Ivins Council appoints city manager, adopts FY26 salary ranges and confirms city engineer; tables Red Mountain Resort agreement

Ivins — The Ivins City Council on Thursday approved multiple personnel and budget items and moved to continue a major development agreement for further review.

The council voted to adopt Resolution No. 2025-14R appointing Chuck Gillette as city manager and later approved his employment agreement. Council members also approved Ordinance No. 2025-20, adopting FY2026 salaries and salary ranges for elected officials, statutory officers and department heads; confirmed Tom Jorgensen as city engineer by resolution; and authorized a sole-source expenditure to prepare a water master plan, impact-fee facilities plan and impact-fee analysis. The council continued consideration of a development agreement for Red Mountain Resort to a future meeting.

Why it matters: The personnel votes finalize leadership transitions following the recent departure of the previous city manager and set compensation ranges used in the adopted FY2026 budget. The continued review of the Red Mountain Resort agreement preserves the council’s ability to seek clarifications and revisions on density, infrastructure limits and use categories before granting entitlements.

Most important votes

Votes at a glance

- Resolution 2025-14R — Appoint Chuck Gillette as city manager (also approved: employment agreement). Motion moved and seconded (mover/second not specified in the record). Roll call recorded: Councilmember Anderson — Aye; Councilmember Gillespie — Aye; Councilmember Barton — Aye; Councilmember Scott — Aye; Mayor Chris Hart — Aye. Outcome: approved.

- Ordinance 2025-20 — Adopt FY2026 salaries and ranges for elected officials, statutory officers and department heads. Motion moved and seconded (mover/second not specified). Roll call recorded: Councilmember Anderson — Aye; Councilmember Gillespie — Aye; Councilmember Barton — Aye; Councilmember Scott — Aye. Outcome: adopted.

- Resolution 2025-15R — Appoint Tom Jorgensen as city engineer. Motion moved and seconded (mover/second not specified). Roll call recorded: Councilmember Anderson — Aye; Councilmember Gillespie — Aye; Councilmember Barton — Aye; Councilmember Scott — Aye. Outcome: approved.

- Expenditure approval — Prepare master plan, facilities plan and impact-fee analysis for water (sole-source to Bowen Collins & Associates per staff recommendation). Motion moved and seconded (mover/second not specified). Vote: recorded as unanimous “Aye.” Outcome: approved; expense is budgeted.

- Development agreement for Red Mountain Resort (item 5D) — Council considered a draft agreement that would vest a maximum of 500 units clustered across the project and lock in a table of uses for the RC (resort commercial) zone. Council members requested detailed clarifications and asked staff to collect written questions for the developer; the council voted to continue the item to a future meeting. Motion to continue was moved and seconded; outcome: continued.

What council and staff said

Mayor Chris Hart signed the appointment proclamation for Chuck Gillette and said the council was “so confident in the future” under Gillette’s leadership. Gillette, who has worked for the city for roughly 20 years, told the council he plans to “lead with wisdom, integrity and humility.”

Finance director and council members discussed salary ranges as a retention tool, noting ranges were sourced from a third-party vendor covering Utah municipalities under 30,000 population and that proposed increases reflected a mix of COLA and merit adjustments tied to the FY2026 budget.

Context and next steps

The city will publish the formal employment agreement and the adopted salary range ordinance in the usual minutes and online postings. The Red Mountain Resort development agreement will return to the council after staff and the developer respond to the council’s technical and policy questions; the council emphasized that many detailed design and conditional-use issues will be addressed later in the planning-permit process.

Ending note

Council members closed the meeting after approving a routine consent agenda and scheduling follow-up materials on the development agreement and several staff initiatives.