| Rep. Jim Matheson and Pam Juliano greet attendees at an open house Tuesday afternoon at the Carbon County courthouse. Matheson recently announced the opening of a congressional field office in Price and hired Juliano as a field representative. |
Rep. Jim Matheson recently announced on May 13 the opening of a congressional field office in Price and the hiring of Pam Juliano as a field representative for the office. Juliano started work on May 23 from an office located in the basement of the Carbon County courthouse.
Matheson and Juliano spent Tuesday, May 31, in Price. After meeting with the Downtown Alive committee and reading with kids at the Price City library, the congressional office staff hosted an open house at the county courthouse in the afternoon.
“This congressional office is all about service to Utahns. I am delighted that Pam – with her impressive community service track record – has signed on as a resource to people in the eastern half of the second District. She will be a great asset,” said Matheson.
Juliano, a resident of Carbon County for nearly 40 years, leaves a position as executive director for United Way of Southeastern Utah. The congressional office in Price will serve Carbon, Emery, Duchesne, Uintah, Daggett, Grand and San Juan counties. Matheson already has offices in Salt Lake City and St. George.
The office in Salt Lake City is the main office for field work. Seven individuals work to staff the Salt Lake City office, while the offices in St. George and Price are both operated by a one-person staff.
“There’s no substitute for a physical presence,” said Matheson. He pointed out that by having field representatives, he can better understand what issues affect communities, businesses and governments. He explained that most of the issues that he has addressed were brought to him by constituents.
In many cases, the offices have acted as a resource to direct citizens to other offices or resources.
One example in Carbon County is along Carbonville Road where county officials are planning construction. Union Pacific initially wanted the county to construct a fence along the length of the road as they made improvements. But with the congressman’s help, the office has helped to overcome that hurdle and construction on the road is scheduled to continue.
Other times, the lawmaker has been able to help individuals to deal with federal offices. Matheson related an incident with a man who hadn’t been receiving social security checks. The man was able to get thousands of dollars in back checks after Matheson stepped in to inquire what the problem was.
“We want to work with the local agenda,” added Matheson, explaining that the office will work with area governments, business interests and private individuals.
“We’ll be out in the field mostly,” said Juliano. She explained that the primary focus of the office will be outreach in area communities.
The Price office does not have a telephone line yet. Individuals who wish to contact Juliano should call the Salt Lake City office at (877) 677-9743 and staff will direct the call to Juliano.