Lindon city staff reported June 2 that an interlocal committee of Lindon, Vineyard, Pleasant Grove and Orem is interviewing lobbyist firms to pursue legislative changes related to forming a new local school board, informally called the Timpanogos District.

Staff said Alpine School District business administrator Jason Sundberg told the group that Alpine’s total budget is about $900 million and that the redistribution of assets to a new district could be on the order of $4 million to $5 million — a meaningful amount for the new district but small relative to Alpine’s total budget. Committee members received five proposals from lobbying firms and selected two finalists for interview next week.

City staff said the committee’s current plan is to split the cost evenly among the four participating cities; city staff estimated Lindon’s share of an initial one-year lobbyist contract at roughly $30,000 to $32,000. Staff also noted an earlier code provision that would have required new school boards to reimburse cities for startup costs was removed at some point; the removal leaves Lindon with no guarantee of later reimbursement if cities pay initial lobbying fees.

The council did not make a funding commitment at the June 2 meeting; staff said they will return the item as an action item after interviews with the two finalist firms so the council can decide whether to participate financially.

The council also heard timeline details: new school boards are expected to be elected in November, take office in December, and work with Alpine School District to hire a superintendent and business administrator by January. Rob Smith was noted as the newly appointed interim superintendent replacing Shane Farnsworth.