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Show Millard County Progress, Fillmore, Utah 84631 Friday, Sept. EDITORIAL Continued From Front Page complaints, We were meeting to plan the next commissioners meeting, fails to comply with any of the above lawful reasons for a closed meeting. And how do we know thats what is being planned, if the door is locked. Could it have been a different meeting that was being planned? Could it have been a list of questions and issues to confront IPA with that was being planned? Read on. The commissioners assured the attorneys they they would be in full compliance with the law in the future. Subsequent to advising the commissioners of the intent of the Sunshine Laws during the Wednesday meeting, the attorneys asked them if they planned to meet with IPA officials while they were in the area the next day. The IPA Board had scheduled informal talks with the various Millard County city and town officials during a tour of the county and a public meeting in Delta Thursday evening. The commissioners' answer to that question was No!" Yet, the IPA Board and county commissioners did meet Thursday, Sept. 3, 1981, At approximately 3 p.nt. that day I had occasion to walk past the county commission room in the courthouse (the door was open this time) and I found all three commissioners seated in their regular places at their conference table, with the entire IPA Board seated in front of them, in a meeting, noticeably without either their or Millard County's attorneys (or any member of the press) present . There was no public notice issued for this meeting. There was no notice posted on the front door of the courthouse (as is their usual practice for regular meetings) nor even so much as a telephone call given to the press, which if this had been an emergency or urgent meeting a telephone call would have been the best notice practicable. It was apparent they didn't want the press there either! Ironically, when I walked into the meeting an IPA Board member was discussing some of the headlines that had been in the papers Millard the recently. ...particularly County papers." At this juncture one of the commissioners interrupted him and introduced me. I got the idea it was to let the IPA man know I was there as his back was to me and he was unaware that I had walked in and was tape recording his remarks. I was very politely, but quickly, ushered out of the II, 981 Page 7 meeting, by being asked to go into another room with IPA's public relations liaison, Ann Garrett, on the pretext that she can answer all your questions. We retired to the adjacent judges' chambers for my "interview with her which lasted until she noted that the commissioners meeting was over. Ms. Garrett talked of how beautifully the commissioners and IPA people got along in the meeting and how everything was resolved so amicably and ended her interview" with, So, the only thing youll probably want to talk to anybody about is How do you feel after this meeting?' I'm delighted. I think everything was resolved beautiWell, fully! really didn't want her putting words in my mouth and suggesting the questions I should ask. I had a great many more questions than that to ask! One that comes to mind is if this meeting had not been planned in advance how were the 1 issues discussed in the meeting decided so quickly, typed up so neatly, and enough copies of it for each member of the IPA Board, with extras left over, run off so quickly?? Many decisions were made during this unannounced meeting, and according to law, any decision made during a meeting of this sort is not binding and can be set aside. The accusation has been made that the press is active in keeping the controversy alive and the suggestion made that both sides should assure the press that all is in harmony. We take exception to that accusation. As it is said within our circles, We don't make the news, we just report it. We also feel a duty to report when injustices appear to surface. Take issue number seven of the accompanying article for instance. That issue is What is direct impact and who decides what it is? This has been one of the primary concerns of the county as it has a direct bearing on how much impact aid the county will receive from IPP. The definitions of direct" and "indirect impact" are the dividing line between what the project must pay for and what it doesn't have to pay for. The definition was hazy in the law (Senate Bill 67). IPA has insisted upon defining the direct impacts and even insists upon auditing Millard Countys books to assure themselves that their money is spent for "direct impacts. Millard County officials think they should be the ones to define direct" impacts and think they can handle the situation without IPA checking their books. 