Emery’s May town council meeting began with Danny Van Wagoner introducing himself as a democratic candidate for county commission and distributing the Emery County democratic party platform.
Van Wagoner indicated that he had spent part of his early years in Emery County and after graduating from high school in another area, he quickly came back to raise his family. He stated that if the council had any questions for him, they were free to give him a call.
Emery County Commissioner Keith Brady then presented an idea to trade SITLA and BLM lands in order to create a development zone around each of the municipalities in the county. SITLA land is much easier to purchase or lease for developers than BLM lands. The availability of land could help to influence industry to come to the municipalities and create economic growth and opportunities. He noted that major concerns would be the effect on grazers of BLM and SITLA permits. The council and the mayor encouraged him to pursue the idea but to work closely with the municipalities to make sure the location of the land trades made sense for grazers and infrastructures.
Commissioner Brady then discussed the creation of an Interlocal Agency to alleviate the problems faced with the EMS service in the county. The Interlocal Agency would become the employer of the EMTs and would be governed by a board consisting of a representative from each ambulance garage, a commissioner and an at large member. The agency would still employ a manager. The budget would be approved by the county commissioners, and the EMS services would be self-sustaining after initial start up and could fund themselves. There was a good discussion regarding the solution of problems that seem to have plagued the EMS in the county for many years.
Commissioner Brady was asked what happened to the idea of each town employing their own EMS and being reimbursed by the county. He indicated that it had always been an “all or nothing” proposal and one of the towns in the county had not been willing to make the agreement. When pressed, he affirmed that Ferron City mayor had not been willing to take on the liability of the EMTs becoming city employees. Mayor Mistie Christiansen indicated that the EMS service is absolutely essential to the town of Emery and Emery Town was willing to make not only Emery EMTs but Ferron EMTs employees of Emery Town in order to keep ambulance service running smoothly. The council indicated that Emery Town is willing to work with whatever proposal is necessary and thanked Commissioner Brady for understanding the issues of towns and cities on the outer edges of the county.
There was discussion regarding an application for a water connection for a RV. It is against town ordinances to allow permanent water connections for recreation vehicles. The mayor encouraged the council to be willing to enforce that ordinance across the board if the need arises.
The council determined the theme of this year’s Emery Town celebration to be “Today’s Pioneers” and adopted a tentative schedule.
There was discussion that the new fire chief needed turnouts and that budgets would be prepared by May 25 for the council to review. The meeting in June would include a budget hearing for amending the 2015-2016 budget and approving a 2016-2017 budget.