Who s On The Move? W W W. U M C A. O R G. Future UMCA Conferences: Inside this issue: Representing over 245 Towns and Cities in Utah JUNE 2012

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1 W W W. U M C A. O R G Representing over 245 Towns and Cities in Utah JUNE 2012 Who s On The Move? Roxanne Behunin, Chief Deputy Recorder Vernal City Roxanne Behunin is one of those Recorders who wear many hats. She is the Chief Deputy Recorder, Human Resources Manager, and Administrative Secretary to the Mayor, City Council and City Manager in Vernal. Vernal City is a unique 5 th class city with population under 10,000. However, their population from night to day doubles on a daily basis with the influx of people commuting into town for work. Many are employed in the abundant natural resources and mining operations located in and around Vernal. In her HR duties alone she manages 75 city employees and an additional 26 Volunteer Fire Fighters. Vernal also supports three Special Service Districtsts, which employee over 100 personnel. Roxanne handles all the benefits, FMLA and Employment Hearings for all of these groups. The three Special Service District Boards rely heavily on Roxanne to write all their policies, manage their agendas, take and transcribe minutes and follow up with assignments. Besides her normal Vernal City Council agendas and minutes, Roxanne has been asked on several occasions to use her skills to take minutes cold at special UDOT -Urban Committee meetings with over 150 County Commissioners, League and Council Representatives in attendance. In her spare time Roxanne is a major needlework expert with amazing skills and talents in Cross Stitching. She excels with her work on linen and has completed hundreds of projects over the years. She traditionally incorporates thousands of tiny little beads into her work, each one requiring countless hours to complete. Roxanne is also the Secretary of the Vernal Youth Baseball league, a position she has held for more than 20 years. Additionally she is a member of the Vernal Bowling association and has a son who is turning professional with his bowling skills. She has been married for 35 years, has 2 sons and 3 grandchildren. Thanks Roxanne for being such a remarkable Recorder and member of UMCA. Roxanne Behunin Chief Deputy Recorder of Vernal City for over 23 years. Roxanne is know for her quality work in needlecraft, volunteerism and her bowling associations Future UMCA Conferences: INSTITUTE--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH/ SANDY CAMPUS JULY 30 AUGUST 3 ACADEMY UNIVERSITY OF UTAH / SANDY CAMPUS AUGUST 1 AUGUST 3 MMC -PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY/ SANDY CAMPUS AUGUST 2 - SEE PAGE 3 Inside this issue: NEWS FROM BRAG, CURA, DMWRA NEWS FROM GSLCRA NRA,SCURA NEWS FROM SURA, SWRA, UMCA BOARD REPORTS FROM OUR READERS REPORTS FROM OUR READERS - LIFE CHANG- ING MOMENTS AT THE LEAGUE - CAUGHT IN THE CODE TRAP UMCA BOARD - RE- TENTION ROCKS

2 Utah - Municipal Clerks Associa on Bear River Area (BRAG) Teresa Harris, President Here's what is happening with t h e B R A G A r e a. First of all, our most exciting news is that Susan Obray with Perry City has earned her MMC and will be recognized at Council Meeting on June 28. We are so happy for Susan and are proud of her accomplishments. Nicely done Susan! The BRAG Area met on Friday, April 27 at the TL Steakhouse in Garland, Utah. We were very honored to hear from Annette Spendlove, UMCA Education Chairman and North Ogden City Recorder on the topic of CMC and MMC designations. Annette informed us regarding the requirements and process needed to obtain these two awards. We received alot of good information; she has inspired us all to set our education goals. Our next meeting will be held on July 13 at Hamilton s Restaurant in Logan where we will have a panel discussion. Committee Members receive certification points for participating on various committees for 1 year. Join Us! Central Utah Recorders (CURA) Susan Farnsworth, President CURA Come visit us in our cities and towns this summer! Heber Old Fashioned Fourth o f July July 4 Sunnyside Community Daze J u l y 6-7 sunny1@emerytelcom.net East Carbon Community Daze J u l y 9 ecc@emerytelcom.net Nephi Ute Stampede Rodeo J u l y American Fork Steel Days July 14 