1 Governor Matheson suggested the Utah Dept, of Community and Economic Development and the State Planning Coordinators Office do it. Now, after their amicable interview, the commissioners seem to be back to square one. Their interpretation of the resolution of that issue of who defines "direct impacts and IPA's interpretation still seem to be different. The commission thinks they will have equal say with IPA in the determination and IPA says "their staff will study it and define it. Also, IPA and the commissioners seem to disagree on their interpretations of how issue number eight was resolved. IPA says theyve assigned that to the staff to study and the commission says there's no question about it, that the proposed IPA housing project will either be on the tax roll or of tax funds for it. pay Meanwhile trailers continue to pour into the Delta area, tents are being lived in, there are no more rental homes or apartments available and the IPA housing project has not been built. Twice burned?? Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787: "The people are the only censors of their governors, and even their errors w ill tend to keep these to true principles of their institutions. ...The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of the public papers. ...Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." It is the duty of a responsible free press to give you information about city council meetings, school board decisions, and county commission meetings, but you will never read about them if you permit them to hold their meetings in secret. Should our county commissioners, who are sworn to uphold the law, be above the law themselves? The Intermountain Power Project is the largest undertaking of its nature ever and will impact Millard County five times greater than Rock Springs, Millard Wyoming was impacted. County should utilize every learned mind at its disposal to help keep this area from becoming another Rock Springs and all dealings shoujd be open to the public and to the press, which are the eyes and ears of the public. The commission and county attorney were elected bv the people of Millard County -- 1 u 1 to represent them and they are entitled to the best representation possible from them. They are also entitled to know what they are doing. Commission, IPA Report Continued from front page terms of the impact alleviation contract. This print-ou- t figure will be referred to in the commissioners answer to issue number five.) The issues and each version of the resolution to them are as follows: Issues To Be Decided Between Millard County and IPA 1. Who is the contact person or body for Millard County to IPA? 2. Who is the contact person or body for IPA to Millard County? (These two questions were answered as one due to their interrelation to each other.) Answer - IPA: "Its quite simple. Any policy questions go to the Sandy office and policy questions or any questions that cannot be adequately satisfied by the people in Delta go to the Sandy office of IPA and if policy has been decided, theyll be handled there. If it hasnt been decided theyll be presented to the board." Answer - Commissioners: We would be the contact people with IPA and we will take care of the problems that this agreement or anything that might exist between us. They let us know that their board was very much interested and if c ever had a problem that they would be happy to meet with us, but they had personnel that was at our disposal at all times here and, of course, Mr. Fackrell, Joe Fackrell, and the board, if we ever have any problems, why we're to come to them. 3. Millard County has a Planning and Zoning Commission which operates under Ordinance 78 along with a conditional use Building permit. permits are required, and Millard County will not waive these permits. Millard County wishes to hire the special inspectors for the project with their contracts being paid by the building permit fees. Millard County wishes the building permits to be issued either on a yearly basis or by sectional development of the project. Answer - IPA: After the discussion everyone really understood that a power project of this sort is so complicated and s) complex that to hire someone to be an inspector or the commissioners to hire an inspection team for the commissioners would cost a lot of money. Just the concrete and soils . Promotes Voter Awareness In Fillmore 4-- H Carpets make nice things happen. A big chunk of those not voting every year are new voters-18-- 24 year olds. Dr. Edwin Peterson, coordinator of the Voter Awareness Profor Utah State Unigram versity Extension Services. is trying to do about this something problem. In 1976. he instituted the Utah State Voter Awareness Program. The program is scheduled October 1 at Mil4-- and one of the nicest things to happen is the sale at You can save 20 and more Check the savings: Plush cuts is Sculptured looks s s Saxony types until :.v ('&. t . - t 1 ''too , i. . , . Offer good only October 31. O Dairy Open Mon.-Fri- . 