Emery Town met for their February monthly meeting on Feb. 11. Vonda Thayn approached the council in reference to a business license. She is starting a mobile cooking service, called Modern Day Chuckwagon. She and her husband Gary have converted a camp trailer into a mobile kitchen. They would like to start their service in the spring and serve breakfast and lunch. The council approved the business license and asked Thayn to be mindful of not impeding traffic. Thayn said, she plans on setting up near the park area and will be off of Highway 10.
The Treasurers report was given to the council. There is now a new requirement to give the treasurers report quarterly. The Enterprise fund has a negative balance. There will be no more wages taken from the Enterprise fund. They will be taken out of another fund. Money was taken from another account to take care of the negative balance. The money that used to come into the city fund through various entities is no longer coming in. The city did not pass on a rate increase to the citizens and it is now affecting the budget. Mayor Christiansen does not want to see Emery go in the red. Emery needs to look for ways to increase revenue. They used to lease water to contractors, but the water hasn’t been there to lease. The council will hold a proposed rate increase hearing next month. There will be a public notice advertised for public input.
The council voted to reappoint Marie Anderson to the recreation board. She will need to report to the council after the recreation board meetings each month.
A vendor left decorative copies of US Constitution and Declaration of Independence with the city council to look and see if they wanted to purchase them for city hall. The council all agreed the documents were beautiful and it would be nice to have a copy of the US constitution displayed in the city hall. They decided not to use city money to purchase them when they are having budget issues. They voted to table the issue and see if an individual or a group would like to donate the framed documents to the city. A 48 star flag also needs to be preserved. The council will put it in a shadow box.
The council voted to approve resolution 2014-01, the exercise room resolution. It is an agreement for all of those who use the gym at the fire department.
The council voted to approve resolution 2014-02, an increase for culinary water users outside the district for overages. The increase will be 50 cents per 1,000 gallons or and increase from $1.40 to $1.90.
Mayor Christiansen gave an update concerning Rep. McIff’s, house bill 49. Under the bill a shareholder will prepare the change application.
It will be given to the water company before it goes to the state engineer. The water company has 60 days to respond. They can consent to the changes, consent with conditions or decline the change application. It then goes to the state engineer, who has 10 days to send notice to the water company. The water company then has an additional 30 days to respond as to why the change should not be approved. If an agreement cannot be reached it will go into mediation and the entities will split the cost of mediation. If the parties can’t agree on a mediator, the state ombudsman will be used. There is a 60 day period for the mediation to take place, which can be extended to 90 days if needed. If an agreement is reached the state engineer will review the change application. If they cannot reach an agreement, they have 60 days to file legal action. If neither party files or it is resolved the state engineer will proceed.
It is a well intended bill but does not consider those who receive their water from the Colorado River Water Basin. A good example of this is when the Carbon Power Plant closes, what will happen to that water. Will Mr. Buffet be allowed to sell that water to whomever he wants?
In public lands the issue of wild burros and horses will be discussed at a meeting on Feb. 27. The Emery County area is at 300 percent capacity and needs to be better managed.
Councilwoman Dalton will need a general plan to take to the planning and zoning meeting.
Councilman Allen looked at leasing a backhoe for the city. Through John Deere, it will cost $85,000 to purchase a new one and $5,950 a year to lease one.
The lease is for 300 hours a year any overages would cost $15.36 an hour. The council wondered if they were required to get other bids. Councilman Allen said he would contact Caterpillar and get a bid. It will be discussed at the next meeting. Councilman Allen is looking for citizens to serve on the historic/beautification committee. If anyone is interested contact him by March 21.
Councilman Pope attended the LEPC meeting. He needs to know the names of citizens who are CERT trained.
In the event of Mayor Christiansen’s absence a councilmember will take over her duties. It was divided quarterly and each councilmember knows which quarter they are responsible for.
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