Commissioners report on county activities

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Arrowhead Construction received the bid to redo the roof on the Huntington Library. The contract is ready and the project will proceed. The commissioners will advertise for someone to sit on the board for the Southeastern Utah Board of Health. The person selected should be someone not involved in the health industry. Shirley Begay was approved to be on the Emery County Historical Preservation Committee. A contract was approved between Emery County and the state of Utah for a $70,000 grant from the Dept. of Agriculture for control of Russian Olives in Emery County. Emery County has declared Russian Olives to be on the noxious weed list.
The commission approved the settlement between the Utah State Tax Commission and Emery County in the CW Mining bankruptcy.
The Emergency Mutual Aid Interlocal Cooperative Agreement was approved. This agreement is in place for situations when Emery County must work with other counties in emergency situations which involve more than one county. The most recent situation of this type was the capture of the mountain man bandit.
In the commission reports, Commissioner James Nelson asked Ray Petersen to tell about the public lands field trip to Huntington Canyon. Petersen said they toured the area where the big log jam was last summer where the river has been realigned as well as the spot for the debris basins. The tour went to Mill Canyon, Nuck Woodward and South Hughes to view the damages in these areas. The Emery Water Conservancy District is working in Mill Canyon to stop debris flows there. Petersen said it seems for now these are one event structures, because they have only stood up to one flooding event and have received much damage or in some cases work has been washed out. One bright spot is flooding events this summer are not of the magnitude experienced last year. In the big storm event last year the volume was 1,800 cfs and this year the largest event has been 500 cfs. There’s some question about what to do next to hold these flooding events to manageable proportions. Vegetation is starting to return to the burn area which will be helpful in future years to reduce flooding events.
There are some timber harvests going on up in the Lake Canyon area.
Commissioner Ethan Migliori reported the historical preservation society will be putting up informational signs at Tomsich Butte and Lucky Strike. “The fair and the rodeo are over and we have received some fantastic comments,” said Commissioner Migliori. “The rodeo is expected to make a profit and the fair will come in under budget. Thanks to Jake and Darshell at the recreation department and to Julie Jones the fair director.”
Commissioner Migliori said DeLynn Fielding the Carbon County Economic Development Director will be leaving that position to work for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development as the outreach specialist for rural Utah. This is a statewide position.
The Bailey Basket will be on display at the Museum of the San Rafael in time for the 20 year anniversary celebration of the museum in late September. Meagan Wilberg is the interim director at the museum.
Commissioner Jeff Horrocks said an open house meeting was held with Rep. Chaffetz and Rep. Bishop concerning public land use legislation. The meeting was well attended. Some of the comments given at the meeting didn’t agree with what the county is trying to do, but it was a good source of information for the citizens. A bill isn’t ready at this time, but Emery County has draft language they wish to have incorporated into a bill; either a regional bill or an individual Emery County bill.
Commissioner Horrocks said he met with the Division of Wildlife Resources RAC board and they discussed fur bearing permits. Mountain goats were being considered for transplanting to the LaSal Mountains but environmental groups protested, saying they aren’t native to the area. The transplant will not take place. Commissioner Horrocks said he had a conference call with the BLM on the construction of the debris basins. Their engineer has questions on the staging areas and the disposal of materials cleaned from the basins. The town of Lawrence is interested in having natural gas brought into the homes there. Mike McCandless, economic development director is currently working on the natural gas issue and trying to bring gas to Green River and Emery as well. The weed and mosquito building is moving forward. The Backcountry Pilots association will come to the Huntington Airport on Sept. 27-29 for their annual fly-in.
Susan Hess was hired as assistant librarian in the Huntington Library. Carol Furner successfully completed her six month orientation period and is eligible for a 3 percent increase. Coby Hunt was promoted to Green River crew lead.