Show Vol 75 Number 50 Gunnison Utah 84634 Wednesday December 11 1996 50 cents Water sewer hookups dealt with by Gunnison look to meet needs of new prison facility Development Ordinance to be strictly enforced Onlvj by Anita Lyons 1? Staff writer shopping bvjs before Christnicxs! Be sure to shop them m Gunnison Deer Santta mary grade children in the Gunnison Valley News will continue this year This special keepsake issue will be mailed for delivery to Gunnison Valley News subscribers Tuesday December 24 1996 Area businesses or individuals who wish to purchase Christmas Greeting Ads in this issue will need to contact the Gunnison Val8 There are two ley News before December books available this year Prices vary by size for more Contact Jim Olsen at information Those people requiring services should pay for them whether they are there or not agreed the Gunnison City Council in a meeting Monday December 2 The council viewed the individual situations of three citizens and ruled on them in accordance with city ordinances and legal advice from David Church First Jim and Lori Olsen were requesting city help in extending the sewer and water line to the property on the Rocky Point along the Farmer's Freeway they would like to build on The council voted not to help in extending the line but agreed to allow the water and sewer lines to end at the edge of their property instead of requiring them to be placed along the entire frontage The sewer would be too deep at that point to extend any farther anyway Also the property borders county ground Second Darrell and Stacy Reid and Jim Slavers asked the council for help extending the sewer line to the Reid’s new business next to ACE Council Member Rodney Taylor commented that lot prices are determined by whether the lot has utilities or not Darrell Reid said "I lonestly when knew there was sewer bought thought there” The Reids pointed out that this is in the center of town not a new development in the outskirts Council members explained that when the sewer system was first put in the developed properties were serviced in the cheapest way possible Now as lots are filling in in town “People developing are getting caught under that” said Taylor Also the city code requiring new developers to extend the utilities across the their entire frontage did not exist w hen some building was done years ago Council Member Taylor stated his belief "If we stick to the code we can live w ith it If w e start making concessions we're in trouble" "The city council is here to help" said Council Member Boyd Brady "I'm in favor of helping folks wherever we can" Reid explained to the council that his biggest problem is the increased costs of hiring a contractor to work on the main highway because of all oflhe special work permits that are required The council and the Reids eventually agreed that the city would secure the permits from the slate to dig on the right of way and that city workers would extend the sewer line to the Northwest corner of the Reids property The Reids will pay the regular hook up fee as well as whatever it costs the city to do the work (manpower backhoe operation and cost of lines and manholes) within sixty days of the completion of the project Darrell offered to help the city workers install the line “If could have done it myself it would be done” he said The Reids have a goal to open their business by January Third Shannon and Vicki McArthur had secured the zoning and building permit to place a manufactured home on the lot they own at 267 West 100 North Workers discovered that although the city map shows it’s there there is no sewer extension to that lot "It was sold to us under the impression it's there “ said Vicki "We’ve got our loans there’s everything is ready to go no sewer’” Gunnison City employee Chad Frandsen works on a water leak in front of the Gunnison City building Warm weather allowed the crew to get started If the McArthurs extend a sewer line to their lot from either of the corner lots which both have sewer ordinances would require them to end it with a manhole By the time the block is developed one lot at a time there will be three manholes within 300 feet of each other when the accepted distance between manholes is 350 feet To avoid the cost of a manhole McArthurs proposed that they extend place a Wye cleanout at the end of the line instead The council approved the proposal Administrator Ray Limb explained that the map showing sewer access at the McArther's lot is not marked "as built” which means it’s a map showing the proposed sewer plan “It doesn’t mean it was done” he said Put money on reserve' GVHB told to prepare for ’gray Baby Boomers’ capitated payment" Medicare already uses a by Anita Lyons similar process to pay Staff w riter Basically one fee is set to cover certain “We do not have too much money in procedures So if the patient needs outpatient reserve” Financial Administrator Virgel care or more anaesthesia or other extra costs Blackham told the Gunnison Valley Hospital occur during treatment the hospital pays not Board Tuesday December 3 In a review of the insurance company the budget and operating results for the year its revThe hospital receives 52 percent of thus far Blackham showed board members enue from Medicare but the actual amount that the hospital is showing a net profit 25 paid is always lower than the fees that were times greater than budgeted “We only collected 64 percent of charged "I would like to suggest that we do as well that 52 percent last year” said Blackham and as we can” said Blackham who is in favor of the percentage is going down building savings to prepare for the future “Never in history have we faced a situaBlackham continued with an explanation “of tion like we do now with our population" said why think we’ll have tough times” Blackham In the past there has been a larger The insurance companies are “fighting amount of population supporting the smaller more and more to fix the amount they reimNow with the baby boomers beginning