July 21 Levan Pioneer Day Celeb r a t i o n J u l y Spanish Fork Fiesta Days J u l y Mona Pioneer Celebration J u l y 2 3 m o n a c i - ty@nebonet.com Mapleton Pioneer Day J u l y Highland Highland Fling - July 28 August 4 Santaquin Orchard Days July 28 August 4 Salem Salem Days - Aug u s t Lindon Lindon Days Aug u s t Eureka Tintic Silver Festival A u g u s t Orem Timpanogos Storytelling Festival August 30, 31 & Sept 1- Payson Onion Days September 3 Visit each of us at our websites for more information. Davis, Morgan, Weber (DMWRA) Kim Read, President : The Davis, Morgan, Weber Recorder s Association met in Syracuse City in May and Pat Beckstead, Davis County Election s Clerk, provided us with information regarding the new legislation specific to elections. Several of the recorders commented how helpful it was to receive the information she provided as some weren t aware of the change requiring the publishing of the notice of election, including candidate filing dates and office to be voted on by February 1 st. We also met in June and Lee Ann Peterson, MMC, Chief Deputy Recorder for Ogden City, shared her presentation from Spring Conference on Noticing You Want Me to Put What? Where? A round table discussion followed and Page 2 everyone had the opportunity to ask questions and learn from each other. It s always enjoyable learning from other Recorder s experiences and a lot of information was shared. Carol Rodgers, Deputy Recorder at Clearfield City, retired on May 31, We are going to miss her and I know she enjoyed her friendship and association with UMCA and we wish her well! Teresa Harris of Logan City

3 Represen ng over 245 Towns and Ci es in Utah Greater Salt Lake Clerks/Recorders (GSLCRA) Anna West, President GLSCRA met at Riverton City in June. We were pleased to honor Sonja Kintaro for achieving her CMC designation. Virginia Loader and Joy Johnson presented us with an eye opening view of what it takes to be a citizen of the United States. We learned about the rights, responsibilities and privileges afforded to those who go through the process of naturalization. We learned that it takes 6-12 months for the process. Committee members receive recognition at Spring Conference in Cedar City. Thanks Ladies! IIMCA MEMBERS MAY USE THE IMCA-RC RETIREMENT PLANNING PROGRAM TO PLAN AND MANAGE YOUR RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS LOOK INTO IT AT INVESTORSERVICES@ ICMARC.ORG North Eastern Recorders (NRA) Diane Miller, President NRA says hello to all the members of UMCA from the Eastern Region. We will catch you on the next newsletter. South Central Region (SCURA) Sherrie Westbrook, President We are all doing well in the South Central Region. We will write more next time. Institute and Academy/ U of U Sandy Campus It s time to register for Institute and Academy this summer! Remember that Institute and Academy provide you 1 point for every two hours of class time while most other training provided by UMCA is 1 point for every four hours of class time. So register today by visiting continue.utah.edu/proed/ clerks. This year, to help offset the cost of the training, UMCA is providing a $100 discount per person when you attend a full Institute or Academy. The scholarship does not apply to one or two -day attendance and will be applied to your tuition total. Institute will be held Monday, July 30 through Friday, August 3 and will include classes such as records management, media and press relations, ediscovery, elections, personal power and business licensing. Academy will be held Wednesday, August 1 through Friday August 3 and will include classes such as DISC profiling, preventing fraud, grant writing and managing political egos. The keynote speaker for the joint session on Friday is Kevin Hall, author of Aspire. And NEW this year is a second Academy session that will be held on Monday and Tuesday, July 30 and 31. If you are interested in attending both sessions you must register for each session separately. There is not a five day Academy. Professional Development Day for the MMC s will be held Thursday, August 2. Page 3 The UMCA business meeting will also be held on Thursday, August2 at 12:00 p.m. Please plan on attending. We look forward to seeing you. UMCA Members from the Great State of Utah Take a break at Spring Conference.

