Under the concerned citizen category Roger Killpack from Ferron brought along an Emery County your first choice sign from the Emery County Business Chamber shop at home campaign. He said when you buy in Emery County sometimes it will cost you a little more, but there are many advantages to buying local. He said, “A couple of businesses in Ferron are teetering. If the citizens of Emery County, made Emery County their first choice more businesses would succeed. I have been around a lot and especially since my retirement. I talk to a lot of people and I hear that the Emery County government is not following this idea. Why, maybe it’s budget, maybe it costs a little more to buy in the county but it helps the businesses to survive. If we lost our grocery store in Ferron, it would be a hardship to have to come to Castle Dale for all our groceries. Why isn’t the food for the jail bought in the county? Maybe you save a little by not buying it here. But, maybe we should be willing to spend a little more to keep it in the county. I asked Mistie at the Co-op if they could supply the fuel for the county. They said they have the means to do that. Maybe this is a possibility, maybe you could save a business. Another thing that bothers me is the building inspector. When the building inspector passed away, wasn’t there anyone else here in the county who could have been trained for that job?”
Killpack encouraged the county to look these things over and maybe let the local businesses bid on the food for the jail, put them on a rotation, do whatever is needed to put money back into this county. “I don’t think Emery County government is supporting this shop local campaign as much as the citizens are,” said Killpack.
Commissioner Jeff Horrocks said purchasing decisions are based on budget. He said personally he tries to shop local as much as possible. He said he told the sheriff he needed to cut the food bill. “But, I agree we need to shop local,” said Horrocks.
Killpack said he doesn’t see the government being affected by the recession.
Horrocks said the county has made cut backs too.
The Commissioners approved Stilson Construction to complete some work at the Aquatics Center. The information kiosks at the Buckhorn Information center will be designed by Interpretive Graphics. They had the lowest proposal and also do beautiful work commented Commissioner James Nelson.
The commission approved the participating agreement for fuels or noxious weed treatment between the Skyline Weed Management Area and Emery County. This organization has been very active and has worked on several projects around the area including the large scout project where they removed 26 miles of tamarisk in the Buckhorn Draw area.
There is a vacancy on the Emery County Housing Board and the commission approved to advertise for this vacant position. Capt. Kyle Ekker was approved as the flood plain administrator and Jeff Guymon as the co-administrator.
The May tax sale will be on May 24 at 10 a.m. at the county building.
The commission approved to allow JCI billing to negotiate a 25 percent discount on delinquent ambulance accounts, if the account is paid in full before it goes to collections.
The commissioners gave their reports of their activities. Commissioner Laurie Pitchforth said she appreciates Mr. Killpack’s concerns. The county has reviewed the purchasing policies. They try to keep the construction within the county. They are always working on that issue. But, they have many criteria and laws they must adhere to. She attended the council of aging meeting. The budget cuts made to the program in 2009 have been restored. She believes attending the senior day at the legislature made a difference. “I have been working with Conae Black from Green River City on the public service building project which includes a new fire station for Green River. We’ve been working on the Ferron bridge project which is similar to a bridge on 400 West. We met with the forest service on the maintenance of the mountain roads. I met with Joel Dorsh on the expansion of the fairgrounds. There will be new grass and tables as well as a volleyball court and horseshoes. The rodeo tickets are available on line. There will be a reserved section and an open section. We met with the food bank and they are going to do a community garden with raised boxes. We attended the chamber lunch and learn and we encourage all the businesses to get involved. I attended the economic development meeting and there are many things going on there, there is a new meat business called Pitchfork Meats and a new restaurant in Huntington called Castle Cafe.”
Plans are moving forward with the Huntington Senior Citizen remodel project. Commissioner Pitchforth said she attended a Miss Utah meeting for our Miss Emery and Miss Utah will be held in June. Miss Emery is on July 7 and contestants are being recruited for that. On May 5 will be the Miss Emery fundraiser golf tourney at the Millsite Golf Course.
Commissioner James Nelson said he appreciated Roger Killpack and his comments and his concern for the community. “I met with the BLM recreation committee. They are working on the swinging bridge campground improvement project. There were a lot of volunteers involved there. I attended a physical facilities workshop. There is a lot of volunteer work going on in the county and we appreciate what everyone does for the county.” In regards to HB176 the county officials will meet with Kathleen Clark the public land policy coordinator for the governor and will see what we need to do to prepare a report for that office. The report will be quite comprehensive and will explain to the state why Emery County is moving forward with their public lands use bill.”
Commissioner Horrocks reiterated the fact that the county is moving forward with their land use bill. He attended a planning meeting for the combined Carbon and Emery emergency preparedness fair on April 28 from noon-6 p.m. at the Carbon County events center. Free hamburgers from noon until 2 p.m.
The bid for the low income housing remodel was awarded to Arrowhead Construction. The project is allowed 160 days and the contractor said he expects to be complete in 90 days. The Emery County Relay for Life will be on July 13-14 at the Emery High track.
Sheriff Greg Funk reported they held a check point on I-70 and 76 citations were issued, five drug misdemeanors, three felony drug arrests and one felony warrant arrest. Approximately 1,500 cars came through that day.
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