Should Emery County parks be smoke free?

By PATSY STODDARD

The commissioners met in their Oct. 8 meeting and Debbie Marvidakis asked them to consider making parks in Emery County smoke free all the time.
She is from the Southeastern Utah Health department and she stressed the new e-cigarettes have the same regulations as regular cigarettes.
The commission directed her to Jake Atwood the recreation director who is in charge of special events for the county like the fair and rodeo.
Marvidakis said they have been successful in several cities promoting smoke free venues. She said they have funding for signage that can be used to put up in the parks to let everyone know smoking isn’t allowed. She said there is no amount of smoke that is safe and all second hand smoke is harmful. The chemicals in the e-cigarettes are higher and contain more nicotine than regular cigarettes.
An improvement project is scheduled for the Cleveland Library to construct a handicapped parking spot and to take out the slope approaching the building. The county will advertise for contractors to submit a proposal on how to fix the problems.
The commission opened the bids for scrap metal and the bid was awarded to Western Metals Recycling out of Provo for $161.50 per ton.
The commission awarded the bid for cement work around the courthouse to Lane Larsen of Arrow Construction. The estimated cost of the project is $5,828. Some landscaping will be torn out and some trees will be left. The work will take place from the front door to the side door.
The commission approved the transfer of one water share to Castle Dale City for the water/sewer hook up for Mick Rogers as part of a land transfer deal. The county is acquiring one-half acre of land where the new weed and mosquito building is going up.
The surface use agreement with Pacifi-Corp was approved to store debris on Rocky Mountain Power property in Huntington Canyon.
The state homeland security program grant was approved.
The county will begin an RFP process for an engineering firm to do the design work on the Huntington State Park Trail System. This trail will go from Huntington Lake into Huntington City. The funding is available for this project and the Emery County Trails Committee will move forward with advertising for the project.
The commission approved the interagency coordination and subrecipient contract agreement between Southeastern Utah Association of Governments and Emery County to administer Older Americans Act programs in Emery County.
In the commissioner reports, Commissioner James Nelson said he went on a Range Creek field trip. It is an amazing resource for archaeology in the county. He attended the Utah Association of Counties meetings and they discussed county government issues and they were informative. Budget hearings are underway in the county.
Commissioner Ethan Migliori attended the Emery County Care and Rehabilitation Center meeting and they are now stable and no longer losing money each month. They will now move forward. Migliori said they will work to define the role of the care center in the county and where it should go from here.
The 20 year anniversary celebration of the Museum of the San Rafael was held. The Bailey Basket is on loan for a year. “It was a fantastic celebration,” said Commissioner Migliori. He expressed appreciation to the museum staff and board for promoting the program. The museum hopes to hold more events to promote the museum.
He attended a multi-county chamber meeting to get the chambers involved in a more regional approach for promoting business.
The historical preservation society had signs installed at historic sites in the county and Commissioner Migliori thanked the road department for installing the signs. One of the signs went up at the MK Tunnel site.
Commissioner Jeff Horrocks said he attended the UAC meetings and many items were discussed including RS-2477 road issues and the placement of state prisoners in county facilities. The state is looking at possible locations for a new prison, but relocating state prisoners in outlying jail facilities may be a cheaper alternative.
The Back-country flyers held their fly-in event at the Huntington Airport the last weekend in September. Fifty planes came in and there was a trap shoot and a car show. Commissioner Horrocks said the pilots were impressed with all the improvements at the airport including the new restroom and showers. The new fuel tank that takes credit cards is also a big hit. The pilots went on many excursions and flew into the back country air strips in the county.
The county is in the budget process and money is tight. He met with commissioners from other counties to work on improving the economic standing in rural Utah.
The local building authority of Emery County met directly after commission meeting.
They approved an agreement with Questar for gas to the new weed and mosquito building.
An agreement with Rocky Mountain Power was signed for power to the new weed and mosquito building.
The board approved the land transfer with Mick Rogers for property to be utilized by the weed and mosquito building.
Commissioner Horrocks said the weed and mosquito building is on time and on budget.
The card reader for the fuel tank at the airport needs some adjustments so it will take all types of credit cards.
A parking slab for the shuttle car will also be poured at the airport. That is the last remaining project for the current five year improvement plan for the airport.
The new five year plan is moving forward and needs to be on file with UDOT aeronautics division so the airport can receive state funding.
The Huntington ball complex renovation is moving forward. Jake Atwood, recreation director went to the CIB and now the paperwork is being finalized for the funding.
Johansen and Tuttle will be the engineers for the project. They are partnering with a company that specializes in ball fields.
Commissioner Migliori said they are going to keep the facility multiple use and use the money to its full advantage. The recreation district will oversee the project. The building authority will oversee the funding and contracts.