Cleveland swears in new council members for 2012

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Cleveland Town opened the new year by swearing in their newest councilman Kobi Erni. The other newly elected councilman Carson Grimm was unable to attend. Other members of the council include: Bryan Christensen, Beth Mecham and Mayor Verla Jensen.
The town held a public hearing on the proposed $1 fee increase for water connections each month. This increased fee will help fund the automatic meter readers that will be installed. Mayor Jensen read the resolution which Cleveland Town is adopting. The council voted to approve the resolution concerning the rate increase.
Loyette Holdaway with the Cleveland Library asked for a donation from the town to help fund preschool storytimes at the library. She said the commission gives $100 for storytime, but it isn’t enough so they are seeking funding from other sources. Cleveland council agreed to donate $100 to help with the storytimes and also said they would like to talk to the county commission and let them know the program isn’t adequately funded. Dream Big is the storytime theme.
A representative from the National Guard community covenant program, Chaplain Capt. David Jones out of the St. George office presented information about their program to Cleveland Town. He showed a short video on the program and asked the city if they would be interested in establishing a Community Covenant program in Cleveland. They are also visiting other local towns and have visited the county to introduce the program to them as well. The Community Covenant program is a nationwide movement to offer support to military families in local communities. The first step is to author a resolution to become involved, after the first step then an event is held on its own or with another community activity where people sign a banner and pledge their support to the cause. The program helps community members become aware of the challenges military families face and educates the public on how they can help military families. Program organizers work to line up the resources and educate community leaders.
Capt. Jones said there are 12 National Guard members in the county. He said he knows there is support for these families and the Community Covenant program enhances awareness for what military families need. One idea is for the military families to receive a utility abatement while their family member is involved in active duty. Another idea was a food drive in support of military families. There can also be a request for added patrols on a family where someone is serving. This gives the service people the comfort of knowing their family is watched over at home. Capt. Jones said the ideas and possibilities are endless for ways a community can come together and support these servicemen and women and their families. “We invite you to be part of the program,” said Capt. Jones.
The Cleveland council was very supportive of the idea, they will prepare a resolution and be ready to have a signing event in conjunction with the annual Cleveland Days celebration on July 24.
Councilman Erni thanked Capt. Jones for his service.
Justin Bradley from Cleveland came before the council to request a business license. He will be helping an already existing business with embroidery. He will be doing ordering and design work. Bradley also mentioned his father-in-law Marvin Bell wants to donate hats with a Cleveland logo embroidered on them for the Cleveland Town celebration. The council agreed to come up with a design and a color. Councilman Christensen recommended the company submit a bid and decide how many they would like to donate and perhaps the city could have extras made to have for sale at the event.
The council approved the expenses for the local building authority for rent payment for the office space at the fire station. They approved the PCIB loan resolution for the purchase of a snowplow for the town. With this approval the paperwork can be sent and a check for the truck will arrive and the truck can be picked up and by next week it will be ready for snow.
The council approved the lease agreement with the school district to lease district water shares at a rate of $2.15 a share for the coming water season.
The council discussed how to handle the appointments to the appeals committee for planning and zoning. It was determined the entire council will sit on the appeals committee along with two people from the planning and zoning.
The town will keep the number of water shares needed for a culinary hook-up at four shares to be pledged to the town.
The town will simplify the book for the planning and zoning ordinances to keep it as easy to read and understand as possible. The planning and zoning committee is currently working on ordinances.
Mayor Jensen said in the past the ordinances have been hard to understand. Erni said a public hearing is needed to hear any input from the town residents on the ordinance revisions. Christensen said he has heard some concerns about animals in city limits. Erni said the ordinance outlines the amount of square feet needed per animal.
“It’s a misconception that people would lose their animal rights and I’ve assured them that’s not the case,” said Christensen. Cleveland Town people will not be losing any animal rights.
Mayor Jensen encouraged all council members to read the ordinance revisions and become acquainted with them before the public hearing. Erni reminded everyone that none of the proposed changes will be finalized until after the public hearing. The hearing will be on March 1 at 7 p.m.
The council talked about areas in the city where they would like to see the sidewalks extended this year. Typically after a curb and gutter project has been completed then the sidewalk will follow. It was suggested the council get a copy of the plan from the Castle Valley Special Service District to see where the streets designated for sidewalks are located.
The council discussed their employment needs for the upcoming summer season. They will have an employee meeting to clarify how many hours the employees want as well as employee job descriptions will be more clearly defined.
Mayor Jensen reported in their Council of Government meeting that school board boundaries will be redrawn to put all of Huntington together and all of Orangeville together. She said Castle Dale Mayor Neal Peacock is concerned their precinct won’t have enough voters to elect someone. Mayor Jensen said they tried to divide the precincts so they would all have about the same number of voters.
Jan. 27 is local officials day at the legislature and she encouraged any council member who is able to attend to do so. The next council meeting will be on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.