Emery County Commission hears fair update

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

Emery County Commissioner Paul Cowley was absent from commission meeting to visit Washington DC to meet with the Utah Delegation. Ray Petersen, public lands director and Randy Johnson are also on the trip.
Julie Jones from the Emery County Recreation district gave an update on the 2015 Emery County Fair. She updated the commissioners on what has been done to date on the fair. Jones reported this is her third year as the fair director. The fair has come a long way in that time. It is run with 30 volunteers and the help of recreation district employees Darshell LeRoy and Jake Atwood, recreation director. The volunteers don’t receive any wages and receive one lunch and a T-shirt. Contract workers help with the parking and the cleaning of the fair park. Jones said, “We send out a sponsorship letter each year to area businesses for donations for the fair and rodeo. Some people don’t understand that when they donate it isn’t split between the fair and the rodeo. The elephants are coming back, it’s $5,000 to get them here. The carnival we had a couple of years ago said they won’t be back because they didn’t make enough money. They would want to be paid to come back. We don’t have a large population here and they want to go somewhere larger. You have to book the carnivals two years in advance. We want to have a zipline this year. We need something for the teenagers, we can charge a small amount. The bounce houses are free. I guess the question is what do you want the fair to be five years from now? I would like to have the kids be able to gather eggs, milk a cow and have displays and events for the kids. In the indoor arena we have the petting zoo. We borrow panels for that. The fair gives premiums for the 4-H kids and also for the petting zoo. The fair has grown the last two years. We have a kids rodeo coming back this year and the 4-H horse group and high school rodeo team will help with that.”
Commissioner Brady wondered why someone had to be paid to help with parking. Jones said parking at the fair is a challenge and finding a place for handicap parking and vendor parking. The parking situation isn’t good.
Commissioner Migliori said the fair competes with other larger events and it’s hard to get carnivals to come here.
Jones said this year they are adding a special needs pageant and the Miss Emery contestants will help with that. Money for that event will come from the recreation district.
Commissioner Migliori said they will look at the budget and see if they can find areas to get more money for the fair. The budget for the fair is $55,000 and the fair concert takes a chunk of this budget.
Justin Hart from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, asked for approval of a Cooperative Agreement between the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation and Emery County for the boat ramp extension and parking expansion design at Joes Valley Reservoir.
Hart explained in 2004 the DWR and their partners put a new boat ramp in at Joe’s Valley. The project was ran through the county. Now that boat ramp is 100 feet out of the water due to low water conditions at Joe’s Valley. Joe’s Valley is seeing increased activity with the addition of tiger muskie and the growth of splake fishing there. “We have $45,000 available for the engineering design of the boat ramp and increasing the size of the parking lot. We need to extend the boat ramp and also need to incorporate into the parking lot design a place for boat decontamination.”
Hart said the design work will be done this year and applying for grants to complete the project will take place next year. A good spot will need to be determined for the wash station with good drainage so possible contaminated water doesn’t drain into the reservoir. Hart is confident the project will be funded. Ten years ago the boat ramp cost $187,000. Hart isn’t sure what the current project will cost.
The Emery Water Conservancy District has placed material at the boat ramp so it can be used and boats could launch. Hart expects they will continue with that practice until the new extension can take place.
County attorney Mike Olsen will look over the cooperative agreement and address any concerns he might have.
Todd Thorne from the Southeastern Utah Association of Governments explained the CDBG and RLF programs administered by the SEUAG. He said CDBG grants can be used for housing, sewer and water projects. Their organization has a certain amount of money allocated to this area, if all the money isn’t used here, it will go back to the fund.
Thorne is going around to cities and counties encouraging them to apply for these grants. They also have a revolving loan fund where businesses can receive money for their business expansion or needed improvements. This fund acts as gap financing and the SEUAG usually will fund a portion of a project and also a bank will fund a portion. His phone number is 435-633-3143 and you can call with questions about these two services. Thorne said some of their loans are more high risk than what a bank will finance.
The commission opened the proposals for the Orangeville Library Janitorial services. The proposal from Melody Hoffman was approved for $270 per month.
The commission approved Stacey Conover to the Emery County Travel Bureau.
Steven Barton, county treasurer asked for approval to work with citizens to avoid having their property sold in the May Tax Sale. He asked that he might enter into tax deferral agreements with commission consent. The board agreed.
The board discussed and approved an agreement with Zions Wealth Advisors dba Cantango Capital Advisors, Inc. for the provision of investment advisory services. Treasurer Steven Barton explained they can receive a better interest rate for their investments with this company.
The bids for the South Moore Phase 10 project was approved and Nielson Construction was the low bid on the project.
An approval was made for a 3 percent increase for Chelsea Guymon who has successfully completed her six month orientation period with the economic development office.