County establishes economic development board

By Sun Advocate

The Carbon County Commission met March 6 and one of the main issues on the agenda was to establish a governing body for the local economic development agency.
The committee, as formed, will decide the rules the redevelopment office – commonly called the “taxing agency” – must follow and also establish a plan for the organization.
“I am concerned about the name of this committee,” pointed out Commissioner Bill Krompel to economic development director Delynn Fielding. “Can this agency set any taxes for the citizens of Carbon County?”
Fielding explained that the committee was there to direct the agency and had no powers to raise money whatsoever.
At that point, the commissioners voted to approve a resolution creating the committee.
The committee will consist of two members of the county school board/administration, one from the Utah education board, two from Carbon commission/administration and one from the Price River Water Improvement District.
Addressing unrelated business matters, the commission:
•Approved donating Olympic banners the county has in its possession to the women’s shelter fundraiser after the Para Olympics have concluded.
Colleen Quigley told the commission that the organization would then sell the banners to raise money for the shelter.
•Reviewed a request from Ray Prettyman to acquire the mineral rights on property he donated to the county years ago as a staging area to set up the construction of a nearby bridge.
Prettyman, who addressed the commission, asked the county to turn the mineral rights on approximately one acre back to him.
But as commissioners discussed the situation, the officials determined that the county could grant the request easily.
“Even though you donated the land to the county and we are not using it anymore, we just can’t give you the land or the mineral rights back that simply,” indicated Commissioner Mike Milovich.
“Since it is public property, we have to advertise before we can do something like this,” added the county official.
The lawmakers agreed to work through the problems and advertise for public input.
•Opened bids for a chip spreader for the road department. Bids came from A.G. Body of Salt Lake for $138,917, Bearcat Manufacturing of Arizona for $156,200 and Cate Equipment of Salt Lake, for $177,409.
The officials decided to have road supervisor Ray Hanson review the equipment and bids and make a recommendation to the commission on which to purchase.
•Opened bids on a loader for the county. Some vendors placed multiple bids based on used available equipment.
Hertz Rental equipment bid two machines for $89,500 and $82,500. Wheeler Machinery placed a bid for one machine at $106,300. Scott Machinery placed two bids for $88,500 and $53,500. Arnold Machinery placed two bids, one for $103,742 and the other for $89,900. Kamatsu Equipment bid on three machines, one for $99,650, another for $82,250 and another for $70,650. The final bid was for one machine from Rasmussen Equipment for $78,443.
Some bids were for new machines, while others were for used on which the hours varied greatly.
The lawmakers decided to have Hanson review the bids, look at the equipment and return to the commission with a recommendation.
•Discussed hiring a general contractor to oversee finishing the community exhibit building at the fairgrounds.
The shell of the building is in place and the inside finish work needs to be done.
The commission received a $19,125.36 bid from ECI, one from Kent Stillson Construction for $26,870 and one from Environmental Industrial Services for $30,060.
“Is this for any construction or only for the supervision of the construction?” asked Milovich.
Krompel explained that the general, under the parameters of the bid, would oversee the construction, but do none of the work.
Milovich was concerned about the cost to county government associated with hiring a contractor to supervise the construction project at the fairgrounds.
County planning director Dave Levanger is in charge of the project, but was not able to attend last week’s commission meeting.
The county commissioners subsquently voted to table making a final decision in connection with the matter until the lawmakers could discuss the project with Levanger.
During an interview on Monday, Levanger indicated that the bidding process was set up to provide local contractors with an opportunity to submit proposals on obtaining the contract.
“All we are trying to do is give local vendors a chance to be in on this project,” Levanger explained to the Sun Advocate during the interview.
“We have the right to accept or reject any bids. There are a number of routes we can take on this and we will be examining those in the next couple of weeks. We may even put out a request for bids for a general who would finish the whole project,” explained the county planning director.
Acting on another unrelated agenda item at last week’s public meeting, the county commissioners approved a maintenance agreement with Quest Communications.
Pursuant to the agreement, the company will maintain the 911 equipment at county dispatch center for $738 per month.