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Show Comp News Filo Rox 6310 Lincoln, Neb. C0506 Bimul Voltes ff Sjplif mm : --o j i We Want to Join Up j With San Juan County, j Burr Says Reacting to a growing feeling of dissastisfaction, the Grand County Commission Com-mission voted Monday to withdraw from the SE Utuh Association of Governments Govern-ments and Economic Development District. Dist-rict. The association has been made up of Grand, Emery, and Carbon Counties since San Juan County withdrew 2Vj years ago. Grand and San Juan Counties will this week request the blessing of Gov. Scott Matheson to form a 2-county association of governments. Said Grand County Commission Chairman Leo Burr, "We hav more in common with San Juan County." He elaborated that "travel was a big item. We had to spend too much time on the road back and forth to Price." lie also said, "We feel there is too much overhead in the operation up there" (in Price, where the AOG office is located). Comm. Burr commented that the water quality program is due to conclude in June, and "that was the program we've gotten the most from." San Juan County Commission Chairman Chair-man Eddie Boyle told The Times-Independent Times-Independent on Tuesday, regarding the proposed 2-county alliance, "I think it's a good arrangement for us. In San Juan and Grand Counties we have different problems compared with Carbon and Emery Counties." Mure ( (iii! r ii lie said, "I'm convinced !h;it '..;: .) County has (lone a belter job I"' '" citizens in being independent, '.. e Is" -control over a number of agem i ,, ;:.') decisions are made by us, not by p. .; in Price 180 to 200 miles awry." agencies mentioned ineludi il i7i.n:j ; Community Action I'loui-an; um' 'i i;.' XX. Said Comm. Boyle, "I !.)' ;i going to be advantageous lor i 1 i and Grand to join. I think vc ; ' better job to plan for lb" v,:il , . vi needs of the citizens in Senile. :. Utah, the real Southeastern t'l.-'i." A letter signed by all six C-v.-h' ; ..' i ' : . . hi oe sent ims .1 .0:1. A letter has . .. . 1 ' t:- AOG Price : , : , ' '. .omifl there that k ', : ., , ;. , .: !, v.-itlidraw from J 1 1 .. i j. 1 1 , ' ':: governor outlines i j Mi- , 1 , a : log designation js .. . . :: ...1 : . ,:.,r 'I'l arid. One is 1 ' , . 1 1 ' 1 . j ft j- association is ;, ii i ' .';. The letter (. 'ivi? offices are r -i " Grand and San j . .. : 1 .leiive minimal : ' : 'i- thf population ' A3) j I iGrand Vofes to Split . . . M (Cond From Pg. Al) w centers aro far apart so, also, are many of the problems." It also states that A water, roads and other needs are quite A different from Emery and Carbon Coun- W ties. $ The commissioners state in their A letter to Gov. Matheson, "As you know, both state and federal funds are used to n help fund counties, regional associations y and economic development activities. W We believe we are rightfully and S constitutionally entitled to our propor- (l tionate share of all such funds allotted by the U.S. Congress or Utah State 9) Legislature." v; It concludes, "Your expeditious S consideration and approval of our S request will be appreciated. We stand ready to cooperate in every way to make a the new transition and changes as orderly and with as little disruption as ?) possible." Doubts Voices W Bill Dinchart, director of the AOG in vj Price and a former Moab resident, told ja The Times-Independent he is concerned S about the survival of economic develop- ment districts anywhere in SE Utah if Grand County proceeds with its with- 9) drawal action. He also views staffing of the two proposed 2-county associations a of government as a serious problem. 8 He said, "There are 11 different W programs currently handled by the AOG, with the bulk of the bills paid by a the economic development district. Un- $ der federal guidelines, a 2-county assoc- w iation won't qualify for EDD funds." S Dinehart elaborated, 'The Depart- ment of Commerce administers the Economic Development District, provid- w ing the bulk of support to provide the S staff." He does not feel the Commerce Department will be inclined to bend the Sv guidelines to suit the whims of the 4 $) counties in Southeastern Utah. He pointed out that membership in g an Economic Development District 9) brings an extra 10 per cent bonus with S any federal grant. Regarding other funds, he said "monies that come v through the association are based on W formulas in almost every case. These Z) formulas will be applied and the money a broken down" with Grand County rec- eiving its proportionate share for local w administration. 5 Asked what Grand County's with- 6 drawal would mean to the Price office. Dinehart said there will be a reduction in staff. However, he questioned whether Grand County could afford, with a population of about 7,000 compared with 45,000 in the 3-county area, to provide the kind of staff needed to provide programs now being overseen in Price. Program Needs In order to provide the kind of program in Grand County currently being provided, Dinehart predicts that 4 or 5 professionals and several secretaries secretar-ies will be needed. Grand County may also lose its voice on the Governor's Advisory Council, he said. "San Juan has had no representation there since they withdrew," he noted. Currently SE Utah has two representatives repres-entatives on this council. One of them is Price Mayor Walt Axelgard. He was in Moab Tuesday, and recommended that the official move to withdraw from the association be postponed for several months. "You should give this program a chance," he told Comm. Burr. San Juan County Commissioner Calvin Black feels confident and optimistic optimis-tic about an alliance between Grand and San Juan. Regarding the possible destruction des-truction of the Economic Development District, he said he would like to explore the possibility of a quaisi four county district with funds divided between the two subdistricts, which may be acceptable accept-able under federal guidelines. Of San Juan's withdrawal from the AOG he said, "I feel that the net result, the bottom line, has been beneficial to San Juan County. We are running our own Manpower program in cooperation with Employment Security, and using less of our allocation of monies administratively adminis-tratively than when we had to run through Price. We are also getting more out of the Aging Program." Comm. Black commented, "We have probably lost some benefits as far as staff personnel out of the AOG offices, and because of that we, as commissioners, commission-ers, have had to spend more time and work harder. In some cases, we have been able, if we lacked expertise in our own county, to call on state staff people for help." He concluded, "We don't feel we lost . that much because we don't feel we were getting that much to start with. In fact ! we have some things now that we had to go get ourselves after the AOG failed." |