8 Years Worth of Accomplishments in Orem

 

Here is a list of the accomplishments that have occurred in the City during the last 8 years that I, the city councils, and the City Manager have been in office.

 

  1.  Second week in office we gave a 2% raise to all city employees after 5 years of no raises due to the great recession.
  2.  Split the Public Safety Department into separate Police and Fire Departments.
  3. Hired a new Police Chief and a new Fire Chief
  4. Purchased over 50 new Police Cars costing $50,000.00 each
  5. Purchased new body cameras for the Police Department
  6.  Purchased new bullet proof vests for the Police Department.  
  7. Put in place a new Hybrid Step and Grade Compensation program for both the Police and Fire Department Officers.
  8. Purchased three new fire engines costing $850,000.00 each
  9. Purchased two new ambulances costing $750,000.00 each
  10. Remodeled parts of Fire Station #1
  11. Annexed  250 acres of land into the city in the Southwest corner.
  12. Placed a zoning moratorium in 2014 against changing any commercial zoness into high density zones along University Parkway, 8th South, Center Street, 8th North, and State Street until the State Street Master Plan was fully adopted. Two years ago the city of Orem passed an ordinance prohibiting the changing of residential zones to high density zones throughout the city. This ordinance protects the city’s neighborhoods from high density zoning changes.
  13. Fought against a sale of UTOPIA assets to the Macquarie Company
  14. Did not commit any further debt obligations of the city to UTOPIA
  15. UTOPIA/UIA set to finish laying fiber to every address in Orem by 2022. Orem pays out annually over $3 Million dollars in bond debt payments to UTOPIA for fiber to our city. But we have not charged the citizens of Orem any additional monthly fees to cover this bond payment as other
    cities do. Rather it has been covered by our General Fund revenues due to the strong economy we have in our city.
  16. Took out the old projector, screen, and audio in the City Council Chambers and installed 4 new LED TVs and new audio for better citizen participation.
  17. Put in a new City Council Chamber work session room.
  18. Put in new bathrooms and building doors to meet ADA standards in the City Center Building
  19.  Put in a new roof in the City Center Building
  20. Put in new sewer pipes in the City Center Building.
  21. Approved and building out of a new ten million gallon water tank, well, and pump house in Southwest Orem
  22. Built a new All Abilities park, a new dog park, two new bike skills parks, built a new soccer park together with a new splash pad, put in new pickleball courts at two parks, and built a new child futsall court.
  23. Purchased the old Hillcrest School from the Alpine School District for $5.5 Million dollars and approved a new 9 acre park to be built with indoor basketball and gathering area with a full kitchen, 12 new pickleball courts, new splash pad, new walking path and other amenities costing $11.5 Million dollars.
  24. Rebuilt Center Street from State Street to the I-15 Freeway
  25. Secured $25 Million dollars to widen Geneva Road to 5 lanes from 1200 South to 1800 South.
  26. Secured $40 Million dollars to widen 1600 North from 1500 West to State Street.
  27. Helped to secure $2.5 Million dollars in new annual road maintenance funding for Orem
  28. Installed new money saving LED bulbs in all city lights.
  29. Purchased annual average $2 Million dollars in new public works vehicles and equipment
  30. Put in place new Master Plans for infrastructure areas such as sewer lines, water lines, waste water lines, storm water lines, roads, and parks for twenty to forty years out.
  31. A new Orem Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
  32. Saving the Wilkerson Farm land as agricultural land for the future.
  33. Put in place agricultural easements for the Crandall Orchards
  34. Carried out three engineering studies establishing the need to replace the 52 year old and unsafe City Center building with a new Category IV building that will be functional in an earthquake and that would save lives and that would meet all building codes together with a new Emergency Operations Center.
  35. Beautified parts of Orem with a renewed Cemetery sign and trees, new waterfall, sign, and landscaping at entrance to Orem off of Center Street I-15 Exit, new sidewalks, and new xeriscape landscaping along other major roads.
  36. The widening and new landscaping of University Parkway as well as the buildout of a new $200 Million dollar UVX mass transit line in Orem and Provo.
