Commission awards Adobe Wash sediment project

By Patsy Stoddard

The Emery County Commission awarded the Adobe Wash sediment project bid to Feller Enterprises. Project amount is $1,307,000.
The commission asked for bids for ambulance billing. After review of the bids the decision was made to stay with JCI billing and collection service. The other companies bids were based on a percentage of monies collected. JCI charges a flat fee of $36 per claim.  
The bids for the construction of the Des Bee Dove Trail Clearing Project 2017 were opened. High Desert Excavation bid $19,780; Nelco bid $65,150, Hansen Oil Services Inc. bid $32,500. Johansen and Tuttle Engineering will review the bids and the bid will be awarded to the lowest bidder.
Bids on the Orangeville portion of the Cottonwood Creek Project were opened. Perco Rock’s bid was $294,969; Feller Enterprises was $287,704; these bids will be evaluated by Johansen and Tuttle.
Capt. Kyle Ekker from the sheriff’s office and Merrial Johansen from Johansen and Tuttle explained the Emergency Watershed Protection Project Orangeville Flood Control Plans are pending approval from the Army Corp. of Engineers. The commissioners approved the plan pending the approval by the Corp.
The change order for the Soft Spot Repair on South Moore Cut-Off Road Project was approved. The funds for Moore cut-off road were federal and the match will come from the Utah Department of Transportation.
Tina Carter from the travel bureau presented their application for the Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant for Wayfinding Project in the Lower San Rafael County Road. Carter said the grant will be used for signage for that area. It’s 64 miles of road. The project is $10,000 and the match will be $5,000 and this can be an inkind match. Carter said visitors are invited to our area and the lack of adequate signage causes problems and people get lost.
Brenda Tuttle, county clerk presented the Certified Tax Rates for Emery County and Jacob Sharp presented the tax rates for the Castle Valley Special Service District. Sharp explained they charge two taxes, one is for general operation and the other is to repay the bond. The tax rate is similar to last years. Tuttle reported the rate for Emery County is a little higher due to centrally assessed taxes being lower.
Capt. Ekker presented the Emery County Core Capabilities and Gap Analysis Report for June 2017. This will be an attachment to the county’s Emergency Operation Plan. Capt. Ekker said this plan is needed and in place in case the county ever needs to apply for disaster assistance funds. Homeland Security provides the funds so the county can contract to get this plan put together. The plan is in need of updates each year as personnel changes occur in the cities.
Capt. Ekker and Matt Call presented the contract and supporting documents on the Millsite Dam Rehabilitation Project to the commissioners for their signature. They said there were two minor changes made at the Millsite dam rehabilitation meeting prior to commission meeting. The interest rate for any late project payments was listed at 18 percent and 60 days will be the time allowed to process payments on the project. All payments on the project from the federal funds will go through Emery County.
Attorney Mike Olsen clarified that the engineering costs are part of the contract.
Attorney Olsen said tax appeals keep coming in and this one is for Sprint and Verizon. The county adopted the resolution authorizing the filing of cross-appeals for 2017 centrally assessed properties. Olsen said they will handle these as they come in because they are time sensitive.
The commission approved Blueline Services to do background checks for the county.
The commission approved a resolution establishing a cap on the Emery County Insurance Stipend. When both a husband and wife are employed by the county, the stipend will be capped at $900. This is the only situation this applies.
The commission approved a $250 donation for National American Miss State Finalist Kira Saling. She will attend a scholarship pageant in Las Vegas and will be competing for the title.
The board approved the Emery County Travel Bureau’s Opt-In to the Utah Office of Tourism’s Cafeteria Program for Utah.com. The amount is $7.975.
Jordan Leonard, economic development director explained the Emery County Travel Bureau’s request to apply for the Utah Office of Tourism’s out-of-state Co-op Marketing Program Funds for Print Ads. This printed material is sent out to all who request information. Much of it goes overseas. There is $80,000 in the budget of the travel bureau for these expenses. Travel brochures are also printed and taken to the trade shows and distributed throughout the area. The request to the state is for $7,500.
Leonard asked for approval to apply for the Utah Office of Tourism’s out-of-state Co-op Marketing Program Funds for Billboards. These billboards will advertise Emery County out of state in Las Vegas, Denver and Elko, Nev and Green River, Wyo. Three locations will be selected and the funds are in the amount of $5,500 for the three billboards for one year.
Leonard said the trade show booth the travel bureau has been using needs to be updated there are out-of-state Co-op Marketing Program Funds available for this. Total cost is $14,000 and the travel bureau will apply for $7,000 to update the trade show booth. Leonard said this is needed so the county booth looks good at the out of town shows Tina Carter attends each year.
Bill Dellos reported the candidate selected to be in the special election to replace Rep. Jason Chaffetz will be Chris Herrod.
Sheriff Greg Funk said the fundraiser golf tournament for Kina Jewkes went phenomenal with over $8,000 raised. They appreciate all the teams, businesses and donations they received.
Commissioner Lynn Sitterud said he has been receiving phone calls from people concerned about the forest service decision to seasonally close the Nuck Woodward road in Huntington Canyon. Commissioner Sitterud said the county hasn’t had any say in the matter. Sheriff Funk said the commissioners need to get that straightened out then because the forest service was saying the county was involved in the decision.
Abbie Christiansen will receive a 3 percent wage increase for successful completion of her six month orientation period as a Janitor at the Emery Library. Gustavo Garcia was selected as a part time IS/GIS laborer.  
Kathy Miller will receive a 3 percent wage increase for successful completion of her six month orientation period as an assistant Librarian.
Rayola Pfnister will receive a 3 percent wage increase for successful completion of her six month orientation period as the janitor at the Ferron Library. Alex Urquhart will receive a 3 percent wage increase for successful completion of his six month orientation period for the Library and Museum Maintenance.