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Show I 84101 EXP UTAH 307 COOS 1199 W SALT ON PRESS .ASSOC1 ATI 200 S STE 5005 LAKE UT CITY 84101-37- 68 Serving East Juab County - A Nice Place To Live! ' Volume 95, No 38 wttes tto back ditty police m 3 tins vslMdss sumd toalleirs offff dity sttirestts CItty CoMtcSl Auditors ccnxTjIintcmt the way it is being run has been complimented on the way the city is being run, at least Once again, Nephi City financially. Property taxes have actually been lowered by the dty council, said Kim Peterson, Peterson and Associates, Spanish Fork. It doesnt show, said Milt Harmon, council member, "because other entities in the county have increased their property tax levy, so people are actually paying more property tax, but less of it is coming to the city. Collections are staying about the same, even though the property tax levy has decreased, largely because of the number of people who are now living in Nephi. Peterson said 72 percent of the citys money was located in the enterprise fund. The electric department fund is part of the enterprise fund. Only 1.8 percent of the budget Is for capital- projects. "You need to consider increasing the reserve for the electric department so you will have . enough there to cover a major repair if one should occur, said Peterson. "You need a buffer. He said repairs for the electric department would tend to be fairly expensive ifi for instance, a transformer would need to be replaced. Peterson said there was a $157,450 fund balance in the general fund. The fund could be increased, he said. During the floods in the early 1980s, a need was shown for maintaining some money. The state set limits on the percentage of money allowed to accumulate. Some of the repairs needed, caused by flood damage, in the flood years, said Peterson, were fairly expensive and proved a need for having some money left for such unexpected expenses. "The city would be allowed, by state statute, to increase the balance, said Peterson. "A few years ago, the dty had too much money there. The amount of money coming to the dty for fees and permits had increased, said Peterson. "Its true that $40,000 more came to the dty in the form of building permits last fiscal year." In all, said Peterson, the dty had $300,000 more than antid-Fted. The auditor did make some suggestions for improving the workings of the dty as a business. "The pickier we get," said ' Peterson, "the more you know the dty staff has been successful in doing their jobs well" One of thoee improvements, he sail, was that the dty judge needed to make deposits of collections every three days. It wo-ualso be better, he said, if fryments were actually cade at ll ctykaff. "The judge sometimes gives psc'Ia a break oa paying their Cat and allows more said ti," pet 2 Correspondent Dont park a travel trailer, a school bus, or large truck on a city street and dont even think about doing mechanical work on a street. The city coundl voted to back city Correspondent See City on s Times-New- police in enforcing dty ordinances which prevent all of the above, and more besides, from occurring on dty streets or on dty ' The city council will also get serious about working out an ordinance curtailtrucks on ing parking of large city streets. A rash of violations and complaints by dty residents resulted in the city police chief and dty coundl members touring the streets to consider the vioright-of-wa- y. 18-wh- lations. City council members agreed to have the police chief place an ad in the local paper inflaming the public of the intent to enforce the law. The council also directed the city hall staff to make cer- tain a notice was included in the utility bills for the month. Meanwhile, police were directed to contact violators individually and give them a short time to clean up. Those - who do not comply will be ticketed. Milt Harmon, dty coundl member, By Myraa Trauntveiii By Myrna Trtnnlvein s ' . Kcpli! City on Times-New- Single Copy Price 500 10 pages Wednesday, September 24, 1997 keep their own property on their own property to not enforce the law for evsaid he had ridden around the streets eryone." with Nephi City Police Officer Bruce "It has not been a big problem in the Beal and looked at the number of viola- past but it is becoming a big problem tions in the community. now, said Bowles. He said he was seek"Numerous city blocks have travel ing the backing of the council in enforctrailers parked on the dty ing the ordinances. "You guys reap the said Harmon. "There were a lot of unli- dissatisfaction of the residents when censed cars, three school buses, and die- they are not obeying an ordinance and sel trucks and their trailers parked go- are fined," said Bowles. "I had Officer Alden Orme write down ing the wrong way on streets." In addition, may cars were not even the number of vehicles parked on the y which hadnt been operable. In other areas, vehicles were city parked right up to the corner making used in five years, said Bowles. "Some seeing around the corner a hazard for have five or six vehicles. These are eye motorists. sores for the community. f Some city vehicles also were impropThe biggest problem, was in Nebo erly parked, he said. 1 Heights where the streets are narrow. In one instance, a vehicle was parked In some places, because of Recreationinside a fence but so Close to the prop- al Vehicles parked along curbs, cars erty line that travelers couldnt see could not pass one another without one whether a train was traveling along the yielding. "It is a hazard for kids. If one tracks. "We have already had two young' would dart out from behind a trailer, the people killed on those tracks," he said. kid could be killed. Chad Bowles, Nephi City Police Chiefs "There have been several wreaks said many ordinances were already on caused by RVs parked too close to stop the books which would take care of signs, said Mayor Robert Steele. "We many of the problems. "We have let sent letters telling such property ownsome of the ordinances slide in the past," ers of the problem and then ticketed he said. "But it is not fair to those who them if they did not move their proper- right-of-wa- y, right-of-wa- s, r QN TRAILZ.JS These trailers parked on city streets, will have to be moved when Nephi City Police start enforcing ordinances prohibiting such parking. The ordinance prohibits parking a travel trailer, large truck or residents doing any mechanic work on city property and will be enforced by the city police in the near future. Cifoy to! $29,592.