4 Utah - Municipal Clerks Associa on South East Utah Recorders (SURA) Rachel Ellison, President -Serving Grand and San Juan Counties. South West Regional (SWRCA) David Ence, President - Serving Beaver, Iron, Washington, Garfield and Kane Counties. Spring Conference April 18, 19, 20, 2012-Cedar city Utah UMCA 1st Vice President Kim Hollindrake By Nancy Dean UMCA President It is with regret that I announce the resignation of Kim Holindrake as the UMCA 1 st Vice President. Kim has provided many years of service to the members of our Association. She has been a valuable resource to our members and an example of professionalism and integrity. UMCA wishes to thank her for her dedicated service to its members and wish her well in her personal and professional pursuits. On June 18, 2012 and in accordance with the UMCA bylaws, Tracy Norr, Draper City Recorder, was appointed as acting 1 st Vice President and Annette Spendlove, North Ogden City Recorder, was appointed as acting 2 nd Vice President of UM- CA. Please join me as we thank Tracy and Annette for filling these positions. It is a privilege to associate with such talented members. Also, please consider contributing by running for office. Page 4

5 Represen ng over 245 Towns and Ci es in Utah From Our Readers Mona Kimborough I hadn t planned to be in Cedar City in April. Not at all. In fact, being a municipal clerk hadn t been my plan. But it was an opportunity I suddenly found myself accepting. When the recorder resigned From Our Readers Mary Kate Christensen I have been a notary for over 30 years, so you would think I knew everything about being a notary. But anyone that has taken the state test knows this isn t so. The class on notary review at UMCA Spring conference was also a good reminder of the things I Fionnuala Kofoed, CMC Eagle Mountain City Recorder and Membership Director of UMCA When contemplating joining an organization, many questions arise. One might ask, for instance, Will I get anything in return for my time? In the case of the IIMC and UMCA, the answer is a resounding Yes! This short article will highlight a few of the benefits to joining the IIMC and UMCA. One of the greatest benefits to joining the IIMC is that membership is the only way to become certified as a municipal clerk. IIMC certifications are recognized, respectively, on a world and state level making the credentials portable to wherever one s in April, leaving me as the town s only paid employee, I was in need of further training, and fast! With a background in business, finance and communications, I had done all kinds of work in a business setting. But, as I m sure you know, working for a municipal government is a different animal indeed. have learned in the past. We discussed many things in the class, but the following are maybe some that not everyone knows or remembers. 1.Never notarize something that has a blank 2..Never notarize for relatives. 3. You cannot use foreign ID career may unfold. This is an important asset in this increasingly connected world. Networking is also an important advantage of association memberships. Having experienced every conceivable situation, our clerks are a repository of collective wisdom. This is an invaluable resource applicable to many common issues, such as annexations and ballot initiatives, which are often fraught with minute, technical details. Help is only a phone call away on a myriad of issues from the association memb e r s. Training is an important benefit of association membership, too. IIMC and UMCA Just two days prior to the UMCA Annual Conference, I received approval to go. In spite of the last minute nature, the trip was timely and so valuable for the educational aspects, of course, but even more so because of the contacts made and support I received. I met so many individuals who have been cards foreign licenses are OK. 4. It is not required by the State of Utah, but it is smart to keep a journal. If it is written down, you cannot get in trouble in a court of law. 5. When signing a Utah subdivision map, the notary must write their commission number, expiration date, name IIMC and UMCA Membership What are the Benefits? offer many training opportunities that keep its members current on the laws and sharp with the skills that municipal clerks use on a daily basis. Timely training helps avoid the pitfalls associated with carrying out clerking duties in the disquiet of our everchanging political and legal environment. These are just a few of the benefits that come with joining IIMC and UMCA. Membership will provide a pathway to certification which will, in turn, provide opportunities for professional growth and build confidence in executing the duties of a municipal clerk. Further your career by joining IIMC and Page 5 there, done that, and I received countless offers for any future guidance should I need it. Like a cool drink of water in the middle of a desert, it was exactly what I needed. Thank you all. For me Spring Conference was a wonderful success. and county on the map. The best part of Spring Conference for me is always catching up with my recorder friends throughout the state. We have such a great organization! Thanks for a great opportunity UMCA. Nancy Leigh and Emlaee Curtis Spring Conference All Current UMCA members are eligible for a $100 discount on a full week tuition for IN and AC. See article on page 3.

