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Show 75¢ Counter Copy Price Gunnison Valley Edition www.sanpetemessenger.com VOL. 86 • NUMBER 7 School district seeks $30 million bond SANPETE WEATHER FORECAST High/Low % precip. Wednesday Flurries, 33/24 ...................30% Gunnison and Ephraim would get new Elementary schools Thursday By Sara Hansen Flurries, 34/24 ...................15% Staff writer Friday Flurries, 38/26 ...................50% Saturday Flurries, 40/28 ...................25% Last Week’s Weather (Courtesy Ted Olson, Snow College) Date Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2008 Max. Min. 41 42 29 28 29 40 38 15 10 18 -7 -7 1 2 Snow 6” IN BRIEF Buy daffodils to fight cancer By Naomi O’Keefe SALT LAKE CITY— MarketStar, a worldwide marketing company based in Ogden, is teaming up with the American Cancer Society to sponsor 2008 Daffodil Days, a program dedicated to fundraising for cancer patients. “We are thrilled to help the American Cancer Society continue its lifesaving work by sponsoring this year’s Daffodil Days campaign in Salt Lake City,” said Joe Dallimore of MarketStar. A bouquet of 10 daffodils is available for a donation of $10. For a donation of $25 donors can receive up to three bouquets. The cancer society’s goal is to raise $183,000 statewide through the event. For information, to request flowers or to get involved, contact Crista Casper at (800) 227-2345 or crista.casper@ cancer.org. You said It! “They’re [Gunnison and Ephraim Elementary Schools] coming up on 50 years old… we’ve outgrown them… and the infrastructure is falling apart.” GUNNISON—Because of increasing class sizes and general disrepair of some of its buildings, the South Sanpete School Board is proposing a $30 million general obligation (GO) bond to address these issues. The bond will be put to a public vote in an election this June. Under the plan, the money would be used to build new elementary schools in Gunnison and Ephraim. The new schools would have a 600-student capacity, in comparison to the 350- student capacity of the current schools. Each of the schools is currently trying to accommodate 500-plus students. Each of the new elementary schools will cost roughly $12 million. So to build both of the schools, approximately $24 million will be needed. Money would also go toward building an addition onto Manti Elementary School. Another $2-4 million would be needed for that project. Though the amount the district is asking voters to approve is $30 million, said the district’s business administrator, Paul Gottfredson, state law limits the amount the district could issue to an amount that is 4 percent of the district’s total assessed value. That number is currently $24 million. Gottfredson said that the district is asking voters to approve $30 million to allow the district to borrow more money, if the district’s overall evaluation rises. There is no way, unless the citizens vote and authorize the district to take out more than $30 million, that the district could take out more money on the project, Gottfredson said. (See “Bond” on A8) SARA HANSEN / MESSENGER PHOTO South Sanpete School District Superintendent Don Hill displays one of the disintegrating sewage pipes removed from Gunnison Elementary School. Because of pipes like these and other reasons, such as growth, the district is hoping to build new schools in Gunnison and Ephraim. Gunnison City Hall will be rebuilt, not renovated Council now faces choices of location and scope for project By John Hales Managing editor GUNNISON—The Gunnison City Council is still wrestling with exactly what to do regarding its city building, but is definitely leaning toward the construction of a new building. For about a year, the city has tossed around ideas ranging from renovating the current city hall, rebuilding it on the same spot, or building a new city hall in a different location. At a council meeting on Feb. 7, the council seemed all but certain in its intent to have a new building, a decision based mainly on the infeasibility of renovating the current one. At a meeting last month, council members were told that renovating would cost one-and-a-half times the cost of simply rebuilding, thereby answering the question of whether to rebuild or renovate. The bigger questions now are where should the new building go, and what should it include. “It needs to be on our main street,” said Councilman Paul Greener. “It’s the people’s city, and it’s the people’s building. In a small town it needs to be in the center of town.” ED WALLACE / MESSENGER PHOTO Aging Gunnison city Hall’s problems prompt council to decide new building is best solution. Councilwoman Lori Nay did not specifically identify Main Street, but seemed to agree with Greener, saying, “It needs to be where people can see it and it’s lovely and it gives an ambience to the town.” The city would have to acquire Main Street property for the building to go there, but Greener said, “I think we could wedge ourselves on Main Street fairly easily.” Another option could be to tear down city hall and rebuild it on the current site. That kind of plan would save the city the cost of new property, if indeed there were enough property at the current location to build a city hall that would accommodate the city and its growth for the next 50 years. The cost of new property was a concern at the meeting. “Now, just figure out how to pay for it,” Nay said, after the discussion of getting land on Main Street. Resource officers approved for South Sanpete schools Money will provide two officers for South Sanpete School District By Suzanne Dean Resource