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Show Volum MANTI, UTAH 84642, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1983 98 Number 18 30C per copy Voters select one Republican, two Democrats Unexpectedly large turnout names Anderson, Larsen, Christiansen by Bruce Jennings In what officials described as an unusually heavy turnout for an election, Manti voters went to the polls in large numbers Tuesday to elect three new members to the City Council. off-ye- Elected were Lee J. Anderson, who topped the voting with a 476 count; Galen Christiansen, with 398; and Kent Larsen, with 386. Defeated were Reed Syndergaard, with 328; David R. Cox, 311; and Larry Cox, 231. Overall, 720 ballots were cast in Manti, which amounts to 5S.6 percent of the registered voters. Council ponders acquisition, renovation of school building by Pat Mellor Plans for the renovation of the present Ephraim Middle School into a city office complex showed signs of progress last Wednesday evening Robert Dewey when architect his views on the presented renovation of the building which is the site of the former Manti High School, located on Main Street in Manti. Councilman Jay Cluff introduced the architect to the city council and highly recommended Dewey, with whom he said he had worked previously. Councilman Morlin Cox said that an initial consideration would be the construction of a sloping roof on the building, and that improvements beyond that point would be predicated on subleasing of the building and allowing it to pay its own way. Councilman Jay Cluff briefly reviewed the agencies that may be involved in subleasing office space in the structure, and their requirements. Councilman Cluff said the e projected income from the arrangements would be necessary in order to determine what improvements could be made to the building and the timetable for such work. sub-leas- Mayor Robert Bessey suggested a timetable should be established for work to be done on the structure and suggested representatives of the potential subleasing agencies as well as council members involved in the project be summoned to meet together and work out plans. Mayor Bessey said another architectural firm had also met with city officials and that it appeared at least two architectural firms were now interested in renovation of the to be established on private lots within the city by a margin of 127 to 77, councilwoman Natasha Madsen advised the council. Mrs. Madsen said that of the 127 respondents in favor of the granting of a variance to enable single wide mobile homes to be placed throughout the city, however, there were a number of qualifying comments. The council considered the and the qualifying responses comments added to the responses. Councilman Morlin Cox moved that the ordinance such requiring structures to be placed in approved mobile home parks not be changed. Mrs. Madsen seconded the motion, and the motion carried with only Councilman Bryan McArthur offering a dissenting vote. City Attorney Paul Frischknecht advised the council that under his interpretation of the ordinance as it is written, the difference between a modular and a mobile home is apparently dimensional and is determined primarily by the amount of floor space. A minimum of 24 x 40 feet is acceptable under the terms of the ordinance, whether the home is moor designated "modular bile, and anything less than this is unacceptable under the ordinance, Frischknecht said. Councilman Bryan McArthur said he had received a request from Tom Weather Henretty regarding the fees on sewer hookups for his mobile home park on 500 North. The mayor and council stated the matter had not changed since Mr. Henretty originally petitioned the Council, and the hookup fees would remain within the provisions of the ordinance, the health department and state ordinance requirements. Cemetery Policies Set The Council accepted the resignation of City Cemetery Sexton Mike Graham. The council turned its attention to the various ordinances regulating the use and operation of the city cemetery. Attorney Paul Frischknecht advised the council that under the current ordinance, there must be a name assigned to each single grave. If the ordinance is followed as written, Frischknecht said, this should preclude problems which have arisen in the past residents regarding purchasing lots for cemetery relatives in order to avoid the higher residents on fees for non-cit- y cemetery lots. Some years ago, a practice arose in which purchased cemetery lots in order to avoid the ts significantly higher cost of cemetery lots in more urban areas of the state. This practice led to the development of an ordinance requiring higher fees (Continued on Page 2) The Manti weather data is reported