Emery Town has a public hearing on budget and land ordinance

By COREY BLUEMEL Staff writer

Emery Town Mayor Mistie Christiansen opened the public hearing with a discussion of the 2008-2009 budget opening. During the public hearing, the budget was opened and the enterprise and general fund budgets were amended following a discussion of the instructions from the town’s attorney concerning the water rate increase.
Councilperson Corinne Dalton opened the discussion of the land use ordinance fee schedule she has been putting together. This item was also for the public hearing comments. “I have done nothing with the existing office fees. I have focused on fees for the conditional use permits and other items such as that. These items require some expense on the part of the town to process and the purpose of this land use ordinance fee schedule is to address those costs,” said Dalton.
Dalton went on to explain that during the permit process, the town incurs expenses due to publication and filing fees, etc. Those costs will now be passed along to the consumer with the new ordinance. The charges for plat maps will not be an additional fee due to the fact that they can be accessed on line and printed. She will continue to do that as a service to the residents.
The Emery Town Council approved the land use ordinance fee schedule with a change to the split lot section of the schedule. Councilman Eric Anderson suggested the fee be lowered to $50. With the change, the ordinance was accepted.
Dalton then presented the subdivision section of the develpment code for Emery Town. She has been working to update the ordinances in Emery and this part is ready for approval. Following some discussion and many questions by the council, action on this item was tabled for further discussion.
Karen Smith from CERT, community emergency response team, was on hand to inform the council of the necessity of a CERT in Emery. “Emery and Carbon counties have gotten together and applied for and received a homeland security grant for CERT. They hired me to inform and train people in the towns and cities,” said Smith.
Smith informed the council she is ready and willing to help them in any way possible. She asked for volunteers to be trained as trainers for the program. “We will be bringing the training to each town and refresher courses will be offered as needed,” Smith added. The Emery Town Council was very interested in the program and several of the council members and the Mayor have already completed the training.
Mindee Nicholson from Four Corners Behavioral Health told the council of the program available from a SPIF SIG grant to battle prescription drug abuse in Emery County. “This county has one of the highest prescription drug abuse rates in the state. This grant is to fight that problem. We want to invite anyone who would like to participate to our meetings. They will be held the third Thursday of each month in the courthouse at 6 p.m.,” Nicholson said.
Mayor Christiansen gave a final accounting of the grant and funding for the newly constructed community center in Emery. The council accepted the final accounting and the center is considered to be complete. Mayor Christiansen added that things are moving on the project to construct a new fire station and town hall. A grant administrator has been hired and the grant application is being prepared.
The Veterans Monument in Emery was next to be discussed. It has been decided to make additions and corrections to the existing monument. Merlin Christiansen, with the help of the American Legion Post 98, did the work to complete the monument in the beginning. Pam Anderson has been collecting additional names and corrections to be made, and the town will now research the cost and funding of the project.
Emery’s Youth City Council is planning a Hunters Ball to be held in the community center on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. The next Emery Town Council meeting will be held Oct. 14 at 6 p.m.