Officer Funding North Sanpete District (One officer) Publisher —South Sanpete School boardmember Larry Smith, explaining why the school district needs a bond. INSIDE Opinions ...........A4 Lifestyle............A5 School ................A7 Sports ................A8 Utah Press Association General Excellence winner 1999 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 MANTI—Following a vote of the South Sanpete School District last week, funds are in place for a school resource officer in Gunnison Valley schools and a second officer in Manti and Ephraim schools for the 2008-2009 school year. A resource officer position costs about $70,000, including salary, benefits, equipment and part of the supervisor’s costs, according to Sheriff Kevin Holman. At its meeting Wednesday, Feb. 13, the school board approved $48,000—$24,000 for each position. The previous week, the Manti, Gunnison and Ephraim city councils approved more than $40,000 for the cooperative effort. Between December and mid-February, the county commission approved $47,000, or $23,000 per officer, and other municipalities in the school district approved varying amounts. (See chart.) “All the pieces of the puzzle are in place,” Superintendent Don Hill said Monday. While the commitments are for one year only, “we fully anticipate it will be an ongoing program,” he said. “It’s hard to describe how important this is,” said Sheriff Kevin Holman, who helped bring the position to the North Sanpete district in the late 1990s. “It actually gets the school back to (See “Resource” on A7) School District.....................$23,000 Sanpete County ..................$46,000 Fairview ................................$3,000 Fountain Green.....................$3,000 Moroni...................................$3,000 Mt. Pleasant..........................$6,000 Spring City ............................$2,000 TOTAL ................................$86,000 South Sanpete District Manti-Ephraim Officer School District.....................$24,000 Sanpete County .................$23,000 Ephraim .............................$12,000 Manti $10,000 Sterling ...............................$2,000 TOTAL $71,000 Gunnison Valley Officer School District.....................$24,000 Sanpete County .................$23,000 Gunnison ............................$20,000 Centerfield ..........................$10,000 Mayfield ................................$3,000 TOTAL ................................$80,000 How much land the city would need is still in question. “When you first identify what your needs are and what you want to accommodate, then you can look at space and how much land you need,” Nay said. To help with that, Nay suggested organizing a committee of residents who could help decide and guide the planning and construction of a new city building. “I do think it’s really helpful to have a community committee that’s involved with the city building. It does a couple of things: you get more than one person’s input and you get your community support.” The council seemed to agree that the new building, whatever form it took, should be more than just city offices and should serve as a community center. In addition to offices, ideas of city services to include in the building are public safety and the maintenance departments. But, keeping with the idea of “community center,” the council expressed the building should be a place that people would use, including space for the city library and for senior citizens. Nay liked the prospect that a new city building could be just the thing to rejuvenate Gunnison’s Main Street, one of her pet projects. After all the bad news coming from Main Street in recent months, Nay said, “I think it’s exciting, and I think everybody needs something exciting to attach to right now.” Centerfield woman sentenced to 60 days in auto homicide case By John Hales Managing editor MANTI—A Centerfield woman will go to county jail, but avoided time in state prison, for the car-accident death of her son. Sixth District Court Judge Wallace Lee sentenced Stephanie Muller to serve 60 days in the Sanpete County Jail for automobile homicide, a third-degree felony that usually carries a penalty of one to five years in the state penitentiary. Lee suspended the prison sentence, and instituted instead the jail time. In addition, he ordered that Muller be placed on supervised probation for three years. He also suspended over $11,000 in fines. The sentence came down as a result of an auto accident last year, in which Muller was driving, that caused the death of her 7-year-old son. Muller was found to have been driving under the influence of prescribed medication at the time of the accident. The actual sentence Lee gave was about two-thirds less than the recommendation he received from prosecutor Brody Kiesel. Following a pre-sentence report prepared by Adult Probation and Parole, Kiesel asked that Muller serve 180 days in jail. He later said he would have even preferred a longer jail sentence, but decided to back the AP&P report. In addition to the automobile homicide conviction, last week’s sentence included a DUI conviction as well, a Class A misdemeanor. Under Utah law, driving under the influence is not only cited when alcohol or illegal drugs are involved. Prescription medications and even over-the-counter drugs, if they render someone “incapable of safely operating a vehicle,” are grounds for DUI charges. On Jan. 2, Muller pleaded guilty to both violations. In accordance with a plea agreement, the Sanpete County Attorney’s Office dropped five other charges ranging from Class B misdemeanors to a third-degree felony. |