The Emery Town Council held its regular monthly meeting in city hall on Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. Mayor Michael Williams opened the meeting. Councilmembers present were Glenys Sitterud, Ileen Baker, Jon Sundstrom and Eric Anderson. Judy Mortensen, city recorder was also present at the meeting.
Mayor Williams began with the minutes from the December 2002 meeting. The minutes were read and approved. The next agenda item was the discussion and approval of the bills for the city. Those bills were approved.
A letter from Ferron City Mayor Kent Larsen was read by Williams. The letter expressed Ferron City’s appreciation for the response from the Emery Fire Department to the fire scene in Ferron early on New Year’s Day. Mayor Larsen acknowledged the hard work and dedication of all the fire fighters involved in the dangerous incident.
Mayor Williams reported on what had been discussed at the Utah League of Cities and Towns meeting. Williams reported that the proposed Utah Fireworks Act would allow individual cities to regulate the selling of fireworks in their town. He also reported that the streamlined sales tax issue was discussed. This issue would change the paying of a small percentage of sales tax from point of sale to point of delivery. This could mean that rural towns may receive a portion of the taxes collected from sales of items purchased in metropolitan areas. A buyer would be required to give a zip code of his home address and a portion of the sales tax would be credited to that zip code. This sales tax issue may be extremely controversial and may not come before the legislature this session, it may be pushed back to next year.
Mayor Williams also reported that the 10 cent a gallon gas tax request had died, but the one-sixth cent tax already in place for class B roads will remain in place. He added that he is required to attend the legislative sessions every Monday while the current legislature is in session.
Councilman Anderson then raised the issue of the cost to private citizens for the use of city equipment. Discussion followed concerning the regulations prohibiting government groups to conflict with private business and private property owners rights. The question was raised as to whether the city should continue to allow citizens to hire city equipment to do small jobs. Councilwoman Sitterud asked if there were other rental agencies in town to accommodate the needs of the residents. Anderson answered yes but their charge is substantially more than what the city charges. Williams stated that at the present time there is no charge for emergency water leak repairs. The council approved the move to raise the fees for the equipment and operator for small jobs only and these jobs will be at the discretion of the mayor, so this use by individuals would not conflict with private operators in the area.
Councilman Anderson then suggested to place log books in the equipment for the city operators to fill out with hours used and where the equipment was being utilized. There was also discussion of the fire department usage of the equipment and some existing complaints of usage. Mayor Williams asked for the details of the complaints and will investigate and report back next month.
The next agenda item was addressing the presence of coal trucks and other heavyweight trucks on small city streets.
Williams inquired about present city ordinances addressing the weight limit.
Williams will check around with other towns in the county as to their ordinances and also check with the county road department about the weight limit rating of the roads in Emery.
Councilwoman Sitterud then asked several non agenda, council concerned questions about different problems in the city and how the solutions were progressing.
The meeting adjourned and the next meeting for Emery Town Council is Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. at the town hall on Main Street.
[dfads params='groups=4969&limit=1&orderby=random']
[dfads params='groups=1745&limit=1&orderby=random']