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Show 'f ' Index Business Church Classified Economy Review Home Living 6A - 7 A 12A HB-15- B 6A IB 2B Obituaries 14B 4B Sports Vol. 1 No. 15 Serving 31,500 Families From Roy Through Centerville ' RB Thursday, December 4, 1980 3 Cities TakeOver Service Firefighting - - CENTERVILLE The Davis County commissioners want to get out of the fire protection business and they have proposed that Centerville, Woods Cross and West Bountiful take over the service to unincorporated areas of the county for four years in exchange for the countys equipment and fire station site. The Centerville City Council Tuesday failed to reach an agreement on the proposal, with one councilman strongly against the proposal and others, including Mayor,Golden L. Allen, in favor of accepting the proposal out of concern the city would be without adequate fire protection after the county dissolves its department July 1, 1981. Councilman Robert M. Arbuckle said he feels the city might be able to come out on the deal if the county continues to collect the present levy for fire service and turns the money over to the cities. Allen said the commissioners had indicated that they would not turn the tax money over to the cities under the proposed new system. Cost of operating the service for the four years would be divided according to population, with Centerville taking nearly half. The mayors of the three cities and the commissioners were to meet on the proposal Wednesday afternoon. Allen said Centerville has made a counterproposal to the countys offer which would set the price of the county equipment and station site at np more than $200,000, with the cities providing service for two or three years in exchange for the county department or would set a time limit of three years for the cities to serve the unincorporated ' areas. : Allen said the county has a total, budget this year of $187,000 to operate the fire department for the area. Costs of. operation amounting to about that figure would have to be borne by the cities during the four-yea- r period. ; Centerville currently pays the county for fire protection and maintains a small volunteer crew within the city. Arbuckle said he would rather see the Fill-I- n city put the money into an independent fire department of its own, instead of taking over the service for the unincorporated areas. Were going to have to put money into our own fire department sooner or later and I would rather not see the city pay for the service twice, Arbuckle said. He said he believes Centerville could have an operational fire department by July 1. Mayor Allen disagreed. He said the city needs breathing time before trying to set up a complete fire department, he said. If we cant come to an agreement with the county, they might just say okay, youre without service as of July Allen said. 1, Its going to cost us somewhere between $90,000 and $200,000 a year to operate the county system if we have to get into a lot of equipment upgrading, Arbuckle said. And, we wont get anything out of it, because the county station is too far away to be any good to us when we get it.Councilman Dale W. Ford said he had talked to people in the county fire department who had indicated the county wanted to get out of providing the service because they are looking at some major equipment expense right away." Councilman Kenneth Holman said the cost of operating the system could amount to $200,000 a year if the equipment needs extensive upgrading. 1 dont know how often the county docs the city a favor, but I have a feeling theyre unloading their equipment because its getting old and could get expensive to repair, Holman said. Allen said he doubts that is the reason for the countys decision. Allen said the city arrived at the $200,000 figure by adding the value of the station site at $138,000 and $62,000 fop other equipment and assets. The cost of providing service to the unincorporated areas is about $50,000 per year, arriving at the value of the property in four years. Program Good FARMINGTON Second District Court Judge Thornley K. Swan is retiring after 19 years on the bench, but he is hoping that he is not going to be completely forgotten by people in the state judicial system. Judge Swan is retiring five years prior to the mandatory retirement age of 70 in the hopes of being able to serve as a fill-i- n when needs arise in state courts. : Both the federal and state judicial systems provide for a retired or senior judge to serve on invitation, he said. However, the system has not been widely used on the state level, and he is Roping his action will help change this. : i,The judge explained the lack of use of die system as being a result of the ; judges tending to wait until the mandatory retirement age before leaving their positions and often it is difficult to call upon them later to help. : He said he hopes his taking an early retirement, will result in extensive use of his services in the senior judge assignment program, and perhaps encourage others to consider early retirement as well. The legislature is sometimes slow to provide additional judges, and the senior judge program can provide a work force to keep the case load current, he said. , By using the system and his services as a fill-i- n judge he feels the judicial Reviewing