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Show School Board opts for bond election by Sandra Skouson Its now, or never, conceded the San Juan School Board of Education last Monday. With unfavorable bond marketing legislation likely in Washington by September 1, and with three building projects calling for immediate attention, the board decided to call a bond election asking voters to approve a $4 million General Obligation Bond. Earth gives way to machinery as work continues on a three-mil- e pipeline to deliver water from Recapture Reservoir to South Blanding. Permission is needed to visit the work site. Marsha Keeie photo San Juan Record Tlh HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER FOR SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH Vol 68 No 11 25 cents April 30, 1986 i Public hearings set on wilderness draft EIS Public hearings in 16 Utah cities in May will provide opportunity for people to comment about the recently issued Bureau of Land Management Statewide Wilderness Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The draft EIS was issued February 5, 1986, and copies of document are the available through any BLM office in Utah. Purpose of the hearings is to provide the public an opportunity to advise BLM on the adequacy and accuracy of the EIS and to express views on the suitability of the Wilderness Study Areas in the EIS for possible wilderness designation by Congress. The document contains an analysis of seven alternatives, including a proposed action to designate 1.892.402 acres in 58 SAs. BLM in Utah in 1978 started to inventory 20,064,748 acres, or 91 percent of the land it administers in the state. Areas with roads, imprints of man and other criteria were First eliminated, leaving 5,417,510 acres in 169 wilderness study area to be intensively inventoried. The 3,231,327 acres analyzed in the DEIS is 15 percent of the lands BLM administers in Utah. The 1.892.402 acres in the BLM six-volu- proposed action in the DEIS is nine percent of the BLM lands in the state. Persons attending the hearings may submit oral or written comments. In addition, written comments may be submitted before August 15, 1986 to Wilderness Studies BLM Utah State Office, 324 South State Street, Suite 301, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-230(U-933- ), 3. Public comments should provide explanatory information in support of views expressed and should be specific, listing the volume and page, if possible. Response to and analysis of the public comments will be included in the final EIS. Hearings are scheduled as follow: May 7: Monticello, at the high school auditorium; and in Vernal, Provo and Escalante. May 8: Moab, County Com- munity Center at 500 East 100 North; and in Tooele and Kanab. May 13: Price, at the county courthouse, 200 East Main; and in Ogden, Cedar City and Loa. May 14: Castle Dale, county courthouse; and in Logan, St. George, and Delta. May 15: Salt Lake City, at Salt Palace Suite E, 100 South West Temple. All public hearings will begin at 7 p.m., except in Salt Lake City where they will begin at 2 and 7 p.m. Persons desiring to speak at a hearing may so indicate on a sign-icard at the entrance to the meeting room. Sign-uwill n p begin an hour before the meeting. The time allowed for each commentor will be limited to 10 minutes. Comments may be given in any of the hearings on any WSA regardless of whether it is within the immediate vicinity of the hearing. In other words, it is not necessary for interested persons to attend all hearings. All comments received during the comment period will be considered in preparation of a final environmental impact statement. The final EIS, with an official transcript of all public hearings, will be submitted to the BLM director and Secretary of the Interior. Recommendations of the secretary will be submitted to the President of the United States no later than 1991 and the president may take up to two years to make recommendations to Congress. Only Congress may designate area to the National Wilderness Preservation Kent Tibbitts, district business manager, told the board money to pay the debt is built into budget forecasts for the next few years. Adopting a timetable that calls for negotiating sale of the bonds in late June with proceeds to be delivered in August, the board moved toward an early June election. Should the election fail, the board plans to turn to more expensive revenue bonds, for which voter approval is not necessary. The board considered accessing the district revenue account to provide the additional $1 million needed to complete the $5 million projects, but made no decision. San Juan Education Association met with the board to begin contract negotiations and to school establish the 1986-8calendar. No target date has been set to finalize contracts. During the same meeting, the board unanimously adopted a district-widdress code barring shorts, tank tops, and thongs from district classrooms. President Preston Nielson, speaking 7 e for the board, said, It is our right and responsibility to maintain a quality educational environment. The board moved to complete organization of the San Juan County School District Foundation by appointing trustees and instructing Superintendent Hal Jensen to secure necessary signatures to activate the board. Once established, the foundation board will solicit and administer funds donated to the district for special projects that fall outside the budget. In other business the board adopted a policy waiving the requirements under specific conditions for performance and payment bonds as part of the Procurement and Bid Policy; approved a request from San Juan High School for two exchange students; voted to assist two students elected to state office, and their advisor, to attend a national FBLA conference; approved a request for two basketball coaches to attend clinics in Las Vegas; and voted to permit a temporary lease arrangement for the LDS Church to place a trailer near Monument Valley High School for release-tim- e seminary. Following the regular board meeting, the board reconvened as directors of the San Juan Building Authority to organize the authority. Officers of the Building Authority are the same as the officers of the Board of Education. County commissioners request two hospital management proposals by Carl Eisemann San Juan commissioners requested two proposals Monday from Southwest Health Management Company for management of the San Juan Hospital. Both proposals will include payment of a management fee r to Southwest, a option to purchase, retention of employees by Southwest, and retention of the operating license by the county. One option will call for the assumption of financial risks by the county while the other option would absolve the county of financial risks. The county chose to defer either a sales or lease agreement for the hospital in order to retain control of the license so they can apply for over $250,000 two-yea- in medicare payments which may be due the county because of an oversight in original charges made to medicare. Commissioners authorized John Fellmeth, county deputy auditor, and their aide, Rick Bailey, as their agents in handling accounts and other business matters dealing with the transfer of the nursing home to the new owners, TERRA. Payments of nursing home employees accrued leave will be delayed until final accounting. The commissioners approved payment of a $41,000 subsidy to cover nursing home wages for April. Approximately $40,000 was paid in March. Commissioners spent considerable time planning their response for the BLM Wilder-(Pleas- e turn to page 3) |