City Council: New Businesses In Town & Conferences

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  April 11, 2013.  Mitch Poulsen, Bear Lake Regional Council Director, appeared before the Council.  He noted that the Bear Lake Annual Conference on lake bed management has been scheduled for Saturday, May 18, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon.  He has planned for a mid morning snack and a light lunch at the end of the meeting.  He asked if Garden City would be willing to pay $500 toward the food.  He noted that Rich County had given $500 as well.  The conference only includes people on the Utah side of the lake. There will be speakers to talk about boat launching and areas where launching is allowed, new state laws that have been passed, quagga mussels, and so forth. The Council committed to giving the requested money for this conference. 

Bear Claws is a new business requesting a license.  If they get a building permit for some remodeling, they come under the current building requirements and would need to provide the required parking which they don’t have.  Currently, they are under the old requirements and would qualify. 

Subway has requested a meeting with the Variance Board because at present they do not have the needed parking for this business. 

Curtis Moldenhauer appeared before the Council to let them know that the KOA franchise has determined that some camp grounds are nice enough to qualify and be given the name Resort.  The KOA here in Garden City fits into that category, and Mr. Moldenhauer will add that name to his business.  Mr. Moldenhauer will be moving the food concessions, the shaved ice, and the pancake breakfast area to the same location by the jumping pillow.  The Council thanked him for coming in and letting them know of the changes that are occurring at his business. 

A home owned by Mr. Lloyd Berentzen at 917 Harbor Village Dr. #4 has requested a short term rental license.  It was approved upon passing the fire inspection requirement.  Jim Christensen has a home at 215 Persimmon Drive.  A short term rental license will be granted upon completion of the inspection by the fire chief.  Bruce Wilden ownes a home at 1850 South Bear Lake Blvd.  It is managed by Bear Lake Project Management Company.  He, too, can qualify for a short term rental license upon completion of the fire inspection requirement. 

The Council approved the changes made to the transient merchant license that was discussed in the Public Hearing held just prior to this meeting.  The Council also passed a resolution establishing the authorization of and procedures for electronic meetings to conduct the business and affairs of the Garden City Town Council, Boards, Commissions, and Committees of Garden City, Utah. 

A discussion was held regarding establishing a winter snowmobile trail head at the parking lot of the Bear Lake Dance Place.  The Council determined that the Foothill Estates Homeowners Association as well as the homeowners in that area needs to be contracted to let them know of these plans. 

Council member Bess Huefner noted that she had seen some signs advertising the Bear Lake Mammoth Marathon scheduled for June 7 and 8 as well as July 27 to be held here in Garden City.  She noted that she had been unaware of this activity and asked if the City had given out a permit or given permission for this activity to take place.  The Mayor asked that Brian House contact the County to see if they were aware of this activity and report his findings back to the City.   Mrs. Huefner also reported that Raspberry Days was going well.  She requested that the City purchased a tent that could be used at that time as well as rented out or used at other activities.  The Mayor asked her to get some costs for this item before a decision could be made. 

Council member Pat Argyle reported that the library is doing great.  She informed the Council that the pool has hired a certified body guard who also has credentials to teach swimming.  Three more individuals took the swimming test and passed.  If they stay with the City through the summer, they can be reimbursed for the testing costs. 

Council member Brian House noted that on April 30 UDOT will be in the vicinity. On May 15 the County and Forest Service will be holding a meeting here at the City Center.  A grant to improve some trails has been submitted.  The results of the grant will be known in October. 

Darrin Pugmire, Council member, reported that he was over business licensing and parking.  He noted that some adjustments need to be made concerning parking for businesses.  There are too many requested for some businesses and not enough for others.  Some changes need to be made.  He also noted that a building had been built behind the Texaco without a building permit.  Some steps need to be taken about that matter.  Some decisions also need to be made about overnight parking and oversize parking. 

Mayor Spuhler reported that there have been some legislation changes in working with sovereign lands and beach access issues.  There is to be no launching of boats on the west side of the lake from Garden City to Rendezvous Beach.  All boats need to be licensed and certified quaggy mussel free.  The Mayor noted that it might be a good idea to have boat owners buy a Beach pass that includes a quaggy mussel permit.  That would be a possibility to make sure boats being launched are clean.

 

 

Fire Chief's Compensation Discussed...Again

Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

 

GARDEN CITY, Utah. April 15, 2013.  The Garden City Fire Board Workshop was held to discuss two items.  One item was dealing with compensatory time incurred by the fire chief.  The other item pertained to the short term rental inspections currently being taken care of by the Fire Chief. 