The News Decorating for Christmas is more than a job for Gaye Cook of Clearfield. ; Mrs. Cook spends many hours each this of year making figures time day and decorations from salt dough, and Ber talents have developed into business skills which are bringing in some cash. I ;Her five children help out, making it 3 family effort. A Lakeside Review reporter visited the Cook home last week and watched Mrs. Cook at work. Read her report on this unusual form of holiday creativity on page IB of todays Lakeside Review. day-or-tw- o " By LUCINDA M. SCHUFT Staff Writer The $2 million FARMINGTON Davis County Jail annex building is nearing completion of phase 1 in the construction, but a failure, for the second time, to pass a building inspection has delayed the occupancy of the new structure. The buildings completion, which was scheduled for Dec. 1, was threatened a few weeks ago when an inspection by Farmington City said the building did not pass several of the citys fire requirements. At that time none of the parties involved felt that would delay the move of the sheriffs department into the new structure and everything could still be kept on schedule. . However, this week, when the sheriff wanted to begin the move, a second building inspection still would not pass - the same fire regulations that previously had been outlined. Tuesday, Sheriff Brant Johnson said he would catagorize some of the major obstacles to changes as overcome as far as the fire codes are concerned. The original inspection listed the lack of fire proofing on the second floor of the structure as an area to be corrected before occupancy. The second floor is not to be finished at this time and in a meeting held Nov. 21 it was decided the county could occupy the structure without fire proofing the upper floor at this time. Other objections listed had to do with the air vents in some of the jail corridors and the installation of fire-- r tight lids on those that could be closed in the case of a fire. Johnson said the major areas f . concern outlined in the latest inspection are in the new jail portion ' of the building, but occupancy of the other sections in the building will be delayed until these are corrected. He said a meeting has been scheduled for Friday between the contractors, Farmington City, and others who are involved to discuss the latest delay. He said they hope to be able to start moving into the new section on Monday. He said the setback will not affect the proposed date for completion of his departments move. We should be in the new section completely by the first of the year. The only other delay foreseen in the sheriffs plans is a problem with the communications equipment. The new communication center will not be ready for use as quickly as other sections of the building because of difficulties in obtaining some of the components for the system. Davis County Chief Deputy Floyd Dansie said the communications THORNLEY K. SWAN system could become more efficient. Swan is the chief judge on the Utah Judicial Council and has been a key figure in court reform within the state. He has been on the judicial council since it was formed in 1973. He cited the creation of that body as a significant development in Utahs trial court Continued on page 2A system. equipment was ordered over a year ago and put in storage. However, he explained that while the equipment was in storage waiting for the buildings completion the people the county purchased it from had used some of it for other jobs, and now theyre having to replace it. Dansie said that is slowing the completion of that part of the new facilities. He said the new communication center will be a big change for the department. Dansie said that in addition to having more modern equipment, the new communications center will be more removed from the main part of the office and officials are hoping that will keep some of the traffic down for the communications people. He said there wont be as much background noise and probably they will have less trouble than theyre had A DISPATCHER WORKS IN a crowded space within the old communications center that is being replaced by the Davis County Jail Annex Building. Dispatcher before. In addition to a modernized com- munication center the sheriffs department will have a number of other electronic devices that will help increase security in the new jail. Television monitors will cover the entire jail, allowing jailers to watch the prisoners at all times from a control center. In addition the doors within the jail will be electronically operated and feature a double-doo- r system. Sheriff Johnson said the double doors are a feature the jail did not have previously. In the old jail there was only onedoor to freedom, he said. Now prisoners will leave their cells, go into a control area in the corridor, with the cell door closing behind them. Once, via the TV monitors, the jailer determines they are OK, the other door will be opened. The sheriff said this greatly increases the security of the jail. He said the new facility has many features which make Weve now got a holding area, he it much more secure. Linda Henstra will be working in a modernized communications center that is scheduled to be in operation by the first of the year. See picture on 2A. said. Before we just had the corridor. He said that