9-- 5 Sat. 10-- 1 Call 89 2 West Main 4-- lard High School for seniors from Millard, Delta and Juab. The program is an outgrowth of the Boys State Program. In the State Program. Boys' Peterson says, only a select few from each high school are able to participate while this program reaches a large group at one time. The program is targeted at high school seniors, who arc or soon will be eligible voters. The program is labeled "voter because it awareness" to make is designed aware Americans voting of their rights, privileges and obligations as citizens and new voters. A series of eight Voter Awareness conferences involving 26 high schools beginning September are not mock elections or games. Peterson says that every effort is made to bring in stale and local govern4-- ment officials to talk with the seniors. This Peterson year plans to have the state auditor, lieutenant governor and even the governor appear at several of the conferences. The meat of the proaround gram centers forming six small discussion groups. The groups break down into categories of state, national, municipal and county governments as well as police and courts and political parties. Peterson says the students can choose to participate in anv three groups. The first voice on record wai Thomai Edison's. What did he ay "Mary Had a Little Lamb. testing portions, just that, inspecting the concrete and soils compaction out there, the contract was just let and I think it was for something near $10 million. That's just the concrete, so there were several suggestions made. Among them was the inspectors for the project that are hired to supervise the contractors that do these things could be deputized by Millard County so the commissioners could be assured that they were getting good steel, good concrete, good everything." "On Commissioners: Answer number three, we didn't come to any definite decisions on this as far as the agreed that we should have inspectors on all of the buildings and fees for things like this, but they questioned very much whether there should be duplication of high priced inspectors. They said theyve already issued one contract for $10 million for inspectors just on the compaction and the cement work - was it the iron tin)? -just part of it and they wanted to talk more about this. They thought it would be better with their inspectors. They said their inspectors - they would work with us and they would give us reports and things like this, but we didnt come to any decision on (issue number) three. We've got to take care of this." 4. Discuss the dollars listed in the bond prospectus for community impact. What money is to be spent in Millard County and where? Answer - IPA: "That bond was put together quite a prospectus long time ago and most of those things were estimates that were made for the purpose of bonding so it was really an inflated figure, an inflationary figure. I think everybody already knew the answer what money is expected in the county so we resolved that quickly. That didnt become part of the issue you know. Just cross that out." Answer - Commissioners: "Number four, they said that the dollars for impact that they had on the bond prospectus, they'd just thrown it out. They didn't have what it was and they were interested in paying community impacts, but they didn't know how much money would be spent on this, that they figured the impact was all of these man quarters that they're building over there man camps. - 5. Any money turned over to Millard County must be to alleviate impact, not loans with interest to be repaid. Millard County reserves the right to not accept any money and begin to tax the project as is. Answer - IPA: "Okay, number five is one of these lists of issues that will be taken back and discussed and studied and the idea of perhaps grants being given instead will be studied. The idea of taxing the project right now will be a be and there will studied recommendation assigned. There will be a recommendation as soon as the staff and board has studied that and we'll get back to Millard County. It was examined very thoroughly. Everyone really understands the problem now. Answer - Commissioners: "Then we talked about (number) five. Theyre going to look at it, but they were very sympathetic. They talked about paying back $1 for $1 asked us if we were interested in that and we told them much more than $1 to $5, which we weren't interested in at all." When asked if this money yvould then be in the form of a grant that wouldn't have to be paid back, the commission answered, "No, they would be tax credits, but they are going to look at the whole thing. One thing they did tell us, they said that they had done a little pencil work and they found out that for every dollar that they gave us that it would only mean seven cents to the When asked how they project." the commission answerthat, figured ed, "Inflation after 40 years. I'm sure well do something about this. Well, wc can start taxing right now if we wanted to. There wouldn't be very much this year. There will be all the machinery and stuff." When questioned if this would be of taxes, the commission said, "Yes, if we want to, and not colled this other money. And they'd just as soon go that way if we want to. so we've got to make a study on it. Theres two - well, theres about three different ways we - u can go." 6. Money turned over to towns, schools, social service organizations, etc., is not to be Millard County's responsibility for payback! Answer - IPA: "Of course not. No it is not, definitely not! There's the difference between money that is paid to Millard County as impact mitigation of taxes right now." Answer - Commission: "Okay, now on this number six, the money that's turned over to the towns and the schools and special service organizations, Millard County is not responsible in any wav for any paybacks to any group other than what they give to Millard County alone, so