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Show K Thursday s September 20, 1 984 Number 38 Vol 95 Property owmers reject proposed improvement district Property owners in northeast Payson defeated a proposed special improvement district which would have allowed the city to proceed with plans for curb, gutter, and sidewalks and road improvements in the area. The results were announced during a special hearing on the district Thursday. Saying that property owners were passing up "the best deal youll ever get for curb and gutter a disappointed Mayor Tassainer noted a map showing areas where property owners had protested the district and those where they had not. The mayor urged the council to review the map to determine if there were areas that could be incorporated into a smaller improvement district. Letters were sent to the 324 property owners in the proposed district explaining the proposal and informaing property owners that they could protest the establishment of the district in writing. The city received letters of protest from 146 property owners However, state (45.1). law requires that each property owners vote be weighted according to the amount of property frontage owned. The property owners who protested the establishment of the district represent 27,084 feet (55.5) of the 48,827 feet of frontage. the improvement district had passed, the city would have the provided engineering, moved utilities where necessary, and built new roads providing asphault from curb to curb. The estimated cost to the property owners for the improvements were $12 per frontage foot. The city would also have bonded to provide financing for the property owners at approximately 10 interest rate. After considerable discussion, the council voted to declare the district defeated. They also agreed to look into the possibility of creating a smaller district of those areas that appeared to favor the proposal. Payson linemen attend special training at Trade Tech faf The eaaail Fall am for the Nebe District will be held this and Satarday, September 21 and 22 at Payson coming Friday Canyon. This will be a grant experience for the boya featuring many activities Including Scout aUUs, Mountain Men, Indian Dancing, Campfire, Etc. The camp will be located off the main road just below Payesn Lakes. With 46 Troops and Blaser patrols frem Payson, Saataquin, and Nephi invited, a geed attendance is expected. For mere information contact your Scoutmaster or Pat VaaWagoner 4659339 or Eon Moody 465-331- 6. Sewerline completed It' Members of the Payson Electrical Department are attending a special linemen school at Utah Technical College in Orem this week. About 115 linemen , from throughout Utah will attend the school sponsored by the college and the Intermountain Power Association. Superintendents Payson Electrical Superintendent Dennis Lewis, who is president of IPSA, will be the classes at teaching two of ' the school. have been trying to find a solution to the problem. Earlier this year the council approved tying funding for the sewer line into the bond for the sewer plant update. The project, which has been under construction for about three weeks, Includes a sewer line which runs through Hillman Field and ties in with the collector line on 640 South. Ken Gardner, ef Arix Engineering, Garold Beddowa, Walt limb Cauatructiou, Payton Water Superintendent Don Muhleetein and City Administrator Rodney WatUna inspect the final portion of the new aewcr line parallel at 800 West and 800 South. The new eight-Inc- h line will eliminate a long el uding sewer bottle neck at the comer. For more than seven years Payson City councils Payson Council approves $35,000 for tanker fire truck The Payson City Council approved $35,000 to purchase a new tanker truck for the Payson Volunteer ' Fire Department. The money for the truck will cqme from the unanticipated revenue coming from a UP&L rebate. 7 iDoug Holt, representing the told the fire department, council the tanker would cost no more than $32,000. He said the tanker was needed for city fires and to meet the requirements of the citys contract with the county. Mayor Tassainer asked what 'it would cost to fix up the old truck for use by the city. Holt estimated at least $2,000 would be needed. The council approved $35,000. The action came after Mayor Tassainer asked each council member to state his priorities for spending the money. .The council approved calling for bids to enclose the large carport area on the west side of the new city shop. The area will be used to house the electrical and water departments vehicles and office. The im , provement is estimated to cost $35,009. Councilman Don Dixon said the tanker truck for the fire was his first department Kay priority. Councilwoman Furniss listed paying for last springs flooding, an addition to the police station, the tanker truck and road rebuilding as her priorities. Councilman Russ Williams favored the tanker and "cop shop. Councilman Steve Hanson said he was worried about paying for the flooding and unexpected expenses with the sewer update. He favored putting the money into time CDs for the time being. Councilman Bob Sonju was also concerned about the past flooding and buying a pumper truck. He also said some of the money could be used to match a Bureau of Outdoor Recreation grant, if needed. City Administrator Rodny Watkins pointed out that the money was from a rebate to the electrical fund. He also told the that council department needed a sheltered area to park its vehicles. He recommended enclosing the carport area on the west side of the new city shops for this purpose. The council OKd having plans drawn up to enlarge the Payson City Police building. Uinta Forest lifts fire restrictions National Forest Uinta Don Nebeker Supervisor announced that the fire restriction order issued July 13, 1984, for the Wasatch Front area National within the Uinta Forest boundary has been rescinded effective September 14, 1984. Campers and picnickers should continue to be vigilant in taking care that campfires are properly extinguished. Payson power picture UP&L "The letters from Payson residents played a part in this said Councilwoman victory, Kay Furniss last week after learning that Utah Power ahd Lights precedent-settin- g claim to Colorado River Storage was tentaProject hydro-powtively denied by Western Area Power Administration (WAP A). Furniss was referring to over 150 letters sent to the WAPA office in Salt Lake City earlier this year. The letters protested the move by UP&L to purchase the power already being used by cities and rural electrical agencies in Utah. UP&L filed April 15, 1983, in an attempt to overturn the federal governments congressional "preference clause that its claiming 5,000,000 customers deserved a share of cheap from federal dams in