Residents filed into the recent Green River City Council meeting to make comments on a proposed nuisance ordinance. It appears things which are considered to be a nuisance by some are not nuisances to others.
The first resident to comment read a prepared statement in opposition to the proposed ordinance. “We think this is a nonsense law,” he said. “When the city proposed this law, you said there was no opposition, but we found plenty of opposition. I am here to present you with a petition signed by more than 70 residents in opposition.”
The resident went on to say he has additional concerns about enforcement of the ordinance and who the enforcement officer would be. “We have had no enforcement in the past with the current ordinance, and we have not seen any improvements to the city,” he continued. “We have noticed a decline in the quality of life in Green River. This ordinance discriminates against older vehicles and properties. We don’t need a new law, we need to enforce the current one. This law was fashioned from one in Heber and we are not Heber, we are a poor town,” the resident concluded.
Another resident commented that for years he has lived and worked in Green River, he has owned property and lived there while storing his personal property on his private property. “If we need a new law, write one for what we need, not for Heber City. We are not Heber City, we are a rural farming community. We don’t need big town rules. This is 16 pages of nonsense rules,” he said.
“I bought and paid for my ground, I want to do what I want with it. I am also upset about the burn window. I think that you should set it when things are dead, not while they are still green,” he concluded.
Mayor Pat Brady and the city council listened as several residents voiced their concerns. When the concerns were all aired, many comments were noted and Councilman Keith Brady, who headed the committee which wrote the proposed ordinance, noted the many proposed changes on the draft ordinance. He also explained the ordinance was written by the committee and not copied from Heber’s ordinance.
One city resident who was on the committee that wrote the ordinance explained to all present that the opportunity for all residents to come to the meetings and give input was advertised. “We want the residents involvement in everything that happens, every decision that is made. Not many people showed up, so we went with what we had. We thought this was a fair ordinance and would serve Green River well. Most of our problems are from property owners who live out of town and are not here to take care of their property,” he said.
All of the residents who were present agreed Green River needs some improvements, and the changes and comments which were noted will be put into the proposed new ordinance and it will be rewritten before it comes before the council for approval. Before the new proposed nuisance ordinance goes to the council for approval, the new draft will be posted and the residents of Green River will have five days to comment on the new draft.
Councilman Kent Johnson said, “With property ownership comes rights, but with those rights comes responsibilities. We have to have rules to live by to keep Green River good for everyone.”
Robert Smith from the planning and zoning commission presented three updated ordinances dealing with residential zoning in Green River. That commission has been doing extensive work to update and streamline the city’s ordinances for clarification purposes. The council approved the three ordinances changes dealing with the city’s zoning.
In another item of business conducted by Green River City Council, the bid was awarded to Precision Excavating of St. George for the SR-19 drainage project. This project will install piping from the West Winds truck stop’s parking lot to the river, with two manhole clean outs included. There were seven bids opened during the bid opening which took place earlier in the day. Howard Tuttle of Johansen and Tuttle Engineering reviewed each bid and approved each one before they were presented to the council for award.
Two bids were also received for the electrical upgrade project at O.K. Anderson park. One bid, which was unopened, arrived well after the deadline for bids. After some discussion of the project and the budget for the project, the council decided to deny the bids and repost the project. It was decided that the bid amounts received were too high.
Green River City Council meets the second Tuesday of each month in city hall at 7 p.m.
[dfads params='groups=4969&limit=1&orderby=random']
[dfads params='groups=1745&limit=1&orderby=random']