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Show .3 - - r WPCC Single Copy 50t Vernal, Utah 84078 114th Year No. 30 Wednesda August 2, 20 WEATHER I I -ieBUfit I DISCOVERIES MADE Carter Trail uncovered SeeA2 V. 7 www.vernal.com- 7f? l J 82 I 80 S . 8859 8758 Scatefed clouds with die posabiWy Italy sumyNghs ii twine J afi sotated tiunderetorm dev BOs and lows In tie upper SOs. LITTLE SWIMMERS See B1 SeeC6 restooiis m By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor The creation of four special service districts won't occur until Aug. 21, to allow sufficient suffi-cient comment about the proposals, pro-posals, but at Monday's public hearing residents said they need more information about the structure and function of the districts. The four districts being proposed for Uintah County at Monday's public hearing include a fire district, economic econom-ic development, animal shelter shel-ter and center, and amended health district. The districts would be a way for Uintah County to provide mineral lease money for essential services ser-vices now be ingfunded from the county's general fund. The creation of the non-taxing districts would save Uintah County about $1.1 million a year and prevent what com F ruck sits on the bank of the Green fcn' ? t t "It. "fif .MMHKgOHt S,..,' SC. . .... 1 I Trucker injured after falling asleep at wheel A loaded diesel truck traveling travel-ing east left Highway 40 at mile-post mile-post 158 and plunged into the muddy bank of the Green River at then Jensen Bridge Tuesday at 7:10 a.m. The commercial vehicle, driven driv-en by Gerold Hoffman, Vernal, went off the road onto the right State of Basin By Jennifer Petty Express Writer At the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Michael Hanni, the Eastern Utah regional economist for the Department of Workforce Services (DWS), spoke about the workforce and employer employ-er side of Basin Economics. Hanni said the Basin economics econom-ics are looking very positive. Unemployment is down and wages are up. However, he said, the statistics statis-tics seem to indicate that this is "not quite the same boom expansion" as in the past. He likened the last energy boom in the Basin to "blowing a balloon up and letting the air out suddenly." sud-denly." This time, said Hanni, the growth has been more gradual and steady. The positive posi-tive implications of this will be that the government may have more time to manage the growth. According to Hanni, the economy of the Basin must be looked at while keeping the U.S. and Utah economy in mind. All economies exist, said Hanni, but not separately. The U.S. economy is look missioners said would be "a possible property tax increase because of the increased demand on services." The four districts would be governed by five-member boards. In the case of the fire district, the board would work in conjunction with the Fire Marshall, and Emergency Management employees to decide how mineral lease funding would be given to the Avalon, Ballard, Naples, Vernal Jensen, Lapoint and Uintah County fire departments. Based on Monday's proposal, the fire district would receive 7 percent of the mineral lease money coming to Uintah County which, based on 2006 receipts, would be $1,575 million. mil-lion. The fire district board would approve budget requests, bill for fire services, handle personnel issues, approve and fund new equipment purchases and seek additional funding River near the Jensen Bridge after its shoulder, through two barbed wire fences, down the river embankment, and came to rest, stuck in the muddy portion of the riverbed. A woman from Jensen came on the scene and called in the accident at 7:15 for EMT response. ing strong, labor productivity productiv-ity and gross domestic product (GDP) are both increasing, but are not as strong as they were in the 1990s. The "real hourly earnings" for workers though, are in negative territory meaning mean-ing workers are losing buying power on a national average. The Basin and Utah economies econo-mies in contrast have been increasing. "We have added 90,000 jobs in the state since 2004, " said Hanni. Much of the growth is being driven by construction, especially on the Wasatch front and in Washington County. As far as population growth, statistics show that there has been a two percent growth in 2005, though Hanni suspects the numbers to be greater. Populations in Utah are estimated esti-mated by school enrollment, IRS tax returns, and LDS church enrollment. In areas like the Basin where workers may not have school-aged children, chil-dren, or may be more mobile and file tax returns in other states, or who are not predominantly predomi-nantly LDS, those numbers can be skewed. Hanni believes that the population growth is higher ed by ffM)l&n) ff disjfriicfc such as grants. The Emergency Management duties will continue con-tinue to be county wide planning plan-ning and coordination. The district would provide funding for fire service which currently current-ly is financed by the individual fire departments: Vernal City $338,000, Naples City, $140,000 and Ballard $25,000. Vernal City is also in need of a new ladder truck, to cost $1.1 million. mil-lion. The amended Health District would be over three boards and three directors. Included under this umbrella would be the Care Center, Golden Age Center and Tri-County Health. Total allocated to the Health district would be about 4 percent per-cent of the mineral lease of $900,000 a year. An economic development district and Animal Shelter are also proposed. The Economic development district would include the Travel Board, driver fell asleep at the wheel. Hoffman received facial and spinal injuries. He was life flighted to Salt Lake City from Ashley Valley Medial Center. Hoffman was wearing a lap belt in the 1998 Peterbuilt truck owned by Michael Holseltz of Vernal. The accident was attributed to improper lane economy still Housing Units for the Uintah Basin If n 1 m m m m m m m feirftiif ww jtj Graph shows increases in housing. than reported. When looking at unemployment, unemploy-ment, the Basin reports a 2.9 percent unemployment rate. "Anything below five or six percent is considered no unemployment," unem-ployment," said Hanni. Wages on the other hand, he said