Nominee Named To Fill Justice Court Vacancy

Randolph, Utah. The Rich County Nominating Commission has announced the appointment of the Honorable Judge Trevor Layne Cook to fill the Rich County Justice Court vacancy. The position will replace Judge Ross McKinnon, who will retire effective Jan. 1, 2017.

Judge Cook graduated from Utah State University with a B.S. in management and human resources and earned a law degree from Texas Southern University. After law school he worked as a law clerk for the First District Court of Utah. After his clerkship, Cook joined the law finn of Ericson & Shaw, LLP where he practiced civil law for eight years. In 2012, Judge Cook was appointed to the justice court bench where he serves Nibley City and Mendon City. He is cunently employed at Bear River Mental Health Services, Inc. as its corporate compliance officer.

Cisco Sonar

By Bryce Nielson,The Cisco Kid

By now, I suspect that many of you have seen the “haunting” picture, taken from the Space Station (NASA), of white sediments swirling in Bear Lake’s blue, water.  The description below the image said that the sediment probably came in from North Eden, Fish Haven and Swan creeks.

I have been fascinated by Bear Lake’s physical characteristics since 1967 when my USU limnology class came to take water samples.  At that time, Dr. Bill Helm, told us about currents in Bear lake and that were influenced by the earth’s rotation and the relationship of the moon, much like tides.  It sounded too far out for me to buy into at the time.  To further his arguments, he described how researchers would suspend glass tubes filled with liquid gelatin and suspend them at various depths and locations.  They would then retrieve them with the solidified gelatin inside and and

measure the degree variation for level to describe the effects of currents.  Unfortunately, none of that data was ever published and was lost with Bill’s death.  I learned a lot in that class about water densities in relation to temperature, thermal stratification, fall and spring overturns and a myriad of chemical compounds that are associated with water.  I finished college, went to work for Utah Fish and Game (now Wildlife Resources) and ended up at Bear Lake as a research fisheries biologist in 1974.  One thing that the old, classical, scientists taught me was instruments were fine but when it came to understanding the natural world around us, constant observation is the best tool you have.

Bear Lake currents have resided in a corner of my mind since then.  I would watch where boats and floats and other debris drifted to when they were lost on the lake.  Given enough time, most stuff ends up on North Eden.  Living up in Bridgerland, I would look down on the lake see the surface waters covered in different patterns and swirls.  I still had a nagging feeling that this was all a result of the wind.  I have spent a good majority of my life creel checking fishermen.  Lots of time it was on the ice.  Then as I saw things closer, I observed that ice fishermen’s lines didn’t always go straight down.  Many times it was difficult to keep a light lure on the bottom.  Along the east shore they were always drifting towards the north.  This evidence convinced me that currents were active under the ice, away from the winds influence.  I would be looking at Google Earth around Garden City and would notice current swirls off Gus Rich Point.  When I was exploring the “Rockpile” with an underwater camera, an area of gravel could be seen, that was clean of sediments, obviously swept off by currents.  It turns out to be an important spot for Bonneville cisco spawning.  “Weed Beds” which attract fishermen after cutthroat and whitefish, also catch millions of cisco eggs that are drifting in the water column away from spawning areas which provide food for other fish.  Even the elusive Bear Lake sculpin depends on lake currents to distribute their larval fish around the lake, away from the only spawning substrate on the east side.

When I saw sediment swirls from space, it all made sense to me.  What I was seeing was three current cells, rotating counter clockwise bringing up calcium carbonate, marl, from the lake.  Calcium carbonate particles are extremely small and take a long time to drift through the water column (why Bear Lake water is blue).  Cells in the shallow water were picking marl up off the bottom sediment. The sediment in the deep waters was probably coming up from the thermocline.  This time of year the lake is stratified which results in the thermocline concentrating marl in that layer of rapidly changing densities with depth.  If you remember, the moon was at its closest distance to the earth around that time, so one could surmise that the currents were especially well defined and active.  One thing for sure, is that they were not created by a sediment inflow from North Eden Creek which has extremely low flows during September.  With irrigation diversions on Swan and Fish Haven, not much water enters the lake and it is crystal clear.

Bear Lake is such a complicated but stable ecosystem.  It has been here for over 200,000 years and I suspect will be here after we are all gone.  I will never quit learning about Bear Lake, but some of her secrets may take a while to surface like they did in September 2016.

