Commissioners discuss county equipment helping with wildfires

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

The Emery County Commissioners approved a letter of support for Castle Dale City to apply for a grant to build pickleball courts. They will be placed behind the dentist’s office at the fairgrounds in Castle Dale. They want to build three courts. Commissioner Kent Wilson said they held a pickleball tournament at the Emery County Fair. It’s quite popular and there were several senior citizens involved. They play in a league in St. George. He said it’s a cross between tennis and ping pong.
The Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands gave a presentation. They asked Emery County to approve a MOU between them and the county for the use of ambulances and EMTs for fires. The Trail Mountain fire had to bring in ambulances from out of the area, because Emery County didn’t have a signed agreement with the state for such use. The state reimburses for the use of the ambulance and personnel.
There is also need for an agreement with the county for fire engines and personnel to respond to fire. The firefighters would need wildland fire certification and such an agreement must be in place for this to happen. The presenter said Emery County isn’t recognized as having a fire district because there is no documentation of its existence at the state level. The county must get registered with the state to be eligible to participate in these reimbursement situations. There is a list for the county to get onto which would list any resources the county would have to help with fire on state or federal lands.
All fire departments in the state have the same agreement. They could also add the equipment from the sheriff’s office to the list.
County Attorney Mike Olsen asked if the county should be able to go put out a fire. He said the Seeley fire started small and then grew. Can the county do anything to extinguish small fires before they become a problem?
Not currently where the firefighters aren’t wildland certified, they couldn’t fight a fire on state or federal land. The forest service fire manager makes the call on whether to let a fire burn or not because sometimes the fire might be in an area that would benefit from being burned.
Olsen said this year the forest service made a decision to burn and if the county had been asked about this they would have told them it was too dry to burn this year.
Rudy Sandoval said the public will be involved in the process if the fire is on private land. The law says fire must be suppressed on private land.
There are funds available for fuel mitigation work at Lowry Creek.
Olsen said the county would like input on prescribed burns. Commissioner Wilson said the public lands council should be involved in looking at a forest service map of areas the forest service would like burned and give input.
“Emery County farmers are paying the price for these (forest service) decisions. The water will be turned off in a week. They are the victims and need compensation. They need input. We plan to be more engaged,” said Commissioner Wilson.
Commissioner Wilson said he would like the fire district to look at the agreement for fire departments before it’s approved. The ambulance agreement he would like the ambulance board to take a look at it before it’s approved. The matter will be brought back to commission meeting in two weeks. The county attorney will get the paperwork to the state to notify them of the existence of the Emery County Fire District.
Margie Memott from Utah State University gave updates and recognized Dennis Worwood for his retirement. “We appreciate the opportunity to work with Emery County. We work under a Memorandum of Understanding. The university pays the salary and benefits for the faculty and the county supplies the facility and a budget. We also receive grants. We are sad at the retirement of Dennis Worwood. We are going to miss him. Christine Jensen will be working as the interim department head. I am the southern region director and have 17 counties in the region from the Uintah basin to the Southeastern corner of the state. Seventeen of the 29 counties are in the southern region. We will be hiring someone to replace Dennis. A search committee has been formed and we are receiving applications. The job descriptions have been sent out across the state and country. Finalists will be picked for interviews. Dr. Ken White will review the applicants and select those for interview. Some of the interviews will be held in the county. We would like to invite anyone who would like to have input in this process to comment. If you have any questions and special requests you would like addressed in the interviews, please contact me. There will be a public presentation which will be broadcast from campus of the interview presentation. After this you can submit comments and make recommendations. We will consider all comments as a recommendation is made. We will fill the position as soon as possible. The presentations will be available for the public to watch and everyone is welcome to submit input,” said Memott.
Worwood gave a report on the Southeastern Utah Junior Livestock show. It was held in July in Ferron. Worwood said it is one of five stockshows which accept participants from throughout Utah. The State Fair, Spanish Fork, Vernal and Ferron accept participants from all over.
“Some funding for the event comes from the state, the commissioners, Carbon County and the Travel bureau. We had 530 animals. This was the biggest hog show we’ve ever had. Sixty percent of the exhibitors were from outside Emery County. Approximately four people come in with each exhibitor. There were approximately 1,200 people staying at the fairgrounds and more spectators that came in. There were $30,000 in prizes and awards given out and the sale took in a quarter of a million dollars. The stockshow organization comprises 30 volunteers who help. It’s a big undertaking and takes a lot of time and work for months before the show. It’s a year-round thing for these families that participate. They meet monthly as a board. I hope you will continue to support the stockshow. It’s one of the best in the state,” said Worwood.
