Sanpete Messenger Gunnison Valley Edition | 2005-01-26 | Page 2

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black A2 Sanpete Messenger-Gunnison Valley Edition Wednesday, January 26, 2005 Gunnison allocates $100K to variety of city functions By Suzanne Dean Publisher GUNNISON—The Gunnison City Council opened its budget last week and moved about $100,000 into various expense categories as a first step toward addressing a possible budget surplus. The council allocated $64,462, including $38,422 carried over from last year and about $26,000 in revenue that has come in this year, to various functions, including the library, police department, fire department, city park, cemetery and July Fourth celebration. It also transferred $33,640 from its general fund balance, an account that holds funds carried over from the previous year, to a capital outlay fund. Money in the capital outlay fund goes for expensive brick-and-mortar projects, often projects that take more than one year to complete. City recorder Marilyn Stewart says the city typically budgets with the expectation that some revenue will be left at year-end to be carried over into the next year. But a recent audit showed that the amount carried over from 2003-04 into 2004-05 came to more than 18 percent of the city’s general fund budget. Under state law, the maximum “unrestricted” surplus (funds not committed to a specific activity) that a municipality can have in its general fund is 18 percent of the total general fund budget. Stewart said the general fund might still be running a surplus. At the same time, she noted, the city doesn’t know what needs might come up between now and the end of the fiscal year in June. She suggested the council revisit the budget later in the year and reallocate any remaining surpluses at that time to expense categories. In connection with the budget action, the council voted to raise fees for reserving a picnic pavilion at the city park from $20 to $25. The city is adding a new pavilion, and the extra revenue is needed to cover increased maintenance costs because of additions to park facilities. In other action, the council approved an interlocal agreement with the county and other Sanpete County municipalities for responding to hazardous waste incidents. Under the agreement, the Gunnison Valley Fire Department will provide at least two specially trained fire fighters to respond to incidents throughout the county. Hazardous materials training takes 47 hours per year. Council member agreed the fire department would have to provide extra compensation for fire fighters who volunteered for the extra training. “How do you ask volunteer firemen to do 47 hours without at least some reimbursement for their expenses?” asked Councilwoman Lori Nay. The council also discussed upgrading Christmas decorations along Main Street and Bulldog Boulevard (600 South). Nay displayed an ornamental snowflake that could be mounted on light poles. The regular price is $39, she said, but the snowflakes are on sale until the end of January for $14. “We have a budget to work with. It’d be nice to spend it right away,” she said. The council discussed encouraging the high school and middle school to raise money to help purchase decorations for Bulldog Boulevard, which runs in front of the school properties. However, the council decided it needed more information before purchasing new decorations. it safe enough to use for irrigation at the municipal cemetery and sports complex, the city’s principal water users. Now, instead of being used for city irrigation, Anderson said, the water would be treated to make it safe enough for crop irrigation but not for human contact. Anderson said the city would treat the water as a utility, selling it to farmers with land. Under current plans for the project, new pipelines would carry the treated water from the northwest section of the city’s sewer lagoon property, giving farmers within a two-block radius of the area access to the water, which the city would sell as a utility. Regarding that, Mayor Morris Casperson declared he had a conflict of interest with the project because he owns property within the project’s proposed service area. Anderson said the primary reason for changing the project’s parameters was cost. The grant, if approved under the Bureau of Reclamation’s Water 2025 Challenge Grant Program, will fund only half of the project. The city is responsible for the rest. The current project’s price tag of approximately $225,000 is less than the cost of the original one. “I thought it was a reasonable compromise, because of the cost of the pipeline,” Anderson said. The city’s portion of the cost will come from approximately $49,000 of in-kind labor to install the pipeline and from $80,000 of impact fees available to expand sewer treatment facilities. If the Bureau of Reclamation approves the grant application, Anderson says he expects work on the project to begin next fall. Ephraim scales back plans for water reclamation By John Hales Staff writer EPHRAIM—The Ephraim City Council has scaled down its plans for a water-reclamation project. At a meeting held Jan. 19, the council approved a resolution directing the engineering company Hansen, Allen & Luce to submit a grant application to the federal Bureau of Reclamation for partial funding for the project. The council passed a similar motion last month; however, the Bureau of Reclamation application process requires the resolution to be in a particular form, obligating the city to revisit the matter. According to Ephraim City Manager Richard Anderson, the city originally considered a project that would recapture city wastewater and treat it, making Sanpete News Company, Inc., publishing the GUNNISON VALLEY EDITION Deadlines, Post Office & Contact Information UPS# 3284-0000 Copyright, Sanpete News Company, Inc.