By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

The Carbon County Board of Commissioners convened on Wednesday, Nov. 5, for the first of their November gatherings. On the agenda were typical fare, such as recognizing the county’s Employee of the Month and presenting the Super Service Award, but the Commissioners also got a preview of the tentative 2026 budget.

The affair opened with the presentation of the Employee of the Month, awarded to Chris Gravett of the Carbon County Ambulance department. Marnieta Wilson spoke to the character of Gravett,” We have about 28 employees who work for us, and they’re all phenomenal, but not any of them pick up the phone and call me as often as Chris does and say, ‘How can I help?’ 

She also added that Gravett’s dedication goes ‘above and beyond’ the call of duty.

Taking a moment with the microphone, Gravett stated,” I don’t have a whole lot to say other than thank you, and I’m happy to be here working with this phenomenal group of people.”

Moving to the Super Service Award, Shelly Wright announced that Helen Yates and John Sanchez had earned it. “For the past 11 years, John and his mother, Helen, have dedicated a year’s worth of time and money to purchase new backpacks, school supplies, toiletry items, and children’s clothes to support our annual back-to-school giveaway. This project of theirs began in 2014 when John had to complete a community service project,” read the duo’s nomination.

Continued Wright, “His hope was to give back to the community and give children a new start to the school year. John, with the help of his mother, saved up their own money to make this happen. This project started out with backpacks and school supplies, and today they not only provide enough backpacks for 200 plus children, they provide socks, pajamas, slippers, paper towels, toilet paper, and other household essentials.”

Next, the agenda saw the commissioners accepting requests for qualifications for social media support for the Tourism Department. In total, 10 bids were received and acknowledged by the commission before being sent for further review.

Following this, Wade Allinson from the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation delivered a presentation to the body. 

” It is the spirit of volunteerism that makes our community great,” shared Allinson. “This is what separates Carbon and Emery counties from Utah County, Salt Lake County and Weber County, because of our volunteers. That’s what makes our community great … The clubs, in my opinion, are the glue that keeps everything from coming apart on BLM and forest lands. It’s these clubs that are volunteering. You have a unique club here, the Castle Country OHV Club. You’ve probably seen Jarcace Glover. He’s very active in it. It’s these clubs that are out volunteering to help solve problems on public land. In fact, your club here was out on the Devil’s Racetrack last month, and they’ve done several hours out there working and volunteering on that trail system. So kudos to the local club you have here.”

Allinson also spoke on grants offered by DOR Offroad Highway Vehicle Program,” We give out several hundred thousand dollars a year in grants to search and rescue teams, just like Carbon County, that benefits both the motorized and the nonmotorized community … We give out grants for trailheads. When we approve a trail, it benefits everybody. When we put a toilet at a trailhead, there are no signs that say, “If you’re not an OHV-registered user, you can’t use this toilet.” Everybody benefits from it, and that’s the message I want to leave with you.”

After Allinson’s presentation, the board moved to appoint Commissioner Jared Haddock to represent the board on the Carbon Emery Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, a motion which was approved unanimously.

Next, the commissioners considered approving an easement with the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. “This is an easement that was secured a number of years ago. This is a one-time renewal of fees and its four road sections of the Ridge Road and also two sections of the roads that go south off Ridge Road into Miller Creek,” explained Commissioner Larry Jensen. “There are a number of sections of the road that go through SITLA (School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration) property where we have an easement, and this is the total cost of $10,020, and it’s for a 30-year extension on that easement that we currently have there.”

Jensen continued, explaining the purpose behind SITLA: “SITLA is a state agency that is tasked with managing the lands that were given to the state of Utah by the federal government when the state was created, and they’re tasked with taking all of those properties and doing everything they can to infuse money into the schools. So they gather this money here, which would probably go into the money that’s collected, and they actually, I think, the only money they’ll allow to be spent out of this is the interest on all the money they collect.”

Following this discussion, the commission unanimously approved the easement extension.

The next portion of the meeting consisted of several assessor-based items, starting with the commission’s approval for the Assessor’s Office to select a certified commercial appraiser to appraise the county’s commercial properties. 

The board then adjourned and reconvened as the Carbon County Board of Equalization, where Deputy Assessor Keven Ewell presented an update to the group. “We have about 115 appeals that we’ve either stipulated or agreed to that have been presented to you … As of this morning, we were still 204 away from being fully completed. Forty-one of those are scheduled for hearings next week.

I think it was 41 when I prepared the numbers last night. That’s what it was. And we have an additional 60 that are ready for hearings, so we have to set up some additional hearing days to do those. And then we have about 100 left that we’re still reviewing. We went out and inspected 12 of those today.”

Ewell also offered a correction the county needed to make regarding the Price River Terminal, which had been taxed twice by mistake. The terminal had not paid the second round of taxes, so Ewell recommended writing off $724,795.06, the amount that was unpaid.

Acting as the BOE, the group approved the current batch of assessor-initiated adjustments before adjourning and reconvening as the Board of Commissioners.

The final item before the commission was the presentation of the tentative 2026 county budget. County Clerk/Auditor Seth Marsing ran through the proposed budget for each county fund, which includes:

• $19,090,950 in the general fund
• $9,627,300 for the municipal services fund
• $1,939,000 in the municipal building authority fund
• $900,000 proposed for the enterprise fund
• $15,000 in the capital projects fund
• $2,169,500 for the airport fund
• $310,100 for the senior citizens center fund
• $846,900 in the senior citizens nutrition fund
• $883,400 for the event center fund
• $653,950 in the Carbon Rec fund
• $902,000 for the tourism fund
• $290,000 in the economic development fund
• $1,300,000 for the Carbon County redevelopment fund
• $4,000 in the 9-1-1 emergency fund

Marsing noted that, in its current iteration, the budget runs approximately $1 million below the 2025 budget. Another key change mentioned by Marsing is the proposed 3.5% cost-of-living adjustment for county employees and elected officials to help offset rising inflation. Commissioner Jensen added that due to the safety of county employees, insurance rates remained stagnant heading into 2026.

The full tentative budget is available for examination at the Clerk/Auditors’ office in the Carbon County Administration building. In coming weeks, a public hearing will be scheduled for the budget before it heads for final approval.

Following this, the meeting was adjourned.