As is tradition following Emery County Commission meetings, Commissioner Jordan Leonard called into the KOAL newsroom to discuss the meeting, upcoming events and a variety of other topics.
The biggest item that faced the Commissioners was the amendment of their 2024 budget and approval of the 2025 budget,” we have to have a public hearing, go over the budget. Our budget has stayed level for quite a few years with the revenue that we receive in the county. So we have to be creative. But it’s always a fun process.”
Leonard also explained what the budget process looks like within Emery County,” So what we do is we meet with each department, visit with them about their needs, employees, how things are running and what their budget was the previous year. So we meet with each department, talk about things, and then we come to a conclusion on what we need to do.” Leonard continued,” It’s really good to visit with departments as well to see how they’re doing, make sure that we can be as efficient as possible, but also serve the county the best we can. It’s about a month and a half process to make sure we visit with everybody and go through the numbers and make sure that they match what is needed.”
Also in the Commission meeting, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office and Emery County Drug Task Force were honored for a 2023 drug bust and investigation which took several major dealers off the streets. “The sheriff’s office, you know, they do a lot of work. They were able to find a lot of drugs this year but also highlighted a few. A wanted person who came through our county. Because they went above and beyond, they were able to find this person,” explained the Commissioner,” We’re proud of our sheriff’s office and the way that they go over and above to support our community and keep it safe. And so we also want to highlight them as our department of the commission meeting on the radio today.”
The final Commission meeting item we covered was the donation of $1000 to the American Legion’s “Combat Santa,” which is a part of Sub for Santa,” I think there are a lot of veterans in our communities that are a little underserved when it comes to Christmas. And so it was it was good to donate to that.”
Looking at upcoming events, Leonard spoke excitedly of the upcoming ‘Millsite on Ice’ fishing tournament,” that’s a really funny event. Last year, there wasn’t enough ice, but it’s looking good this year. So sign up for the fishing tournament. Usually, it gets around three or four hundred fishers, youth, males and females, just a lot of fun. So if you are interested in ice fishing, that’s always a good event to look into on MillsiteonIce.com.”
In closing, Commissioner Leonard shared a holiday message from the Emery County Commissioners,” I think just keeping an eye out for our neighbors in our community. If we can all find an opportunity to serve, to help, to buy a little gift for someone else. I think it’s a good time of year to look out for others … And we just hope everybody has a good holiday and a great Christmas and looks for opportunities to serve.”