Accomplishments

During the 8 years I have been on the Highland city council, I have been involved in accomplishing the following:

• 26 new business in Highland that are still here in Highland adding to our tax base, and several others that have come and gone

Blue Lemon, UPS, Barbacoa, Jamba Juice, Taco Time, Iceberg, Newport, 24 hour Fitness, Ace Hardware, Alpine Credit Union, Papa Murphys, Painted Daisy Floral, Little Caesars, Martinizing Dry Cleaning, Anderson Funeral Home, Ashford Critical Care, The Pointe, UCCU, Arctic Circle, Hawaiian Ice, Dollar Cuts, Meier’s Fine Foods, Ashford Memory Care Center Expansion, CVS, Pizza Pie Cafe, Just Sew, Orange Leaf, Mathnasium, 

• East/West Corridor Road  - This is critical to our communities safety.  We have worked with MAG to get funding for the road.  We have completed the engineering design for the road.  We now have spent years working to get approvals from the state to complete the road accross the state land south of LPHS.  We have almost all of the state of Utah approvals to complete the road.
• SR-92 Expressway - The original plans for SR-92 only included additional lanes from Highland to I-15.  UDOT was open to the idea and listened to other options which included a Commuter Express Lane.  I was directly involved in the formation and drive to implement the Express Lane.
• A new Community Center - We were able to convert our old city hall to a valued and heavily used new use as the Highland Community Center.
• Highland Fling improvements/cost reduction to Highland residents - The Highland Fling has grown in participation and local interest.  In addition, the actual funds used from Highland's general funds have dropped in half.  The Fling is now getting more than half its funding from other sources including the venders who participate in the Fling.
• Parks and Trials: There have been multiple improvements to our parks and trails over the past 8 years.  We have added amenities to the Mitchell Hollow park.  The Highland Glen park has received significant improvements including grass and a new volleyball court.  We now have additional parking for the Mitchell Hollow.  The Murdock Canal Trail has been paved and is heavily used by Highland residents.  Land for the Mountain Ridge Park and Spring Creek Park has been acquired.  The Beacon Hills Park has been completed and many amenities have been added.
• Door to Door solicitation restrictions.  You can put up a no-solicitation sign on your home and door-to-door sales are no longer allowed to contact you.
• 40% reduction in city staff - With the downturn in the economy and the significant reduction in residential building in Highland, we successful reduced our city staff by more than 40%.
• Debris Basin ownership/control - We now have control over what happens with the debris basin at the mouth of the canyon.  This will help protect residents downstream from future flooding.
• Maintaining Sunday Closure 
• Openspace agreements - We have made significant progress in resolving problems with land in openspace subdivisions that were not utilized or maintained.
• Reductions in city expenses/liabilities - New policies and procedures require have allowed the city to reduce expenses and liabilities
• Road Maintenance Plan (3 years) - We now have a clear picture of the work required to maintain our city roads.
• 8 years of a balanced city budget
• Established a positive revenue balance enterprise funds - Our enterprise accounts were running a negative income when I was elected.  All but one now have a positive income.
• Dozens of beautiful new subdivisions
• Highland City Library - I have fought to maintain the funding for the library.  It is an important asset to our community and is used by a large portion of our residents. 
• New website - We have improved our website and are in the process of upgrading it again
• Removal of gravel - We were able to bring in more than $1 million from the gravel  owned by the city at the gravel pit at the mouth of the American Fork canyon.
• Community Covenant supporting our Troops
• Defeated disclosure ordinance - This proposed ordinance would have negatively impacted our city volunteers by requiring them to disclose personal information that was not applicable to their volunteer work.
• Reduced exaction fees to promote the city center development
• Worked with the US Forrest Service to develop building plans for the creation of a new Timpanogos Cave Information center in Highland at the mouth of American Fork canyon.
• Reduced barriers and simplified requirements to run for City office by eliminating the requirement for collecting signatures from residents.
• Simplified and cleaned up the city boundries with neighboring cities
• SR-74 remaining with UDOT - UDOT wanted to change SR-74 to a local road which would require Highland to maintain the portions of it within the Highland city boundaries.  This change would have cost Highland tens of thousands of dollars to maintain.
• New City Administrator hired