Orem council approves interlocal agreement with Vineyard, Linden and Pleasant Grove; appoints Jen Gale to joint board

At a 4 p.m. special session the Orem City Council voted to approve an interlocal agreement with Vineyard, Linden and Pleasant Grove related to a proposed reorganized school district and appointed Jen Gale to the joint board established by that agreement.

Councilmember Linae said she had "some concerns that there aren't any timelines on there. There's not an end date," and asked that the city's involvement clearly end once a new governing board for the reorganized district takes office.

City staff member Steve Earl told the council the agreement already addresses that point in section 2: "it does say that the agreement will remit the last part of it says shall remain in effect until the new school district board starts their term." He said the joint board's powers are intentionally narrow and limited to the statutorily required filings, specifically naming the required filing of the entity name with the lieutenant governor's office and a plat map describing the new district's boundaries.

Earl and council members said the agreement does not create continuing representation on other bodies; any expansion of the joint board's powers would require the city councils to amend the interlocal agreement and approve that change publicly. Earl said the joint board could choose to open its meetings to the public, but that the group's meetings are not automatically subject to open-meeting requirements. "If this group wanted to allow the public to attend, they could," he said; any decision to open meetings would be made by the joint board.

Council members also discussed voting power and costs. Councilmember Brent said Vineyard has already adopted the agreement, Linden likely adopted it the day before and Pleasant Grove was planning to act the same day, and that the council was working against a statutory timeline: "we have 30 days from when the vote was certified," he said while noting a December 19 deadline. Council members said costs are being split evenly for now and that voting power and cost-sharing could be revisited if the joint board's scope expands.

The two consent items handled at the session were (1) the resolution approving the interlocal agreement and (2) the appointment of Jen Gale to the reorganized school district interlocal joint board. The council took a voice vote; the meeting record indicates seven aye votes and the mayor declared the consent items approved. No amendments were adopted at the special session.

The session was brief and concluded after the consent vote; council members said the joint board will meet soon to address whether it needs additional powers or functions and any such changes would require subsequent public approvals by the participating city councils.