  37. The building out of 64 acres of new Flex Warehouses and Office Buildings between the I-15 Freeway and Geneva Road.
  38. The buildout of three new affordable housing condominium projects in Orem
  39. Donation of 10 acres by IHC Community Hospital to Orem for a soccer park
  40. Purchase of new light weight battery operated jaws of life for the Fire Department
  41. $40 Million dollar rebuild of the Central Utah Water Treatment Plant
  42. Award by the state of Utah in 2016 for Orem having the best tasting water in the state.
  43. Ranking of the Provo/Orem area in 2021 as the best performing economic area in the United States.
  44. Ranking of the Provo/Orem area as the 2nd safest area in the United States in 2021.
  45. Dedication of a new leisure kids pool at the Orem Recreation Center
  46. Relining of the lap pool at the Orem Recreation Center
  47. Complete rebuild of the dry side of the Orem Recreation Center costing $29 Million dollars
  48. Receipt of $1 Million dollar donation from the Woodbury Corporation to pay for the purchase of all new workout equipment for the new recreation center.
  49. Receipt of $100,000.00 dollar donation from the Clyde Companies for the recreation center.
  50. Helped to put in place Vote by Mail for the citizens of Utah County.
  51. Installation of new playground equipment at many of the city playgrounds and with others slated for in the future.
  52. Buildout of the new City Hall, a 500 seat auditorium costing $6.5 Million dollars.
  53. Receipt of a $1 million dollar donation from the Allen and Karen Ashton family to help pay for the new Library Hall.
  54. Passage by the City Council of a $500 Million dollar Community Development Agreement (CDA)  for the University Place mall. This CDA has allowed the mall to rebuild itself into a new mixed use facility.  Because of this the mall has built 900 new apartments, two new high tech office buildings, three new parking garages, and has seen new stores coming to the mall including Trader Joes, Los Hermanos, Al’s Sporting Goods, R.C;.Wiley Furniture, Dillards Department Store, Rush Entertainment, Quick Quack Car Wash, & many others.
  55. Auto Store Expansions including Brent Brown, Ken Garff Nissan, Garff VW, and Honda.
  56. New restaurant buildings built such as Outback, Golden Corral, Polo Loco, and others.
  57. Due to business expansion in Orem the city’s sales tax receipts have risen by over 40% in the last 8 years, together with a 25% bleed in (where other cities are buying products, food, and other services in our city instead of their own) from both Provo and Vineyard each.
  58. Orem has balanced its budget every year over the last 8 years while at the same time producing a revenue surplus of over $4 million dollars annually.  This has given Orem the ability to purchase new equipment, perform building upgrades, and pay for other city expenses without the need to raise additional taxes.
  59. Payout of over $3 Million dollars of federally funded COVID monies to Orem businesses to help them stay in business during the Pandemic.
  60. Establishment of the State Street Masterplan.  While the districts are being revisited on high density housing through public meetings it is noteworthy to mention that over 50 new or expanding businesses have occurred on State Street during this time.
  61. Sale of the K-Mart building to National Product Sales (NPS) on State Street
  62. Purchase and refurbishment of Midtown Village into Midtown 360 has occurred with the buildings being redone and with the apartments and businesses being leased out
  63. Canyon Technology Park being sold to the Muller Company.  After the sale of the buildings Muller Company has invested over $8 Million dollars in refurbishment costs.
  64. Miss Orem Scholarship program repurposed with new board of directors and new pageant directors being brought into the organization. The Orem Royalty is now an integral part of all ribbon cuttings, ground breakings, and important public events in the city.  It has been a pleasure to work with such outstanding young women at our city events.
  65. Expansion of the city cemetery to include and open up the designated land to the south for future burials and make room for needed expansion to meet the city’s needs.
  66. Over 200 new businesses established in Orem in the last 8 years.
  67. No new taxes in 8 years with the exception of a $1 per month property tax increase two years ago to cover the hiring of 4 additional policemen for our police force.  Some general fees increased to cover needed infrastructure costs for our enterprise funds such as water, sewer, etc. but the with the caveat that two years ago we lowered the lighting fee 27% and this year we lowered the water fee 15%.