©2005. All rights reserved. Reproduction, re-use, or transmittal of all matter herein is prohibited without prior written permission of the publisher. Published each Wednesday for 75¢ each, $24.00 inside Sanpete County, $27.00 outside Sanpete County, by Sanpete News Company, Inc., 35 S. Main, Manti, Utah 84642 Phone [phone], fax [phone] E-mail publisher at: [e-mail] E-mail sports to: [e-mail] E-mail school items to: [e-mail] E-mail news to: [e-mail] E-mail ads to: [e-mail] Deadline: Thursday, 5 p.m. Manti: 35 S. Main, Hours: M-F, 9 am to 6 pm Periodicals Postage Paid at Manti, Utah 84642. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Sanpete Messenger, 35 S. Main, Manti, Utah 84642 Editor & Publisher ............................................. Suzanne Dean Associate Publisher ................................................... Lloyd Call Senior Reporter ...................................................... Sean Hales Assignment Reporter .............................................. John Hales Office Manager ................................................... Jacque Marsh Administrative Assistant .............................. Lindsay Kogianes Webmaster ........................................................ Kelly Hancock Ombudswoman .............................................. Karen Buchanan Staff Manti ................................................. Judy Chantry (835-8010) Ftn. Green, Moroni ............................... C. R. Truitt (445-3326) Gunnison ........................................ Geoffrey Pace (528-3922) Centerfield .......................................... Elva Jensen (528-3382) Axtell ................................................ Audrey Boore (528-3309) Mayfield ........................................... Margaret Amy (528-7076) Spring City ...................................... Holly Nicholes (462-2758) Staff Writers .......................... Erika Johnson, Kathy Eggleston Sports Writers ............................ Doug Johnson, Jeff Ericksen, Craig Cox and Coaches Photographers ........................... Sean Hales, Vern Buchanan, Peter Goss, Russ Beck Columnists ............................ Roger Baker, Corrie Lynn Player Lawsuit (Continued from A1) According to police reports, Lund failed a field sobriety test, although a subsequent breathalyzer test showed no alcohol content. The officers took Lund to Sanpete Valley Hospital for further examination. The suit states that the handcuffing of Lund during transport sprained Lund’s right wrist. A hospital report confirmed the sprain. According to the suit, a urine analysis test for alcohol or other substances came out negative. Despite the results of the exam, officers arrested Lund and booked him in the county jail around 6 a.m. that morning. Lund posted bail of $1,320 to be released that afternoon. Sanpete County Deputy Attorney Brody Keisel subsequently sent a letter to Lund on Jan. 11. “I am not convinced,” Keisel wrote, “that there is a reasonable likelihood of you being convicted. As a result, I have elected not to file criminal charges against you.” On Tuesday, however, Keisel said, “New evidence has become available. The county attorney’s office is now considering that evidence and is making a final determination on whether criminal charges should still be filed.” Messenger Copies on sale THRU FEB. Black and White-6.5 cents per copy Color-75 cents per copy PHOTO COURTESY GUNNISON VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL Legion oration contest winners chosen The American Legion Oratorical Contest was held Jan. 19 at Gunnison Valley High School. Two winners were chosen, one each from the Gunnison and Centerfield American Legion Posts. Jake Childs and Sara Southwick each won $50 and will compete at the district contest on Jan. 26. Winners at the district level will receive $100 and a chance to move on to state and national competition. Pictured are (L-R) Lindy Anderson, the high school speech coach; Jake Childs, winner; Dean Malmgren, American Legion Post 105; Colby McClellan, speech participant; Sara Southwick, winner; Mark Pickett and Newell Pickett, American Legion Post 104. Udderpass (Continued from A1) Commissioners said they would have to see the engineering drawings, specifications and costs, and check into liability issues and maintenance of the underpass. Steve Keller, the county’s road department supervisor, said that bridges all have steel I-beams and that not even the county builds bridges anymore. The county told Otten any bridges would have to be properly engineered and approved. Otten felt like that would cost too much money. An alternative was suggested to put cattleguards in the road to keep cows from straying. But Otten still believed there would still be the possibility of a collision with a motorist. The commission also revisited the Ephraim Canyon Road project. On Jan. 4, the commission had tabled the newest change order for the project. The change order, presented by Jones and Demille engineering representative Brian Barton, called for the county to replace Ephraim City’s badly eroded water mains. The condition of the pipe was discovered when road contractors accidentally struck the pipe. When contractors dug up the line to fix it, they found it to be badly eroded. The change order had been tabled to allow time for the commission and Barton to work out cost sharing with Ephraim City. At the Jan. 18 meeting, Barton was back. He said the contractor is backing of, and he suggested waiting until construction resumes in spring to see what pipe needs to be replace. Barton said the costs would be cheaper than first estimated because replacement of the pipe didn’t have to include a steel casing as the engineers had first believed. However, he said, he would like to get the contractor, Brown Brothers, paid. He said the change order also included a partial payment of $35,356 to Jones and Demille for engineering. The commission agreed to pay the change order. The commission also approved purchases of vehicles and computer equipment. The commission approved county assessor Ken Bench’s request for a 4-wheel, 6-cylinder vehicle from a state bid handled by