judy stated she has a pasture that borders 600 North and the flood ditch. Through 15-20 years of maintenance, she claimed to have lost approximately 15 feet of her property. She said there is an irrigation/flood ditch and a walking path along her property. She said it has resulted in the loss of approximately 15 feet of her property. Jones & DeMille was called to do a survey of the property. Her property is 220 feet wide. She said a maintenance effort piled dirt and debris on her property, and her fence was damaged as a result. She wants to preserve her animal rights due to the fence being damaged by the flood ditch repair. The new fence allowed her to drive a Jeep between it and the flood ditch, and now it can’t be traversed even on foot. Judy said she wants the property restored and the riprap along the ditch from 600 to 500 North replaced to prevent further erosion. She said her husband was the one who originally installed the riprap. She doesn’t want it to be left to her children in a mess.
Mayor Burrows asked City Public Works Director Keith Mogan if the City could riprap the area the prevent further damage. Mogan said that would not address Christensen’s concern.
Keith said for the past 25 years, they have tried to do the maintenance without causing damage. He said the erosion has contributed to the problem.
Christensen said it’s not caused by erosion, but by maintenance. She said the maintenance crew continues to push against her fence.
Councilmember Hansen said one part of the problem is that the City is not the sole stakeholder in the Cottonwood irrigation company, which uses the ditch for delivery of water.
Mayor Burrows said it’s hard to put the Cottonwood flood in a pipe. He said he remembers the water going up over the bank in years past. He said he would look at it and see what can be done. He said its unfeasible to pipe it.
Christensen said she is not worried about piping it, just the restoration of her property. She said when she was a teen, one could drive through it. Now it’s been dug much deeper so the banks can’t be supported. She said along 300 North the channel for the water is seven feet wide and five feet deep, so there is no need to have it be 10 feet deep near her property.
Micklane Farmer presented the report Jones & DeMille did on the property. The property survey is 7.87 feet from where her fence line is. At the top of the ditch it’s 3.97 feet, meaning that a stake denoting the Christensen property would be in the flood ditch on the north side. On the south side her fence is 10.5 feet from the property line.
Mayor Burrows said he would like to come and look at it.
Tooter Ogden said the irrigation ditch on the other side was piped. The flood ditch has gotten wider and deeper. There is only about 32-acre feet of water going through the ditch. It’s an ongoing concern. He said it’s doing the same thing to other properties down the line.
Judy’s son, Daryl Christensen, stated that the damage was not caused by undermining. It has been caused by maintenance. He said the concrete has been moved from the west to the east. This was not an act of nature.
Mayor Burrows asked what the solution should be. Daryl and Judy said the property should be restored.
10) Consider the purchase of .75 of an acre from Corey Winkel for a future road located at approximately 500 East and 1300 North for $50,000. Motion: Table the item to the next meeting, Action: Table, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Kendrick Thomas.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5).
Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.
11) Board of Canvass to consider certifying the results of the Municipal General Election held on November 4, 2025.
City Recorder Michele Jolley said the number of ballots mailed out was 4,219, number of ballots that were return to sender were 129. Because of the law, they can’t be forwarded, only contacted. A total of 2,262 ballots were counted, 47 were rejected, 31 were curable, but ultimately rejected. There were also 16 received after the deadline. Provisional ballots accounted for 11. There were also two military overseas ballots received. There was also a canvass of the audit, which means it was audited to detect any irregularities with the machine.
Councilmember Thomas asked if the City Council also serves as the board of canvass. It does.
Motion: Approve the canvass of the Municipal General Election held on November 4, 2025, Action: Approve, Moved by Tanner Thompson, Seconded by Brayden Gardner.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5).
Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.
12) Consider approving a bid for crack sealing. The City considered two bids. The bid chosen was for $1,750 per ton and $24,000 for two truckloads. Motion: Approve the bid for crack sealing for $24,000 from C&M Sealcoating, Action: Approve, Moved by Brayden Gardner, Seconded by Elaine Street.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5)
Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.
13) Consider a proposal to contract with Jones and DeMille to utilize an engineer for approximately 10 hours a week.
City Manager Michele Jolley said one of the things that has been discussed is how to make the review process fast for developers. One of the ideas was to have a City engineer. In discussing it with Micklane Farmer, the idea was proposed that having him on-site 10 hours a week could help the City gauge its need for an engineer, while fulfilling many of the functions an engineer needs to fulfill. It will not increase costs, as the City already budgets for engineering services. It would just place him in the office to answer questions.
Councilmember Hansen asked to clarify if this were a contract with Farmer or with Jones & DeMille. It would be with Jones & DeMille. Some of the situations that have arisen recently have illustrated the need for an engineer to be available for the public.
City Administrator Jolley said it would also help with enforcement of setbacks, making sure that sidewalks and gutters are built to spec and the development review process would also be improved.
Farmer said another thing would having the ability to meet with developers to explain the standards and why they are in place. Outside of the position is a software program Jones & DeMille is working on, with Richfield as the pilot program, to help smooth out development review processes. This is strictly development review, City level engineering tasks and other items. It is not seeking out and making applications for projects and funding. Those services would still be in the purview of the engineering firm. Farmer’s services would be billed for on an hourly basis.
Motion: Approve the contract to utilize Farmer for approximately 10 hours a week, Action: Approve, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Elaine Street.
Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yes = 4, No = 0, Abstain = 1).
Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.
Abstain: Kendrick Thomas.
14) Consider a request to increase a part-time position in the front office to a full-time position.
City Administrator Jolley said Chrissy Newby has decided to retire. The City does need a full-time person in the front office, which would help with the workload in the front office.
Financial Director Jenson said there is a need for the full-time position.
Currently there are no benefits, which means this would increase it by approximately $50,000. Councilmember Thompson asked if two part-time people would work better.
Jolley said there is more ownership in the position when it is full-time. Jenson said it could also provide a larger applicant pool from which to draw. There is a need for the additional help.
Councilmember Hansen said it would also allow for more longevity in the position. Motion: Increase the part-time position to full-time in the front office, Action: Approve, Moved by Tanner Thompson, Seconded by Kendrick Thomas.
a) Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5).
b) Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.
15) OTHER BUSINESS Financial Director Jenson said the City’s audit is complete and a full report will be delivered at a later council meeting.
Councilmember Thompson relayed some concerns voiced to him about vandalism at the new park.
16) ADJOURNMENT Motion: Adjourn the meeting, Action: Adjourn, Moved by Brayden Gardner, Seconded by Kip Hansen.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5).
Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kendrick Thomas, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson.