Four Corners Behavioral Health held a public hearing at the commission meeting to discuss and hear public input on services offered by Four Corners. Karen Dolan the director of Four Corners said they offer substance abuse and mental health services in Carbon/Emery and Grand counties. They provide prevention services to all the schools in those counties and early intervention programs to get students the help they need and to identify students who may be struggling. They manage the 30 beds allotted to them from the state psychiatric hospital for people not safe to be in the communities. They manage five drug courts. Jennifer Thomas manages the Emery County office. In the 1960s asylums were closed down and people with mental illnesses were integrated into the communities. Four Corners has a club house where individuals learn to get jobs and people are transported there each day. They help manage the medication for these people and other services.
County Attorney Mike Olsen said ISAT would no longer be offering domestic violence classes and asked Four Corners to provide that service. This treatment is for offenders and helps to protect the victims as well and it’s critical that service be offered in the county. Dolan said they would make a commitment to offer that service.
The Castle Valley Special Service District held a public hearing during commission meeting to discuss the general obligation bonds for the district. Jacob Sharp, director of the CVSSD explained they plan to use one of the bonds for capital improvements. In 2009, the Emery County voters approved $12.5 million of general obligation bonds. The district has 10 years to utilize that money. Each year a portion of that bond is issued to be used for curb and gutter and infrastructure replacement within the district. The first bond is for $705,000 from the community impact board at an interest rate of 1.5 percent. The CIB has granted $500,000 in grant money. “We will continue to work with cities to see what types of projects they need done. The second bond is for the new water treatment plant in Ferron. The district owns four plants and we operate three of them with the other one in Huntington Canyon on stand-by. The Ferron plant was built in the 1960s and an addition was built onto the old plant in 1980. It is worn out and outdated, but still makes good water. We have been limping it along,” said Sharp.
The bond will allow the construction of a new plant at the site of the current plant which will be kept in operation until the new plant is ready to come online.
Alex Buxton is the administrative advisor to the CVSSD and he said the first bond will close the end of March and the second bond, late this year.
By May or June, the bid will be out for the Ferron water treatment plant. Sharp said, “We will have around $3.6 million left to use over the next three-four years. Once that is gone voters would have to approve another general obligation bond to continue to do projects.”
The commissioners authorized the maximum amount of $2,055,000 general obligation bonds for the CVSSD.
Chris Wood, from the Division of Wildlife Resources presented the PILT payment for land owned and managed by the DWR. Wood said the amount was for $2,610.71 for the 5,302 acres the DWR owns in Emery County, this includes land along the upper and lower San Rafael, the Huntington game farm and land around Desert Lake. This land is open for the public to hunt and fish upon. Wood reported the mule deer population is improving and the buck to doe ration in the area is 19 buck deer per 100 does.
They have had success recently involving young hunters in the bird hunts and planting extra birds for young pheasant hunters.
This summer they will be increasing efforts against the invasive species the quagga mussel. They will have people at Joe’s Valley, Electric Lake and the state parks to check boats. Extra seasonal people will be hired at Lake Powell. There are boat washing facilities at the state parks.
Green River mayor Pat Brady presented a petition signed by Green River residents regarding keeping a DMV office in Green River. He said it’s a hardship for the people of Green River to travel to Castle Dale for these services. It is especially hard for the senior citizens.
Commissioner Ethan Migliori said they are considering having a part time person for DMV/part time clerk for the justice court for Judge Stream. They are working out the details to see what would work.
He said the possibility of rotating county assessor employees to visit Green River one day a week is also a possibility. They are looking at all solutions and options. It may be possible to train the Green River City office staff to help in the interim period while a permanent solution is being worked out.
The commission opened a bid for a truck the sheriff’s office confiscated. A bid of $321.03 was accepted from Randall Stilson.
The county agreed to split a late fee for the lease on SITLA land in the Green River Industrial Park. The fee will be split with Blue Castle Holdings.
The commission approved their annual membership to the Southeastern Utah Energy Producers Association for $500.
The board approved Penney Riches, LaMar Guymon and Travis Bacon for the Emery County Travel Bureau, Keith Brady will be the commissioner on the board.
The commission will advertise for a vacancy on the Museum of the San Rafael board and the Castle Valley Special Service District board. The commission approved a KUED grant to the Orangeville library for a super reader incentive program. The board approved Ray Petersen and Paul Cowley to visit Washington DC to meet with the Utah delegation.
The commission will advertise for lawn care for the libraries and the road department.
The county is looking for another deputy for the Green River area. The board approved out of state travel for Greg Funk for training in Las Vegas, Nev.
Misti Christiansen and Seth Allred were appointed to the Emery County Recreation Special Service District.
Keaton Cowley and AJ O’Neil were promoted from Patrol Deputy I to Patrol Deputy II for three consecutive years on the road. Hugh Peterson and Varian Allen were approved as volunteers in the Emery Library.
Laurie Pitchforth and Zora Peacock were appointed to the Emery County Council on Aging and Nutrition.
Commission approves bonds for improvement projects
"Mick Robinson from the GIS department receives the Employee of the month award for Emery County. Robinson is a 14 year employee of the county and an expert in GIS. He tackles every project with enthusiasm and takes pride in his work. He is also an EMT. He is always available to help the staff at the courthouse with any technical problem they encounter. He also makes himself available to open and close the building for meetings and activities. Commissioners Ethan Migliori, Paul Cowley and Keith Brady present the award."