BRIGHAM CITY—The problems that have come with UTOPIA continue to cause worry and questions for residents of Brigham City. Mayor Tyler Vincent, along with the mayors of several other UTOPIA cities has proposed putting the deal with Macqaurie on the ballot and letting the voters decide. However, state law states there is not enough time to do this. In addition to this, many citizens are frustrated due to confusion over a call for a special meeting set for August 26th to discuss options, but the meeting was later cancelled. It was then announced that Mayor Vincent would discuss it on the August 21st meeting, yet the item was not on the agenda. This means many citizens didn’t know it was a meeting they should attend. For some, it would appear that the City is being less than transparent and trying to hold meetings in such a way that there would be limited citizen input.
During the August 21st meeting, six citizens spoke during the public comments section with concerns about UTOPIA. All of the citizens who spoke were in agreement that UTOPIA should be stopped, and it is morally wrong to force citizens to purchase internet/phone services. Also, it was expressed that the UTOPIA issue should not be on the ballot as the citizens have already made their wishes known by not signing up for UTOPIA. In fact, the initial numbers fell far short of expectations. Also, it is not the role of the government to interfere in free commerce. The comments were followed by rounds of applause until the council instructed the crowd to hold their applause.
Several key questions were addressed by Jason Roberts after the meeting. One question asked was now that five of the cities have backed out, what will the increase in the utilities be? Mr. Roberts stated those numbers have not been released yet. He went on to answer questions about the citizens that have already paid for UTOPIA having an increase in their utilities. He assured that while they don't have a solid solution yet, they will work it out so that no citizen is paying twice. There are also opt-out options being discussed for those that do not want a landline or internet service. The question of who will handle citizen education so they can make an informed decision was vaguely answered in that they will inform the citizens, but did not say whether Macquarie would be the one in charge of it.
On another note Ruth Jensen addressed the major concern that as a City council member, she has not been kept informed of what has been happening in the UTOPIA meetings and she has to find out about key meetings and their results through the grapevine. She wanted to know why the minutes are not being released to the public and why the secrecy. She had grave concerns about the lack of transparency by the UTOPIA committee and other members of the board. There was no response by either the mayor or other members of the Board to address these concerns.
The meeting can be seen in its entirety at: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/51684064
The public comments portion starts at minute 15:05