presented a real problem if officers brought in rowdy prisoners for booking, they had no place to put them while they processed them. Another security improvement for the jail is in the visiting area. Sheriff Johnson said in the old jail they had to go right in with the prisoners but the new facilities are set up for a visiting section with phones for conversations connecting two rooms on either side of a glass partition. The increase in space the new jail provides will also be appreciated. Johnson said that previously they had no facilities for women, where they can now handle 12, and overall they can house 100 prisoners where before they only had facilities for 32. Well have eight separate places for prisoners, Johnson said. We will be able to separate people with different classes of problems. He said that is an important aspect in the jail, which before, with only two areas, couldnt be done. He said in addition to the jail improvements officials will also enjoy the increased space for their staff. He said that in 1963 they had 12 members in the sheriffs department and they have now grown to 74 members and they were, before the addition, occupying the same space. We were just all cramped together, Johnson said. He said they were also lacking a space large enough for all of the staff to assemble at one time for a meeting. The new facilities will have that. The old section of the jail will be used for the administrative offices and will house the sheriff, his secretary, the chief deputy and the civil defense department. An open house has been scheduled for Jan. 9 and 10, and Sheriff Johnson said that they would like all of the residents of Davis County to come down and see the new jail facilities. The facilities will be open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. on those days. Valuation Increases Lessen; County Budget Suffers FARMINGTON The assessed valuation for property in Davis County is projected to rise 4 percent in the proposed 1981 Davis County Budget. LuDean Gibbons, Davis County auditor, said the amount of the it again in July and determine if there is a need for assessing anything in this area. Last year the special services assessment was 4.5 mills and in 1979 it was 3.45, which brought the total 1979 increase has declined mill levy to 20.40. The total 1981 proposed budget calls steadily in recent years. Up until 1979 for expenditures of $18,038,558 and Mrs. we saw a 10 percent yearly increase, she said. And this year the county's Gibbons said the officials are really property valuation only reflected a 7 going to watch their spending and revenues in order to keep within the percent increase. The proposed 1981 budget calls for a 1981 budget. Mrs. Gibbons said the county will also mill levy of 16.95, which is a increase of 1.7 over last year but is the same level be faced with increasing costs with as 1979. continuing inflation in addition to the This mill levy figure does not reflect tightening, of the budget with the the special services area which Mrs. reduction of income. Utilities have increased and are Gibbons said is very uncertain at this time. She said they will have to look at eating into our budget, she said. She valuation I also added that the county will be facing an ll'? percent cost of living raise for its employees next year. One area the county is changing in the budget to assure the funding for the more vital areas is in the construction fund. Mrs. Gibbons said commissioners will be dropping it from the budget and setting up a separate fund for construction. She said the finishing of the upper floor of the jail annex building, the addition to the Davis County Golf Course clubhouse and several other projects wjll be entered under the new system. She said they will be financed through the collection of back taxes and anything that is left over in other areas. Mrs. Gibbons also pointed out that the projected balance in the 1980 year-end budget is very low. The fund balance is the lowest weve ever had, but we didn't raise our levy in 1980 and its really brought us down, she said. The ending fund balance for 1980 in Davis County is estimated to be $333,355, and the projection for the year ending in 1981 is $10,257 in the proposed budget. Another change that took place in the budget for this year was the moving of the Council on Aging. It no longer can be included in the general fund and is now combined with the nutritional fund. Mrs. Gibbons said that is simply a bookkeeping procedure which resulted from a state requirement that the county remove anything in excess from its general fund. Two meetings will be held in con nection with the proposed budget, one a public hearing on the revenue sharing money, which hasnt been received yet, and is still waiting passage by Congress, and the other a public hearing on the proposed budget. The revenue sharing hearing will be held today, and the budget hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at the Davis County Commission meetings. Mrs. Gibbons also said that the county budget is being affected by the in automobile traveling. slowdown Revenues from the state auto registration will be down $30,000 in 1981. Part of the reason for the drop was explained as a change in the state's bookkeeping systems, but she said the county still has felt a decrease in that area. |