Lehi City News
Lehi City departments contemplate 2019
Police Department
Darren Paul, Lehi Chief of Police:
As we look forward to 2019, we plan to break ground and begin construction on a new police facility located at 128 North 100 East. We anticipate that construction of the new building will take just over one year, and we hope to occupy the building in the fall of 2020. The new facility will provide us with improved training facilities, increased evidence storage, additional report writing and office space, and improved accommodations for community engagement and victim services. The new facility will also serve as Lehi City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the event of a large-scale emergency or natural disaster.
In addition to the construction of our new police facility, we are hoping to add additional officers to our staff in 2019. Of particular importance is adding additional officers to our traffic enforcement team. We are also planning to update our records system which will enhance our ability to identify and track crime trends.
Lehi Fire Battalion Chief, Tim Robinson, pulls a dummy out of a burning building as part of a fire training exercise. | Gina Halladay
Fire Department
Jeremy Craft, Lehi Fire Chief and Tim Robinson, Battalion Chief
Lehi Fire Department was awarded the SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant this year. The SAFER grant will assist in compensating wages for three full-time firefighters. We plan to hire three qualified people in early 2019. The new firefighters will attend a recruit camp to ensure their firefighting and medical skills are proficient before they begin shift work. With the rapid growth of Lehi City, the fire department also plans to create and hire for a new position, Deputy Fire Chief.
Lehi Fire Department will take possession of three new pieces of apparatus this year, an Ambulance 81, an Engine 81 and a Tower 82, which will replace aging units. The ambulance will be in service this summer, the engine and tower will be in service in late fall. We are grateful for quality apparatus, and we will take care of them with pride.
Training has always been a top priority for Lehi Fire Department. The growth has prompted us to stay ahead of problems and train to the most current standards. High rise, residential, and commercial structures are some of the things that we focus on in our fire training. The medical training we complete ensures quality service from some of the best paramedics in the state.
Population growth and multiple construction projects in Lehi have presented unique challenges for responding to fire services and some station response areas have changed because of reduced or enhanced access to certain areas of the city. We are constantly monitoring the construction and we will continue to provide timely service to all areas of Lehi City.
Planning Commission
Matt Hemmert, Planning Commission Member
The General Plan update will be an incredibly important 2019 project as it will help the City make appropriate land designation and other modifications to help reflect the growth we’ve seen.
I’ve always been a strong advocate for resident input in the planning process and I’ve seen an increase in resident involvement and participation in 2018. I think that’s attributable to an increase in public awareness vis a vis discussion about certain projects on media and social media, coupled with the ease of finding planning commission agendas online through the City’s website. I’d just encourage the public to continue to review agendas online to see which items are public hearing items and which aren’t open to public hearing. If residents have comments for a public hearing item but can’t attend that particular meeting, I’d also encourage them to send their comments to the Planning Department for distribution to the commissioners so that it’s part of the public record.
We’re all in this together, and where there is limited discretion and subjectivity in the hands of the planning commission, it’s important to garner that resident input to help guide that discretion. However, it’s also important to understand that any limited discretion and subjectivity are both tempered and checked by City Code and ultimately the US Constitution.