6 Utah - Municipal Clerks Associa on From Our Readers Cindi Holyoak, CMC Monticello, Utah A life Changing Moment: As I sat in the grassy meadow of Cooley Pass, enjoying the variety of yellow, purple, and white wild flowers, I looked out in the distance and could see for miles. At about 11,000 ft., the scenery took my breath away. The late August sun was warm on my face as I enjoyed my quick lunch of jerky and trail mix. My husband Michael and my teenagers, Wyatt and Haylee were all laughing as Barney, the mule I was trying to hold on to, dragged me all over the meadow as he moved from one luscious clump of grass to another. I knew this was going to be an amazing day. Michael knows the trails on the Abajo Mountains as if they were in his own back yard, so when Haylee asked him to take us on a trail ride for her birthday, he agreed. It had been several years since I had been on the back of a horse; as a young girl, that was my favorite place to be and I spent many hours riding through the fields and trees around our house. Lunch was over, all of us clamored back on our animals and we started down the rocky trail. It was a little unnerving to hear the hooves clunk and bang on the deep ocean of slide rock. It sounded like thunder as the rocks slid and rolled down the hill side. My heart was pounding as I worried about my two children behind me. I kept looking back to make sure they were okay. When we reached the dirt road, I let out a sigh of relief, We made it, I thought to myself as I trotted past Michael and took the lead. Just then, Michael yelled, Cindi look out, there s a branch! I looked up and instinctively grabbed the branch with both hands to keep it from hitting my face, but it was not connected to the tree and sent me off my mule. My upper back hit the ground first, causing my head to spring back violently against a rock. The momentum of the steep hill threw my legs over my head and I went tumbling down into a rocky embankment. My head was resting on a log when I regained consciousness and I could hear the blood running freely from my head and splashing on the rocks below. I had no idea at the time, the struggles that lay ahead of me. I knew I had suffered a concussion but assumed I would heal up and be fine in a few weeks. The weeks turned into months and now it has been nearly two years. I don t know if I will ever recover completely. I am left with no tolerance for noise, people talking, laughing, lawn mowers, parties, or concerts. If I subject myself to a noisy environment, I have a crippling physical reaction, so I bring a pair of earplugs wherever I go and try to avoid places I am certain will be noisy. Work has been very challenging as I have had to sort through all of the jumbled information in my head and try to continue dealing with staff and the public with this bizarre condition. I am so grateful to have such great Coworkers. As I was apolo- San Juan County s Cooley Pass. Haylee Holyoak shown here, photographed by her mom Cindi - minutes before the accident which changed Cyndi's life. gizing to my manager one day for my difficult health problems, he said, We re just glad you re still here! I was glad he felt I was still useful at the office. With great difficulty, I attended the 2012 UMCA Spring Conference in Cedar City; it was such a good conference and while I was there, I was able to celebrate my older brother s birthday. However, even with earplugs I began to have problems. Feeling badly about causing people to worry about me on this happy occasion, I apologized to my mom for messing up the party. She looked at me with her intense Irish blue eyes and said, We re just glad you re still here. Her face told me she was not talking about the party and it dawned on me that even though my life has changed, I still have a place, I am still needed at my job, at my home, and in the lives of the people I love. It is marvelous, that the UMCA is available for all of us, helping us with our own challenges and supporting us along the way. Thank you! Page 6

7 Represen ng over 245 Towns and Ci es in Utah From the UMCA Board We are in need of members for the following committees: Newsletter Committee Education Committee Handbook Committee Legislative Policy Committee We can now meet as a committee by using teleconferencing features on our phones and it works well. You earn 1 point for being on any of the above committees and 2 points for being Chairman of the committee. These points go towards your CMC and MMC Certifications. Committee work is a great way to network, associate and learn from other recorders and give and receive a new perspective. We encourage all who would like to be involved. Please contact Annette Spendlove at aspend@nogden.org Caught in the Code Trap by Lee Ann Peterson Noticing: It s All In What You Say Noticing is one of the most basic duties of the city recorder/clerk, as it is our duty to inform the public of government or governmentrelated activities which may concern their local area, municipality, county or state. Cities inform the public in a variety of ways through a newspaper, website, flyer, newsletter, utility bill, letter, sign, social media site, , public meeting