Short term rental inspections have been taken care of in the past by the Garden City Fire Chief.  He has a list of items that he checks to make sure each rental home is safe.  Some items on the list apparently came from the commercial code and some from the residential code.  The Board felt there should be some consistency in what items were checked so that individuals would know what would be checked and why it was on the list.  During the discussion, it noted that the items on the Fire Chief’s list are all included in the International Residential Code. 

Chief  Dan Kurek had made numerous calls to various fire departments throughout the State of Utah.  He had determined that the list he had been using was almost identical to what other cities and departments were using.   

Mayor Spuhler was in attendance at the meeting.  He felt that perhaps the Fire Chief along with the Fire Board Chairman, the Building Inspector, and himself could get together in a day or two and come up with a form that would please everyone.  If they could get it done prior to Thursday; then the Fire Board would be able to vote on it at their meeting to either accept or reject the suggested form.  A time and place was determined for such a meeting. 

The Fire Department felt that a fee needed to be assessed to cover the time spent by the Fire Chief in doing these inspections.  It was decided that the City would collect the fees and transfer them to the Fire Department when they determined the amount of time the Chief spent on each of the inspections and could come up with a fair money amount.  This determination will be made at a regular board meeting. 

It was noted that the Fire Chief doing the inspections had another positive aspect to it.  The Chief would become familiar with the layout of the home so that in the future if there were a fire, he would know where things were.  The Board also indicated that anything to do with fire should be the Fire Department’s responsibility.  Mayor Spuhler said he felt very strongly that the fire inspections are extremely important and should be done by the Fire Chief. 

The other issue of compensatory time was discussed.  Whenever the Fire Chief works more than 40 hours a week, he must report those hours.  Those hours are called compensatory time meaning that he will be paid for them, or he will need to take time off equal to the amount of hours that have been worked beyond the 40.  No one wants to pay for extra hours, so the Board has asked Chief Kurek to take time off when he has gone over the allowed 40.  Any compensatory hours that have not been used and that have accumulated at the end of a quarter of the year– a three month time period– will automatically be wiped away.  

 

Busy Month For Garden City Fire Department

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah. April 18, 2013.  The meeting was called to order by Chairman Terry Allen.  Randall Knight was the only other board member present.  Three boy scouts were in the audience.  They are working on their communication merit badge. 

The fire inspection form that was created for the inspection of short terms rentals was looked at and discussed.  It does follow the International Residential Code and appears to cover everything that the City as well as the Fire District felt to be important. 

The minutes from last month’s meeting had been read as well as the minutes from the Monday night workshop were looked over. 

Some monies from the UFRA Grant have not been used yet.  Chief Kurek went through an accounting of where the money was spent.  There is approximately$1,168 left in that account.  Chief Kurek would like to purchase a 165 pound training dummy to assist in the training exercises that take place.  He noted that the dummy costs a bit more than that and would like the Fire District to pay the additional couple of hundred dollars that it would cost. 

Mr. Allen then called Travis Hobbs on the telephone to give the Board a majority.  He requested a motion to accept the minutes from the past two meetings as corrected.  They passed.  The second motion was made to accept the new inspection notice form and allow the Fire Chief to again take care of the fire inspections at the short term rentals.  This motion passed.  The third item was to purchase a 165 pound training dummy using UFRA and Garden City Fire District Funds.  This motion passed. 

The problem dealing with compensatory time was resolved on Monday night at the work meeting.  It was noted that the Policies and Procedures are being followed because some discretion is allowed the Board when such issues arise. 

Joe and Chuck Stocking will be doing the Fire Department’s web site.  They will get on this as soon as they can.  It will, however, be a while before they can get to that job. 

Chief Kurek was able to get a copy of the employment contract.  He signed it, and had Chairman Allen sign it for the District files. 

The Fire Fighter I class has been completed.  Four individuals did not pass the final test.  They will retake  it soon. 

The Hazmat Awareness class is finished and the Hazmat Operations class will start this next week. 

The 2013 UFRA Grant has been submitted.  Chief Kurek requested 4 pairs of turnouts needed for new fire fighters.  The cost for these is about $8,000.  The balance will be spend on wildfire gear.  The total grant request was $14,900. 

Brush 40 needs some new pump equipment. Larsen Pump in Logan will be doing the work for $4,200. 

The siren was not working on one of the trucks.  The connections had pulled loose.  They were reattached, and it is now working fine.  Brush 44 has a blown hose.  Chief Kurek brought a 200 length of 3/4" high pressure hose and will soon have it fixed. 

The boat will be brought down from the hill, and work will begin on it during May.  They will need to replace the decking and make a few other repairs. 