are rising. For example, accommodations accommoda-tions and food services wages, which were at five percent last r m " " r" education, scholarships, Convention Bureau and Events Commission. Under the the proposal animal shelter district would be a director, animal control officers and the shelter. Commissioner Jim Abegglen said he was concerned about the forming of the districts, because it takes some of the control out of the hands of elected officals. "It give us (commissioners) less control over county government," gov-ernment," he said. "I believe the county is doing a disservice to county residents by adopting these districts dis-tricts without providing more information about them," said Sandy Hansen, during the public pub-lic hearing. In a written statement Hansen said, "Although they will not be the hiring (or firing) authority author-ity for the proposed SSDs, the Commissioners have assured current County employees travel and fatigue driving. Trooper Gardner, the Utah State Highway Patrolman on the scene, reminds drivers not to operate a vehicle when fatigued. "The results can be harmful to yourself and other people," he said. m m m m m mm mm m ;- -- - --1 - ;- 7Pi"iiT year, are breaking 12 percent this year. "The Basin is outpacing out-pacing the state in personal income and in the last two ; years, they have gained on the per-capita income compared to the state," reported Hanni. This is remarkable considering the size of the Basin. The Basin economy seems to be competing compet-ing quite well with the Wasatch Front and other big cities. that anyone who is performing perform-ing their job adequately will 'probably' be hired by the new SSD boards. When asked about current employees' benefit packages (health insurance, retirement funds, accumulated annual and sick leave), the Commissioners responded that they were "working on" ensuring ensur-ing that no employee lost benefits. bene-fits. As the sole breadwinner in my family, "probably" doesn't give me anyassurance that I'll have money to put kibble in my dogs' bowls tomorrow morning; morn-ing; "working on" it doesn't give me any assurance that I'll have a measure of comfort in my retirement. The County and City employees whose livelihoods will be affected by the creation of the SSDs have toiled in thankless jobs for substandard sub-standard pay for years. They are not faceless bureaucrats; they are our friends and neighbors neigh-bors In my opinion, their legiti Uintah shelter ffor homeless proposed A homeless shelter was proposed pro-posed Friday to deal with a growing crisis in Uintah County. Heather Hoyt, Uintah County Planner, ,saidk,"We have 5-6 individuals a week who are misplaced in Uintah County." She described them asrecent-ly asrecent-ly divorced mothers who can no longer pay the rent and who are living out of their cars, to an energy worker who can no longer lon-ger afford to live out of a hotel, so he has made other accommodations. accommo-dations. "Something has to be done to help these homeless, we can no longer just put them in a hotel room," she said. Uintah County is proposing to convert the prior food pantry, located on west Highway 40, into a shelter. The facility has 4,000 square feet and the county already owns the building and property. To convert the facility facil-ity into a shelter it is estimated to cost $350,000. The building needs a new roof and heating system. Hoyt said she is meeting meet-ing with operators of other homeless shelters to see how they make better use of their space by using portable partitions. positive Oil and Gas Uintah i ii i i 1 1 1 Gas production in Uintah County is Another statistic that was mentioned, but which came as no big surprise to Chamber members was the 20 percent increase in the average sale price of housing. On the job supply side, there seems to be no shortage of employment opportunities. Uintah County ranked sixth highest in job increase compared com-pared to 29 other counties, I n ViA, m MM i iV It MM 5 m A 1m - ' TCft" jp, I i.-.i . m.mv wiiuiii III -in ' mate concerns deserve more thoughtful consideration and more concrete answers than a "probably" and "working on it. Jared McKeachnie said he was concerned with taking tak-ing funding away from the Recreation District when it is just starting to build a recreation recre-ation center. "For years I have worked for a recreation center and to cut the funding to the Recreation District doesn't seem right," he said. "I don't know if all of these districts need to be formed." Commissioner Mike McKee said that the allocations for each district were tentative and "if a district comes up short, there could be some adjustments." adjust-ments." Commissioners will accept written comments on the proposal pro-posal for the next 15 days and should make a decision later this month. The shelter would require Vernal City to approve a conditional con-ditional use in the commercial zone. Leaders at Thursday's city-county city-county .meeting voiced concern, that if Uintah County opens a shelter, homeless from surrounding sur-rounding counties would flock to the facility. Hoyt said that would likely happen. "Uintah County has sent some of their homeless to a shelter near Price," she said. Councilwoman JoAnn Cowan said that part of the solution to the homeless problem is to provide pro-vide transitional housing. She urged the county to determine where such transitional housing hous-ing areas could be built. Hoyt said the county could apply for a Community Impact Board loan or grant to pay for the facility. Also, there is private pri-vate funding available. Cowan said that the Women's Crisis Center in Vernal City is bulging at the seams and will need to be replaced shortly. "It is a great program and I have seen many people helped by it, but it has grown too large for the present location." Production in County 11 z 1 j5i?; j I MMMMMMMMMMIMWMMBBBWMM nearly it an all-time high. some of which are much larger. "Uintah County seems to be a two industry county," said Hanni. "The government and mining industries have almost the same percentage of the industry." In Duchesne County, government govern-ment has the largest percentage percent-age of industry jobs, while construction con-struction and mining are close Sm Economy on A8 n r |