Provo city council discusses funding for downtown and sanitation services

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Council members and local residents gathered Tuesday night at the Provo municipal council meeting to address topics including funds for Downtown Provo Inc. and city sanitation services.

A presentation was given on the neighborhood Nevada Avenue project. A matching grant program helped to fund the redevelopment of land near the side of Nevada Avenue.

Mayor John Curtis, council member Midge Johnson and others provided help bringing in materials at minimal cost. Hundreds from the neighborhood, including children, joined on a Saturday to place rocks and trees, creating a stream bed, contributing to the marketability and quality image of the neighborhood.

“Nothing works unless our neighborhoods work,” Curtis said. “This is a great example of everything coming together to really make a fabulous community.”

Curtis also presented a proclamation for Feed America Day, a charity organization started in Provo, providing meals the week before Thanksgiving to those who often go without. Curtis called upon the city to sacrifice two meals on Nov. 17 and donate the money they would have spent on those meals to feed the hungry through a charitable or religious organization.

During the bimonthly meeting, conducted by chair Rick Healey, council members discussed an intent to provide up to $181,500 to Downtown Provo Inc.

“In order to carefully monitor the money that is being used by Downtown Provo Inc., we are going to give it to them in quarters,” Healey said. “This first section that has been appropriated was $45,375.”

Johnson said Downtown Provo Inc. is an investment in getting the town to taking care of itself.

Curtis said the new development is a remarkable time. “[It’s the] momentum we need to capitalize on as a city,” he said.

Another topic the council reviewed was Title 11, a mandate put in place to further define the role of the sanitation department.

“Part of that ordinance is that Provo city will provide curbside collection for all of Provo city … including not the commercial but the residential areas,” Healey said.

This ordinance will freeze for the next year as the council gains information from an analysis on what is happening with the sanitation department based on recycling program changes.

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