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Show Emery County MEMBER 4 , Hi AN vfy 0 (It'll fOUN'N OF THE ItLL. Wednesday, March 3, 1982 Volume 83 Number 9 25 $250,000 loss? County Clerks actions imderfire Lack of action by Emery County The Planning Commission Clerk Glen Bott has cost the county failed to post the notices, or Bott commented, an estimated $250,000 in one insomething, stance alone, and according to when asked where the blame for county officials, problems inside the problem lay. The clerk also the clerks office have reached a refuted the alleged amount of income lost by the county, saying, critical point. That money wasnt money in the In interviews with Emery bank. That figure is just administrative County personnel, he explained, the Progress has learned that Bott speculation, failed to have an ordinance referring to the $250,000 estimate published for public record in given by the county attorney and December, 1979, and that by the county administrator. The 1979 law, known as the failing to publish the new law, loss of revenue to the county was Emery County Business License estimated by Emery County Adordinance, was passed to offset the at Dan Hunter a ministrator impact faced by the county from dollars. the growth of the coal industry and million of a quarter Bott, reached at his office in the related businesses in the county. As required by law, notice of the Emery County Courthouse, denied of ordinance was to be published in that the responsibility was that the ordinance the local newspaper, but a search publishing of the clerk, claiming the county of the back issues of the Emery commissioners had transferred County Progress for the seven the responsibility to the county weeks following the date of the zoning administrator, prior to the .passing of the ordinance show no passing of the business license record of the law being published, ordinance. and, according to Emery County Attorney Scott Johansen, the notice was not published until July, 1980. The state statute regarding this type of ordinance states that the law is not in effect until it is duly explained Johansen published, Tuesday. According to the law, the first payments from those companies covered by the ordinance were not due until April 1, 1980. The payments were not considered delinquent until May 1, at which time some of the companies refused to pay. It wasnt until this time, when I began to prepare suits against those firms that were delinquent, that it came to my attention the ordinance had not been published. Johansen notified the county commision of the oversight, then proceeded to notify the companies that had complied with licensing payments as to the situation. We did not have a valid ordinance, Johansen said, so we were forced to ask those companies in compliance with the law if they would allow us to credit their payments toward their next quarters fees. Some of the firms cooperated, while others asked for The refunds, which we gave. estimated the confirmed attorney loss of revenue to the county at approximately $250,000. Questions concerning Botts present ability to attend to the duties of county clerk arose most recently when, because of health reasons, he was unable to travel to Salt Lake City to sign the first $5,000,000 worth of a $15,000,000 bond package recently passed by county residents for improvements by the Special Service District. The location of the signing of the bonds was changed to Castle Dale, according to Darrell Leamaster, director of the Special Service District, in order to facilitate the signing of the bond package. There was no problem with bringing the bonds down here to have them signed. The county clerk had some health problems, the extent of which I am not sure of, that made it hard for him to travel, so we were able to change the location for the signing to Castle Dale, explained the Special Services chief. Leamaster said the incident caused no loss of interest on the bonds as was feared. According to Dan Hunter, additional problems have arisen in the past, causing some of the duties normally performed by the clerk to be picked up by the ad- matters. Ive taken on the agenda, and some of the correspondence that was handled by the clerks office, Hunter explained, saying that he took on the work voluntarily. Attempts were made to reach each of the Emery County Commissioners prior to press time. Both Rue Ware and John Parker were out of town. Commission Chairman Roger Curtis stated he Allan Thorpe, Chairman of the Emery County GOP committee, when asked about the possible political motivations behind the statements of county officials, stated At this point, the GOP committee is not ready to dump any of its incumbents. We feel that Glen Bott has given a lifetime of faithful service to the community and deserves our respect. was not aware of any problems in the clerks office, and declined comment on the allegations. When asked about his