Commission discusses Ideas for County Fair

By By

The Orangeville Youth Council approached the county commissioners about using the old jail for a haunted house-spook alley for Halloween. The commissioners said the building is currently being used for storage and would not be suitable.
The commissioners said they have the old warehouse (incubator building) north of Huntington that they could use and it was also suggested that the building at the rodeo grounds in Ferron might be available.
The Orangeville youth said they would meet and discuss the location for the spook alley. They plan on using the spook alley as a food raising event for the local food bank. The participants would donate a can of food for entrance into the spook alley.
Sharon Earl, coordinator for the Emery County Chamber of Commerce spoke to the commissioners concerning the Senior Citizen Christmas Party. It is scheduled for Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m at the Recreation Building in Castle Dale. Last year the commissioners offered monetary assistance for a joint Chamber/Commission party. Earl reported that 174 seniors attended the dinner last year and everyone received a door prize collected from local businesses.
Buses will run to transport the seniors to the recreation center and also a bus from Green River will transport Green River seniors to the dinner. Commissioner Drew Sitterud said the commission is in full support of the dinner for county seniors. The commission approved $800 for the food for the party.
Brenda Dugmore, deputy county clerk, proposed the county close the board of equalization which has been open for the required 30 day time limit. She will bring the equalization changes to the commission meeting on Oct. 5 for approval.
The commission ratified the awarding of the bid to Ernie Jensen for the concrete on the fuel tanks.
Commissioner Sitterud called for citizen concerns to be brought up. Sharon Earl, local business owner, said she hoped the new economic development director for the county, Mike McCandless could help things move in a positive direction. She said that six businesses have recently closed in the county and 17 new businesses have recently opened in Carbon County. “We need to keep small businesses here,” Earl stressed. “We need to stop people from going out of the area to shop. We are closing out our audio department at Earl’s Furniture and Appliance because we can’t buy our items for what Wal-Mart sells theirs for. Emery County is a golden opportunity. We need to give financial help to our businesses to make them successful. They just don’t have the support they need to succeed.” Earl suggested going after money and grants to help our local businesses grow.
Commissioner Gary Kofford brought up an idea during the citizens concerns. He said the fair board has been kicking around the idea of a name brand entertainer for the county fair for next year. “It is an aggressive, adventuresome and also scary idea,” said Kofford. The group Sawyer Brown was mentioned as being available for the Friday night of the fair at approximately $45,000. The Spartan Center was the location mentioned as being available to handle such a concert with seating for approximately 2,500 people. With a full house at $20 per ticket the concert could break even. Kofford said the question is if the county wants to sponsor such an event and spend the money to back up the endeavor. Also, sponsors for the event could be obtained. Kofford suggested maybe looking for someone less expensive than Sawyer Brown in the $20,000-25,000 price range. It was also suggested the college be contacted to see how the concerts they have sponsored in the past have been supported.
Sharon Earl said, “If you put a committee together you could do it, one time we filled the auditorium with the group the Knudsen Brothers. Earl also reported that the chamber of commerce is going to have a luau with Hawaiian dancers and food on one of the fair nights in conjunction with the lamb fry.”
Earl also said, “This is Emery County and people just don’t think you can do things like that here (concert), but it can be done”
Rob Midgely, airport manager, mentioned that Sawyer Brown had come to the community of Torrey, and that community is smaller than Emery County. He suggested contacting them and seeing how successful it was and how many people attended.
Leslie Bolinder, commission secretary, said other counties that have big name entertainers at their fairs, add the item to their fair budgets. If they get the money back OK and if not OK because it has been budgeted. The decision must be made on how much to spend on the Emery County Fair.
Commissioner Kofford said one concern he has is the expense of people going to the rodeo and other activities and if the concert would take away from what’s already going on.
Commissioner Sitterud commented on how well the rodeo did this year and that next year they are looking at obtaining a grant to purchase portable bleachers to accommodate bigger crowds.
Midgely reported on the fuel sales at the airport. He said that 3 cents from every gallon of fuel sold will come back to the county from the state.
Commissioner Ira Hatch reported on the approval of the grant with the Utah Department of Transportation aeronautics division for upgrading the Huntington Municipal Airport.
Funds have been secured for a grading and drainage project and also widening. New lighting will also be installed at the airport after the widening is completed. The grant obtained by the county is a 90/10 match with UDOT. It was noted the airport will be closed for approximately one month for the improvements and should be operating again by Nov. 15. Nielson’s Construction will be laying the asphalt for the airport project.
Commissioner Hatch reported that he and Bevan Wilson had attended the joint highway committee meeting for non-urban roads. The county is online to receive $250,000 for improvements from the Temple Mountain road to Goblin Valley. This is a 50/50 match and the county portion of the match will come from Emery County Special Service District #1. Hatch also mentioned the improvements to Goblin Valley campground. He said they are working on the permitting for the new road and the preliminary road location.
He said the commissioners participated in the Peach Days and Melon Days celebrations and there were good crowds at both events. Green River Mayor Glen Dale Johnson said they are looking at expanding Melon Days next year.
Commissioner Kofford said he had attended an open house for the Ferron fire station and another open house has been planned during fire week on Oct. 8 from 6-8 p.m. He said it is a state of the art facility and something Ferron and the county can be proud of.
Commissioner Sitterud reported that the economic summit held in Castle Dale was a big success. Sitterud reported that the gas plant has sold in Green River and will create 10-20 good jobs for Green River. The economic development council will help with some of the cleanup work to the site.
The new boat ramp at Joe’s Valley is being worked on currently.
The next commission meeting is Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. in the commission chambers at the county building.