Estimated read time: 9-10 minutes
VINEYARD — Vineyard city leaders are at odds over the price tags for two trade group memberships, with a new City Council member calling for the mayor to step down and alleging lack of transparency in the spending.
Mayor Julie Fullmer contends the city's involvement in World Trade Center Utah and 47G (previously Utah Aerospace and Defense Association) are essential tools to aid the growth happening in the blossoming Utah County city.
During a recent City Council meeting, some residents questioned the use of city funds following a report that city workers took "expensive overseas trips." The meeting evolved into a heated discussion between the council and mayor.
Trade group memberships
Vineyard has an "ambassadorship" membership with the World Trade Center Utah that costs $50,000 a year and a partnership with 47G that costs $7,500 annually. On Dec. 13, 2023, the city extended those contracts for two more years, along with partnerships with the Economic Development Corporation of Utah and the Utah Valley Chamber.
Councilman Jacob Holdaway questioned why the city has an ambassadorship membership with the World Trade Center Utah rather than a free, public membership during an April 24 City Council meeting.
Salt Lake City is Utah's only other city with that type of membership, Holdaway said, commenting that it's unusual for such a small city to be involved in a costly partnership.
"There's not one city in all of Utah County, let alone a tiny little city like us, that's funding anything like this," he said.
Holdaway, who joined the council in January, also contends that it's "very irregular" to prepay for an annual conference, and he thinks it should've been a contract extended on a yearly basis only.
Fullmer, however, described Vineyard as one of the largest regional developments in the area and said it's regarded as one of the biggest economic opportunities in the state. The mayor says it's "an ideal location for growth," close to a soon-to-be international airport, central to tourism opportunities and in a free-trade zone for development.
"Vineyard is in a really incredible opportunity for the state," she said.
Fullmer said the paid membership in the Utah Trade Center comes with better perks that are "very pivotal for a growing city like ours," including access to statewide leaders, networking, economic opportunities and education workshops, resources on Utah's internal business strategy and industry working groups, among other things.
The mayor added that the previous City Council last year approved the expenditures.
A city staff report from Dec. 13 said because the contracts have an annual obligation of more than $25,000 combined, they needed to be brought forward for council approval. Fullmer said the economic development partnerships were "unanimously" approved during several meetings in 2023. She said some of the funds for the economic partnerships come from a redevelopment agency, which encompasses approximately 75% of the city that was once a steel factory, and the land is now being "rejuvenated" with new infrastructure and economic development.
The mayor said last year's council had a shared focus on multiyear partnerships to help the city be proactive as it grows.
Why trade missions and aerospace?
Holdaway contended that $150,000 for three years at World Trade Center Utah is "absolutely" a massive amount for a small city and is more than what the mayor and City Council make combined. But his biggest problem was the way it was approved and then, he said, "hidden."
"We're tiny at 14,000 (residents), and so it's the amount of spend, and it's how they went about doing it," he said. "The public notification was hidden very well." He also contends he wasn't given access to the city ledger when he joined the City Council.
Holdaway told KSL.com he is fighting to make the general ledger public.
"The citizens can't see the general ledger. That's unacceptable; just let them see it. Let them make the decision for themselves. Five people shouldn't be the only ones that access the general ledger," Holdaway said.
As he looked through the ledger, Holdaway said he was taken aback by expensive hotels, other costs for a Paris and London trip and other "problematic" expenses that he feels should've been brought up in City Council meetings.
"It's just not the way government is done. I did thorough research into it and, at that point, I felt it's time that you step down. This isn't appropriate. Now is not the time to explain — that should've been back in December, November when I'm onboarded to completely understand what you've been doing," he said.
As part of the World Trade Center Utah, Vineyard sent its previous city manager and community development director to Paris and London from June 12-25, 2023, for a "governor-led trade mission." The trip cost the city $15,964.75, the mayor said.
"The staff had the ability to engage in policy and foster a culture of innovation and really embrace a lot of the opportunities that we are bringing into the city as we are growing from the ground up," she said.
"For the return of investment that comes, I would say each of the economic partnerships that we have are small investments for really big returns that we've experienced," Fullmer said. She pointed to the new development of a Huntsman Cancer Institute as an example of a partnership with "an incredible return on investment" that is bringing resources to the people in Vineyard.
Resident Kimberly Olsen said during public comment at the City Council meeting she wished there was more transparency in the cost of things the council votes on and wondered if fiscal impacts could be more clearly included in the descriptions of items on the council's agenda.
