The commission has held several budget hearings and Clerk/Auditor Brenda Tuttle reported the tentative budget is ready for approval. State law requires a tentative budget be in place by the end of October each year. The mineral lease money is down and the final budget will be approved on Dec. 17 after a public hearing beginning at 6 p.m. that evening.
Commissioner James Nelson thanked Brenda for her hard work and keeping the county on budget. “Emery County is very well organized,” said Commissioner Nelson.
Jacob Sharp presented the tentative budgets for the Castle Valley Special Service District. The commission approved the budgets for the county and the special service districts. Insurance rates have gone up and are expected to continue to rise in the future. The district has been able to keep the debt service payments level and payments have been reducing in recent years.
Ken Brown from the Western Counties Alliance presented public lands issues to the commission and asked for their support as a member.
The board approved $500 in support of the organization.
A contract for engineering services was approved with Johansen and Tuttle Engineering for emergency flood damage assessment. They took pictures of all the flood damage incurred this fall and prepared a plan and cost estimate to fix the damages. This included desert roads as well as mountain. The contract was also approved with Johansen and Tuttle Engineering for the Huntington Debris Basin Projects for both the upper and lower basin.
The commission approved the agreement between Emery County and the Emery County Special Service District for Phase 10 of the Moore Cut-off road project. This final phase will use up any left over monies from the previous phases and will include a passing lane on the steep hill on the I-70 side. It will also include an extension of the acceleration lane on SR-10. The project is now in the design phase and will be bid in late winter for construction in early spring.
The commission approved a request for federal excess personal property for a ladder truck for Castle Dale City Fire Department. The truck is available at no cost from the state. Castle Dale fire department will be responsible for all repairs and maintenance on the truck.
Commissioner Ethan Migliori said he would like an agreement with Castle Dale City that states they will be responsible for the truck.
Commissioner Jeff Horrocks said they have had these agreements with communities in the past.
Commissioner Horrocks reported they have been through the budget process and money is tight. All department heads have been asked to minimize costs and only buy necessary equipment.
He has met with commissioners from a four county area to work on projects that will be an economic benefit to our area as well as surrounding counties.
Commissioner Horrocks met with the NRCS on the projects in Huntington canyon. The debris basins are proceeding.
Commissioner Nelson attended the domestic violence lunch and his eyes were opened to those problems.
The Emery Water Conservancy district and Castle Valley Special Service District are considering a combined office building along Main Street in Castle Dale.
A coal symposium was held at the court house by the BLM on Oct. 24.
Pacifi-Corp and the Bureau of Reclamation are having meetings on the contract for water from Joe’s Valley for the power plant.
Commissioner Migliori reported the travel bureau received three grants for advertising. The reports for the budget on the fair and rodeo are in and expenses look good in that area. On Friday, the museum is holding a tour of the desert where they will look at sites near Emery.
Commissioner Nelson said the libraries are conducting a Super Host training to promote tourism in our area. He said people from all over the world come to Joe’s Valley to boulder.
The commission approved Patricia McKee as a Perkie driver. Perkie Travels is named after Perena Marzo a.k.a. “Aunt Perkie.” The program came about in 1994 after Lisa Perla-Martinez was driving her Aunt Perkie to Utah Valley on a daily basis for radiation treatments, and noticed how many people from the Carbon and Emery County area were also making the 180 mile drive. She came back to ARECIL’s office and stated that some type of coordination of rides might be looked at to help people get to their treatments.
The effort for coordination began where Four Corners Mental Health, Carbon Senior Citizens Center, Active Re-Entry, Emery County Senior Citizens and Emery County each donated the use of their vans, gasoline, insurance and maintenance for one day each week.
Since that time Carbon County Seniors and Four Corners Mental Health have dropped out, and Active Re-Entry uses a mini-van provided by Carbon County Recreation and Transportation Special Service District. Emery County valiantly continues to provide the use of their vehicles.
Julie Spadafora was approved for a pay raise upon successful completion of her six month orientation. Michael Grange was hired as a full-time dispatcher.
The next commission meeting will be on Nov. 12 at 9 a.m.
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