The Emery County Board of Commissioners met together on Tuesday, Nov. 19 for their regularly scheduled council meeting. Due to there only being one meeting in the month, the Commissioners found themselves with an agenda featuring 32 discussion items. These ranged from public hearings to utility connection approvals for the new senior citizen center.
Opening the items, the Commissioners held a public hearing regarding the ongoing annexation process of a few unincorporated areas around Emery County. No comment was made by the public, but Castle Valley Special Service District Manager Jacob Sharp addressed the Commissioners and explained the next steps in the annexation process. Those affected will have 60 days to file a petition against the move, but if none is made then the board can officially approve the annexation. Following this, the public hearing was closed.
Four major items appeared consecutively, all having to do with the construction of the new senior citizens center. These items focused on utilities for the facility, namely gas and electric hookups through contracts with Enbridge Gas and Rocky Mountain Power. The Commissioners approved these items and the construction will power ahead again.
Several grants were also approved throughout the meeting, first was the rural county grant. This grant would be used to form a general plan on the 100 acres of land the county owns near the San Rafael Research Center, which is in the midst of an ownership change to the state. This would allow the county to invest in infrastructure in an attempt to bring business to the industrial park area.
Other grants included the FLAP grant, which the commissioners modified the application for to try and get 100% of the funds instead of it being a matching grant. An application for the UDOT grant was also approved, which would help push the county’s general plan along by helping fund their review of ordinances. The final grant was the PBS Utah 2024 Reading Marathon minigrant for Castle Dale, Cleveland, Elmo, Emery, Ferron, Green River, Huntington and Orangeville Libraries. This grant will provide kindergartners through sixth graders with a free book to kick off the PBS Reading Marathon. It will also help fund a party for those who complete the challenge.
Continuing the topic of education, the Commissioners viewed a presentation from Rowe Zwahlen regarding the county continuing its agreement with Utah State University Extension through the 2025 fiscal year. “Our agriculture and natural resources extension is probably the oldest and most recognizable program we offer and what people think of when they think about extension programs,” explained Zwahlen.
Other programs offered by extension include the Master Gardener program, 4-H, Sewing Classes, Cooking classes and a myriad of other programs aimed at getting kids and adults alike to learn important life skills. Commissioner Keven Jensen made only one request before approving the agreement, that USU Extension increase its ask the next year to account for rising costs.
The commission also passed a motion to aid county employees with cost of living expenses through a one-time bonus. Commissioner Jordan Leonard explained that this could be viewed as a kind of ‘Christmas bonus’, aiding employees as the Holiday season begins.
Controversy did arise at the end of the discussion items when Emery County Auditor Brenda Tuttle spoke of her objection to an emergency purchase of a furnace for the Orangeville Branch library. She stated this was because only one bid had been received and that proper procedure had not been followed, and she would not be risking her neck by not speaking out. Commissioner Jensen rebutted that because of the emergency circumstances and potential building damage the library could face, he followed the emergency procedures. Tuttle objected saying that she was not notified of the emergency nature of this, highlighting a communication disruption in the process. Despite Tuttle’s objection, the purchase still passed 2-0, with Commissioner Lynn Sitterud abstaining from the vote.
The next item continued to highlight the previous issue, with it tasking Tuttle to write a policy regarding the process for emergency procurement. She stated that this was outside of her purview and that there was already an existing policy on the matter. Commissioner Jensen shot back that in the future the department will specify this as an emergency procurement. Tuttle questioned what constitutes an emergency, to which Jensen responded in this situation with the potential for pipes freezing and potential damage to the library, this constituted an emergency.
When it came time for elected officials’ reports, Commissioner Leonard spoke on an issue regarding a private land owner who wants to build a cabin on Cleveland Reservoir that would cut off recreation access to the water body. He said that they were still working for a solution in this matter but they were dedicated to protecting public access – a point which was reiterated by Commissioner Jensen.
The Emery County Board of Commissioners will meet once more before the end of the year on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 3 p.m. in the Emery County Administration Building. This will be the last meeting of Commissioner Sitterud, as he did not run for reelection, instead, he will be replaced by newly elected Dennis Worwood.