diff --git a/command/agent/user_event.go b/command/agent/user_event.go
index be1037d51d..4f3889b816 100644
--- a/command/agent/user_event.go
+++ b/command/agent/user_event.go
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 package agent
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/consul/structs"
-	"github.com/ugorji/go/codec"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -79,7 +77,7 @@ func (a *Agent) UserEvent(dc string, params *UserEvent) error {
 	// Format message
 	params.ID = generateUUID()
 	params.Version = userEventMaxVersion
-	payload, err := encodeUserEvent(&params)
+	payload, err := encodeMsgPack(&params)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("UserEvent encoding failed: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -114,7 +112,7 @@ func (a *Agent) handleEvents() {
 		case e := <-a.eventCh:
 			// Decode the event
 			msg := new(UserEvent)
-			if err := decodeUserEvent(e.Payload, msg); err != nil {
+			if err := decodeMsgPack(e.Payload, msg); err != nil {
 				a.logger.Printf("[ERR] agent: Failed to decode event: %v", err)
 				continue
 			}
@@ -253,15 +251,3 @@ func (a *Agent) LastUserEvent() *UserEvent {
 	idx := (((a.eventIndex - 1) % n) + n) % n
 	return a.eventBuf[idx]
 }
-
-// Decode is used to decode a MsgPack encoded object
-func decodeUserEvent(buf []byte, out interface{}) error {
-	return codec.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(buf), msgpackHandle).Decode(out)
-}
-
-// encodeUserEvent is used to encode user event
-func encodeUserEvent(msg interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
-	var buf bytes.Buffer
-	err := codec.NewEncoder(&buf, msgpackHandle).Encode(msg)
-	return buf.Bytes(), err
-}
diff --git a/command/agent/util.go b/command/agent/util.go
index b753505b50..c91a6dbc44 100644
--- a/command/agent/util.go
+++ b/command/agent/util.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package agent
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	crand "crypto/rand"
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
@@ -9,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"os/exec"
 	"runtime"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/ugorji/go/codec"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -76,3 +79,15 @@ func generateUUID() string {
 		buf[8:10],
 		buf[10:16])
 }
+
+// decodeMsgPack is used to decode a MsgPack encoded object
+func decodeMsgPack(buf []byte, out interface{}) error {
+	return codec.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(buf), msgpackHandle).Decode(out)
+}
+
+// encodeMsgPack is used to encode an object with msgpack
+func encodeMsgPack(msg interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	err := codec.NewEncoder(&buf, msgpackHandle).Encode(msg)
+	return buf.Bytes(), err
+}