Kaysville plans
6 a.m. budget meet

KAYSVILLE -- When Kaysville city officials say they want to get an early start on planning their budget, they mean early.
The mayor, council and key city officials have set a budget work meeting for Saturday, April 10 at 6 a.m. at city hall.
"We're not trying to exclude anyone, but with it being the Easter weekend, we set it that early so it wouldn't interfere with family activities," said Dean Storey, city finance director.
He emphasized that no decisions will be made. Discussion will likely be of a general, preliminary nature.
"City department heads have been asked to have their recommendations back to us by April 16, and we wanted to give them some direction before they have their requests back," Storey said.
Sources of revenue, revenue projections, personnel needs, and ways to finance capital improvements will be among items most likely addressed, he said.

Bountiful roads
declared safe

BOUNTIFUL -- Though it might be hard to believe, traffic flow and accidents were down throughout much of Bountiful in 2003.
And for all the growth and construction, the annual Traffic Volume and Traffic Accidents report, which details the city's traffic activity and reports traffic safety recommendations, reveals nothing shocking or drastic.
"The most surprising thing about it (the report)" said City Engineer Paul Rowland, the report's author, "was that there was nothing surprising."
The total number of accidents dropped 6.4 percent from 747 in 2002 to 699 in 2003. The peak year for accidents in the city was 1994 with 882 accidents. Accident rates tended to increase in winter months, December being the highest and July being the lowest.
Though, according to the report, "all of the intersections in the city are operating at what is considered a statistically safe condition," two intersections, which "have shown a significant increase in accidents over 2003 or show a trend that would lead us to believe that there is a problem with the intersection that is contributing to the accidents," received a more intense review.
Both intersections had twice as many accidents in 2003 as there were in 2002.
The first of these intersections, 1800 South 400 East, went from three accidents to six accidents. Statistically, it had been the most dangerous intersection in the city, but it "dropped out of the running" after blinking lights were removed "that made drivers believe that it was a four-way stop." The report says that five of the six accidents occurred when north-bound vehicles collided with west-bound vehicles.
The report warns that a large transmission pole blocks the view of north-bound vehicles. The power department told Rowland that the pole would be removed during a reconstruction project during the next few years.
In his report, Rowland recommended that the intersection be examined to "make sure all other unavoidable conflicts are removed."
The second intersection to undergo intense review, 500 South 400 East, went from four accidents to eight accidents. Rowland's report says that most of the accidents involved one driver running a red light, and Rowland recommends changing the present signal lights to the "much brighter" LED lights.
Although there can be problems with the intersections, simply obeying the rules, Rowland said, will fix many of the problems.