With the new year comes resolutions and goals set by people across the globe. This includes various bodies of government, such as the Emery County Commissioners, who are pursuing several major projects in 2025. To discuss these goals, Commissioner Jordan Leonard called into the KOAL newsroom and provided insight on what’s coming up for the county in 2025.

Opening our discussion, the Commissioner first previewed some upcoming events for the county,” there are some fun ones. So there’s the Energized Expedition in Green River. So those of you who are interested can go to the John Wesley Powell Museum or reach out to them to get more details. But there are cash and prizes and it’s a scavenger hunt, a lot of fun.” 

Also in the works is the “Beat the Winter Blues” festival on Friday, Jan. 24, and Saturday, Jan. 25. “That’s always fun. Get out of the house and purchase homemade goods. There’s some good food as well and that will be down at the Rec Center.”

The final event Leonard discussed was the “Millsite On-Ice” ice fishing tournament, which due to weather conditions has been rescheduled to March 28 and 29. “it is one of my favorite tournaments of the year. So it’s sad that we haven’t had a frozen lake. But I look forward to next year, but the off-ice tournament will be a close second.”

One goal set by the Commissioners is the opening of the Fossil Rock Mine, which Leonard explained,” I think in this environment it’s tough for a coal mine to open. We’ve tried to partner with them. So, yeah, we’re excited about Fossil Rock getting ramped up, the coal mine, they’re looking for employees as we speak,” adding,” There’s always a challenge with housing. So we’re working on some housing plans to generate housing as quickly as we can for employees.”

Another county goal is expanding the industrial park area near the San Rafael Research Center.” We own some property there, and we have some companies that are really interested, and we’re going to spend some time with them in the next few months looking to bring them to the industrial park.”

Continuing the topic of business expansion, Commissioner Leonard spoke on the Small Business Expansion Program done in collaboration with the Emery County Business Chamber,” if you own a small business in Emery County, there are some matching grant opportunities if you’re looking to expand, improve your facade, get things for your business or to help you potentially hire new employees. So if you’re interested in that, please reach out to the business chamber or the Commission office. We can talk to you about that expansion business chamber program.”

Also for business is the Junior Entrepreneurship Program hosted by the county,” we’re excited about our junior entrepreneurs this year. That starts the first week in February. The junior entrepreneurs have an opportunity to sell at the county fair and other local events,” explained Leonard,” There have been some amazing junior entrepreneurs in the past that have gone through this program. So those that are interested in that can go to events at emery.utah.gov if you want your youth to learn about entrepreneurship.”

The Commissioner also reiterated a point from the most recent Commission meeting regarding the planned Inland Port coming to the area,” we’re in support of the inland port. They have been a really good partner for the coal mine to open up … We weren’t forced into that. And so we wanted to let the community know that we were trying to pull out all the stops to get the coal mine opened up.”

In closing, Commissioner Leonard stated,” We really appreciate our partners, our business owners and the business chamber. We have a fantastic group putting on the county fair, volunteers, and those who are looking to help us with a lot of different things that make our community better … if you have questions or concerns, please reach out, I’m happy to talk and visit.”