Price officials accept grant to fund city street projects

By Sun Advocate

Price officials decided to accept a grant of $324,869 from the Utah Permanent Community Impact Board during the city council meeting on Aug. 24.
The grant was on the consent items for last Wednesday’s council meeting agenda.
The consent item was passed unanimously at the meeting by all members of the Price City Council.
The grant money from the department of community and culture, division of housing and development will go to paving and other related improvements to 1200 North 300 East, 700 East 900 North and Airport Road east of Highway 55 in Price. The funding will also be used for various scheduled slurry seal projects at location sthroughout the city.
While the PCIFB will be providing $324,869 in funds to the city for the road improvement projects, the total estimated cost is $409,869.
The estimated amount includes $394,869 in construction costs, $5,000 in engineer or architect costs and $10,000 in special studies.
The grant will leave $85,000 of the project unpaid.
Price city is required to contribute the $85,000 to complete the projects.
The PCIFB requires that Price city has the additional funds and that the revenues be available for the completion of the project.
The PCIFB has asked the division of housing and community development to monitor the project until completion.
To ensure the reliability of work and materials, the project is required to follow the standard terms and conditions set forth by the state. The guidelines require that “any and all supplies, services and equipment furnished will comply fully with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.”
The regulations also require that the “contractor agrees to warrant and assume responsibility for all products (including hardware, firmware, and/or software products) that it licenses, contracts, or sells to the State of Utah under this contract for a period of one year, unless otherwise specified and mutually agreed upon elsewhere in this contract.”
If supplies used for the project do not hold up for the one-year warranty, the contractor is required to repair or replace the defective products at no charge to the state or city.
If a defect is discovered, the contractor must be notifie in writing.
If the repaired or replaced product proves inadequate or fails to serve its essential purpose, the contractor will refund the full amount of any payments that have been made.
The monies contributed by the PCIFB to Price city were awarded only for the planning, construction and maintenance of public facilities or the provision of public services. The funds cannot be used for different purposes or projects.
In an unrelated matter at the Aug. 24 council meeting, Price officials granted a request from Coastal Energy to lease city property for gas extraction.
Coastal Energy requested a lease of property owned by the city of Price in the Miller Creek area for the gas extraction. This parcel of land already has an existing well on it that Price city was going to abandon and spend around $20,000 to plug for liability reasons.
The city attorney, Nick Sampinos, is currently working with Coastal Energy to work out the terms of the lease of the land.
Coastal Energy has also expressed interest in leasing other parcels of land for mineral extraction. These areas were being leased by Conoco Phillips, who hasn’t expressed any interest in renewing their lease with the city.
Sampinos advised the members of the council that proceeding with the lease of the additional land, as well as the parcel on Miller Creek, would be beneficial for the city.
He also advised Price officials to contact Conoco Phillips to see if the company would be interested in renewing the lease for the land with the city.
Sampinos indicated that Conoco Phillips renewing the agreement would be more beneficial to the city than Coastal Energy leasing the land. The situation is due to Conoco Phillips giving more compensation for land being used for mineral and gas extraction.
“We were going to abandon and spend $20,000 to plug,” said Price Mayor Joe Piccolo. “We’ve reversed a liability into some what of an asset.”
The motion to allow the lease of the land in the Miller Creek area for gas extraction was passed unanimously by the Price City Council.