On June 5, Ferron City held their monthly city council meeting with an array of different topics to be discussed. Council discussed that they had initially planned on adopting the fiscal year budget but they’re waiting on a few funding items to come in, so the adoption of the budget will be postponed to the council meeting in July.
Jared Howes with Emery County’s EMS department discussed the need for more people due to staffing issues. Howes stated that there has been a struggle in getting people to sign up for shifts whereas it is more of a volunteer position. Howes stated he understands that it can be tough to take on-call shifts for a volunteer position. he advised that there was an Advanced EMT class recently held and out of the 18 that started the class, 16 completed the class and 12 of those are from Emery County.
Howes said that in order to run an ambulance, there must be an Advanced EMT on shift. There can be an advanced EMT and a basic EMT on shift to run the ambulance, but it cannot be two basic EMT’s on shift. Howes is anticipating a basic EMT course to be held in September 2024, and urges those in the community to sign up to this class.
“You have to be a basic EMT before you can become an advanced EMT”, stated Howes. There will be more information to come as it becomes available.
Mayor Trent Jackson discussed that at least 84 street lights were in the process of being changed out to LED lights which are also dark sky compliant. Mayor Jackson stated that it would cost right around $19,000 to get all of the lights switched over. However, due to the new lights being LED, they will be saving the city approximately $6,300 a year in energy savings.
Tanner Hill asked council permission to close a road for a Kids are Royalty car show on June 15 at Mayor’s Park. Hill informed council that Kids are Royalty is a group of like-minded individuals who want to be able to give back to kids who are being bullied or may be dealing with some tough home issues. Hill stated that as of right now they have been able to offer assistance to over 50 families. Hill stated they will offer guidance to these families and will even do private events for the kids who are struggling. Councilman Ray Peterson joked that “he lives half a block away so he’ll be keeping an eye on things.”
Councilman Woody Wilson discussed wanting to create a tourism board to come up with ways to increase the tourism in Ferron, council agreed that they also believe a tourism board would be beneficial.
Councilman Peterson advised that the San Rafael Travel Plan is now open for public comment and will close on July 22. Council members encouraged members of the community to leave substantial comments such as “I camp in this area, I ride in this area, I hike in this area.” Council advised that leaving substantial comments will be extremely beneficial. A member of the public mentioned how “this is their backyard and it has been for over 30 years.” Council expressed that those are the types of comments that need to be left.
Individuals wanting to leave a comment may do so using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/1500146/510