IVINS — The Ivins City Council provided its blessing for a plan to expand public art in the city during its meeting Thursday night at Ivins City Hall.
The five-member council itself was down to three members during the meeting. Council member Lance Anderson was absent and member Sue Gordhammer announced her resignation from the council earlier in the week.
In a unanimous 3-0 vote, the council approved the recommendations of the Ivins Arts Commission to set up a more formal process to acquire large art pieces for the city’s roundabouts and smaller pieces to be placed in parks, trails and around City Hall.
The council also approved unanimously the commission’s recommendations for how to distribute funds the city has received for this year through the Washington County Recreational, Arts and Parks Tax, otherwise known as the RAP Tax. In the county, 15% of funds generated by 0.1% of sales and use taxes in the county go toward the RAP Tax.
Of the $17,265 available to the commission, a large portion, $15,000, is going toward the Kayenta Arts Foundation with the remainder going toward other arts efforts in the city.
That includes new large sculptures for at least three roundabouts. There are two new roundabouts in the planning stages for Old Highway 91, and there is a goal to add a new sculpture for the existing Snow Canyon Parkway-Snow Canyon Drive roundabout to replace the Heritage Sculpture that was moved to the new City Hall last year.
Per the commission’s recommendations, the city will acquire large pieces through either a request for proposal that provides the specifications and budget for the art piece or sculpture or by the direct purchase of existing pieces.
For smaller pieces designed for parks, trails and the sculpture garden at City Hall, the city will acquire them through an on-loan process similar to the Art Around the Corner program in St. George.
Ultimately, the City Council will have the final say and approval of which pieces are selected, which is how Judith Kapuscinski, chairperson of the Arts Commission, said it should be.
“Our sense is whenever the city is using public dollars for public art, the public should be given notice,” Kapuscinski said.
Vacancy opens up on Ivins Council
There’s an empty chair that needs filling for Ivins City Council Meetings.
Sue Gordhammer, elected to the council in 2019, told St. George News that she has left the council after moving out of state.
“I’m certainly going to miss being on City Council as it was a privilege to serve Ivins, and I enjoyed the challenges associated with Council,” Gordhammer said.
With Gordhammer’s departure, the city is taking applications for someone to serve out the remainder of Gordhammer’s term through the end of 2023. An applicant must be a U.S. citizen, not convicted of a felony and be a registered voter that has lived in Ivins for at least the last 12 months.
Applications have to be received by Jan. 27. Applicants will then go through a final selection by the full council at its next meeting on Feb. 3 similar to one done after a vacancy in October 2020.
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