It's Very Cold But The Fish Are Great

Travis Hobbs shows off his trophy fish for the Pugstones's Winter Fish Derby

RMS Honors

December Student of the Month

Bella Seamons and Holt Argyle   -  6th grade

Josh England and Hattie Cornia - 7th grade

Haylie Nye and Chase Kurek - 8th grade

December Citizen of the Month

Hazer Hoffman and Jazlyn Chandler - 6th grade

Ryan Leifson and Kassidee Groll - 7th grade

Zoe Dean & Logan Muirbrook - 8th grade

Garden City Public Works Report

Anita Weston, reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah. December 8, 2016   Riley Argyle, Public Works Supervisor, reported that one of the snow plows had a hydraulic issue that has now been fixed and working well.  He feels he and his crew will be able to keep ahead of the snow.

There has been a water leak on 150 South that still needs some additional work.  There was a motor at the water treatment plant that had to be replaced.  The heater in the Elk’s Ridge pump house went out.  The workers were able to get it working again.

Fuel pumps have been ordered as well as fuel tanks.  The city can save 80 cents a gallon by taking advantage of the state rates that are allowed to public organizations.  The city will also have to make a space to place the tanks.  It will cost the city about $2,000 to get the tanks and pumps but  Argyle feels that will amount will soon be saved by using the lower price.  It was reported that $150 in fuel was used in just the last two days by the snow plows.

Glenn Gilles, the city’s commercial building inspector, reported that Water’s Edge has started to build.  The club house is the only building at the Legacy PUD that is commercial.  All of the rest of the buildings in that location will be inspected by George Peart, the building inspector for homes.  At Legacy, the footprints on each plot are built to the edge.  The set back requirement in most situations can be changed in a PUD.  CC&Rs need to be written by both of these new developments.

Zan Murray, city engineer, reported that the Elk’s Ridge easement items are moving forward.  Almost all of the signatures have been obtained.  It should be completed within the next week or two.

Murray had met with Rod Terry concerning 300 West.  The grant that was obtained was using federal funds.  However, the amount has been lowed by the state from 1.3 million dollars to one million.  Murray said he would check to see why the state had entered into this project.  With the change in the amount of money, the road can be completed, but the bike path that was to be included may have to be left for later on.

Plans and designs can be done and building can begin in October 2017.  There are several things that can be done this next year including environmental work, and the right of way by the pond.  Most of the road has a wide right-of-way.  However, when it gets near Buttercup is only 66 feet wide.  Also, there is a curve that needs to be broadened out to maintain a 35 MPH speed in that area by the pond. 

The paper work on the water rights from Shundahi has been completed.  The application with Swan Creek Village concerning water rights is still pending.

Robert Peterson, the City’s Ordinance Officer, reported that the TRT grant will probably be used to build the beach access lane south of Legacy.  It will cost about $100,000.  This means that it will be two or three years in order save enough of the TRT money to complete this project.  A fence will be built along with an asphalt pathway to the lakeshore.

There have been several incidents concerning signs that do not conform to the sign ordinance.  Bob has been working with several business owners to get them back in compliance with the ordinance.

There has been an issue of culinary water theft and Bob has had to give out a warning.  Hopefully this problem is resolved.

Computers for the water treatment plant have arrived along with the computers for the library. 

Bob noted that he is going to be working on the zoning ordinance making minor changes so that there will be greater clarity for this ordinance.

Bob has been meeting with the Utah Trust Insurance Company.  He has been impressed with this company.  They have been most helpful, have presented several excellent seminars, and want to look out for their members.  It is a good company.  He said having the city go with company has been a real plus.

Buttercup’s HOA is dissolving.  They are giving all of the green space in that HOA to the City.  A quick deed for the green space will be the document used to make the transfer.  A letter has been written by the City acknowledging this donation and making it known that they will accept this property.

Currently most of the advertising monies are spent on ads encouraging people to come to Bear Lake in the summer.  However, our town is completely filled in the summer.  The City would like to get the advertising monies to be used in encouraging people to come in the fall, winter, and spring times.  Since the city doesn’t get that much of the TRT money, it would be nice to be able to encourage those who do the advertising to quit spending the majority on summer encouragement.  It would be better used letting people know about Beaver Mountain Ski Resort, snowmobiling possibilities, ice fishing, snow shoeing, etc.

It was suggested that perhaps an economic development person could be hired.  The city is currently looking into using Quatrics which is a way to gather data concerning those who come to Garden City to vacation.  The better the data the city has, the better decisions they will be able to make to cater to the visitors here.