we don't need to worry about money that." Progress reporter's question: "So, other words, it's not going to up the taxpayers' bills for school taxes? They will just give the schools that money?" Commissioner Harold Stewart: "Just give them an outright grant!" Commissioner Ben Robison: "Well, on schools - as far as county taxes well, I don't know. The schools have to in -- pay back." Commissioner Leigh Maxficld: "1 don't think so. The schools are a taxing unit. They are in the same position as the county and on their part of it they'd have to repay back, but communities are not. so they'd - the project will assume the responsibility of the communities." Commissioner Stewart: think the money now is them." grant to Commissioner Maxficld: schools." Commissioner Robison: thing that we decide on this w ill apply to everyone, the schools and us too." Progress question: "So, that really hasn't been determined yet?" "No. it Commissioner Robison: hasn't." Commissioner Maxficld: "It's under Study." 7. What is meant by direct impact? Who determines it? Answer - IPA: "The definition of direct impact is one that wasn't even resolved in Senate Bill 67. That's been assigned as a project also to the staff to try and come up with some sort of a suitable definition of direct impact." "These Answer - Commissioners: people said that the two boards have got to get together and come up - that they didn't feel that they had any more of an obligation or that they didnt have any more of a right to say what was direct impact than we had, so we would get together and decide what was direct impact." Progress question: "St), it will be decided jointly between the County Commissioners and the IPA Board what is direct impact?" County Commission: "Thai's right! Yes." 8. Land acquired by project for housing or other uses outside the plant site is to be taxed as any other property in Millard County. Progress to IPA representative: "Part of their (county's) problem is the fact they (IPA) are going tv) bring in more men now, before the end of the year, than they had planned on and that impact the county more than had been planned." Answer - IPA: "Yes, that was a big surprise to every one of the Fillmore City officials (IPA Board had met with Fillmore City officials earlier in the day). They expressed their concerns over that this morning. And that was. I think, answered adequately by Carl Haase and his discussion of the various things; that they are going to try and provide housing. They are going to have a little tough time for a couple of months getting the housing together, but after that things will smooth out. Let's see. number eight was the other one that theyve assigned to the staff to study. They agree, yes that's true, they've assigned that to the staff to make a study and report back." Answer - Commissioners: "They said there was no question about this. If it couldn't be on the tax roll, they would of tax funds for w hat w as the pay value of it. 9. What guarantee does Millard of County have that there will be tax money forthcoming to the county when the construction is completed? Answer - IPA: "There is a contract. All they have to do is sign that. They've got a contract for that." Answer - Commissioners: "The thing of it is, we started to write up a of contract that they would pay taxes, no matter what happened in the courts, whether they prepared it illegal or not, but it was never signed. And they agreed to accept it." 10. The distribution and use of Sales and Use tax needs to be Answer IPA: That's being studied up in - well I guess - Reed addressed that question. He said that there's no question bout it. That everyone understands that and as vxm as they submit the use tax forms and papers to be signed It'll be before the end of this year that that will be taken care u -- of." Answer - Commissioners: "We were assured that as soon us we got a program up to them and had the cities sign it - they asked us to do it that they could go to immediately the state tax commission because they were already now paving for some of these - making payments on these generators. T hey 're already making payments and we could start getting funds this year and so immediately we've got to finish getting around to the cities and getting their agreement and then taking it up to IPA and IPA will then petition the stale tax commission to pay this to Millard County. There will be no strings attached other than what we put on it, so we have to put some kind of a service project so that especially the impacted areas - are receiving most of the funds on tilts. They agtee to hold payments until we have the necessary papers in." 11. There will be the need to renegotiate any enlargement of the plant. Answer IPA: "The renegotiation for enlargement? Yes, that is in the conditional use permit." Answer: Commissioners: "If ever enlarge the plant, there's no question about it. they would have to renegotiate the whole deal." Ms. Garrett of IPA said. "I think everything was resolved beautifully." The commissioners commented. "It was a very good meeting, very cooperative." It would taka about 29 yean, working 12 full hourt a day without (topping for the average person to count a billion dollars in ona dollar bills. |