to turn burse us” said Blackham “It’s called fifty the smaller percentage will be support Homo ShOW costs in savings The hospital’s earnings last ing the larger He gave an approximate breakdown of future population: Ten’percent will year totalled $5459000 Three months of that be under 20 is $136483 “This is the first time since the percent will be workpercent will be over 65 ing and expansion that we have met that minimum" As the bulk of the population ages there said Blackham will be a higher number of people paying with “People are after us to give them money Medicare Blackham believes the percentage because people think we've gouged them” he of payback the hospital receives from Medi- continued “But if you really look at the facts care will continue to drop “Meanwhile prices and good financial management we're right where we need to be now” just keep going up” he added Insurance contributes 35 percent of the He cautioned the board against spending the reserves If they are left to earn interest hospital’s income With insurance companies DRG the towards the hospital will be able to raise rates less of(one designated working payment per procedure) the hospital is facing ten because of the additional income the another cut in revenue Medicaid and terest generates food supply" “To me it’s like a payments each make up about six percent of the hospital’s revenue said Blackham “I feel like I’m preaching but Fiscal common sense recommends a busidon’t think this can be overemphasized" ness keep three months worth of operating Board member Paul Dyreng commented “Ifyou’re financially sound you can compete” Blackham pointed out that when hospitals go for financing they are given a rate dependent on their financial statement “That's why IHC gets such good financing because of their bond rating because they have such a large reserve" he said and added "As long as we maintain this reserve we won't have to go to the taxpayers for help or attach to a larger ‘sugar daddy’ institution" “You see it pays and pays and pays if we can protect this and not have people make us believe that we owe somebody else or that we’ve robbed somebody" concluded Blackham Dyreng said “As the board of directors we’re under the obligation to protect this stitution” Board Member Mary Hill asked how the hospital's rates compare with other hospitals "We’ve been accused of being higher" answered Blackham “If you took entire bills and compared we may be higher on specifics but you would see we aren’t out of line” Blackham explained that he and Administrator Rosenvall are working together to "To make compare prices with competitors sure we have a basis for our charges at the Rosenvall hospital" inserted Rosenvall ported that bigger hospitals are able to spread higher costs over more tests "We can't compete on some tests" he said In other matters Head Nurse Janica Husbands reported that a class in Trauma Nursing and Advanced Life Support will beThis living room belongs to Wendy Reynolds of Centerfield Her home is just one of gin this week Doctor Willmore Mary Hansen and Laura Johnson have completed training tflose t0 'nclLJdedin a tour of area homes The event is a fund raiser for the Gunnison to teach the ACLS class They will teach the See details in The Gunnison Valley News calendar section page 6 course here I Also at the meeting the council rev iewed request by Janice McClellan that the ordinance dealing with business in a residential area be changed to allow home businesses to hire one worker The council voted against the zone change "You would attract business which you want in the commercial area back into the residential zones" commented Rodney Tay lor Mayor Buchanan proposed that contractors be hired by the city do projects such as hooking up new homes to utilities This would "free up our people to do what needs to be done that's not getting done" The council agreed with the proposal Mayor Buchanan and Council Member Brian Jensen reported on a meeting they had with prison officials Two ideas were proposed to handle the increased sewage prison additions will create: to enlarge existing lines or for the prison to run a parallel line to the city's The council voted for the parallel line proposal They also discussed the construction of new sewer ponds Jensen reported that officials seemed willing to work with the city le said "Basically they were going to go back to the legislature to ask for 2 2 million to fund it" They requested that the Gunnison council write a letter staling city needs that officials can presented to the legislature The council will invite County Commissioner Eddie Cox to a future meeting to discuss building inspections Mayor Buchanan told the council to co'L'ct inform :tio:' on cal incidences "We need an absolute list of specific problems" he said Administrator Limb told the council that the application for CDGB grant money has been sent requesting $44000 for the construction of an elevator at city hall The next council meeting will be January 6 The proposed meeting date to discuss pool issues that was originally set for December 16 has been postponed until after the Christmas a holiday Watch for new phone book with a new look New phone books will be delivered this week according to Jim Sanders of the Gunnison Telephone Company Gunnison residents will quickly notice differences in the new book Listings are all alphabetical without ing separated by tow n Also for the first time the St George and Cedar City areas are not included in the book "I would imagine they didn't include them because the St George area alone would be as big as this book" commented Sanders Areas covered in the books include Richfield Beaver Delta Fillmore Manti Escalante and surrounding areas There has been a slight increase in phone the Gunnison Valley his subscriptionsin year there were 23 residential disconnections with 53 new connections There were 30 new business connections Sanders assumes most of them were additional lines rather than new businesses |