Garden City Council Member Reports

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  December 8, 2016.  Council member Chuck Stocking suggested that short term rentals, renewals of business licenses from date issued rather than the first of the year.  Bob Peterson said the software they use can do it.  The same should be done for other business licenses.  Kathy Hislop said it would be a nightmare if the office had to do it manually and they had to handle 300 licenses.  But the software sends an automatic e-mail when the license is due.  The issue will be put on the agenda next month.

Jennifer Huefner talked adding more trails to the general plan.  Mitch Poulsen, Bear Lake  Regional Commission, has been working on an extensive trail map and Huefner suggested that the city adopt that map as part of the general plan.   Pat Argyle said a lot of trails are in bad shape.  Huefner said it is important to have it on the general plan map to protect the trails.  The trails do need upgrades, and The Bear Lake Regional Commission would be logical to partner with as they can help with trail grants.

Darrin Pugmire met with Zan Murray, city engineer, who said that the money for third west could be available in October 2017.  Pugmire is trying to ascertain where the roads will be so that people know exactly where they will be on their land and be able to plan development around it. 

 

John Spuhler talked about local internet, he and the council concurred that there is inadequate internet service here.  The hot point for local All West Internet is in Randolph, so it doesn't service Garden City.  Centra Com’s internet is unreliable and slow.   Spuhler said he is looking to put 5 gig spectrum on Crawford Mountain which will add speed and some redundancy.   He said he would update the council as more information became available.

Rich High Drill Team Takes Second At Wasatch Invitational For 1A.

Garden City Council Notes

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  December 8, 2016.   The Garden City financial report for fiscal year July 1 2015 – June 30, 2016 will be voted on in a special meeting this week.

Tom Stevens has been reappointed to the planning commission, Jennifer Negus to the board of adjustments and Anita Weston to the Appeals Authority.

Garden City has discussed a partnership with Tourism, the County and the City to buy a Qualtrics package to conduct surveys of tourist’s needs and desires to focus on winter season.  The initial entry cost is $5,000 which could be shared between the three entities. They will investigate further to see if this is feasible as they believe knowing more about why people come to the county and their recreational needs will help in promoting more tourism.

Bear Cloud Software, LLC owned by John Spuhler, Bob Peterson and Kenny Jacobsen at 69 N Paradise Parkway was given a business license.

RDA Proposed

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  December 8, 2016.  The Garden City Council approved an interlocal agreement between Water’s Edge and the town of Garden City for tax increment participation in  the Water’s Edge Community.  This creates an RDA project boundary with Water’s Edge which is a mechanism to help the city develop an area and create incentives for business location.   The last one approved was nearly 20 years ago at Harbor Village.  It is now coming to the end of its term and the city is looking to create another economic development tool.

Instead of the tax dollars going to the schools, county and other entities it goes  to the RDA.  This year the city will receive $100,000 from the Harbor Village RDA.  About 20% of that money will be used for projects in the city and the other 80% will that goes to economic development projects within the RDA. Last year the 75 North parking lot was built using RDA money.

Because the tax dollars are suspended for a negotiated period of time up to 20 years, the school district must sign off on it so those property tax dollars come back to the RDA.

Good Stuff!

Savory Thai, Planters Medley, Everest, The Arrival
By John Brown, The Man

In this post: a new restaurant, a snack, and two movies.

I love finding little, non-chain restaurants with excellent, reasonably priced food. And I just found another one this week. It’s called Savory Thai, and it’s on 182 W Center Street in Orem, UT.

Oh, baby. If you decide to go, you are in for a treat. We ate there in celebration of my third daughter’s call to do missionary work in the middle and western Pennsylvania area (go Steelers, Amish, and “yous all”).

I learned to love Thai food because it’s so close to Indonesian food. And I learned to love that because I lived in the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands for five months and in Amersfoort, which is maybe an hour away, for seven. In Nijmegen, I lived in the attic of a row house with a series of missionary companions. In Amersfoort, I lived in a spare bedroom with another series of companions. Both homes were owned by Indonesian grandmothers who cooked one or two Indonesian meals a day for us. Think about that—home cooked Indonesian food every day. It was marvelous. When I came back to the States, Indonesian restaurants were few and far between, but to my delight I found that the Thai cuisine is very close, and so that became my stand in.

