Garden City Public Works

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah. September 10, 2015. Riley Argyle, Public Works Administrator, reported on the work currently being done in the City.  Personnel from the State Water Division came to do their sanitary survey on September 10, 2015.  They do a survey every three years to make sure all cities in the state are meeting state standards.  They checked everything at the water treatment plant, and checked all the storage tanks.  They were unable to find any violations—the City had a perfect bill of health.  Argyle indicated that they were pleased and said the City was at the top of the list in Utah.

Glenn Gillis, one of the City’s employees, has enrolled into a three month commercial building inspector school.  He will need some time to take his classes and do his homework in the next few weeks.  He, hopefully, will pass the exam, and is willing to continue working for the city as well as being the commercial building inspector for the city.  An inspector from Logan was going to come over to help the City with commercial buildings.  However, he contacted the City a couple of weeks ago, indicating that there are several more major projects coming into Cache Valley, and he would be unable to spend any time on this side of the hill.  Garden City, too, is growing and needs the expertise of a commercial building inspector, getting someone trained seemed to be the best answer.

The City needs additional help and have been looking for someone with backhoe skills.  There have been seven applicants.  Argyle indicated that the applicants most skilled will be given an opportunity to show their experience using a backhoe.  A decision will then be made as to which individual will be hired.  The decision should be made by the middle of next week.

Argyle indicated that he is getting the City ready for winter.  All the American flags have been taken down from the light poles, and as many of the speed bumps that could be manually lifted out have been put away.  Some equipment help will be needed to pull some of the speed bumps up.  The parking outlined areas on the beach have been cleared away.  The public bathrooms will be winterized in just a week or two.  There are four more culverts that need to put in along 300 West. 

The workers made a 6 foot cement sidewalk down to the dock at the fish pond.  They attached it to the dock, and it has been a really good addition there.

Sidewalks are becoming a bigger project all the time and work needs to be started on them. There are several areas in the city with problems.  Some areas need to be torn out and replaced.  If the city does the work, it will be much less costly than getting bids for that job.  The bike path by Blue Water was becoming pretty rough because of some tree roots.  The workers dug under the trees and cut and removed the roots close to the path.  The trees may die, but the bike path is in good shape in that area again. The road was patched at 350 South. 

The lease on the skid steer will be up this fall.  A newer one will cost about $5,000.  Riley asked that they get one that has tracks which will be an additional $500.  It will be much more helpful on clearing the beach.  The swath size on one with tracks is about 68”.  Much more cutting will be accomplished on the beach with that size as well as being able to move into some of the wetter beach areas.  An order also needs to be placed this fall for a John Deere backhoe. 

The treatment plant is on line.  However, there is a need to repair the chlorine unit.  It has been on line for four years and has some problems.  Argyle felt it shouldn’t been too expensive to get it back up to par.

Argyle has just returned from a water meeting.  He noted that there is a new company that charges individuals $1, or $2 a month.  If the individual has an overage on water usage, the company pays the overage.  They also make it possible at $4 a month to pay to fix a water line with leaks or have problems from where the City’s responsibility ends up to the house with a ceiling of $10,000.  This company has been favorably received in several communities.  Riley indicated he would contact the company and have them come and talk to the City about their services and coverage.