Lori Nay, former mayor of Gunnison City, was a particularly busy woman during the week of July 18-22.
Nay attended both the Emery County Commission meeting that took place July 19 and the Carbon County Commission meeting that took place the following evening on July 20. During these meetings, Nay gave a special presentation to offer the commissioners the opportunity of joining the Rural Utah Alliance (RUA) Foundation.
The RUA is a new organization, born in 2016. The idea of the RUA is to give commissioners more of a voice on actions that to take place in rural communities. Nay reported that each county will have one member appointed to the board of directors. Representative Noel and Representative Snow, from the St. George area, will serve the first term. An organizational meeting will be hosted in August. As soon as a list of participating counties is received, an email of possible dates for the meeting will be sent out to ensure 100% attendance.
Exactly what the RUA can do in rural Utah will be explained in full at said meeting projected for August. There will be a resource center that will work for each county to shape the policy of the foundation.
“This is a way for rural Utah counties to be connected and allow them to work together in solving various issues,” Nay said.
Nay believes that this group will help to even the playing field with non-governmental organizations (NGO). The group is in the formative stages. However, Nay is confident in stating that she believes they have obtained the funding for three to five years. According to Nay, there did not seem to be a reason for the funding to desist as long as results continue to be produced.
Once her presentation was completed, Nay inquired what it would take for the commissioners to make a decision. For the Carbon County Commissioners, the decision was easy. Commissioners Jake Mellor and Casey Hopes (Commissioner Jae Potter was excused from the meeting), along with support from Rex Sacco, agreed that it was a great organization and made the choice to join. The commissioners for Emery County requested to be given time to discuss the idea, which would then possibly be placed on the next meeting’s agenda if a decision has been reached.