decision to run for the office again in November, Bott replied, I feel that I am entirely up to handling the duties of the county clerk, explaining that his health would not be a factor. These allegations could be Bott politically motivated, You should be sure continued. that your sources are not trying to pass on some of the blame in these ministrator. Low coal lease bids surprise BLM officials SALT LAKE CITY- - Bureau of Land Management officials, by the lack of caught bidding in last Thursdays auction d for four tracts of in are Emery county, considering their next move in an effort to lease the property. Only one acceptable bid was received from the crowded room of onlookers in the Salt Palace. Representitives of Consolidation Coal Company, Englewood, Colorado, bid $900 per acre for the e Kingston tract, located some three miles south of the town of Emery. Surprisingly, no bids were received on the Emery North, Emery Central or Emery South tracts. We had a good turn-ou- t, explained Darrell C. Barnes, director of the BLMs Lands and Minerals off-gua- rd coal-lan- 160-acr- Were really uncertain division, as to just why there were no more bids submitted. This could be a reflection of the economy. An aceptable minimum bid on Emery North, a 2,001 acre tract, was $1,170 per acre, which would have brought the cost of a successful bid in at $2,341,170. Bidding on the 2,967 acre Emery Central tract was to have started at $2,420 per acre, making the minimum successful bid worth $7,181,713. The Emery South, at a minumum of $430 per acre, would have drawn a minimum bid of $321,850 for its 748 acres. The minimum bids per acre are set by the United States Geological Survey, based on fair market value. According to Barnes, the USGS will be asked to the bids, hopefully in order to encourage bidding at a later date. We will try to offer the three Emery tracts again, in conjunction with the auction on May 27 of the North Horn Mountain and Rilada Canyon leases, also located in Barnes comEmery County, mented. Im working with those involved on the paper work to see if we can get this worked out. The North Horn Mountain lease, located some ten miles west of Castle Dale, is considered to be one of the prime coal properties in the county, with an estimated 250 millon tons of recoverable coal in place. The Rialda Canyon tract, located near Huntington, holds an estimated 19.5 million tons of reserves. Barnes feels the lack of interest shown last week could affect the minimum bid figures set for any future auction. Usually, the turnout and bidding will be the truest indication of any parcels fair market value. ce Provo eyes new options for property Provo wants a coal mine. The only problem is which one as the city fathers find themselves faced with three seperate offers from groups which own coal properties in Emery County. Provos city council, meeting Febuary 17 to consider the purchase of the the Rigby Mine, located some 18 miles up Huntington Canyon in northeast Emery County, found themselves with a second offer to consider that night as a group of local businessmen, represented by Richard Dean, presented a proposal for the purchase of their located Northeast of the town of Emery. The second proposal involves undeveloped land, as opposed to the reactivation of the Rigby operation which has not been mined for some 40 years. Darrel Ross, one of the Provo men who has interest in the undeveloped leases, feels their offer has distinct advantages for the city. Carbon County Nursing Home Administrator John Bugel, left, moves to the starting line with resident John Krnc for the finals in the wheelchair race at the second annual Rock n' coal-leas- es The Rigby mine is located at an elevation of some 8,000 feet, whereas our property is in the flatlands, explained Ross. The transportation would be decreased by taking the greatly coal from our land. Ross also expresses the belief that the Provo cost of Roll Jamboree. The affair attracted more than 200 residents, family and friends Saturday afternoon to raise donations for the Utah Heart Fund. Photo by Al Hartmann groups lease holds a much greater Board has hired an independent reserve. We think it could hold research group from Denver, some 45 million tons of recoverable Colorado to evaluate the three Provo is very interested in purchasing a coal property. We just want to make the best buy. proposals. We have asked Western Energy Research, a outfit, to look into all the offers, commented Assistant City Ad- According to Bud Bonnett, Provo City Utilities director, the final decision will probably be made by coal. The citys decision was further muddled by a third offer from another Provo group last week with holdings in the same general area as Rosss. The Provo Utility non-prof- it the city council 30 days. ministrator Leland Gamette. in Inside The Progress featuring Features Sports Perspective page 5 page 4 Enlrtlnmnt Magtiln approximately |