| Swim teams participate at the Castle Dale pool last summer. This is the pool’s last year of operation. Castle Dale City has promised to donate $10,000 per year for the maintenance of a new pool. |
The Emery County Commission has approved a resolution to place the building of a swimming pool to the people of Emery County on the November ballot. The county has been checking into the building of a new olympic size pool as the Castle Dale pool will only operate through the summer months of 2006. The county will probably be without a pool for one year as the new pool is constructed. The county is seeking community impact board funds with a grant and loan combination to build the pool. The Emery County school district has donated some land at the Emery High School which is now part of the parking lot. The new pool will enable the school to have a swimming and diving team. Emery High is one of the only schools in 3A without a swimming team.
Commissioner Drew Sitterud said Castle Dale City has pledged to donate $10,000 each year to help with the maintenance of the pool. Sitterud said, “We want to put this on the ballot to see if the people want this pool. We will move ahead to procure the funds and will start our application process. We are moving ahead and will lose no time waiting for the November ballot. We need a bond attorney to help through the bonding process. We have talked to Zions Bank to help us through this process and if it is approved the cost for the bonding lawyer will be added to the loan.”
Commissioner Gary Kofford said all language and terminology for the bond must be in place 75 days before the election and that is why they didn’t have time to get it ready for the June primary election.
Commissioner Sitterud also explained that with CIB monies they set the highest parameters for the loan/grant and figure the highest cost to build the project. The commission voted to move ahead with the bond attorney. Commissioner Ira Hatch said the easy part is procuring the funds to build something, but then the obligation of operation and maintenance becomes a problem and the commission wants to make sure the county residents are onboard before they incur a financial obligation for county residents. The county will also discuss with the other cities in the county to see if they can contribute to the operation and maintenance of the pool after it’s built.
Commissioner Kofford said with any bond election the pros and cons of going forward are discussed at length and both sides will be published in the newspaper. Estimates for the cost of the new pool range from $1.5 to $2.5 million to cover building the pool. The county doesn’t have an architectural drawing of the pool yet, they are still discussing the type of pool to go with and considering a bubble which can make the pool either indoor or outdoor for the summer. Estimates of operation and maintenance are $80,000 to $100,000 per year. Commissioner Hatch said they didn’t feel they could obligate the people without getting their input on the project. The county will have informational meetings about the pool in the future. When the school district is using the pool they will provide janitorial service at their expense.
The commission gave approval on business licenses for Castle Valley Outdoors in Moore for food and beverage for a lodge and hunting operation. Also, a liquor license was approved for the business. A business license was also approved for Cowley Precision Rebuild in Huntington.
The commission approved the consideration and refinance of the Utah Association of Governments building. Due to restructuring in the insurance pool, UCEP has moved to a new building and they need to split equity in the old facility which is what that item was about explained Commissioner Hatch. With all of the counties pooling together they are able to provide insurance for their county employees for a lower cost.
The commission discussed the vacancies on the Emery County Travel Bureau. They said they have equal membership representing the board from the west and east sides of the county. The primary purpose of the travel bureau is to disburse the transient room tax monies and other related tourism avenues. Due to resignations and expired terms, six seats were open. They are being filled by Susan Sitterud, Cathy Gardner, Kerry Bigelow, Mark H. Williams, Mary Huntington and Olive Anderson.
The planning and zoning commission also had two vacancies and Julie Ann Scott and Merrill Duncan were named to those openings.
The commission approved a large ambulance write-off for ambulance service on an accident on I-70 involving Mexican nationals. No addresses for the people are available and the ambulance billing company hasn’t been able to contact those involved in the accident.
The commission approved the advertising for bids for lawn care for county buildings. They will advertise the opening in the newspaper.
The commission approved two applicants for the Emery County Care and Rehabilitation board. Connie Nelson and Gil Conover will fill the positions.
The commission approved the bid for Wheeler Machinery to provide the filters for county equipment. The commission also approved the purchase of one Chevy Trailblazer and two Chevy Impalas for county employees.
The commission approved a request from Jerilyn Mathis, head librarian for a step increase for library employee Stephanie Oviatt. In other library business they approved to begin advertising for a part-time librarian for the Green River library and the county will also seek bids for the custodial services at that library as well.
With the beginning of the travel season, a 90 day temporary employee needs to be hired for the information center at the John Wesley Powell River Museum.
Commissioner Hatch said the health benefits contract for county employees is up in July and they are checking with providers for the best deals.
Commissioner Sitterud reported they had met with UAC on public lands in Richfield and around July 25, they will begin recording the RS-2477 roads. There will be a 90 day protest period on the roads. The county is starting with the B roads. The seven roads now in litigation will be moved into the process after the B roads are finished. He also mentioned the ongoing dispute at Factory Butte which borders Emery County. This is an open motorcycle area where SUWA has brought action because they say the BLM isn’t protecting it as they should. Sitterud said the groups involved had met but no decisions were reached. “It’s a great place to ride motorcyles, no plants are there. The Range Creek Resource Management Plan is out now and the comment period is going on. The museum board is going to solicit donations and grants to put three life-sized dinosaurs and a woolly mammoth on the Museum of the San Rafael grounds,” said Sitterud.
Commissioner Kofford said this summer problems with drainage at the museum will be addressed and a patio will be installed. He said he attended the Emery County economic development meeting and they have several things in the works including the economic summit on Sept. 21-22. They will also hold several summer camps for students including the archaeology camp, paleontology camp, music camp and a Sheriff’s Office forensics camp.
Commissioner Hatch reported the county held a benefits fair where presenters talked on various topics including: health and nutritious eating, exercise, social security, retirement benefits and prescriptions. He also mentioned the Huntington/Cleveland Irrigation project and one of the first systems to go in will be in Elmo. The county is in the process of improving roads in the Elmo-Miller Creek area and the farmers involved with the new system need to know where the roads are going before they put in their irrigation systems.