This is an old news article. The events in this article are from November 2022.
All three members of the Garfield Commission met Monday in Panguitch.
BLM Coordination Meeting
Commissioners attended multiple public meetings, including the BLM Coordination, Boulder Affordable Housing, Livestock Show Committee and Utah Association of Counties meetings.
The most extensively discussed was the BLM Coordination Meeting. The commissioners expressed their frustration with the BLM’s inability to articulate alternatives for action on the Grand Staircase National Monument.
Why Is It Important to Coordinate with BLM Staff?
For some background, the commission felt that Trump’s plan was starting to work very well for the monument before the new administration changed everything. Now the BLM has to adopt a new plan. Garfield Commission wanted to be involved in that planning process because the current alternatives the BLM had come up with were “very problematic, to say the least!”
In response the county demanded these coordination meetings. “The difference … is we set the agenda,” explained one commissioner.
Another public meeting is scheduled between December 12 and 16. All are encouraged to attend.
Other Meetings
The Livestock Show Committee meeting had three takeaways for the commissioners:
- Anybody can show an animal, but only people from Garfield or Piute counties can sell.
- The Livestock Show involves a number of kids! These include kids from the 4-H and FFA programs.
- We wish we could get people from Escalante, Boulder — places besides Panguitch and Bryce Valley — to participate.
At a different meeting, the Utah Association of Counties brought in the tourism director. Commissioner Taylor brought up a big problem with the tourism strategy today: there’s too much of a negative overcrowding message. He urged the tourism director to not let this overcrowding hurt Bryce Canyon, saying, “I think we can really do something about that … we’re wide open.”
Personal Numbers in the Paper
All commissioners were in favor of putting their personal numbers in the paper for public access.
These phone numbers are also on the Garfield County website. If there is no answer, please leave a voice message. Commissioners will answer anytime they can.
Public Works
Public works Business included snow plowing, some work on a Red Canyon trail, and a new prairie dog strategy.
The Utah prairie dog conservation strategy will be presented in Richfield Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Hopefully the prairie dogs will be delisted as endangered species and give us freedom to get them off private land.
Find more details on meeting times and agenda at the DWR’s website.
The Garfield commission also talked at length with John Morreale about improving a class D, slippery clay road on Merrill’s Ranch. Public works was happy to help Morreale with the project, but it was a low priority as the road serviced only Morreale’s property. Morreale had plans to donate the property to a nonprofit and asked only for “access to go to work.”
This opened up a discussion about updating the policy on maintenance of class D roads. In the end commissioners decided that it would be fair to allocate county resources to the project as long as it took “no more than three days,” under the qualification that this was a special case.
Rural County Career Fair
Gary Bennett presented his plan for the Rural County Career Fair at Ebenezer’s and asked that the Garfield Commission sponsor the fair. He explained the goal to show kids there is an option to come back, lamenting that “one of our best exports is our kids.”
Commissioners were happy to oblige and granted the fair $750 for lunches for the 165 or so anticipated attendees.
Zoning Ordinance Amendments
Kaden Figgins proposed a number of Zoning Ordinance Amendments. One big problem is that people are not using the county’s lots as intended. The amendments will 1) give people access to public lands without entering private property, and 2) hold tourists accountable for breaking dry camping rules.
Department Business
There was a brief discussion on cloud seeding in cooperation with Sevier County. All the commissioners felt comfortable with it, but they didn’t yet have information on how the process would play out, for example, how much it would cost.
Finally for public information, the commissioners explained that the budget is contingent on ratification and approval. “It’s not ready yet, but it will be finalized by the end of the year,” said Commissioner Pollock.
Listen to the full Garfield Commission recording at https://www.utah.gov/pmn/sitemap/notice/796243.html.
– The Byway
Read about older commission meetings here.