Responses for the month were: 3 fire alarms, 3 business inspections, 6 burn permits, and 4 medical assists.

The short term rental fee will be decided at the next meet when all members are present. 

Miller’s Auto Body Shop gave a bid of $2,000 to fix a dent in the back bumper, repair a fender, and remove two little dents on the driver side.  A bid will be requested from Steve Hislip to see if he can do it a bit cheaper. 

Chief Kurek asked if asphalt could be obtained to fix the area in front of the Fire Station.  Chairman Allen suggested that it be postponed until later in the year in case there are some unexpected expenses that might occur during the summer.  He told Kurek to go ahead and get some bids on that project but to hold off until later in the budget year.

Rich School Board Meeting

Anita Weston,  Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

RANDOLPH, Utah.  April 16, 2013. Letters of congratulations were sent to all students who placed in state competitions.  The students are as follows:

            Girls’ Basketball All State First Team was Alisa Petersen. 

            Girls’ Basketball Academic All State First Team was Lynzee Wallentine. 

            Boys’ Basketball Academic All State First Team was Austin Groll. 

            Wrestling State Champions were Dyson Barker and Kade Earley. 

            Drill Team Academic All State First Team was Erin Ostler. 

Graduation is scheduled for May 24 at 7:00 p.m.  Chairman Pete Cornia will accept the graduates.  Board members Burdette Weston and Tammy Calder will pass out the diplomas.  The other board members will shake hands with the graduates. 

The Board already has a policy concerning hazing, harassing, and bullying.  It also contains a section on sexual harassment.  This policy covers everything that was needed by the State after Superintendent Dale Lamborn added cyber bullying to it.   The definitions in it were good; the necessity of reporting certain cases to law enforcement was present.  It didn’t appear as though anything else would be needed to be in compliance.  The Board approved the addition to this policy. 

A retirement letter has been received from Bob Johnson, an activity bus driver.  An individual has been substituting this past year and has done a good job.  Superintendent Lamborn asked if the Board would approve the job being offered to this individual.  Permission was granted. 

Thirty hours or more on a job qualifies a person for insurance.  This is a federal law.  The first year a person is on the job is called the measurement period.  No insurance is given.  However, the second year a person will qualify for insurance.  The measurement period starts over the second year and the cycle is in place.  Thus, the first year the activity bus driver works, he will not have insurance. 

Food service prices are going to have to be raised this coming school year.  The suggested price raise will be five cents more for breakfast and lunch.  This will pull the prices paid in the Rich County School District more in line with state and federal prices. 

Principal Motta requested that the middle school athletic director be placed on the extra duty schedule C.  Schedule C is the lowest schedule, but the athletic director has been with them long enough that he should be put on at the fifth step.  The athletic director is currently the President of the SW District and does a tremendous job at scheduling officials, games, and transportation.    The Board approved this request. 

School evaluations are becoming more important all the time.  The State is requiring schools to either come up with their own plan or adopt the State plan.  Superintendent Lamborn noted that the plan must be presented to the State by May 17.  The State will give all of the final updates to their plan on April 26.  Superintendent Lamborn recommended that the school district accept the state evaluation plan.  Minor tweaks can be made to the plan to make it more workable in the district.  Board approval was given to accept the State plan. 

The snow day will be made up on May 10. 

Several Legislative actions do affect what is being done.  All open meetings must have an audio part of the meeting posted on the website within three days of the meeting.  This goes into effect May 1. 

Another bill deals with procurement.  The bill itself is 188 pages long and needs clarification.  The District is planning on bringing an expert in to explain and train employees on the changes that have been made.  There are several penalties that go along with the bill, so it is a rather serious matter. 

Classified employees will not be paid retirement benefits if they work 20 hours or less.  In the past, it was 30 hours, so this is quite a change.  New hires can work up to 40 hours a week and not be paid the retirement benefit.  If and as soon as any other benefits are granted to that employee, then retirement must also be an added benefit.  It was recommended that employees be kept under 30 hours to avoid any real problems. 

It was suggested that Superintendent Lamborn meet with the classified employees and see if any of them would like to work more hours.   

The schools within our athletic area are still working on who should belong and where the games should be played.  Hopefully, they will be able to resolve this item soon. 

Bridgerland was given good support by the legislature this year.  They have approved their fees which is the same this next year as last year.  They were also given enough money to be able to add some new programs and give raises to their staff along with increased benefits. 

Career Days will be held there on May 1 and 2.  Two schools from Idaho and two from Wyoming will be attending along with 22 Utah schools.  They are planning on about 3,300 attending.  Middle school (7th, 8th, and 9th) grades are invited.  The high school age students don’t seem to be as interested, and so Bridgerland has not included them this year.   

