Commission holds meeting in Green River

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The Emery County Commissioners meet once each year in Green River for commission meeting. Commissioner Paul Cowley was not in attendance in Green River. New to this commission meeting was a public comment period. Amy Wilmarth said the EMTs would like to be more involved in the discussion on the new Emergency Management Service agency.
Commissioner Keith Brady said the county is moving forward with the new agency. He has during the past few months visited all of the towns in the county to discuss the agency. The agency will operate with a non-compensated board. County Attorney Mike Olsen said the agency is moving forward and is a done deal. The documents to begin the agency were approved in the August 2 commission meeting. The board will operate the agency.
There will be five garage managers and these will be paid positions. Board members would most likely receive a per diem for mileage. Wilmarth said the EMTs would like to get involved.
Commissioner Brady said they didn’t leave the EMTs out, there was one meeting with them in the spring. Wilmarth said they weren’t contacted about any meeting.
The Green River Medical Center staff wanted everyone to be aware that the medical center could lose grant funding in 2017 which would be a huge blow to their operating budget.
The commission went into a public hearing for the Emery County General Plan. Jeff Guymon, planning and zoning administrator said the legislature mandated 16 points be included in the general plan. They have worked on these and are ready to add them to the plan. A lot of the new additions had to do with public lands use. Val Payne and Ray Petersen helped formulate this part of the general plan. The planning commission also helped. The county’s position on water was strengthened by the document and also support of the public lands initiative should it move forward. The water portion was reviewed by the state water engineer.
The commissioners approved the addition to the county general plan.
A grant application to help local entities computerize their cemetery’s burial records (names, dates, etc.) was approved. Bernice Payne helps cemeteries with this process, this application will include the Richfield pioneer cemetery and the Scipio pioneer cemetery.
The commission approved an Interlocal Agreement between Emery and Carbon County for Road Maintenance on the Nuck Woodward Road. Carbon County would like to see this road left open and maintained for use by Clear Creek residents in an emergency. They will maintain the road. The forest service will have an open comment period sometime in the future on the Nuck Woodward Road as well as some other ATV routes.
The commission approved a letter of intent between Emery County and Matrix 2, LLC. on a Green River project. David Skidmore explained his company would lease land to solar companies. Green River City is working to annex the land from the industrial park into city limits. Bryan Torgerson from SITLA said he would like to see the final letter. The letter of intent is needed so Matrix 2 LLC can get financing and provide information to lenders.
The commission approved the application for Bureau of Land Management Right-of-Way Grant for county road # 401. This is the road above the Huntington airport. The right of way grant was for perpetuity and will not have to be approved again.
Also the BLM Right-of-Way renewal for county road #401- a portion of the old state highway was approved.
The commission ratified a letter of support to the American Alpine Club. A three way partnership between BLM, Emery County, USFS to endorse the Salt Lake Climbers alliance for a grant to fund the seasonal latrines in the Joe’s Valley Bouldering area for 2017.
The commission approved the Recovery Agreement between Emery County Housing Authority and the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development and Emery County Commissioners. HUD comes in and sees if the county is meeting guidelines and if anything needs to be done. They have resources to help if there are inadequacies in the program.
The board approved a wage increase for Tate Manzanares in the Emery County Road Maintenance Shop. The county will release a Request for Proposals seeking professional assistance to see if it is advantageous to sell the Emery County Care Center. There are real estate companies that specialize in these types of properties.
The board approved a Medical Office Building Lease Agreement between Castleview Hospital LLC, (Emery Medical Center) and Emery County for the ambulance storage at the Emery Medical Center. The ambulance has been housed there a long time. This agreement is to satisfy the Emery Medical Center’s insurance requirements.
The board approved the renewal of Guardian Flight insurance for all full time county employees at $30 per year. All part time employees can purchase this through payroll deduction for the same price.
Dalen Johnson will now provide medical services for the jail inmates and will do Jail Risk and Needs Screening Diagnosis and Assessments which is a requirement under the Justice Reinvestment Initiative.
The board approved the contract with the creative agency HUB. This agency will do branding and marketing for the Emery County Travel Bureau.
The county will purchase a full page ad with local business buy-in in the Dirt Wheels Magazine, February issue. The travel bureau will also work to put an article about Emery County trails in the magazine.
The board approved Utah.com to generate email leads. Tina Carter from the travel bureau reported many businesses have seen a return for these referrals.
The county will begin advertising for an RFP for a County Events Coordinator. Holly Jorgensen submitted her resignation for the position.
Land parcels in Elmo will be sold to adjacent landowners. The county acquired this strip of land in a tax sale and would like to sell it to the land owners for the current market value. This property fronts the land owners properties. Two of the lots will be $432 and the other $270. If the land owners purchase this land for these amounts they can have the deeds.
The board approved to authorize payment to Tyler Jeffs as recommended by the Travel Council. Jeffs applied for a Main Street Incentive grant which the travel bureau approved. He moved forward with the billboard, but as the travel bureau looked into it further they determined his business didn’t collect Transient Room Tax funds so he would not qualify for the travel bureau grant.
Attorney Olsen said this was an honest mistake due to lack of training on the travel council and he recommended the county pay the grant in the amount of $1,600 because the money can’t come from the travel bureau.
The commission tabled the item to sell the billboard currently being leased to Tyler Jeffs.
Attorney Olsen said he has prepared a draft lease agreement for the robotics club to lease the weed and mosquito building. Sept. 10 will be when robotics club starts up again.
Commissioner Brady said Jordan Leonard, the economic development director is working with Lockheed and Boeing who are looking for partners in manufacturing. They will visit the area on Oct. 4. Anyone interested in helping with next year’s fair a planning meeting will be held on Sept. 20 at the county building at 6 p.m.
Ray Petersen reported the Crandall Canyon fire covered 2.5 acres and it was fought with full suppression.
Bill Dellos was appointed to the Housing Authority Board. Karen Richards was selected as Commissioner Paul Cowley’s part time Confidential Secretary; Maegan Crosland was selected as Commissioner Keith Brady’s part-time Confidential Secretary. Brock Winn was selected as a part time Equipment Operator/Driver I.
Brooklynn Olsen and Katilyn Carter were given a 3 percent wage increase for successful completion of their 6 month orientation period.
Clive Wayne Gordon was hired as a full time Equipment Operator/Driver I. Clifton McElprang was hired as a full time Lube Mechanic. Hugh Grange and Earl Nelson were promoted from an Equipment Operator/Driver I to Equipment Operator/Driver II.
Laura Hurst was hired as a full time Dispatch I with full benefits. Cindy Bowerman was hired as the Branch Librarian in Green River with prorated benefits.
Julie Steuer was hired as the part time Assistant Librarian in Green River working 16 hours per week.