If you’ve never had Thai food, it’s kind of like Chinese, but it’s got curries, so it’s a little like Indian as well, but that doesn’t describe it either because it has its own separate taste that’s entirely wonderful.

This place is in a little strip of stores. It’s small enough that you could drive right past and never know it existed. But when you walk in, you’ll see that they know how to make a good first impression. It’s clean, smells good, and the host is friendly, but these guys go farther than that. You’ll notice, of all things, the menu cover. Instead of handing out some flimsy paper or laminated thing, they hand out these thick menus covered in what looks like some kind of leather. It gives a feel of permanence, of solidity, as if the restaurant has been there for years (it's two months old). But of course we weren't there for menus or friendly servers. We were there for the food. And we were not disappointed.

I can happily report that their green curry (spicy), pineapple curry, massaman curry (a lovely peanuty sauce), orange chicken, chicken cashew, fried rice, and pad Thai were all excellent. They use no MSG, cook it fresh, and keep it reasonably priced, $8-$10 per dish. I can promise you that we’ll be back.

If you’re in the area and want some great food, stop at Savory Thai.

*

I love almonds and have been for many years a big fan of the W♥nderful brand bags of roasted and salted almonds you can find in Sam’s Club. However, this last week, I came across something new from Planters called their Almond Lover’s Medley, which is a blend of four different varieties of almonds, dry roasted and unsalted. It includes the Marcona, Nonpareil, Fritz, and Butte-padres, which is the variety used in the W♥nderful bags. I can report that this mix from Planters is delicious. The differences in taste and texture between the varieties is subtle, but real. And I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them unsalted. If you love nuts, you’ll want to give this blend a try.

*

I did not want to watch a movie about climbing Mt. Everest. Everest? Were you kidding me? I couldn’t think of anything more boring, but this is what my daughters wanted, and it was Thanksgiving weekend, and so we watched Everest, the 2015 movie.

I am happy to report that it ended up being a great, disaster thriller, based on a true story, which was captured in the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. I cared about the characters, was on pins and needles during great portions, and exclaimed out loud during a number of tense parts. And after all that sweating, the story made me think about the things we do and how to prioritize when life is on the line.

If you like stories about survival, you’ll love this. If you don’t, I still think there’s a good shot you’ll really enjoy it.

*

My wife is a sport. We were in the big city to watch a movie with our youngest daughter who is in high school. Our daughter, with her teenage brain, had the wild idea of a double-feature. My original man brain thought that sounded capital—how long had it been since we’d squandered five or six hours watching movies! The wise man brain didn’t think it was a very practical idea, and suggested it would be much better to do a double-feature next week when we could start at three in the afternoon. But the wise man brain was outnumbered and soon succumbed. And then all of the crazy brains ganged up on my wife, who graciously relented, and so we watch The Arrival and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and got home at like 1:30 am.

As for Fantastic Beasts, if you like Harry Potter stuff, you’ll love it. If you’re not mad for Harry Potter, it’s not going to rock your world (although you still might have a good time). Enough said.

What about The Arrival?

This is a movie about the arrival of aliens, but it’s not a shoot-em-up like Independence Day or War of the Worlds. It’s more like Contact, the one with Jodie Foster. It’s a film that makes you think and is for those who are willing to be a little patient. If you can slow down and just enjoy the film, I think you’ll end up loving it because it’s about far more than meeting mysterious creatures. It ends up being about the choices a woman makes about her family. If you go and give it the space it needs, I guarantee you’ll chat about afterwards.

And I won’t tell you anything more because you’ll only understand what’s going on in the woman’s life when you get to the last fourth of the movie, and I don’t want to spoil the delicious revelation for you. So just know that the alien tech and the alien themselves are strange and mysterious and cool, but that this movie is about so much more.

If you liked Contact or even Inception (without the frustrating non-ending), you’ll love this.

Sage And Snow

Photo by Laura Stocking Cluff

Beaver Mountain Ski Resort To Open December 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BarJS3zVt-U

Teen Survives Crash In Canyon

William Baysinger driving through Logan Canyon hit a patch of black ice and overturned and slid into the icy waters of the Logan River.  Fortunately he was wearing his seatbelt and was rescued unharmed.