The wellness challenge is being held again this year.  They are just doing the EMI portion.  So far 46 people are involved.   There will be a barbeque on Tuesday, May 21, at the park.  There will be a family fun run at 4:30 which is part of the challenge.  Wellness money will be used for the meat at the picnic.  The rest will be pot luck.  EMI rates will be higher next year but are still lower than other districts.

Health insurance for the entire District is going to be increasing again next year by approximately $152,000.  Employees will be asked to pay at least $4 more next year to help out with this expense. 

Long term substitutes are individuals who teach for more than two weeks at a time.  A long term substitute then qualifies for the bottom end of the salary schedule.  This should be looked into and a discussion and perhaps action taken at the next meeting. 

Bear River Health has asked for about 15 minutes at the next board meet to present some information to the Board.  This item should also be placed on the May agenda. The Trust Land video must be shown yearly.  This will also be placed on the May agenda.  Budget items need to be put on the May agenda as well. 

The next Board meeting will be held May 15.  The June Board meeting will be June 18.

 

Trustland Funds for Rich Schools

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

RANDOLPH, Utah.  April 15, 2013. Trustlands money is given to all schools in the state.  Kip Motta, principle of the Rich Elementary and Middle School, outlined to the School Board the plans that had been made to make use of the monies coming to his school.  

The main goal is to have all students reading and writing at grade level or above.   The purchase of general supplies and the software for RCBM reading in the Jr. High as well as AR programs for the elementary will be made.   

The second goal is to improve math scores.   Monies will be spent on professional development, classroom materials for math, and Ames Webb computer software. 

The third goal is to increase the use of technology in the schools.  Purchases of notebook computers will be made.  There had been a carryover from last year that will be lumped in with this purchase to make getting larger numbers possible.  

The fourth goal is to get greater exposure to the fine arts.  An artist in residence program will be started along with bringing in special assemblies. 

Two thousand dollars will be spent in a literacy outreach program.  Parents will be shown the best way to help increase their child’s reading ability.  Also, parents will be taught how to get their children ready for kindergarten. 

Rick Larsen, principal of the high school, indicated that they had three goals.  The first goal is to increase reading ability.  Two thousand dollars will be spent on library materials for AR tests and updates.  The second goal is improve writing skills.  The writing lab will be open one night a week from after school until the last bus leaves.  Additional help will be present in the lab to assist students.  The third goal is to increase the use of technology.  This fall, all students will have their own computers. 

There are currently 40 laptop computers in the high school. These will go to the seniors.  They will have to have new batteries and some repair.  The school will purchase 30 Acers for the juniors.  Twenty Hewlet Packards will be purchased for the sophormores.  An additional 55 Acers will finish out the sophomore class and take care of the freshmen.  The machines will be assigned to the students, and they will have that machine throughout their high school career.  If the students take good care of them, they will have a nice machine to work with.  If they don’t take care of them, they may have problems getting everything accomplished that they need to.  That, however, will be their choice. 

Additional money will be spent on the networking management software along with assignment software that the students will need.  There will probably need to be a few more powerful computers available in a lab.

Superintendent Lamborn reported on South Rich Elementary plans.  Literacy is important so that $4,000 will be used to buy books for the library.  The elementary already has some ipads.  Additional ipads will be purchased along with software.  Mastery Connect software for testing will also be purchased.  Software that will allow the ipad to project images onto a screen will be bought. 

There are plans for professional development for the teachers along with AR testing and Star testing updates will be purchased so that students can test on any books that they read.

 

The Board approved the plans in all the schools for the spending to the Trustlands money.

 

Musings Of A Muddled Male

Olly Olly Oxen

Bob Stevens
The Muddled Male

         I read a story the other day regarding drone pilots.  As most everyone knows, a drone pilot is a person who sits in a soft chair in a room surrounded by computer screens and electronic gadgets, flying a small aircraft that has no one on board and is often cruising half a world away from where the pilot is sitting.  At first it was thought that individuals already trained as pilots were best suited to be drone pilots since they already knew how to fly a plane and knew how the aircraft would respond to various control commands. 

 

But a strange thing happened on the way to the war, so to speak.  While some experienced pilots do make good drone pilots, not all do.  Unlike a pilot sitting in the plane, a drone pilot has none of the feedback that comes from feeling the motion of the plane as it dips, and climbs, and turns.  Young people who had never piloted an actual aircraft, however, but who had grown up playing video games were easily trained as drone pilots because they were familiar with controlling action in the game using only the cues from digital streams and pictures on a computer monitor.

