Several cities in northern Utah County met in special city council meetings throughout Monday to consider resolutions to create an interlocal agreement regarding splitting Alpine School Districts three ways.

The meetings were organized over the weekend due to a new law impacting school district splits that was passed this year and goes into effect on Wednesday. That law updates the deadlines and the timeline for creating new school districts.

Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Draper, Eagle Mountain, Highland, Lehi and Saratoga Springs all organized meetings Monday, with Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs having a joint meeting with Fairfield.

Alpine School District recently hired Florida-based MGT Education to study the feasibility of a split, with the company presenting the district with six options in February.

The agreement is to consider the fourth option presented by MGT, which would split the district in three, with Alpine, Cedar Hills, American Fork, Highland and Lehi banding together in one and Eagle Mountian, Saratoga Springs, Fairfield and Cedar Fort comprising another.

That would leave Orem, Vineyard, Pleasant Grove and Lindon as their own district.

During the special meeting in Cedar Hills on Monday morning, City Council member Kelly Smith explained that doing an interlocal agreement allows the cities that would create a new district to vote together but not with the entire district.

Smith said if Alpine School District was to put a split on the ballot, everyone in the district would get to vote on if and how the district splits. However, by doing an interlocal agreement, certain cities can vote together to split without the input of other cities in the district.

For example, through the interlocal agreement, Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Highland and Lehi can vote to split from Alpine School District without residents from around Orem voting.

Smith said Cedar Hills decided to initiate the process after Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs indicated their intention to begin the split process.

“It was clear that Eagle Mountain and Saratoga (Springs), their intent is to leave,” she said. “But that is kind of how we got into the situation is that they said, ‘We intend to leave the district.’ And so that’s why everyone else has to say, ‘OK, then what does that look like for us?'”

The resolutions passed Monday don’t put the split vote on the ballot in November but start the process for public comment and hearings on a split before city councils can then vote on whether to allow for a vote in November.

Cedar Hills City Attorney Hyrum Bosserman said once cities vote on initiating the process, the county clerk needs to verify that the agreement is legal, than a feasibility study can begin.

A 45-day public comment period also will be included, which will require each municipality to host two public hearings on the issue. After that, city councils will vote on whether to send the district split to voters.

During the public comment period in Cedar Hills, several residents expressed some concern about the cost of splitting as well as access to special education programs. Other residents said a split would allow for more local control and representation.

Cedar Hills Mayor Denise Andersen and Smith both stressed that the purpose of approving the agreement was to allow for the public input process to begin so the council can better understand citizens’ views and concerns.

Cedar Hills and Alpine, which held its meeting early Monday afternoon, both voted for the agreement unanimously. American Fork officials followed suit in the evening.

Also Monday afternoon, the Lehi City Council took a similar step, voting on the agreement during its special meeting.

Lehi Mayor Mark Johnson reiterated that no final decisions were being made at this time. He also took a moment to address social media comments for community members who felt the city was “hiding something” in regard to the district split.

“The fact is, late Friday night, we received some information that illustrated if we were to take interest in moving forward with a reduced school district that we had to prepare a submittal that had to be done by Tuesday morning,” Johnson said. “In order to do that, we had to move our meeting from the previously scheduled tomorrow (Tuesday) to today (Monday), because we are working in association with a number of other cities in order to do this.”

Lehi’s motion recognizes a potential school district formed in the western portion of the county. Johnson said the districts would support one another with no overlap.

Council member Heather Newall expressed her opinion for why an interlocal agreement gives local voters more control over what happens with the school district. “We are essentially controlling our own destiny, allowing our voters to control whether or not they would like to form the school district without having an impact from other outside cities,” she said.

The Draper City Council also held a meeting since the southeastern part of the city is within Utah County and Alpine School District boundaries. The resolution passed with unanimous support from the Draper council.

Johnson, Lehi’s mayor, presented to the Draper City Council and said he was notified on Friday that Alpine School District was planning to “make a move” that he said would be “pretty inconvenient for our city.” He said he worked with Draper Mayor Troy Walker to ensure Draper was not left out of the conversation.

The cities of Highland, Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs also were scheduled meet Monday evening to vote on similar resolutions. The Alpine School District will meet Tuesday morning to determine the split options it wants to certify with the county.

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