Davis County Commission approves contracts, grants and property tax adjustments; tables animal-care item

Davis County commissioners on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 approved a series of contracts, sponsorship agreements and property-tax adjustments and tabled an animal-care agenda item until the following week.

The commission voted to approve contracts and amendments across several county departments, including a $2,123,200 annual amendment for substance-abuse and mental-health services with Davis Behavioral Health, a professional-services contract for jail-related mental-health services paid to John Chidester of $133,071.44, an audit engagement letter with Carver, Florrick & James not to exceed $29,400, and multiple smaller sponsorship and facilities contracts. The board also approved the county's property tax register, which included approved appeals totaling $1,760,006.13 and assessor adjustments totaling $1,586,013.

Why it matters: The approved contracts fund ongoing behavioral-health services countywide and cover routine operations such as disaster-records preservation and audits. The property-tax register adjustments change the county's collectible tax totals and include one individual adjustment greater than $1 million, per the register presented to commissioners.

Clerk's office and records preservation Brian McKenzie, the elected county clerk, described an agreement with BELFOR USA Group that would allow the county to call upon professional records-restoration services after a disaster. McKenzie said the agreement carries no financial obligation unless the county uses the vendor's services. He also described an amendment to the county's CivicPlus contract tied to the Munidox implementation; that amendment removes a historical-import fee of about $1,000, adds single-sign-on functionality and results in a net increase of $3,133.12 with an ongoing annual cost of $1,733.

Community and economic development; events sponsorships Kent Anderson, director of community and economic development, presented three sponsorship/receivable agreements: a Snowbasin Sports Education Foundation contract for a Snowbasin ski swap (receivable listed as "3,316.7" in the transcript), a 2025 Great Salt Lake Bird Festival sponsorship agreement with Tracy Aviary for $2,000 (May 15'18, 2025), and a sponsorship agreement with Great Salt Lake Audubon for $1,000 (May 15'18, 2025). Anderson said this year the bird festival will be held at Western Sports Park.

Facilities and senior-center remodel Facilities Director Blaine Rose presented two contracts for the South Davis Senior Center bathroom remodel: Town and Country Flooring Company for tile installation at $33,433 (term shown 01/21/2025'05/30/2025) and Select Specialties Inc. for bathroom partitions and accessories at $9,650. Rose and commissioners confirmed the project is funded through a CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) account previously approved under contract 668 (2024). Rose said the combined tile area for both men's and women's restrooms is about 2,400 square feet.

Library speakers consortium Library Director Josh Johnson asked commissioners to renew the county's memorandum of understanding with a library speakers consortium at $7,500 per year (three-year term quoted in the meeting as $22,500 total). Johnson noted the consortium enabled roughly 37 author talks last year, 249 registrants for live events and over 4,000 post-event viewers.

Sheriff's office contracts and grant corrections Chief Deputy Oblad presented three items for the sheriff's office. The commission approved a professional-services contract with Davis Behavioral Health for deputy/jail mental-health services provided by John Chidester beginning Jan. 1, 2024 (the contract amount was $133,071.44). Oblad explained the Jan. 2024 start date was due to an earlier pilot arrangement and that the county is paying for the prior year as well as the upcoming year; he called the service "a great service to our office." Commissioners also approved an amendment correcting a form for the BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) grant (contract 997) with updated unique-entity identification and ratified an amendment to contract 956 with Enbridge for a gas-service-line agreement for the emergency operations center, increasing the amount from $7,918.80 to $8,017.07.

Property tax register and auditor adjustments County auditing staff (presented as "Angie" in the meeting) presented the property tax register for Jan. 21, 2025. The register included various approved appeals totaling $1,760,006.13 (including one adjustment over $1,000,000), corrections and veteran exemptions totaling $26,332.04, and assessor corrections/appeals totaling $1,586,013. Commissioners approved the register as presented.

Other procedural notes and legislative remarks Early in the meeting the board tabled item 1 related to animal care at the request of the animal-care department; commissioners set the item for consideration next week. Near the end of the meeting, a commissioner referenced House Bill 149 pending in the Utah Legislature, noting constituent concerns about large organizations buying large shares of housing stock; commissioners also observed that the 2025 Utah legislative session had just convened.

Votes at a glance - Item 1 (animal care): motion to table at request of department; outcome: tabled to next week. - Items 2 & 3 (BELFOR USA Group agreement; CivicPlus amendment/Munidox single-sign-on and import cost removal): approved (no financial obligation for BELFOR unless used; CivicPlus amendment net increase $3,133.12; ongoing annual cost $1,733). - Items 4, 5 & 6 (Snowbasin Ski Swap receivable; 2025 Great Salt Lake Bird Festival sponsorships with Tracy Aviary ($2,000) and Great Salt Lake Audubon ($1,000)): approved/accepted. - Items 7 & 8 (audit engagement letter with Carver, Florrick & James not to exceed $29,400; 2025 annual amendment to comprehensive contract with Davis Behavioral Health payable $2,123,200): approved. - Items 9 & 10 (South Davis Senior Center tile and partitions: Town and Country Flooring $33,433; Select Specialties $9,650): approved. Project funded through a CDBG account previously approved under contract 668 (2024). - Item 11 (library speakers consortium MOU renewal, $7,500 per year; three-year term quoted as $22,500): approved. - Items 12'14 (sheriff's-office contracts and amendments: John Chidester professional-services contract $133,071.44; BRIC contract form correction; Enbridge gas-service-line amendment increasing to $8,017.07): approved. - Property tax register (auditor/assessor adjustments, appeals, exemptions): approved. Total appeals presented: $1,760,006.13; assessor-related adjustments presented: $1,586,013; corrections/exemptions $26,332.04.

The meeting lasted about 19 minutes; commissioners adjourned at approximately 10:19 a.m. The commission did not take any policy-level votes that change county-code provisions during this session.