Happy New Year From The Rich Civic Times

Cisco Sonar

By Bryce Nielson, Cisco Kid

This is from a 2013 column with memories of the late Ivar Aker.

I am just going to ramble a bit this week.  Things have quieted down at the Bear Lake State Marina.  I helped pull a sailboat out this weekend that was frozen in the ice.  Time had just gotten past the sailor and with the water depth only 3 ½ feet and cold weather, the circulators that Parks and Recreation installed could not keep up.  Luckily some die-hard whitefish anglers had broken a trail out to the lake the day before so the ice was not as bad as it could have been.  There is still one sailboat in the slips that will stay there the winter with a “bubbler” by it to keep the water open. 

Ivar Aker, who is the resident, Norwegian/sailor/boat builder/record keeper of the lake elevations on the pilings and I were talking about boats freezing into the water.  There is a misconception that if a boat freezes in the water that the ice will crush the hull.  Actually, if the ice does not move, it expands outward and will do no damage.  Think about aluminum cans frozen in the ice left by some thoughtless litterer.  If they are in the water, they survive to thaw, untouched, without a dent.  Ivar agrees with me but is not about to let his sailboat, “Norseman”, freeze in to test the theory. 

 The Bonneville whitefish started spawning right on queue last week. Any place there was rock in the water, they were present.  Fishing has been good from both boat and shore off the Marina and Cisco Beach.  Fishermen have started catching more Bear Lake cutthroat trout recently and they follow the whitefish and Bonneville Cisco into the shallower water.  Fishing for trout should only get better as December progresses on.  Just be careful if you are in a boat.   At this time of year if you go over board you have 15 minutes to hypothermia and death.  That old life jacket stuffed under the front seat that you never wear may give you just enough time to be saved but if no one is around at least we will be able to recover your body for the family.

The “low water” ramp off the south end of Cisco Beach was extended last week.  Money from Wildlife Resources Access Fund was used to buy the concrete.  Ken Hansen and Brad Weston of Bear Lake Sails to formed a 16’ x 20’ x 6” slab on top of the existing ramp and Ray Lutz and the Rich County Road crew pushed it in with a Cat.  Hopefully, the ramp will not have to go any farther. 

I have been asked why this ramp does not have concrete up to the road.  In order to get a Corps of Engineers permit to construct it on this critical spawning habitat, it had to be designed so that it was exposed only during extremely low water periods when other ramps were out of the water.  At normal lake elevation, it will be completely covered and the wave action will move substrate back onto the concrete reestablishing the habitat.  The ramps at First Point and Rainbow Cove can be used most of the time.

There is still some water coming into the lake and the elevation is at 5903.5, up about five inches from the low in October.  If you are interested in checking the elevation anytime go to www.bearlakewatch.com.  There is a lot of other great information about Bear Lake there also.

Historic Cabin

David Doty, Laketown, Utah

Garden City Council Meeting

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  December 14, 2017.  Richard and Stacie Layton requested a business license to open a carwash business called Garden City Carwash.  It is located at 150 N 300 W.  The request was granted.  They also asked for a business license for the storage sheds which are located next to the carwash.  The license was granted with the stipulations that no outside storage would be included ,because the zone close to Third West is C1 which doesn’t allow storage facilities of any kind.

Allen and Sherry Taylor requested two lots be encumbered.  One lot is lot 4 in the Bear Lake Meadows Subdivision, and Lot 9 is located in Triangle Estates Subdivision.  The two lots are adjacent to each other.  Some conditions must be met in order for this encumbrance to be accepted.  There are some storage pods on the property.  These pods must be moved to the center of the lot and closer to the home.  A cement pad needs to be poured where the pods will be placed.  A building needs to be built around the two pods with a slope roof.  The building must meet the building code.  This request must be completed by August, 2018.

Resolution #R17-03 is a resolution to update water rates for anything larger than a ¾” meter.  The Commission passed the resolution.

The Commission discussed ordinance #17-17 that is adding storage sheds as a conditional use permit in the C-3 Zone.  They also talked about Ordinance #17-18 which changes the term “accessory building” to “accessory structure.”  Both of these items will be put on the agenda for January when the Commission can act on these two ordinances.

Carl Stock appeared before the Commission asking that the Lake Meadow Lodge gate be left as is.  He noted that he would like to buy the City property in that area so that things can remain the way it has been over the past several years.  However, the City noted that there needs to be some kind of turnaround or area where cars can turn around if they go too far east.  Also, the amount of traffic will increase tremendously when Water’s Edge continues building in the area to the south of this road.  Mayor Spuhler suggested that the new Mayor take the next two months to look at this situation and then make a decision concerning this item.

The City Council Members made the following appointments:  Lindsey Thompson to the Planning Commission, Dan Kurek to the Appeals Authority Board, Travis Hobbs will become the Administrative Judge, and Ronda Menlove to the Library Board.

The Financial Report for the fiscal year of July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 was represented to the Council by Gary Tuescher, CPA.  He stated that in his opinion, the financial statements referred in the report are presently fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities the business-type activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the Town of Garden City as of June 3- 2917, and the respective changes in financial position, and, were applicable, cash flows for the year then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

One item of particular interest was the revenues received by the City.   For the Town as a whole, total revenues increased by $256,950 compared to the previous year, while total expenses increased by $260,893. 

Governmental activities revenues of $1,491,399 is an increase of $133,151 from the previous year.  Governmental activities expenses of $1,120,761 is an increase of $242,062 from the previous year.  While general government and highways and improvements expenses increased, public safety and parks and recreation expenses decreased.

Business-type activities revenue of $1,289,069 is an increase of $123,799 from the previous year.  Business-type activities expenses of $804,681 is an increase of $18,830 from the previous year.

