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Show G Address Service Requested Presorted Standard U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 11 Gunnison, UT ECRWSS GUNNISON±ALLEY *met ‘6.(4teraeaft Iteuvizetftex. Volume 7 • Number 39 Thursday, September 29, 2011 2 Copy Price • One dollar Election tie tops City Council meeting by MARK HENLINE Gunnison Auxiliary Post 104 will be selling raffle tickets to raise money for Girls State at the Gunnison Market Sept 30, Oct. 1, 7 & 8 Please come & support their efforts. Donations for the raffle can be brought into the store or given to Elaine Jensen. Haunted River Walk Every Fri, Sat & Mon in October $5 per person $20 per family Gunnison Camp DUP Meeting Mon Oct 3 • 2 pm Gunnison Stake Center Blood Drive Fri Oct 7 • 2 - 7 pm LDS Stake Center LDS Singles 30+ Dance Fri Oct 14 • 7 pm @ Salina Stake Center Axtell's Got Talent Ward and Community Party Tue Oct 18 • 6:30 Axtell Ward Building Dutch oven pork ribs and potato dinner Gunnison City Council meeting was well attended last Wednesday evening as there were many items to be discussed on the agenda. One pressing issue was the canvas to be held for the primary election which took place on September 5th. In the primary election Elise Bown, Blake Donaldson, Brian Jensen, Melissa Judy and Kent Larsen made it onto the final ballot for November. The sixth spot on the ballot was up in the air as there was a tie between candidates Jordan Stewart and Ryan Thompson. Each had received 89 votes. Election official, JoAnn Taylor, stated that there were 830 registered voters in Gunnison and 305 of those had shown up to vote. There were also five absentee voters who were eligible to vote. Of those five, four ballots had been sent in but three of them were disqualified for not meeting the postmark deadline. Taylor explained that there was only one eligible ballot to be read. She opened the envelope and read the results: One vote for Blake Donaldson, one vote for Charles Lund and the final vote was for Jordan Stewart. The vote for Stewart broke the tie placing him on the final ballot. Garrick Willden, with James and Demille Engineering, spoke to the council saying that the funds were in place for the river restoration project, financed by the government agency NRCS. The $286,000 project will be financed with at 75% grant from the NRCS and the other 25%, or $71,500 will come from an in-kind contribution from Gunnison City. The city's contribution will come from rock donated from a quarry north of town. The rock will be used as rip-rap on the riverbanks to help keep the river from flooding in the future. This brings the city's actual out-of-pocket expense to zero dollars for this project. Mayor Nay said, "This has worked out great for our city." Gunnison City has hired a new Resource Officer to work in the valley's schools. Kris Sorenson was appointed to this position by Mayor Nay with the consent of the council. Sorenson began working in the schools the next day. Police Chief Halliday said, "Sorenson is a great applicant, he will work well in the schools." Election judges were also appointed by Mayor Nay for the upcoming election. The judges are Kathy Pickett, Lana Larson, and Joanie Larson. Malory Hermansen was appointed as the alternate judge. The council also voted to hire four new lifeguards for the pool. They are Nik Roberts, Travis Carlisle, Tanner Agren, and Sara Nilsson. Councilman Steven Buchanan gave an update on the current water project that just got underway. New water line is being put in place along Center Street from Main Street to 200 East, then north along 200 East to Highway 89. There will be new connections to homes ar • en me unnison Va ey azette Utility work on Center Street between Main and 200 East began last week. along the route and new fire hydrants will replace the old ones. The project is scheduled to go fairly quickly, only taking three to four weeks. The issue that dominated most of the meeting and brought most of the citizens in was a discussion about Fieldstone Academy. The school's director, Chris Forsythe, began the discussion by explaining the history of the academy and how it came to be in Gunnison. He explained the purpose and goals of Fieldstone as a learning institution trying to help students who have struggled in the traditional classroom setting. He said that it is an open campus where students have freedom to be part of the community. New paint reveals Casino Star's beauty Joseph Cipro with Desin for Artful Living, of Bountiful, has spent the past month painting the facade of the Casino Star Theatre. Cipro worked with the Casino Star organization to come up with colors that were similar to the original colors of the building. If you haven't noticed yet, you owe it to yourself to drive by the theatre and see how the new paint brings out the beauty of the building. Councilman Brian Jensen then spoke and explained the steps that the city had to take and the requirements Fieldstone had to meet before they could open for business in Gunnison. MayorNay then opened the meeting up for public questions and comments. Many citizens, mostly neighbors of Fieldstone, expressed some very legitimate concerns they have with some of the students. Most of those concerns centered on trespassing and curfew violations. The neighbors also felt there was a lack of supervision on part of the Fieldstone staff. The discussion went on for over an hour with Forsythe doing his best to answer the neighbors' concerns and vowing to do his best to work on the problems presented. Forsythe invited any citizens with concerns to please come to the school and talk with him personally. In the end not all questions were resolved and there are still concerns but the neighbors seemed willing to be patient and Forsythe seems sincere in his desire to make Fieldstone a positive part of the community. Mayor Nay ended the comment period by expressing her opinion that there might be some growing pains through this experience but that it's good that open discussion has begun. The council then discussed future agenda items and then went into closed session to discuss personnel issues. |