A business license for Kurry Jensen Transportation in Cleveland was approved.
The board approved the Interlocal Agreement between Emery County and SSD#1 for the Joe’s Valley Boat Ramp Project. Merrial Johansen from Johansen and Tuttle said the project will begin this fall and complete in the spring. The parking lot will be expanded and the boat ramp extended. Bids will be opened this week.
The board approved the grant through the Department of Transportation for the Huntington Airport runway. This grant was approved by UDOT. The project will resurface the Huntington Airport runway. UDOT has funds for smaller airports that don’t qualify for federal funding. The grant is for $100,000 and the county match will be $10,000. Johansen and Tuttle will help with the engineering. This maintenance will take place in April 2019. The next scheduled maintenance after 2019 will be 2023. Jeff Guymon from planning and zoning reported the airport is doing well. The hangars are being used and fuel is being sold.
The board approved the Cooperative Agreement with the Utah Department of Natural Resources for noxious weed removal along Green River. Weed and Mosquito director Cory Worwood said they will use the grant to remove the weeds along the Green. There are many weeds along the Green. They can also use the funding for different projects. One project being considered is removal of Russian Olives for a walking path along the river.
A tax adjustment was approved for a vacant trailer so the trailer court owner can remove the trailer because the owners have abandoned the trailer for three years now.
The board approved the contract between Emery County and UAC regarding creation of a project area for a CRA project. This will create an area where a solar project could be developed or any other economic development project. This is a Community Reinvestment area. It will define the area. The Utah Association of Counties is becoming involved. They will have the consultant develop the area. The solar company will pay for the consultant through UAC. The consultant negotiates with all the taxing entities, does all the paperwork and maintains contact with the company involved. They will also manage the project for the 15 years the tax incentives are in place.
The board approved the contract between Emery County and Community Solar regarding funding reimbursement for creating the CRA Project Area.
The county attorney will draw up the contract with UAC to create the CRA. The county will also enter a contract with Community Solar outlining the solar company will pay the $15,000 to UAC.
Tom asked for the agreement between Emery County and USDA regarding Predator Damage Control within Emery County. The state has a program for $10,000 where they do predator control by helicopter. The state will reimburse the county for participating in the program. Tom said there’s also $5,000 donated by private organizations.
The BLM Right-of-Way renewal grants for Buckhorn Wash, Hadden Wash and Last Chance were approved.
Randy Johnson-Government Matters gave an update on the Emery County Public Lands Bill. He expects mark-up in the House to come in mid-September. A lot of work has been done on the bill to get to this point. Any changes from the House and Senate will be added to the bill at the time of mark-up. A senate hearing was held and 15 bills were heard in the hearing. There is not time for the Emery County bill to move forward as a solo bill. It will be included in a public lands bill package. The time is short and in a few weeks Congress will head home for mid-term elections and on their return they won’t do much but omnibus work.
Commissioner Paul Cowley asked what would happen if the bill runs out of time?
Johnson said Sen. Hatch could still ask for something in regards to the bill. If the bill moves into next year, it would be a challenge. Things would not be as favorable as they are right now. “If it’s not passed by the end of the year, it changes the dynamics if it moves into another year. We are waiting and watching for the mark-up and encouraging people (senators and congressman) to vote favorably for the land bill,” said Johnson.
County Attorney Olsen said he and the sheriff attended a meeting with the governor concerning the management of fire. Emery County has burned twice recently and the Lt. Gov spoke about all the fires. Their goal is to get the forests healthy and keep them healthy. It was the concensus that things could be managed better.
Approval was given to appoint Thomas Jensen to the Fire District Board to fill a remaining term position. Natalie Olsen was selected as a part time Travel Bureau Assistant working up to 19.75 hours per week. Vanessa Justesen was hired as the Victims Advocate. This is a full time provisional position with full benefits.
Shon Roper has been promoted from Patrol Deputy II to Detective I temporarily up to three years. Charles Lawrence was approved as a Reserve Officer.
The board approved the reclassification of the Confidential Secretary position to variable part-time. This is the commissioner’s secretary position. Maegan Crosland was approved to a variable part time employee with prorated retirement.