Tuescher noted that the Financial Highlights are as follows:

            Total net position for the Town as a whole increased by $855,025

            Total unrestricted net position for the Town as a whole increased by $280,732

            Total net position for governmental activities increased by $364,316

            Total net position for business-type activities increased by $490,708

Commercial Building Inspector Report

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah. December 14, 2017. Glen Gillies, Commercial Building Inspector and Ordinance Officer, reported that he has given out a couple of citations.  One individual will pay.  The other citation requires some changes, but the individual will have to take care of this and will eventually have to pay.

A trailer on 200 North west of Bear Lake Blvd. has been condemned.  It is past the point of appalling. The owner has been given 60 business days to get the item removed and out of the City.   The trailer is full of mold and it has been over nine plus years since anyone had lived there.  The water was turned off that long ago.  If the owner doesn’t get the trailer moved, the City will do the job, and the owner will have to pay the costs.  The deadline is January 25 when it must be gone.  Gillies said he would call and remind the individual before the deadline.

Gillies is currently working on five different commercial buildings that are in the process of being built.  There is a lot of growth taking place in the City this fall and winter. 

The City pool has had a lot of improvements in the last week, but more needs to be done to get the pool is good condition.

Winter Fishin'

Photo by Jim Stone, Garden City

Garden City Public Works

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  December 14, 2017.  Riley Argyle, Supervisor of the Public Works Department, noted that the Garden City Fire Department is going to add onto the current building this coming spring.  There are four trees on the west side of the building that are going to have to be taken down.  Riley suggested that the City get the four trees and plant them at Heritage Park.  It would cost of City about $3,500 to dig the trees and move them to the park, they are about 15’-20’ high and would add to the park.  The City is going to have to get even more trees for the park, and the moving expense are all that these four will cost the City.

The water treatment plant has a problem with the flow switch.  It keeps blowing out.  Argyle contacted IFM in New Jersey for help with the problem and got a new switch.  There were still issues three days after it was installed, and it also blew up.  Argyle found the individual who put the flow switch in originally.  His name is Patrick Hayes, and he lives in Boise.  Argyle has called and left message with him hoping that he will be able to help out.  Argyle suggested that in the future, items purchased need to have local service available so that when problems like this occur, help can be obtained.

There was another problem at the Water Treatment Plant.  There is an automatic arm that moves across a screen to clear it.  The arm slipped and went too far.  Argyle ordered the parts that limits the switch brake so that the arm doesn’t go beyond the area it covers.  He was able to put

the parts in place so that it is now working properly.  The parts cost $4,500.

The Public Works Department has been working on the dump truck that has a snow plow mounted on the front.  They are trying to fix it so that the sand won’t shift when they are plowing snow.

Argyle reported that Chuck Stocking was able to pull all of the GIS information from the old computer to a new one after the old one died.  Everyone thought the information would be lost when that computer went down which would have caused hours of work redoing all required GIS information.  Argyle is always adding new GIS information so that updating is happening all of the time.  He will print the information and put it in a book and make sure the information is on file in case something happens to the new computer.  

Some employees have been working on the lake access south of Legacy.  That access is about 75 percent complete.  These employees have been pulled off the project because it gets dark so early.  The City will try and hire someone to complete this project.  A bid needs to be put out to hire someone to finish up the fencing and retaining wall on this access.  Three individuals had been hired, but they didn’t get the work done.  It needs to be finished.

All of the accesses that go to the lake that have been turned back to the subdivision need to be recorded.  The MOU that was made put this responsibility onto the City.  But so far, the City hasn’t taken care of this matter.  It should be done soon.

An air compressor at one of the water pumping areas quit.  The parts needed were ordered and have arrived.  Argyle will get it fixed as soon as possible.

The pellet stove at the water treatment plant needed to be replaced.  A new one was purchased and installed.  It is running well now.

The heater in the building at the bottom of Elk’s Ridge broke.  It will need to be replaced.  There are some options on this item.  There are a lot of high tech items that have been built into these types of heaters that make them very efficient.  This is the direction the City should go as they purchased the new heater.

The parking area at Heritage Park is fixed.  There was a moisture problem that has been resolved.

Garden City Engineer Report

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  December 14, 2017.  Zan Murray, City Engineer, noted that the Stone property acquisition has been completed.   The City was planning on building a barbed wire fence along the area.  They have requested that it be a plastic fence with three rails so that it will match the others fences in Buttercup.  The distance is about 475 feet which will be extremely expensive.  The original agreement had a fixed price.  The Council agreed that this would take a lot of money.  The fence will be the biggest item.  There will also be a culvert under the main road and perhaps another going into their property.   The time line is getting short—could be into March.  

The property acquisition plan is ready for review.  The City has 60 days after acquisition.  This needs to be done as quickly as possible.

The water project is moving forward.  Another request has been made to the USDA for another funding grant. 

A contract for engineering for the 300 West alignment needs to be done.  The road will continue across Shundahi and Hansen’s property.  Some of the roads are pretty steep and may need some changes.  The road will drop down into Hodges Canyon.  This area is also pretty steep.  There is a large gully on the north side of Hansen’s property.  More information will be gathered by next month concerning this road.

The USDA funding needs interim financing by the City.  The City doesn’t know for sure where to get this money.  Murray indicated that the City needs to look at short term loans and their interest rates.  They shouldn’t go over 2% - 3% interest rates.  It was noted that Zions Bank has some really good interim funding on bridging funds.  Murray encouraged the City to check and get some options so that they will have a choice of what would be the best for Garden City.

Elk’s Ridge is done.  All the easements are done except one, which will be completed soon.  This subdivision is finally wrapped up.  The Contract Agreement for the water project specifically is being checked for wording to make sure everything meshes with the funding terms.