each week by Lee J. Anderson, local cooperative observer for the U.S. Department of Commerce, Weather Bureau. Voting District 3 had the heaviest turnout 63.3 percent, followed by District 2. with 52.5 percent, and District 1, with 50.8 percent. Mr. Anderson, an Ephraim Middle School science and math teacher and a shipbuilder, and Kent Larsen, personnel manager at the Sperry Computer System's plant in Ephraim and a turkey raiser, are Democrats. Mr. Christiansen, a Manti High School shop teacher and a farmer, is a Republican. The three victorious candidates, however, pretty well agreed on what needs to be done for Manti: develop the city's hydro-powpotential to make the city more independent of outside electrical sources and produce more income, enlarge the tax base and provide more employment opportunities by encouraging industrial development, preserve the quality of life and conduct city business in an efficient, economical manner. er By voting districts this is how the voting went: District 1 Anderson, 177; LarChristiansen, 121; David Cox, 100; Syndergaard, 88; and Larry Cox, 65. District 2 Anderson, 148; Larsen, 115; Christiansen, 111; Larry Cox, 92; David Cox, 91; and Syndergaard, 87. District 3 Christiansen, 166; Syndergaard, 153; Anderson, 151; Larsen, 137; David Cox, 120; and sen, 134; Larry Cox, 74. Sterling Sterling elected two new members to the Town Board at a election Tuesday. Clive Young received 74 votes and Gary Lyon 48 to win election to the tw o seats available on the board. Lou Mills, with 40 votes, was defeated in his bid for reelection. n DWR, counties locked in Greenbelt controversy by Pat Mellor The Division of Wildlife Resources and several Utah couhties are locked into a controversy over monies for DWR property that isn't likely to be settled outside a courtroom. Sanpete County commissioners addressed the problem briefly this month during their regular county commission meeting when DWR Don Christensen representative advised the commission that the DWR legal representatives had delivered the opinion that under the current provisions of the law, the DWR cannot compensate counties for any tax rate other than the Greenbelt rate. The opinion means that Sanpete County, w hich billed the DWR for its money at customary the rate that land owned by the DWR would generate taxes, will receive dollars less several thousand because the DWR has been prohibited by its legal counsel from money at any paying but the much lower Greenbelt rate. The DWR is empowered to compensate counties for the land removed from the tax rolls through DWR land purchases. You need to a billing based on the Greenbelt rate, which well pay immediately, Christensen told the commission. "I'm fearful this issue (of only paying proposed complex. Survey Results Analyzed Manti citizens responding to a they favored survey indicated mobile homes wide allowing single Daggett, Wayne, or legal action. The county commission conceded the court battle might well end up costing more money than it could generate in benefits even if the ultimate decision were favorable to the counties. It's a Catch-2- 2 situation for the counties, most of which are awash in government-hel- d land which has been removed from the tax rolls. The controversy pits two sides of taxpayer-supporte- d agencies against each other, spending tax money for legal counsel to determine where the taxpayers money will go. Meanwhile, Sanpete and other Utah counties are losing more and more land from the tax rolls as the DWR purchases farm and agricultural land in a generally depressed market. Sanpete, Ulahhas initiated The land is used to conduct reseeding and game management programs. Sometimes only a few acres are purchased. Sometimes the purchase involves entire farms of hundreds of acres. Daggett County started the protest against the DWRs practice of paying only the Greenbelt value for payments. But Daggett has few resources and a small budget and is reluctant to shoulder the burden of a court battle against a state agency alone. So is Sanpete. "We're hoping another county will sue you, commissioner Newt Donaldson told the DWR officer, because we don't have much money." Donaldson theorized about selling the DWR land for back taxes if the payments are not made according to the higher valuation. But Donaldson was advised, "In the real world, this is an payment. You can't bill the State of Utah for taxes." Mr. Christensen said there are two options to the resolution of the problem: the Utah State Legislature or the courts. Its a fuzzy law, and it needs to be interpreted," he told the commission. Its difficult for everyone. Were getting rulings and interpretations as broad as the commission table." County attorney Ross