This is an old news article. The events in this article are from December 2022.
The Garfield Commission met Monday in Panguitch. They honored the retired sheriff, discussed new prescribed burning, gave funding to the Children’s Justice Center, and held a public hearing concerning the 2023 budget.
Special Presentation Honoring Sheriff Perkins
The commissioners started by holding a special presentation to honor the retired Sheriff Danny Perkins.
Many of the commissioners expressed great respect for the sheriff and commended him for his help with public lands issues. “He seemed to always find a way to take care of the things that we needed,” they agreed.
Danny Perkins responded to say, “I’m not dyin.” But that said, he hoped they’d keep track of his office and the people there after he left.
Prescribed Burning in Dixie National Forest
Next the commissioners asked the public works for information on new prescribed burning in Dixie National Forest.
The Forest Service would be increasing burns from 13,000 acres to 50,000 acres per year.
The goal of the public works department was to ensure the Forest Service coordinates with them when they do burns. Burning would overall be a very good thing as long as it didn’t impact grazers’ ability to use the land or tourists’ ability to see or breathe in Bryce Canyon. They would also make sure valuable timber wasn’t being burned, Dave Dodds said.
“This is a region-wide approach to reintroducing fire,” Chris added. The Forest Service did a study on how often fire came through without human intervention, and this district, which hadn’t seen fire in 100 years, would naturally be burning every 5-25 years.
So “we’re not trying to eliminate it all,” he said. “We’re looking at it as a tool” to support habitat and stop uncontrolled fires from happening.
Updates on the Children’s Justice Center in Panguitch
Theresa Wood also presented updates on the Children’s Justice Center, which began in 2019 and services both Garfield and Beaver counties.
The purpose of the Justice Center is to provide a place for children to report abuse in an environment where they will be respected, helped and supported. Some of the services provided include screening for suicide risk, educating parents and children, paying for therapy and connecting families to resources.
The Garfield County Children’s Justice Center helped with 23 cases in 2021. Theresa pointed out that while this is a lower number than those of Cedar City, “children in Rural counties deserve every equity that the ones in bigger counties are afforded,” she said.
Starting in June of 2023, Garfield County would be cut off from Cedar City’s Children’s Justice Center. Theresa, who would be the new director, came to the commissioners asking for possible funding in the future, in addition to State and VOCA funds.
The Garfield commission decided to commit up to $10,000 in 2023 and possible ongoing funding.
Public Hearing on 2023 Budget
They also discussed the 2022 and 2023 budget in public hearings. The Garfield commission felt that the county was in really good shape. And they said we “could weather several bad years if we had to” money-wise.
There were no public comments, and the commissioners voted to adopt the 2022 budget and approve the 2023 one.
The public is always welcome to comment throughout the year. The budget can be found at the link above.
– The Byway
Read about Garfield’s February 27 commission meeting here.