etc. It is important to be aware of the specific guidelines necessary when informing the public. We ll just cover the basics for now. Cities have a responsibility to discuss, receive comments and act upon matters of their jurisdiction in an open format. Actions and deliberations should take place in a public meeting and that meeting must be noticed in advance in specific locations and with specific information about what will be discussed. As for where notification should take place, here is what state regulations say: 1. A written notice should be posted at the principal office of the public body, or if no principal office exists, at the building where the meeting is to be held; AND On the Utah Public Notice Website; AND Provided to at least one newspaper of general circulation OR a local media correspondent 2. Any additional places your city has identified (such as city website, social media, utility bill) 3. Any public body that holds regular meetings that are scheduled in advance over the course of a year has to give public notice at least once each year of its annual meeting schedule In order for certain actions to be taken, the public body needs to hold a public hearing to allow input/comments on the proposed action and should notify the public in advance, as well. Some public hearing notices are put out for the general public, such as budget adoptions or amendments, and some require additional notice to certain individuals or groups, such as annexations and land use issues. It needs to be emphasized that planning commissions and councils work together on land use issues, as noticing has different requirements for different land uses. When dealing with land use issues, you ll need to follow the Utah Code requirements closely and keep up with any legislative changes made each year. Noticing for land use issues is different in that more noticing has to be done. Notice must be mailed to each affected entity and each property owner whose land is directly affected at least 10 days before the public hearing, posted in at least three public locations in the municipality or on the municipality website, published on the Utah Public Notice Website at least 10 days before the public hearing. Plus there may be additional requirements outlined by city code and city policy which you should be aware of. If the noticing does not take place as dictated by state and/or city regulations, there can be both small and large effects. When a notice is not done correctly for a meeting such as a work session, it is inconvenient for all involved. When noticing is not done correctly for a specific action that a legislative body must take, the effect is much greater and can result in long delays. Therefore, it is necessary to be familiar with both city and state regulations. In addition, check with your city s legal counsel for help in clarifying regulations. Most importantly, be sure to refer often to your U M C A H a n d b o o k f o r information on noticing requirements. The latest version of the handbook can be found on the UMCA website: h t t p : / / u m c a. o r g / documents.handbook.html. Page 7

8 Utah - Municipal Clerks Associa on Representing over 245 Towns and Cities in Utah UMCA Board of Directors Nancy Dean, MMC President Clearfield City Recorder Nancy.dean@clearfieldcity.org Kim Holindrake, MMC 1st VP Cedar Hills City Recorder Keholindrake@cedarhills.org Tracy Norr, MMC 2nd VP Draper City Recorder Tracy.norr@draper.ut.us Stephanie Carlson, MMC Past President/Web Master Holladay City Recorder scarlson@cityofhalladay.com Laurie Tryon, CMC Secretary Price City Recorder lauriet@priceutah.net Kate Black, Town Clerk Treasurer Alta Town Clerk kswb@townofalto.com Annette Spendlove, MMC Education North Ogden City Recorder aspendlove@northogdencity.com Thieda Wellman, CMC Training Layton City Recorder twellman@laytoncity.org Fionnuala Kofoed, CMC Membership Eagle Mountain City Recorder fkofoed@emcity.org Joy Johnson, CMC Communication Riverton City Deputy Recorder jjohnson@rivertoncity.com Bylaws Changes from the UMCA Board The UMCA Board members began looking at the leadership structure of the Association several months ago and began to study the possibility of making changes to enhance the opportunity for more of our members to serve in an official capacity. We questioned how we might be able to reduce the impact to one s city or town while providing service to the Association. Kim Holindrake s resignation prompted an immediate review of the bylaws and a proposed restructuring of the Association s leadership. The Board is proposing amendments to the bylaws that will create a leadership structure of President, Vice President and Past President as opposed to President, 1 st Vice President, 2 nd Vice President and Past President. The proposal will reduce the years of service in a leadership position to three instead Membership Scholarships Available UMCA offers membership scholarships for its members whose cities are unable to pay the annual dues! Membership dues will be invoiced in July so if your city is unable to pay for your membership; please take time to fill out an application f o r a s c h o l a r s h i p. The application