Legislators from Davis County were presented with an agenda of a dozen items Wednesday for their consideration in the upcoming session of the Utah Legislature.
City and county officials met with the county's lawmakers at their annual pre-session dinner at the Hill Air Force Base Officer's Club.High on the list is a site for a new community college in the county, help in building a visitor center on Antelope Island and funding for a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
Members of the Davis Council of Governments, which includes city, county and school district officials, also announced they will meet with the county's lawmakers weekly during the session for strategy discussions.
The weekly caucus was started two sessions ago and both legislators and officials agree it has been helpful in advancing the county's legislative agenda.
Jean Madsen, chairman of the county's higher education advisory committee, said the state Board of Regents last week endorsed the concept of locating a community college in the county to serve the more than 5,000 students who live there.
Madsen said the committee is asking lawmakers to buy a 100-acre site and set it aside for future use. Sites in the county's central corridor are currently being looked at.
County Commission Chairman Gayle Stevenson said the county is willing to put up $250,000 of the estimated $1 million it will cost to build a visitor and educational center on Antelope Island.
The state parks department has put the other $750,000 in its proposed budget, Stevenson said, but they aren't sure if Gov. Mike Leavitt or the Legislature will leave it intact.
If not, Stevenson said the county has another offer. It will put up the entire $1 million if the state will reimburse the county from the $3 admission charge to the island.
That would require a change in state policy, which currently puts such revenue into the general fund and does not earmark it for specific uses.
Stevenson told the lawmakers the county has already changed its plans to accommodate the state parks department. The county originally planned a modest $250,000 visitor center on the mainland end of the causeway, Stevenson said, but agreed to go in on a more elaborate center, which includes educational facilities, proposed by the state.
The county has also pledged to seek a federal grant to help build a shelter for domestic violence victims, county commissioner J. Dell Holbrook told legislators.
Rep. Marda Dillree, R-Farmington, said a move is under way to coordinate programs offered by several existing agencies instead of starting an entirely new one.
Outgoing Kaysville Mayor Brit Howard said his city "is ready to step up and address this issue. We realize there is a problem and we're ready to face it." Kaysville is looking for a site for the shelter as its contribution, Howard said.
Dave Spatafore, a Utah League of Cities and Towns lobbyist, said his group will ask for some changes in the state's open meetings law. He wants to expand the definition of legal terms the statute uses in allowing public bodies such as city councils to close meetings to the public.
And, the League opposes more stringent penalties for violating the law, Spatafore said, because most violations are unintentional.
Outgoing Layton Mayor James Layton, who serves on the Wasatch Front Regional Council's transportation committee, said some hard lobbying was needed to get the proposed West Davis Highway onto the state's 20-year transportation plan.
The highway, which was first proposed in the 1960s, would connect with I-215 near Redwood Road and run parallel to and west of I-15.