Castle Dale City moves forward on information center

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Castle Dale City met in their February meeting and Mayor Dan Van Wagoner presented former councilmember Dixie Thompson with a plaque thanking her for her service to the city. Neal Peacock said he was passing by, and saw the lights on. He wanted to thank the Mayor and City Council for all they do. “Gwen and I appreciate your work,” said Peacock.
Kerry Lake said the high school wants to have their water allotment increased. The current allotment of 10,000 gallons a month does not meet their needs. The CVSSD estimates useage of 100 gallon per person/per day. Kerry’s estimates with the current faculty and students is about 20,000 gallons used per day, or 217,000 gallons per month.
Mayor Van Wagoner noted, that other large users, do not get a different allotment. He assigned Kerry, Brad and Julie to get together and come up with a solution to be presented at the next City Council Meeting in March.
Kent Wilson from Emery County Sanitation stated that on March 1, Emery County Landfill will start charging a tippage fee for commercial garbage carriers of $10 per ton at the landfill. He will have to pass this fee on to the city, and is proposing a surcharge of $1.20 per can per month for customers in Castle Dale. Kent is trying to make this fee revenue neutral, and may adjust it at the end of a year it he has over-estimated the fee.
Councilman Brad Giles made a motion to raise the garbage rates by $1.20 per can per month to cover the costs of the tippage fee.
This increase will begin with the utility bills sent in April.
Jennie Donaldson, from the Emery County Community Theater asked the City for a donation to the Theater. The city will advertise in the Community Theater’s program for $200.
Councilmember Julie Johansen has talked to several property owners near the Indoor Arena. The Jensen’s have a quarter block available for purchase. Johansen would like to turn this over to the Economic Development Committee to pursue grants to purchase this property and build stalls and parking. She noted the Arena is the City’s largest capital investment, and it’s not being used to its full capacity.
Doug Moreno reported the storage container that is illegally in the City will be gone by May or June. “Now that the ordinance is in place, I will be more aggressive on illegal containers. I am also watching closely for Building Permit Violations. I have looked into about 20 infractions. Most have corrected themselves” said Moreno.
Ignacio Arrien fire chief said, “We are going to have a lot of training in the next few months, and are looking for some cars to burn. Training in Moab is coming soon. Next week we have hazmat training. We are going to Utah Valley University in May for brush fire training, and the Regional Fire School will be in Ferron on July 19-21. The Welcome center has a concrete slab now, and we will begin framing. The concrete contractor informed us the cement cost will go up in April, and is urging us to begin our curb, gutter and sidewalks, as much as we can before then.”
Councilman Giles told Arrien the City Crews will be removing the old curbs and sidewalks, and to call him to start planning this project.
Arrien said, “We bought a truck from the County, a 1990 Ford F-150. We made it into a watering truck, for watering the planters, and the rodeo grounds. We need the old truck title transfered to the Fire Dept so we can burn it for training. I have been working on the Employee Handbook, and updating it,” said Arrien.
Mayor Van Wagoner and Arrien will review the handbook, and present it to the Council next month.
Councilman Joel Dorsch reported the Easter Egg Hunt is March 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Cheddar Field.
The New City Hall project is opening for bids on March 23. It is currently projected to come in on budget. Next month there will be changes for the secondary water resolution. There will be a fee structure for larger connections. There are new agriculture users who want to be on the City system.
Mayor Van Wagoner said, “I want Julie to get some training on grant writing. Our health insurance for employees was renewed, with a 3.5 percent increase in premiums. We are going to have a $20,000 life insurance policy for full time employees beginning in July. It will cost the city about $16 per month per employee.”