Castle Dale City ribbon cutting at climbing wall

During the Bouldering Festival Castle Dale City cut the ribbon on their new climbing wall on the information building.
Mayor Dan Van Wagoner cut the ribbon. The Emery County Business Chamber was on hand to help celebrate the climbing wall.
At the Castle Dale City meeting Darshell Leroy from the recreation district was there to discuss the ice skating rink on city property. Leroy said the county attorney advised that the city’s attorney approve the waiver for the ice skating rink.
Concerns expressed by the council were about who assumes the liability since it is a county facility on city property. If the county leased the property for $1, would they then have the liability? The skating rink will be 51’ by 104’.
Mayor Van Wagoner asked the office staff to contact the ULGT insurance, by email and get their input on liability, ownership versus lease and if there is additional cost.
The issue will be tabled until next month.
Riata Christiansen said the rodeo club was asking for a fee waiver for Tuesday night practices at the indoor arena in preparation for the April rodeo competition, and the Cowboy Memorial Rodeo in July. She noted that 15 of the 16 club members had qualified for state finals this year.
The rodeo club has made improvements to the rodeo grounds, and spent time before and after events doing clean-up. Hayden Cloward gave a donation to the City for $1,000. This is some of the money they had raised at the Cowboy Memorial Rodeo, their main fundraiser.
Dawnette Gordon stated that if the CMR continues to grow, they want to donate more to the city. She said their competitions in Castle Dale are in danger of not being allowed by their governing board because of the parking problem at the City’s facilities.
Mayor Van Wagoner noted the CMR cost the City $2,700 in wages last year. The agenda said only use of the indoor arena, so the outdoor events would need to be brought up at a different meeting.
The parking problem was discussed with possible solutions being asking for permission to use nearby vacant lots, using the parking at the shopping center on Main Street, and having volunteers monitor the parking. There needs to be an adult monitoring parking. The rodeo club already has parents taking tickets and running the concessions, and the members are competing, so it would be difficult for them to do parking during events.
Councilperson Joel Dorsch suggested the club could do more of the pre-event watering and grooming to save on costs. The council approved the fee waiver for the Tuesday night practice.
Councilperson Julie Johansen introduced the county’s fence out ordinance, and asked if the city needed to adopt a similar one. It states that a property owner has to fence his own property to prevent animals from getting on that property.
Seth Smith said at his animal control trainings they have learned that according to the Right to Farm Act, the livestock owners have a lot of leeway, If they have attempted to contain the animal, they are covered. It was decided the council doesn’t need to act on this matter
Councilperson Jacob Barnett is concerned about the beautification ordinance and how the city determines what properties are out of compliance. If it’s unhealthy or unsanitary, it is easier, but how do we determine if a property is unsightly, especially in backyards.
The neighbor of the property on west Main Street has complained a lot about junk in the back yard. The sanitation problem was taken care of, but the other items remain there, even though we have notified the property owner.
Code Enforcement Officer Jared Lofthouse said according to his survey, 85 percent of the properties in the City are out of compliance.
Johansen stated there is a process we go through, starting with a letter to the property owner. Mayor Van Wagoner asked the office staff to send a flyer to all residents soon stating the regulations on property maintenance.
Lofthouse said, “I need to know the city’s stance on cargo containers. There are five containers in city limits. Lofthouse was advised which containers are in compliance, and which are not.
Smith reported the citations given out by Chris Bingham while he was on leave were scheduled for court on Oct. 24. We had another incident of a dog biting a person. This was the dog’s second offense.
We instructed the animal shelter to destroy the dog after the 10 day quarantine. This was done today. “I placed a trap on the south side of the city to catch a nuisance raccoon,” said Lofthouse.
The Fire Department did the Fire Prevention program at Castle Dale Elementary. There were seven fire fighters there, and 177 students. Everyone enjoyed the program, and it gives us a better rating as a city for home owners insurance.
Nosh Arrien said, “We had our fourth quarter executive meeting and have some new officers. Chris Bingham is a Jr. Captain, Jefferson Manning is 2nd Lieutenant, probationary; Kim Rollins is a 2nd Lieutenant, probationary; Jamie Robertson is a Sergeant.”
Chief Arrien asked if we have an emergency action Plan. Jackie Collard thought we had one in her files, and would locate it.
Chief Arrien wanted to know what was the fire departments role in the plan. They are working on emergency preparedness. His department was working on making to go bags.
Councilperson Doug Weaver reported on safety equipment including SCBA’s. Chief Arrien is working on a deal to purchase three used SCBA’s. The crew is winterizing the parks and bathrooms.
Collard reported on the sales tax revenue which is $17 less this month that the same month last year. She gave the budget highlights and asked about the sign for the sewer dump which needs to be moved to the north so trailers don’t turn into the weed and mosquito facility. Councilperson Giles said the county can move the sign.
Councilperson Johansen talked about the minutes being sent to the Emery County Progress before they are approved. She would like all council members to review the minutes before they are sent to the newspaper. Everyone should quickly review them and report any changes to the recorder. The newspaper should state that these are pending minutes and have not yet been approved by the Council.
Councilperson Johansen asked about the process for approving projects done by the CVSSD.
Councilperson Giles said each city in the county puts in for requests to the CVSSD board. An engineer provides an estimate for each project. The board decides on which project they will do according to their budget.
He noted that Castle Dale has used its own money in the last two decades for curb, gutter and sidewalk, so we are much better off in that area than many other cities.
Councilperson Johansen asked Chief Arrien if the fire department was CERT trained. He said that the firefighters cannot be on the CERT Team because they are first responders and may be fighting fires or doing extrications during an emergency. It was suggested that spouses could possibly join the CERT Team.
Councilperson Giles reported that he had sent a list of burned out street lights to Rocky Mountain Power and he had approached them about a program for replacing the streetlights with LED fixtures.
Councilperson Barnett reported there were four members at the Youth City Council meeting and they are having an event to recruit more members.
They are ready to help at the Christmas Social. Councilperson Dorsch scheduled the Christmas Social for Dec. 21 at 6 p.m.
Mayor Van Wagoner asked the Council to report back to him their responses to the Governor’s 25,000 jobs initiative.
These minutes were approved at the Castle Dale City Nov. 9 meeting.