By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

On Tuesday, July 17, the Board of Emery County Commissioners gathered for their biweekly meeting in the Emery County administration building. A brief agenda saw the Commissioners approve grants, policy changes and hear a presentation from Izzy Turner, who received a donation from the commission to attend the Girls State program.

Opening the meeting was Turner, who reported on what she learned at Girls State. “I learned a lot at Girls State about being a good citizen,” said Turner. “Another thing I learned was the importance of local governments and how our city and county governments are the people that have the most impact on our daily life, and I really do think that is really true.”

Turner also expressed gratitude to the commission for their donation, which enabled her to attend the Governor’s Honor Academy.

Moving forward, the Commissioners looked to amend the bylaws of the newly formed Huntington Municipal Airport Advisory Board. “To make up the group, the way the bylaws read it said the Travel Bureau would nominate one person, one person nominated by this group and another nominated by that group,” explained Commissioner Dennis Worwood. “We felt like it would just be better to just ask for nominations or applications, and then have the commission appoint them, so we changed that language.”

The Board, which consists of five members, will serve a four-year term, except for two members of the original group, who will serve a two-year term to stagger membership.

The changes were put to a vote, where the Commissioners approved the amendments unanimously.

Following this, the commission approved the sale of a small parcel of land owned by the county. Wedged between private properties, the parcel wasn’t large enough to develop any new, individual infrastructure. Commissioner Jordan Leonard advised that the county should begin the process of selling the land, an opinion shared by the other Commissioners.

An ongoing issue returned to the Board’s attention, with amendments to the Hunter Solar Battery Storage conditional use permit continuing to trouble the commission. “The only concern I have with this letter is because I’m wondering if this locks them in the CRA,” explained Commissioner Keven Jensen. After discussing the concern, the item was tabled for further review by the Commissioners to make sure the language of the permit would be in the best interest of the county.

Next, the Commissioners eyed the approval of IT security policies for the Emery County Attorney’s Office and Justice Court. “That’s the software that contains our criminal histories and our warrants and our protective orders. All that information is confidential. We can only access it for certain reasons,” explained County Attorney Mike Olsen. These policies needed to be implemented following an audit, which the department passed. However, to pass again, they would have to implement these policies. With no controversy surrounding the item, it was passed unopposed.

The final agenda item facing the Commissioners was the acceptance of the 2025 Library Technology grant. Library Director Desiree Malley shared that the grant money would be used to purchase essential technology for the library system. In total, the library system saw $24,526 in reimbursable funds awarded through the grant. Again, the Commissioners approved the acceptance of the grant.

During the Elected Officials’ reports to close the meeting, Commissioner Jensen spoke about the Deep Water Port, located in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, which would be used to export coal worldwide. The port would be operated by Savage Co., and funded by mineral lease funds. This port would hold potential benefits for Carbon, Emery, Sanpete and Sevier counties. The port is currently awaiting approval from the Community Impact Board.

Following these remarks, the meeting was adjourned.

The next meeting of the Emery County Commission will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 3 p.m. in the Emery County Administration Building.