OCR Text |
Show Bountiful: flooding was No. 1 By GARY R. BLODGETT BOUNTIFUL Hooding in the spring of '83 was the top news story in Bountiful during the past decade. But close behind were renovation of the downtown Main Street and the expansion and improvements to the city-owned power and light department. Honorable mention would have to be given to Bountiful's refusal to join the Davis County garbage disposal burn plant, being the first city along the Wasatch Front to become involved in automated garbage gar-bage collection, closure of the Bay Area Refuse Disposal (BARD)., landfill to all cities except Bountiful, Boun-tiful, widening and development of 500 South and expansion and im-. provements to Orchard Drive, an on-going battle to postpone or relocate a proposed natural gas pipeline through Mueller Park and a portion of Bountiful's elite residential residen-tial area, and completion of several Redevelopment Agency (RDA) projects within the city. ' Flooding of May and June 1983 ranked as the No. 1 story of the 1980s because of the impact it had on the entire community, according to City Manager Tom Hardy. "It was the most impressive act of human resources working together that I have ever seen," said Hardy. "The community response to the disaster was almost unbelievable, and it's no wonder that their efforts were publicized around the country." He also praised the combined efforts of the city, county, state and nation to reconstruct the damage which was done. "It could not have been accomplished without, this concentrated effort." Renovation of downtown Bountiful Boun-tiful ranks No. 2 because of all the planning and effort which went into completion of the first phase of a major renovation program proposed by city officials. , Included in the first phase of the beautification project was construction construc-tion of off-street parking lots, purchase pur-chase by the city of the Stoker Elementary school site for future expansion into a cultural-educational cultural-educational center, acquisition of property for future expansion of the downtown business area, and completion com-pletion of the Gateway Park, Shipley Building and other RDA projects. Expansion of- the Bountiful Power and Light Department's elec- ; trical power sources which include construction of the Echo Dam hydro-electric plant and a 26-mile transmission line from the Morgan County site to Bountiful ranks as the No. 3 story of the decade. Included in this on-going saga of events were attempts by Utah Power and Light Company to capr ture power from the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) which belongs to Bountiful and other municipal-owned power depart-.. ments. "We had our share of conflicts , with other power departments over r the use and ownership of? power, in- J eluding the acquisition of the -UP&L power plant in Weber Canyon," Ca-nyon," said Hardy. "But in the long-run, we were able to purchase blocks, of power from Idaho, - CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE i A decade in Bountiful CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE western Colorado and the Northwest Nor-thwest at the best market prices , . available. i Bountiful's population - which was a boom in the 1960s and 1970s - tapered off during the 1980s, increasing in-creasing from 32,877 in 1980 to an estimated population of 36,600 at the close of this year.- During the 10-year period the city's budget lias increased from about $12 million to $20 million, with the largest increase being in the city-owned power department, Hardy noted. "But city property taxes have decreased by 10 to 15 percent during dur-ing that period of time," Hardy emphasized. em-phasized. "Only a (6 percent) franchise fran-chise tax has been added to utilities." He said the city provides many more services now than 10 years ago, but the number of full-time city employees has dropped from 215 to 165. Salaries of elected officials : were increased in 1981 from $500, , to $1,000 per month for the mayor, and from $150 to $300 per month for city council members. They have remained the same since that time. The city conducts four regularly scheduled council meetings per month plus several special and committee meetings. Some of the latter provide expenses for those who attend, it was explained. Among the community leaders over the past decade were Mayor Eean S. Stahle, who served eight years as mayor, former State Senator Sena-tor Jack Bangerter, former Speaker of the House Bob Garff, and Harold Pope, who dedicated more than 40 years to community service. City leaders who died during the past decade include Bob Carlson, who was city water superintendent for many years; and former police chief Dean O. (Gus) Anderson. |