By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Following the biweekly meeting of the Emery County Commissioners, Commissioner Jordan Leonard joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss what’s happening along the San Rafael Swell.
Opening our conversation, Leonard discussed the public hearing hosted by the commission to gain public input on a proposed solar power generation and battery storage system within the county. “PacifiCorp presented a Solar project now, this is on PacifiCorp land, and they’re looking at doing a potential solar project on their land. They were looking for a conditional use permit.”
He continued,” There were a lot of questions from the community and neighboring landowners. Just to let the public know we’re not doing any incentives if they decide to do the project. It looks like the project will be centrally assessed, so it should help the property tax rates of the community.”
Leonard also spoke on the renovation project for the Castle Cale Bridge, which the commission closed to public access until repairs could be made. “It’s a big part of our community,” said the Commissioner. “Our Road Department’s been amazing in trying to help by looking for grants. Our county attorney has been involved in making sure that we do it the right way. Who owns the bridge? Property owners around it. The partnership’s been great. We’re going to get the bridge floor redone with wood planks. There wasn’t an exact timeline, but hopefully we can get that bridge fixed so that people can utilize that again, because I know it’s a community staple.”
Another restoration project the commission engaged with is the construction of a new livestock event center in Ferron, following the destruction of the old facility in 2024. “When it burned down, I think we were all heartbroken. Ferron City and its staff have done a lot of work. They went after CIB funding. They’ve secured that funding. They’ve come to our tourism office as it is an event center. I know it’s for the stock show, but it brings people into our community. So they’re going to rebuild, and as a county through the tourism office there, we want to support that financially to help be part of the match for CIB to help it get funded.”
The commission contributed $500,000 to the project.
Continuing on the trend of community improvement, Leonard discussed the Rural Economic Blueprint draft plan presented to the commission by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. “We had August Granath from the state do a presentation and really read everything that was in the plan. We haven’t approved it yet; we just wanted a presentation to make sure the public knows about it in case there are any major concerns. We can change it, but this is an economic development plan similar to a general plan.”
He added,” There are some good ideas and things that we want to implement and follow. Some of those are community development, economic development and supporting local business, as well as our bigger industries. It was a great plan. I’m glad that we’re working on it.”
For our penultimate topic of discussion, Leonard provided a plug for Green River’s upcoming Melon Days Celebration on Friday, Sept. 19, and Saturday, Sept. 20. “I’ll be down there all weekend. I love Melon Days. Playing softball and enjoying the festivities, I love the watermelons; it’s a fantastic event. So if you don’t have anything going on this weekend, Melon Days is a fantastic, fun place to be.”
In closing, the Commissioner shared,” I just want to tell everybody we appreciate their efforts in the blueprint print plan. Those in the community who are trying to better the county. A lot of people volunteer on City Councils and as mayors, and we just appreciate all of the work that they’re doing to make the community better.”