That got me to wondering what kind of a warrior I might have been had the armed forces paid attention to the games we played when I was young:

Workup ~this was a game that followed the rules of baseball but there was only one team on the field and one batter.  The batter would try to stay at bat as long as possible without being put out by the team on the field.  Once the batter was out, that player would go to right field and everyone on the team would move up one position and the catcher would become the batter.  The skill gained from playing this game was stamina and the ability to out-run the person trying to put you out.

Red Rover ~ this game had two teams, one on each side of the field.  Each team would stand in a line and hold hands very tightly.  Then one team would yell, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send your man over”  which would cause a player from the other team to run across the field and try to run between two opposing players and break their arms apart.  If successful then the player who ran would take one of the players who lost their grip back to the side from which the runner came.  If unsuccessful then the player who ran would have to join the team whose arms did not break apart.  The two teams would take turns in this manner until all the players were on one side of the field.  The skill gained from playing this game was the ability to hold hands and keep playing with bruised arms.

Crack the Whip ~ this game was played by everyone holding hands and then starting to run in a long line until the person on the end who was “it” stopped suddenly to force the line to start running around the person who was “it” standing as a pivot point.  The person on the other end of the line was forced to run faster and faster as the line spun around the pivot until the whip “cracked” and the person at the end was flung out into the gravel of the playground.  The skill gained from playing this game was the ability to keep playing with torn pants and skinned knees and hands.

Anti-Over ~ this game was played with two teams, one hidden on each side of a tall building.  The first team would throw the ball over the building after hollering, “Anti-Over.”  The team throwing the ball would try to throw it over the building in a way that would make it difficult for the other team to catch, because if they did then they would all sneak around both ends of the building with the one who caught the ball trying to “tag” as many of the throwing-team members as possible while the throwing-team tried to run around to the other side of the building without getting tagged.  Those tagged had to join the team that caught the ball.  The advantage of the catching team was that the throwing team didn’t know whether the ball was caught unless they heard, “Anti-Over” which meant that the ball had not been caught and was being thrown back, or until they saw the other team sneaking around the building to tag them.  Even then they did not know which way to run because they didn’t know who had caught the ball.  The skill gained from playing this game was deviousness and subterfuge.

Of course there were also the games of Kick the Can, Mother May I, and Run Sheep Run, all of which taught skills of stamina, sneakiness, and the ability to hide in place without being seen.  The games always went on into the night until someone hollered, “Olly, Olly, Oxen, come in free” and we all went home.

         After talking this over with Ann, my wife, and wondering why the military had never tried to recruit me she said, “I doubt that they would have used you since you always ran home crying when you lost.”

Open Water At Bear Lake
Photo by Bryce Nielson

Figure Skating Show April 27

The Cache Valley Figure Skating Club presents their annual spring show:

“Celebrate: An Occasion to Skate” on Friday April 26th and Saturday April 27th at 7:30 pm at the George S. Eccles Ice Center.

Come watch local skaters along with guest skater, Hina Ueno, skate to songs celebrating the special occasions throughout the year. Hina Ueno is an Orem-based twelve- year old US National skating competitor who often includes triple jumps in her programs. Show admission is $8.00 for reserved seats, $5.00 for general admission, and children under 3 are free. Tickets will be available beginning April 1st at the George S. Eccles Ice Center, 2825 North 200 East, North Logan 84341. For more information go to www.cvfscutah.org or call the EIC at 435-787-2288.

Ice Pile Up On Bear Lake
Photo by Richard A. Droesbeke

Lake Freeze/Thaw Data

Bear Lake State Biologist, Scott Tolentino, reports that data has been collected on the freeze over and thaw dates since 1923. Including 2013, that is 91 years of data.

- On average, Bear Lake has frozen over 70% of the time but only 56% of the time in the last 25 years.

- Longest period of no freeze: 3 years ('98, '99, '00)

- Earliest freeze over: 12/27/1985

- Latest freeze over: 3/12/1965

- Average date of freeze over: January 18 (It froze on January 18, 2013)

- Average date ice gone: April 10  (It officially opened up on April 9, 2013)

- Average number of days frozen = 74 (In 2013, we had 81 days of ice cover (about 7 more than the long term average), and yes, our day of freeze and day of thaw were pretty much average so some might assume we should have only had 73 days according to my numbers, but calculating it this way would be taking an "average of an average”), so 81 days of frozen lake is correct for 2013.)

- Earliest date ice gone: 2/8/1941

- Latest date ice gone: 5/14/1984

- Shortest amount of time frozen: 3 days (1941)