By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Emery County Commissioner Jordan Leonard joined the KOAL newsroom to provide his biweekly update on the state of Emery. In a wide-ranging conversation, Leonard discussed keeping public lands accessible, a meeting with the Utah State Tax Commission, and an upcoming trip to Green River for the commissioners.
Starting with Green River, the commission elected to hold its Oct. 21 meeting in the city, coinciding with a town hall open house following the meeting. “Years ago, the commissioners used to go down and have commission meetings and visit with the folks in Green River. So we’ve decided as a commission to go back to Green River and have a commission meeting. That’ll be at 3 p.m. on Oct. 21. We’ll also have a town-hall meeting that same day at 5 p.m., and that’s an open meeting to the public, for those folks in Green River and the surrounding areas to come and visit with us, ask questions and rub shoulders with them.”
Switching gears, Leonard spotlighted the Emery County Library System, which recently received the 2026 Children and Teen Enhancement Mini Grant. The grant, totaling $14,500. “They did go after grants to try to improve the libraries. I know that we’ve had some infrastructure issues. We’ve had some sewer line issues and roots that need fixing, but they target all the grants available to improve the libraries. Getting more books and more things for the community.”
He continued,” So we support these grants and want to highlight them and tell them thanks for the work that they do. Libraries are important to our community, not only for a community gathering place, but people gravitate toward libraries for different reasons, and we’re glad we have them.”
Moving away from meeting items, Leonard spoke about the battle the county is facing to keep access to the Cleveland Reservoir open to the public. “We want to fight for access for the public to continue to fish in the Cleveland Reservoir. There is private property on the north end of the reservoir, and so we want to fight for access. And we want to let the community know that if they hear things, the commission is fully supportive of historical use and everything it takes to allow the public up there to fish and enjoy the Cleveland Reservoir.”
Continuing on the trend of fighting for the public, Leonard discussed an upcoming meeting with the Utah State Tax Commission: “We want to visit with the state about our property taxes. We all feel that burden, and it’s a challenge for all of us and the citizens to pay these property taxes. We’re meeting with the state, and we’re going to have tough conversations about centrally assessed and how they tax the energy industry and how it impacts our county. There are some things that the state’s in charge of that we don’t have a say on, and our citizens are hurting from their taxes. So we want to have serious conversations with them if we can create a win-win situation or create some legislation with our legislators to try to help us.”
Switching topics, Leonard reflected on Green River’s recent Melon Days celebration: “Spent the weekend down there, the parade was fantastic. I played in the softball tournament, and it was great. I didn’t get injured. So that’s good. It was fantastic, the food, the parade. Community events really are fantastic for our community to get together and celebrate.”
Closing our conversation, Leonard stated,” If you have concerns or things that are bothering you, please reach out. We’ll try to fight for the better good.”