At the Orangeville City meeting held on May 8, the city council donated $100 to two organizations. The first group was the Emery High School History Fair students. The students involved in the history fair are Michael Reed, Curt Jensen, Spencer Colby, Jeremy Gilbert and Meagan Rogers. These students took first place in the region history fair and second in the state history fair. They have qualified to compete at the national fair in June and need to raise funds to support their trip. The second organization that the city council donated to was the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. The ACS will be hosting their fifth annual Relay for Life on July 11-12 at the Emery High School track. The money raised is to support cancer research and most of the money will stay within Utah. The theme for the relay this year is “Reach for the Stars” and then the individual teams will have the theme “Hollywood Nights” to decorate their tents. Some success stories that were shared with the council by Debbie Wilson and Cathy Sitterud of the ACS were: the gene that is common with breast and ovarian cancer has been isolated; there are consistently more survivors; and there has been an 80 percent success rate in children’s leukemia cases. Last year the relay raised $16,000 and they have made their goal $20,000 for this year. The luminaries will be sold for $5 a bag or five bags for $20. Wilson and Sitterud suggested holding bake sales, auctions, or car washes to help raise money.
Sue McNee and her girls basketball team made an appearance at the meeting to thank the council for providing them with new jerseys. The team consists of sixth graders Jodi Robertson, Shawnee Grindley, Sierra Bridgewater, Shalee Scow, Alyssa Jones, Frankie Komar and Whitney Saupan. They have qualified to play in the summer games and wanted to show the council the jerseys. They will report after the games on the outcome.
Linda Jewkes reported on the economic development of the county and of Orangeville. She notified the council of the Huntington Plant water situation. Utah Power leased water shares from residents leaving Huntington with virtually no water. The city had to then go out and purchase more water and was able to purchase more than was expected and will be storing the excess shares in Joe’s Valley. A solution is being worked on for the problems at Electric Lake.
The Economic Development committee has filed for 501 C3 status, which means it is a nonprofit organization and will continue on to achieve Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) and 8A status. This will enable the committee to be eligible for federal government contracts before others. The 8A status was previously only available to Indian reservations and is now open to rural areas. This will provide more employment opportunities for Emery County. They are also working on setting up a partnership with Health Access. Jewkes also touched on the need to improve tourism efforts. She stated that the tourists are already here, and we need to show them what Emery County has to offer.
Orangeville Economic Development is working on enterprise zones, concerning new businesses and recycling zones. The city will need to find any businesses that are recycling or are using recycled products. There are tax breaks available to these businesses and the city will help educate owners about them.
Dennis Tuttle, zoning administrator and animal control officer, reported the need to obtain a new aerial photo of the city. The county GIS office will then overlay lot lines and zoning grids. This will make it easier to tell what lots are zoned as commercial or residential, especially lots that are split. He also noted that they are looking to increase commercial zones at the south end of town and along the north end of the highway.
Patrick Jones mentioned that he had received calls from some groups wanting to bring youth down for the pageant and wanted to do service projects while they were here. He suggested having them clean the headstones at the cemetery. It was also suggested that the dug outs at the ball field need to be repainted. Jones added that there is a need to purchase a pump to run the sprinkling system at the cemetery. There is currently not enough pressure to run it properly.
Jones also reported that the BLM research wilderness areas are changing. The state has sued the federal government concerning these areas. They were not formed by Congress, and therefore were illegally formed. As of May 28, the roads that have been closed on these properties will be opened.
Howard Shorthill reported on the progress of the 21st Century Community projects. Orangeville had previously received their bronze and silver hockey pucks and is now one assessment short of receiving their gold puck. They plan to have this completed by June 12.
Orangeville Day will be June 21 and some of the events will be a performance by Al Shakespaere, the Miss Orangeville Pageant, ball games, horseshoes, McNee’s girls basketball team will play, bike run, ATV open run, the parade, fireworks, lamb fry and breakfast.
The sheriff’s office and neighborhood watch will be holding a Homeland Security meeting with the local emergency planning committee on May 27. They have asked that all mayors in the county be present.
Randall Stilson reported on the meeting with county commissioners and other city representatives concerning the ATV/county roads issue.
He noted that there has been more resistance than he had expected. There have been some concerns that need to be worked out and he thinks it will be a longer process than originally expected.
Stilson has also been working with the BLM to develop a play area for ATVs. The funding is available, and they are currently working out the right to access the property.
Jeffery Tuttle informed the council that Precision Cutters had been removing trip hazards on the sidewalks on Main Street. They will continue to have them come back each year to continue the project.
He also reported some changes that were announced at the road school he and the mayor attended. The most notable being that the school cross walks must now have an arrow sign posted under the pedestrian sign that points to the crosswalk.
The council set the public hearing date for their final 2003-04 budget for June 12.
The next Orangeville City Council meeting will be held June 12 at 7:30 p.m.
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