Case Studies: Civic Engagement

 

Ivins City

Contributor: Mayor Chris Hart, Ivans City, Utah

In Ivins City, Utah, a master-planned community named Kayenta sits at the base of towering red cliffs surrounded by sagebrush-covered rangeland. This community, conceptualized in 1979, was developed northwest of St. George City and Santa Clara and there was reportedly not much there at the time.

From the very beginning, Kayenta was a conservation-minded community, and it had to be. There were no cities close enough at the time to provide services, so a private water system was built. Both structural and landscape requirements in the community focused on integration with the existing landscape, maintaining a true desert aesthetic, and judicious use of available water resources. The Santa Fe-style homes of Kayenta spring from the ground with virtually no disturbance whatsoever of the natural landscapes that surround them. As the nearby city of Ivins grew to has grown, the concepts demonstrated by Kayenta have served as an example of what a desert community can be.

As Ivins Mayor Chris Hart explains, historic droughts are not a thing of the past and actions that the city has undertaken to reduce water use will be critical to the local economy in the years and decades to come. In fact, Ivins City was recognized for its water conservation efforts when Mayor Hart and Public Works Director Chuck Gillette
accepted the 2023 Water Conservation Award from Governor Spencer Cox during the October 2023 One Utah Summit held in Cedar City. The award recognized the city’s success in reducing water use by 38% per capita since 2000, even as the number of residents has increased 105% over the same period.

How has Ivins achieved such success with water use reduction even as it has more than doubled in population? According to Mayor Hart, the key is getting buy-in from city residents. After that, a city council that “gets it” must be elected and that council must also be willing to lead the charge on ordinance debates that promote water
conservation over time. Ivins is unique in the state in that both Mayor Hart and the city council are willing to lead that charge, and Ivins is now recognized as having the most stringent water conservation ordinances in Utah. Mayor Hart certainly benefits from a willing city council, but his primary focus has been on getting buy-in from city residents. Residents have many opportunities to contribute to the political process as it relates to water conservation ordinance development and adoption. First and foremost, by participating in local elections, but also by coming to public hearings and forums and sharing their opinions and ideas.

To solicit input from Ivins’ residents, Mayor Hart organizes and holds public meetings he calls “talkabouts”. These town hall-style meetings focus on specific topics of concern in the community and the very first “talkabout”, in February 2023, focused on water. Held in an auditorium on the Rocky Vista University campus (plus spillover to an adjacent room and online participation), city leaders and community members discussed how to secure the city’s water future even as projections show that water will run out in coming decades unless action is taken. Although initial comments from the audience leaned toward limiting growth to improve future water supplies, the “talkabout” also provided an opportunity for the mayor and city council to explain that limiting or stopping growth would impact the revenue needed to provide public services in the community such as policing and fire suppression. In addition, there could be legal ramifications from developers who might sue the city if they are not able to develop land they have already purchased for development.

In the end, public opinion leaned toward further building the culture of water conservation in the city through less use, reuse, and water recycling. And, as Mayor Hart shared, there is huge neighbor-to-neighbor inspiration for water conservation in Ivins, undoubtedly enhanced by “talkabouts” where everyone’s ideas are valued and shared.

 

Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities

Contributors: Laura Briefer, Director, and Stephanie Duer, Water Conservation Program Manager, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities

Salt Lake City is committed to and actively encourages civic engagement. Community outreach and equity and inclusion are high priorities of Mayor Erin Mendenhall. The city has a Civic Engagement Team that facilitates best practices for public participation and works with city departments to build their civic engagement capacity. The city uses a variety of means for people to get involved (e.g., community councils, community action teams, boards, commission, internships, and community programs). Its community outreach efforts include Community Office Hours where people can talk to one of Mayor Mendenhall’s Liaison team out in the community, translation of documents and communications into different languages, community outreach newsletters, and many more informal means of engagement. 

This city-wide platform for Civic Engagement is utilized by departments throughout the city. The Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities (SLCDPU) is especially active and responsive in interacting with its customers, including residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional entities in Salt Lake City, eight other municipalities, and unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County. The city provides drinking water, manages flood control and stormwater, and collects and treats wastewater. It engages with the communities and people it serves in the processes of planning, policy development, program delivery, and project implementation in all water service areas. 

Laura Briefer, the Director of the Department, stresses the importance of public engagement.  She establishes personal connections with mayors and key staff in the communities they serve, and coordinates with them about activities like land planning and establishing rate structures. She also coordinates with a wide range of constituencies on state-level water issues such as drought management and the Great Salt Lake. As a result of integrating public engagement into their operations and capital improvement activities, the utility was able to successfully  implement an ordinance prohibiting new commercial or industrial land uses that consume more than 200,000 gallons per day, rebuild the sewer treatment plant, and reconstruct the Fourth Avenue Well in Memory Grove. Public engagement was invaluable in these processes and helped the Utility better serve its member cities. 

SLCPU’s public engagement was critical during development of its 2020 Water Conservation Master Plan. Stephanie Duer, Salt Lake City’s Water Conservation Program Manager, organized a suite of public engagement activities that included giving presentations about the plan in various municipalities, utilizing social media, and soliciting public feedback both in person and through an online survey. After this public engagement, the utility’s plan exceeded the state’s requirements for a water conservation master plan. The plan is now a good example of issue framing, articulation of conservation goals, data analysis, and identification of conservation programs and practices to implement. It includes an ongoing public outreach and communication plan.