is available on the UMCA website at of four. The restructuring would not mitigate the amount of work to be done by the Board. These new bylaws amendments also propose creating a fifth director position which would be called the Facilities Director. The Facilities Director would assist the leadership in planning and preparing for the annual conference. The bylaws amendments also propose that board member elections take place as part of the annual conference each year in September. Members of the board would be elected and take office at the end of each annual conference. If the bylaws amendments are approved, Tracy Norr would become President of UMCA at the end of Institute and Academy and Annette Spendlove would become Vice President at which time there would be a vacancy in the Director position which would be filled by an appointment made by the Board of Directors. The Board members encourage your support of the bylaws amendments. The amendments are available on the UMCA website and will be voted on at the business meeting during Institute and Academy on August 2, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. We encourage your attendance at that meeting. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me nancy.dean@clearfieldcity.org or by phone at (801) We re on the Web! UMCA Town Clerk and Recorder of the Year. Kate Black from Alta Town and Linda Dunlavy -Cottonwood Heights Page 8

9 Represen ng over 245 Towns and Ci es in Utah From Nancy Dean, UMCA President This is the last newsletter in my tenure as the President of the Utah Municipal Clerks Association. It has been a busy year for the Board members. We started the year by holding a strategic planning session facilitated by Anne O Brien from the University of Utah. During that session we set the following goals: 1) create and conduct a member survey, 2) improve the newsletter to communicate information, recognition and education, 3) educate the members on how to use the new website, 4) explore online training opportunities, 5) explore a variety of educational opportunities that members could receive with limited time away from the office, and 6) evaluate changes to the UMCA conference schedules. We completed a survey by the end of spring conference. The results of that survey will be available during our business meeting which will be held as part of Institute and Academy on August 2, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. We created a new format for the newsletter and hope you have enjoyed Code Corner and getting to know other recorders through the newsletter spotlight. We held a session during spring conference on how to navigate the UMCA web page and hope it helped you to become acquainted with the resources available to you there. We have worked all year on looking for training opportunities that we might be able to offer online or through our website. We are very close to making that happen. This coming year an education committee will be established to work on the content for that program. Then, with the help of Layton City, we will start filming training sessions that will be available through the website. There are still details to be worked out to provide this type of training so we continue to work toward the end result of keeping you in your office while enhancing your educational opportunities. Don t forget that our conference schedule had to be looked at to accommodate municipal primary elections in August. We could no longer hold Institute and Academy in August because of early voting so we will be holding it the second week of March each year. Please mark your calendars for Institute and Academy on March 11-15, This means you will attend two Institute and Academy courses in 2013 and your attendance will be necessary to stay on track for attaining your Certified Municipal Clerk designation and Master Municipal Clerk Designation. Your 2013 budgets should reflect two Institute and Academy Sessions and no annual conference. Our spring conference has become an annual conference and will be held in September each year. UMCA Board Members Top row Laurie Tryon, Kate Black, Kim Hollindrake, Thieda Wellman, Stephanie Carlson, Annette Spendlove, Seated, Joy Johnson, Nancy Dean, Finn Kofoed and Tracy Norr. Please mark your calendars for UMCA Annual conference in Richfield, September 25-27, Our hope is that you will support the conference changes and continue to keep yourself updated on changing laws and requirements for cities and towns. I wish to thank you for the opportunity to have served you in this capacity. I have appreciated visiting different cities throughout the State while attending CMC and MMC presentations. I honor the friendships I have forged by rubbing shoulders with you, some of the finest people I have come to know. It has been a pleasure to act as your voice as we worked with the Utah League of Cities and Towns during the Legislative Session. Thank you for learning, laughing and growing with me! Newly Certified Our Congratulations go out to : Sonya Kintaro, CMC from Salt Lake City Susan Obray, MMC from Perry City Cindi Holyoak, CMC from Monticello UMCA Members network and share ideas at Spring Conference