Big things are happening in Emery County. Whether it be a new senior citizens center or the ongoing development of the county’s inland port, big moves are being made. To talk about those big moves, Castle Country Radio was joined by Emery County Commissioner Jordan Leonard to cover all things Emery.

Opening our conversation, Commissioner Leonard first discussed the inland port coming to Emery County, explaining what an inland port is,” The inland Port Authority is a state entity that helps connect resources to businesses to help with tax increment financing.” He continued,” And that allows us to have a little budget to, to use for other things infrastructure building out industrial parks. So it gives us some good seed money to try to grow. And so the Inland Port Authority. If people are inside the inland port authority, they can get all of those resources.”

In the most recent Commission meeting, several new businesses were approved to join the port, as well as the county’s new industrial park by the San Rafael Research Center. Leonard spoke on the impact that this has on the development plans,” it helps us build out with some of that the tax dollars some infrastructure. So we’re trying to tie in with the coal mine and the inland port to build out that industrial park.”

Another major item discussed at the Commission meeting was the tentative budget for the county,” We’ve been meeting with our departments on budget. Talking to them about their needs and things like that. We want to be conservative, we understand that taxes are an incredible burden for our communities, so we’re just trying to budget the best we can so that those tax dollars go as far as they can.” 

The budget will be up for approval in December.

Another major project undertaken by the Commissioners has been the construction of the new senior citizens center, which Commissioner Leonard provided an update on,” it’s getting framed as we speak and it’s looking good. So we’re excited about that.”

Commissioner Leonard explained how this project is being funded,” And just to let the community know that was C.I.B. funding, which was amazing that they wanted to support that. C.I.B. is called the Community Impact Board, and that’s through mineral lease dollars. And then we were able to pair that with COVID funds. We were given funds through the federal government when COVID-19 happened to be used for projects. So we’re excited that we’re able to use those funds to build that and not have a huge financial impact on the community through tax dollars.”

As usual, Commissioner Leonard wanted to spotlight an organization within the county. This go-round was the Children’s Justice Center,” They presented in our commission meeting and talked about all the things that they’re doing. So what they’re planning on doing is expanding a little bit by doing a remodel of their current property here in Emery County. The exciting part is just trying to keep our kids safe.” He continued to praise the center,” I don’t think it’s going to get any easier on our families with the challenges our kids have. And so having the Sheriff’s offices and the Children’s Justice Center trying to protect our kids and have counseling is a huge deal for our community.”

The Commissioner also discussed some upcoming events for the county, starting with Four Corners Behavioral Health’s Trunk or Treat on Oct. 29,” It’s always good to have four corners out in the community and have events so that if people have challenges, they know where they can go to find some of those services.” 

He also hit on Green River’s Outlaw Days, which take place Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2. “ If you like the history and heritage of the outlaws and the stories, it’s a great place to rub shoulders with people with those same interests.”

Closing out our conversation, Commissioner Leonard spoke on what the Commission has its eyes set on next,” We’re working with the Utah Association of Counties to try to figure out how we can build more homes … we want to grow at a pace where our community can still feel like we have our heritage and we feel like we’re still a small town. But we need more housing for workers, not only for the coal mine but for other developments that are happening as well.”