Butterfield Ford in Salt Lake City. Although the commission approved the purchase, they wanted Bench to check with lo- cal dealers to see if they could submit a similar bid before Bench purchased the vehicle from Butterfield. The cost was $19,006 for a one-year-old vehicle. County recorder Reed Hatch said he needed a new computer to handle the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) addressing system. He said his office’s existing computers didn’t have large enough hard drives to handle the GPS system. He said he could get the computer for $1,167. He also received approval to purchase a microfilm scanner for $18,800. Sheriff Kay Larsen told commissioners that his estimated $80,000 cost for three vehicles was about $4,000 too low. The commission approved the additional amount. The commission also approved a Utah State University Extension budget of $76,952.520, which USU head, Gary Anderson said was the same as last year. The county approves the budget because many of the employees at USU are actually county employees. power generator added $700,000 to the cost. Robertson said that inflation in the price of construction materials accounted for the rest of the cost increase, which is one reason he doesn’t want to wait any longer to get the project off the ground. “There are some real time concerns regarding the inflation of the cost,” he said. “What happens if another two years goes by?” In a City Council meeting last month, Robertson was asked if the city would go ahead with the project even if the EDA gave no money. His answer was yes. “We want to show [the EDA] that we are pursuing the project because of urgency.” Robertson gave reason’s for the project’s delay until now. The first is the fact that getting funding for the project has taken time. Plans for the project have had to meet requirements and get approval before funding could be granted. The Water Quality Board has approved a loan to cover the entire project, but Robertson said he wants to get as much grant money as possible in order to ease the city’s debt repayment burden. Another reason for the delay is that the project is a joint venture between the city and Moroni Feed Company (MFC), and working out an agreement between them has taken time, and in fact still isn’t finalized. MFC’s turkey processing plant is the principal user of the sewer system. Although Robertson says he doesn’t blame MFC for the system’s problems, Jones & DeMille said “The turkey processing plant produces the majority of the influent wastewater at the [sewer] plant.” According to Robertson, the historical arrangement between the city and MFC is that, in return for using the sewer system, MFC runs the treatment plant and also pays an operation and maintenance (O&M) costshare proportional to its percentage of use of the system. Robertson said that the cost-share is evaluated yearly, but that it is currently at 89 percent for MFC and 11 percent for the city. Robertson said that the two entities will have a similar agreement to pay for the upgrades, although nothing has been formalized. He said that current negotiations with MFC indicate that the company will pay about 90 percent of the project’s cost, leading him to further say, “The only thing that would stop [the project] is if the feed company felt they couldn’t afford it.” MFC President David Bailey says the cost of the project is becoming an issue. “Project costs have increased dramatically, which has set us on our heels,” he said. “Frankly, the turkey industry has been challenged of late. If costs can’t be mitigated we may have to look at a middle-of-the-road approach.” Robertson says that’s one of the reasons he’s been bending over backwards to help make the project more affordable. “The city has to go to bat for the feed company to get funding,” he said. Bailey says that he’s pleased with Robertson’s efforts. “Mayor Robertson has been very active, and we support him. He’s been aggressive with his resources. He’s done a good job.” In addition to trying to procure the EDA grant, Robertson recently announced that he will petition the WQB for a reduction in its loan interest rate. He said that if the WQB consents to a zero-interest loan, about $300,000 in interest payments could be saved. He said he will meet with the WQB in March to discuss the proposal. Sewer (Continued from A1) The city began considering revamping its sewer after the 30year-old system violated state water-quality standards during heavy peak times, Robertson said. According to information prepared by the city’s engineering firm, Jones & DeMille, the sewer plant “is experiencing difficulty meeting its permit discharge limits.” The system has gone into violation only a couple of times, “but it’s consistently on the borderline,” Robertson said. Robertson explained the project has two parts. First is an upgrade of the sewage treatment plant that will include installation of a microfiltration system. Robertson said water thus treated would be clean enough for possible re-use as irrigation water, although the city has no such plans at this time. Second are improvements to the sewer’s collection system. Robertson said there are areas where pipes have settled, creating “bellies,” places where sludge can build up and eventually block the pipe. Also, Robertson said, the collection system’s infrastructure would be expanded to areas of new development in the city. Jones & DeMille estimates the cost of the total project to be $3.7 million. That figure represents a $1.2 million increase since the project was first envisioned. “The initial cost was estimated at $2.5 million about two-and-a-half years ago,” Robertson said. He also said there were two reasons for that increase. The first is that the original estimate—prepared by Aqua Engineering, the company designing the sewer plant upgrade (Jones $ DeMille are heading the collection system upgrade)—did not account for a state requirement that the plant have a separate electrical backup system. That inclusion of a backup