Blackham said the county probably would send the DWR a revised bill as a "courtesy," but would advise them at the same time that the county does not agree that the revised billing is the amount due to Sanpete County. County clerk Wayne Beck pointed out that in Sanpete County, both water districts and school districts must increase their mill levy to compensate for land taken off the tax rolls by DWR purchases. The difference in tax revenues. Beck estimated, would be the difference between a Greenbelt assessed valuation of SI to S2 per acre and a normal valuation of from S75 to S350 per acre. Commissioners said the attorneys who wrote the attorney generals took the position but opinion admitted privately that they doubted it would have much validity if tested in court. The Sanpete Commissioners instructed the county attorney to look into the possibility of entering a joint lawsuit with the other dissenting counties to get the matter resolved with the least expense for all involved. Commissioners not happy with Sanpete CUP participation by Bruce Jennings Apparently the Sanpete County Commission thinks that in providing financial support for the Central Utah Project, the county has been pouring money into a dry hole. Dry, at least, so far as the county is concerned. There is only a remote possibility that Sanpete County will ever receive any benefit from CUP," Ned Madsen, County Commission chairman, said. He explained that Sanpete Valley has no storage capacity for CUP water, even if it became available. "Gunnison Valley might benefit in a minor way sometime in the distant future," he added. Commissioner Newton Donaldson agrees with Mr. Madsen that the citizens of Sanpete County can not benefit from . . , these projects. As a consequence, the Commission is looking for a way to get out of and plans to send a CUP, representative to Washington, D. C., in cooperation with Sevier, Garfield and Piute counties, who also want out, to find some method of withdrawing from the system. This year the Sanpete County levy for CUP is 2 mills. That levy will raise about $103,000, and this money will go to the Central Utah Water Conservancy District. With this year's Sanpete County will $666,055 into CUP. payment, have put In 1968, the first year, Sanpete's assessment was $609. By 1971 it had risen to $14,579 and has been going up ever since. The Central Utah Project brings water out the Colorado River Drainage. Its main tributaries are the Duchesne River and the Strawberry River. The project, still only partially completed, would store water in a series of reservoirs and bring it by means of aqueducts into Salt Lake, Utah, Juab and Millard counties. It would also, of course, benefit some eastern Utah counties. One phase of the project would bring water out of the Strawberry Reservoir down Diamond Fork through the Wasatch Aqueduct, the Mona-NcpCanal and the Ncphi- hi Sevier Canal as far as the Sevier Bridge Reservoir. In addition to providing extra water to large areas of the state, CUP would also increase the state's hydro-electri- c generating capacity. One of the principal generating units would be the Diamond Fork Power System below the Strawberry Reservoir. CUP is still only partially completed and will need another $300,000,000 to $500,000,000 to see it through to the finish line. Part of that money comes from the federal government, but part from entities like Sanpete County. And some of those entities are voicing stronger and stronger opposition to CUP. Some of the opposition is based on the growing expense, the delays, environmental issues. And some, of course, from Sevier and Sanpete and other areas because they see themselves pouring more money for years into the future Into a project they dont think will benefit them. Ed Clyde, attorney for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, governing body of CUP, sees it differently. Utah Is the second driest state in the union, but the fifth fastest growing, he says. I think we will need to someday develop all our water resources, including CUP, groundwater and the Bear River." He thinks it is urgent that the Colorado River water potential is developed for the benefit of Utah. "If the Colorado River is not developed now, he says, it Is my opinion that we will never again get congressional support. Without it, we probably cannot build a project of this magnitude. Other-statelike Arizona or California would love to get our allocation." s Naturally, Sanpete County's Commissioners are not looking at the overall benefit,- - perhaps, of the entire state. Theyre concerned about ' Sanpete County and its tax payers. And they dont want to see those tax payers involved in what apparently is for them a losing cause. hard-presse- d |