Utah. Power from those dams, Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon, have been used by public municipalities and rural cooperatives withing Utah since the 1960s. Payson, Salem, Spanish Fork and Springville are among twenty-sevepublic power systems in Utah currently dependent on CRSP power. Payson obtains about 45 7 of its power from CRSP. The rest is purchased from UP&L at a much higher rate. UP&L claimed that all Utah power users should benefit from the cheap CRSP power, and maintained they could reduce rates for their customers by as much as 25 percent if they were successful in obtain er 45-ye- ar hydro-electricit- n y claims denied ing some 200,000 kilowatts of the CRSP power. Public power users, however, would have seen an average increase of 76.54 percent for alternate sources if the UP&L request had been approved. Under the 1939 Federal Reclamation Act, only utilities that are publicly owned, such as those operated by and rural municipalities are cooperatives, eligible for grants of federal This ruling has become known as the "preference clause. In a brief that outlines the governments procriterian, posed marketing WAPA denied UP&Ls assertion that its customers are unfairly discriminated against by the government through its refusal to allow them access to the federal electricity. The agency states that UP&Ls customers were not inherently denied access to the federal electricity but can obtain it by acting to create their own municipal utilities and supplant UP&L as their electricity provider. They added that it was not uncommon for federal dollars to be spent to the benefit of a segment of the population, as opposed to the citizenry as a whole. Many federal dollars are. spent on purposes that give direct benefits only to a particular group, the marketing brief reads. "The use of federal tax dollars to build and operate public works in the eastern portion of the U.S., for example, offers no direct hydro-powe- r. 200-pa- ge benefit to those who live in the western part of the country. UP&L also asserted that the preference laws are outdated in that they were established to promote the spread of electrical service to remote, rural parts of the country which utilities found to serve. UP&L unprofitable advanced the claim that the electrification of America, a chief goal of the original Reclamation Act had been achieved. WAPA said it is not persuaded by that analysisk and maintained that Congressional debate through the years has the consistently reinforced value and intent of the original preference laws. Congress has upheld use of preference policies as a method of encouraging competition between private and public utilities, yardthereby providing a stick by which to measure the true market costs of electrical power. 1983 UP&Ls Following filing for the CRSP power, consumers of municipalities and rural cooperatives began to petition WAPA UP&Ls protesting claim to what they considered was their power. Letters were written stating the reasons hydro-powwhy the produced by the Colorado River Project was vital to their existence, and many representatives from those areas served by CRSP power attended hearings in Salt Lake City to determine the validity of UP&Ls claim. public-owne- low-co- 1 st d er 'Don't buy Bonanza' Mayor Tassainer urges Saying it would be best to Payson wait and watch, Mayor Gary Tassainer urged the City Council not to proceed with plans to purchase power from the Bonanza plant through Utah Municipal Power Agency (UMPA) during last weeks council meeting. 1 recommend we cease and desist from participation in the Bonanza purchase, Tassainer said, in asking for council approval, to send a letter to UMPA informing them that Payson would not purchase Bonanza power. UMPA is an agency created to pool power and find new sources of power for the cities of Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork, Salem, Payson, Nephi, Each Levan, and Manti. in the community participates organization according to its power usage. Provo City is by far the largest user with Payson uses about The UMPA board of directors is made up of elected officials from each of the communities. Mayor Tassainer is Paysons representative on the board. UMPA has been exploring possible sources of electrical power, including building a steam generation plant, geothermal generation and gas turbine. The organization is currently negotiating for purchase of about 50 megawatts from the Bonanza Power Plant being built by Deseret Generation and Transmission near 70. 6. Vernal, Utah. By purchasing this power UMPA would be buying an interest in the plant and transmission lines. Mayor Tassainer estimates UMPA will spend $60,000 in the next two months to determine what the costs will be for the Bonanza purchase. Payson would have to pay 6 of those costs and Tassainer believes the money would be wasted because Payson citizens will not be able to afford the increase in electrical rates necessitated by the purchase. 5-- "The Bonanza purchase is a very good deal for Provo, Tassainer said, "but not for Payson. It will mean an electrical increase of the first each year year and after. He said he did not feel the citizens of Payson could afford that along with the increase in sewer rates for the sewer plant update. Tassainer estimates that the Bonanza purchase would cost UMPA about $80 million with Paysons share about $4 mil5-- 7 5-- 7 lion. In recommendiug the wait and see approach, the mayor said the city should explore other smaller amounts of available powdr. "I have done considerable research on this and there are a lot of potential sources that may cost us less, he said. He noted gas turbines, such as the ones being planned I for Springville, which recently informed UMPA that it would not be purchasing Bonanza power. Tassainer also noted the Mother Earth Field and IPP as possible power snTes. Geo-therm- al Tassainer also said he believed UP&L had reached a plateau in building plants and that those rates would probably level off. Councilman Steve Hanson said he respected the mayors opinion but felt the council should hear from Payson Electrical Superintendent Dennis Lewis and representative from UMPA before making such an important decision. "If we send them a letter now saying we are pulling out now we probably wont get a second chance, he said, indicating he wanted more information before making such an important decision. Dixon Don Councilman moved to send a letter to UMPA indicating Payson would not participate in the Bonanza purchase. The motion died for lack of a second. On October 11 the council hear a presentation on the Bonanza purchase by Superintendent Lewis and engineers from UMPA. On October 17 there will be a work session with the council at which time more facts and figures on the issue will be available. will , |