Holdaway also questioned the public interest for a city that doesn't have tanks, bullet manufacturers or an airport to be paying money for partnerships with an aerospace association that focuses on those goods and services.
Fullmer said because 20% of Utah's economy is aerospace and defense, the City Council felt it was important to prioritize a partnership with 47G to build up Vineyard's industry.
Vineyard is home to "top defense company facilities" such as Lockheed Martin and other companies that impact the airspace such as Huntsman Cancer Institute, which has pilot programs for drone deliveries. The mayor said Vineyard has "strategic assets in this vertical" with updated zoning for heliports, first-mile and last-mile connectivity for transit and open land in central locations.
She added that being near the Provo Airport, it's critical for Vineyard to "shape our airspace for the quality of life of our residents." The partnership "opens doors" that benefit companies in the city, brings in industry and gives the city a voice while supporting the airport's expansion, she said.
Petition for resignation
A petition posted on Change.org on April 22 claims the mayor conducted "reckless and extravagant spending of taxpayer funds on lavish trade missions membership that take her around the world, without adequate transparency or accountability to the citizens of Vineyard," and asks for her to step down. As of Friday, the petition had received 261 of its goal of 500 signatures.
The petition alleges the mayor authorized "expenditures amounting to thousands of dollars on these unnecessary ventures" despite the city's "modest budget and pressing local needs." The petition also claims the "exorbitant amounts" spent on travel and the World Trade Center Utah memberships were done "without proper consultation with the City Council or public disclosure."
The petition and Holdaway mentioned two trips the mayor went on to India and Ukraine in 2023. The mayor said in the council meeting and to KSL.com that she paid for those trips out of her own pocket, but Holdaway thinks those trips are problematic, especially traveling into a "war-torn area."
"This is such a big, out-of-the-ordinary expense for a mayor to go to India or Ukraine," he said. "It's extremely problematic that she's paying for it by herself in the fact that it wasn't disclosed during the December meeting that this was going to be a public/private partnership of the city paying the $50,000 membership annually, and then the mayor is going to be doing this privately with her travel."
He questioned the mayor traveling for city business on her own dime.
The mayor said the trips to India and Ukraine were "business delegations" — meaning "companies and officials from Utah going out to these areas to see things" — and her two trips were not under the economic development memberships.
Fullmer said she had the "incredible opportunity" to visit UNIT.City, the largest innovation park in eastern Europe, which is built on a redevelopment site — similar to the redevelopment site in Vineyard that is to become Utah City, a more than 700-acre development announced last September by the Flagship Companies and Woodbury Corporation, focusing on sustainability and walkability in Vineyard.
The mayor said her overseas trips were separate from the city's trade group memberships. During the City Council meeting, she said she only uses the ambassadorship for networking events and meetings in Utah that are "very beneficial to the people of this community." She did not use the memberships for the opportunities she had to travel abroad, she added.
"I just love Vineyard, a lot. It's important to me that Vineyard succeeds," the mayor said. "Building a community, it takes a lot of sacrifice and a lot of getting out there and seeing the best to bring the best into our community."
Mayor responds to criticism
When asked about people calling for her resignation, the mayor said, "I am committed to listening. I am committed to learning on how to communicate more clearly and proactively."
Fullmer said moving forward, she is planning to make things more accessible by putting out information on how things are approved and what benefits they bring to the city.
"You do your best, and you always do better when people bring it up to you. You take every request seriously, and then you commit to do better," she said. "I'm going to do all I can, and please call and talk to us."
After the April 24 meeting's debate about the trade group memberships, Councilwoman Mardi Sifuentes motioned to put the World Trade Center Utah and 47G's contracts on a future work session agenda to review the partnerships and the benefits they bring to the city and adjust any if the council feels the need. The motion passed, but a date has not been decided yet for that discussion.
The mayor said the city is releasing an economic series on social media that discusses all the economic development initiatives the city is a part of. The first episode, an hourlong video posted on April 11, details the city's various partnerships in economic development.
After the meeting, Fullmer expressed a desire to work together with the new members of the City Council.
"We have two new council people, and I think that's wonderful. Our last council unanimously prioritized (economic development partnerships), and I think that was meaningful because we had been working together, and we understood these things. And as this council grows together, we will be able to come together and see what is meaningful to this council," Fullmer said.
