By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

Emery County Commissioner Jordan Leonard joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss the commission’s end-of-year budget push, donations and the recently approved Emery County Blueprint.

Opening our conversation, Leonard gave a shoutout to the Emery High Girls cross-country team, who recently won the first championship in program history. “It was a big deal. They worked hard, and you know, cross-country is not an easy sport. Running all the time, and they just did an amazing job. I know they had challenges throughout the season with health, but they put it all together for the state Championship. We just wanted to highlight them.”

Moving along, Leonard discussed a series of donations to causes across the county, beginning with one to help rebuild the Ferron Agriculture Center. “Most people know that the barn had burned down, and so they’re looking for a rebuild for the stock shows and different ways to utilize the new facility. We are going to support that project through our tourism office, through TRT Funding, and are so excited for that new building to come about with Ferron City.”

He also thanked Castle Dale for stepping up during this tragedy to ensure the stock show could continue,” Castle Dale City’s done an amazing job filling the gap there while the transitions are happening, so I want to give a shout out to Castle Dale City for taking on the stock show the last couple of years.”

Another group receiving a commission donation is the American Legion. Leonard explained the rationale behind the move,” They do a lot. They go to a lot of the funerals we have and to many of the city celebrations around the area. They go to a lot of things and support a lot of causes in the community, and so we were able to donate a little bit to each post, and so hopefully it helps them get through the year with their activities and different things they have going on to help sustain them to make sure that they continue to function and can support our community.”

Switching gears, Leonard spoke on the recently approved Emery County Blueprint, which looks to help guide the county and its elected officials as they bring Emery County into the future. “It’s a moving document, and it’s nice to have an outline or a blueprint or a plan to look at to help guide us as we talk about economic development. Some of the specifics would be housing, water and city projects. If anybody’s interested in looking at this plan, you’re more than welcome to reach out to our office.”

He continued,” a lot of different detailed things that we want to do in economic development. We’re looking at housing and water, recruitment, and then building out the research center with Valor (Atomics). A lot of those things that are happening, and we are excited about developing new nuclear modules that can be built here in Emery County.”

Another exciting addition to the county is the recently opened Huntington Senior Citizen Center, which celebrated its grand opening on Nov. 6. “That’s been a great project. I know it’s been worked on even with the previous commission, and then we followed through with getting that done, and yeah, it’s a fantastic building for funerals, and wedding receptions, so if you’re looking even for you know holiday activities, Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, it’s a great building. “

Leonard added,” I think it’ll be a great asset to the community Route 10 band has done some events there. It’s perfect for fun activities like that too, so please come out and If you’re not a senior, that’s OK still come out and look at the building and utilize it the way that it needs to be.”

As year-end approaches, so too does the finalization of the 2026 budget. Leonard gave a look into what the process looks like for the county,” We had a meeting last week to Preliminary finalized the budget so we’ll have public hearings coming up, but yeah, we’ve met with all the departments the challenge that we’re having right now is mineral lease money these are revenues that we get from coal and oil and gas. And I won’t dive into it, but we’ve been a little short on mineral lease dollars. So we need to tackle the fact that many of those funds go to our special service district. We were able to budget pretty well for this year, but next year, we’ll have to keep a close eye on mineral lease money, then see where we’re at.”

Closing our conversation, Leonard shared,” Coming upon Thanksgiving, just enjoy family. Hopefully, everybody has a good time with their family. I know if there are struggles, there are different avenues if you need a turkey, and different places at the food bank if you have needs, but enjoy your family, and we hope you have a great Thanksgiving.”