The Carbon County Administration building was packed on Wednesday, Dec. 4, as the Carbon County Board of Commissioners met for their regularly scheduled meeting. The reason for the increased attendance came from a variety of agenda items, the biggest being the approval of the county’s budget for 2025 and the public hearing that came along with it.

However before the Commissioners could tackle that item, they first had to witness the presentation of the county’s employee of the month award, which was presented to Commissioner Casey Hopes. Hopes has served three terms as a commissioner, holding the office since 2013. “ I’m excited and a little sad, but our employee of the month is actually Casey (Hopes),” explained Kellie Payne, the county’s Human Resources Supervisor,” he has done a fantastic job so we just want to say thank you and present you with a little retirement plaque.” 

Adding to this, Commissioner Tony Martines stated,” You definitely earned this, I have appreciated working with you,” a statement echoed by Commissioner Larry Jensen who shared,” I appreciate you, the county is definitely in a better place because he’s been serving.” Hopes then received a standing ovation from the attendees of the meeting.

Next was the presentation of the county’s Super Service Award, which was presented by Tourism Specialist Tina Grange to Valorie Marietti, owner of Marietti Monuments. “Val is currently working to fund an all-access playground for children with disabilities and Helper and she is seeking to raise $1 million she is well on her way to receiving the needed funding,” spoke Grange, reading from the nomination,” this is not the first Project she has undertaken as she was instrumental in getting the Angel of Hope tribute at the Cliffview Cemetery. Val cares deeply about helping our community and does things to make our community better. She takes on the difficult job of helping our community with the emotional process of creating headstones and does it with such a kind and understanding manner.” Marietti was unable to attend the meeting but received a standing ovation nonetheless.

Grange would remain at the podium, speaking on the County Wayfinding Guidelines and application. She explained this expansion of the wayfinding infrastructure would open up the cities of the county to partner with the Office of Tourism to display these wayfinders. But Grange and the county’s tourism board agreed that there should be guidelines for this, which include an application and one-to-one matching to fund the project. The commissioners agreed this would be beneficial and approved the plan.

After this, the commissioners heard from Antonio Resta and Theresa Foxley from rPlus Energies regarding the RC Solar project in Wellington for 2025. First, Foxley shared some recent events for the company, including the groundbreaking of the Green River Energy Center and the $375,000 donation to the Utah State University Eastern Energy First and Local First scholarships.

Resta then spoke on the RC Solar project, which will look to be 80 megawatts of PV energy and 80 megawatts of battery energy storage. Resta then explained that this project will bring the county $630,000 in revenue in the first year along with a $550,00 tax rebate. Resta explained that these centers are needed as Utah is looking to double its energy production over the next 10 years. 

The Commissioners expressed their support for the project and thanked Resta and Foxley for their time.

Next, the Commissioners looked to fill several vacancies across the many boards of the county. Starting with the Carbon County Recreation Transportation Special Service District, which had five applicants for four positions, where they appointed Dennis Christensen and Kevin Axgard to two-year terms and Wendy Barryman and Lori Bowman to four-year terms.

The next board was the Carbon County Economic Development Board, which filled three vacancies with Zach Kanakis, Oran Stainbrook and John Richens, each to serve a four-year term.

After this, it was the Carbon County Tax Advisory Board, which consists mainly of representatives from the restaurant and hotel industry. The Commissioners appointed Amy Anderson, William “Bill” Hicks, Cammy McManus and Crystal Nostram to this board.

Next was the Water Conservancy District board, where the Commissioners appointed Daniel Allen to continue in his position representing Scoffield. They also filled a board slot in District Five, where the sole applicant for the position was Justin Tyler Clark. 

Following the flurry of appointments, the Commissioners looked at a potential agreement between the county and Allin Pro Rodeo LLC to potentially bring a professional rodeo to Carbon. Kourtney Cox from Carbon County Recreation spoke on the plans to bring a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to Carbon County in 2025 named the ‘Black Diamond Rodeo’. The Commissioners approved the agreement unanimously.

After this on the Agenda, the Board looked to approve the Technical Planning Assistance Program Funds Cooperative Agreement, which Commissioner Jensen explained that this grant was through the Utah Department of Transportation, and was a long-range study used to make funds more easily available to the county in the form of grants. Seeing no problem with this, the Commissioners passed a motion approving the agreement.

The Commissioners then got into the meat of the meeting with the budget-related items, starting with a public hearing to adjust the 2024 budget. County Clerk/Auditor Seth Marsing first ran through the changes that occurred throughout the year. Major changes included a $775,000 increase to the Public Defender account, and a $20,000 increase to the Children’s Justice Center, with the CJC funds being raised through their gold tournament fundraiser. The county also purchased the Cantwell property in Wellington, costing them $2.9 million. The county received an increase of $600,000 in opioid funds due to various class-action lawsuits settling, a $160,000 increase in courthouse maintenance, and a $200,000 increase to the tourism fund.

The floor was then opened to public comment. No citizen came up to speak and the hearing was closed. Following the closure, the Commissioners approved the amendments to the 2024 budget.

Marsing then moved on to the 2025 budget, a recap of which can be found here. Again, the public was invited to comment but no one stepped forward, leading the Commissioners to close the hearing. They then approved the 2025 budget.

Closing out the actions taken by the Board of Commissioners, the trio looked to authorize the execution of an amended interlocal agreement between Carbon County and Carbon County Redevelopment Agency. The revision was due to Intermountain Electronics expanding their building and wanting the expansion to be included in their CRA. With the expansion working to provide even more jobs to local talent in the Castle Country Area, the Commissioners approved the item before adjourning.

The Carbon County Commissioners meet biweekly in the Carbon County Administration Building, with the next scheduled meeting set for Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 4:30 p.m. This meeting will be the last of the year and also mark the final meeting for Commissioner Hopes before Commissioner-Elect Jared Haddock is sworn in. For those unable to attend in person, a livestream of the meeting is available on YouTube and Facebook.