(54 wtiSEtty EdS 5sn By Tunes-New- to s Myna Thwtwh Correspondent Nephi City Council members agreed write-of- f $29,532.64 in uncollectible utility tills. "The lions share of these bills dates back to the time when the owners of NEP, at the time, took out bankruptcy, said Robert Steele, mayor. That bill, he said, was for $23,159.44. Dreads cf the barbrupity, ta eaid, tha csmpmty wsuld net la req.iireJ to pay the back amount "This is a new cc tcirj run by enr ownership and net rergenubb for lbs debts of the eld owners," said Stada. One ether izdividmJ $2,643.3. The ether 12 fchTilnli and busi mi nesses who owed money on utilities, a low of $13.27 to a of $835.33. high "We will continue to try to collect these debts, said Clair Painter, city clerk and finance officer. Ha said the vote by the council was needod to allow action on a housekeeping item. "Our policy is working," said Steele. "We have a low percentage less then 1 percent of write-offSome of these debts may still be collected. owed money from prevent even thse losses. "We haven't had any delinquent accounts come before the utilities board and explain the reason for the failure to pay." A limit of $1,C03 could be set. After that print, the bill would not be allowed to increase. "The dty treasurer makes every effort to collect," said Painter. "In some cases, a lien has been filed against the property." There were some limitations to this He said the 1 percent of bills written part of the policy, however, snid Richoffthe city was small, in bis estimation. ard Patman, coundl member. Par ex"It is for only 12 accounts out cf month- ample, renters couldn't Lavs a Ran ly accounts in excess cf 1,529." placed tgeixet the prcgmty The techs will no krrgtr Lit to car- they did not own it. s. ry the aging accounts, sxid Printer. "Bankruptcy alto pretexts However, seme things could be done to this, he said. rg-:r- ;t The council will also begin the process of forming a draft ordinance dealing truck parking probwith the lem in the community. In all likelihood, the ordinance will prohibit parking on a dty street or right-o- f way by all trucks, all large delivery and construction vehicles and all tractor-trailunits. "We should encourage some sort of business which would allow drivers to park there and then drive home in private cars. The dty does not need to provide parking areas for the trucks, it is the owners of the businesses which run the trucking companies to provide parking for their drivers. Steele said he agreed. "We have many people in the community who have to drive to work and park, said Steele. "It is not different for those who drive trucks to drive to work and pick up their rig at a different site from their home. While the coundl has discussed the problem of ruining city streets and of the safety hazard they impose when they are improperly parked, this time the council will begin the process of forming an ordinance in earnest. Bowles said he had already contact- ed 14 individuals who were in violation of present dty ordinances. Ofthe 14, he said, 13 had taken care of the problem. One individual, he said, was interested in playing games. "If one person gets killed because of their failure to obey the ordinance, I will not hesitate to charge them with manslaughter, said Bowles. "Thats a serious offense, to intentionally violate the ordinances and intentionally endanger a life, and should carry a criminal charge. In addition, he said, a stiff fine should be administered. The council voted to uphold the police department in enforcing the dty ordinances. The council also directed Bowles to use all his officers and reserve officers on a mass effort to blanket the town. "Notify all those who are not in compliance," said Harmon. "Pull in all your officers and reserves for the drive. "I wouldn't want to spend 10 days in jail and have my trailer impounded for failure to observe the warning, said Bowles. "I also would not want to live with the idea that I was responsible for ' killing a kid because I made it impossi- ble for drivers to have a dear lookout" Fire equipment would also have a difficult time negotiating the streets of ' Nebo Heights with the number of vehicles parked in front of homes. "There isn't anyplace that Ive observed where the property owner couldnt park the RV alongside his home on his own property, said Bowles. el 18-wh- er ers Nephi City ccndidnico nnined for r.bnyor end City Ccmdl The Democratic and Republican parties have nominated the following candidates for Nephi City offices. The slec-tkwill be held on Tuesday, November 4th. Democratic party. Mayor, Ear! Andrews. Council, Milton T. Harmon, incumbent, and Michael T. Jcscs. Republican party. Mayer, Chad L. ErcrgX crrrtnt city CcnrnJ embj. Cemd, Wmley A. Lyra tr.J Darin m TL Tirco-IIzw- s will rca t tcntlniceiibhiiallicnbifi. cr to tbs i.mtlm. |