Short Term Rentals in Rich County

Anita Weston, reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  December 7. 2016.   Ben Willoughby, County Deputy Attorney, presented an ordinance to the Commissioners concerning short-term rentals.  He noted that he had done a lot of research on short-tern rentals that are currently being used in the State of Utah.  He looked into the ordinances used by Salt Lake City, Summit County, Park City, St. George, and Garden City.  All of theses ordinances require a business license and require that the license be renewed each year.  Also, some kind of oversight to protect neighbors was included that doesn’t overly burden owners.  Ben determined this ordinance is in line with all of these others, and is about 90 percent similar to Garden City’s. 

The definition of the term short-term rental is occupancy for less than 30 days and excludes such businesses as bed and breakfasts, and any other dwellings where the owners live on the premises.

The County would be using the Planning and Zoning Committee to issue the licenses and oversee all short-term rentals.  Emphasis was placed on maximum occupancy and parking that must be off any public roadways.

Occupancy would be determined by looking at two factors—square footage of sleeping area and the parking capacity.  One parking spot needs to be created for every six people.

Great detail went into the application form that will need to be completed by the owner.  It will require plans drawn to scale, liability insurance information, sales tax collection, contact information, inspections by the building inspector and fire chief, and so forth.

A $250 application license fee for the first year and a $150 fee for the second year forward were set.  This will allow the County to break even for expenses incurred in getting the program started.

Updating or any changes in a short-term rental such as remodeling, etc. must be reported to Planning and Zoning.  Posting of rules and needed information for guests should be posted within the short-term rental unit.    Prohibited activities should also be listed. 

Fire inspections and building inspections will be done on an annual basis. Unexpected inspections can also be carried out.  Notice of any violations should be sent to the building inspector, the county sheriff, and Planning and Zoning.

Penalties and how they are carried out was included.  A first violation will incur a warning.  A second violation will incur a $300 fine.  After the second violation, the fine will be increased to $500.  The fines will be paid to the County Clerk.  No licenses will be renewed if there are serious problems that arise. 

There will have to be some kind of increase in sanitation/garbage collection.  Currently, wherever there is a short-term rental, there is a tremendous increase in the amount of garbage that needs to be hauled away.

The Commissioners made a few suggestions to the ordinance and passed it with the corrections made.  A public hearing will be held concerning this issue at the first Commissioners’ meeting in February.

Rich County Commission

Anita Weston, reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  December 7, 2016.  Pat Argyle was on the Commissioners’ agenda.  However, there was confusion over the date, and she was unable to attend.  Nate Smoot with Epic Recreation had some issues with the Sanitation Department and was going to meet with the Commissioners on this issue.  However, he was able to work with the Sanitation Department to solve this problem.

Mitch Poulsen reported to the Commissioners about some grant monies that will be received.  He also asked the Commissioners to ratify the possibility of extending the bike path from Ideal Beach to Lady Bird Park.  The project will cost approximately 1.2 million dollars.  The County will put in $230,000 match in gravel to help build the path.  Mitch will head the project and will submit a letter of intent requesting that this project be moved forward.

There are three areas in the county (Benches, Eagle Spring, and Monte Cristo) that were originally zoned as agriculture. Eagle Spring was changed to be used for a planned community.   It needs to be rezoned back to agriculture.  There will need to be three hearings in order to make the requested changes.  The Commissioners accepted the Planning and Zoning recommendations to change Eagle Spring to an Agriculture 10 zone.  The other two will probably in the future also be changed back to agriculture.

David and Jill Mills appeared before the Commission to ask why they were charged such high taxes on their vacant lot.  Mr. Mills brought a list of several lots in the area that were sold for less than the appraised value of his lot.  He thought maybe the appraisal on his lot was too high, and he needed to know how to get it changed.  It was explained to him that several of the lots on his list were probably bankruptcy situations, repossessions, and/ or quick sales to divest the owners from such expense.  To find out the real market value, the lots must be sold in an arms length deal and not where people are just trying to get rid of their investment. 

The county appeals deadline for changing taxes was in October and the state appeals deadline was the end of November.  However, Mills was told that currently the County is reassessing quite a few areas on the west side of Bear Lake.  They asked  Mills to watch for his appraisal that should arrive around the first part of July.  At that time, if any appraisal changes have been made, they will be shown on that document.  However,  Mills was told that all of the lots in that particular area were all paying the same taxes on the undeveloped lots.

Reed Ernstrom appeared before the Commission.  He is the Director of Bear River Mental Health.  He presented the financial statements for the past year and what to expect for the coming year.  He congratulated the Commissioners for keeping the mental health budget in such good shape.  He noted that having a reserve is really a good thing and shows real responsibility.  The motion was made and passed to approve the Bear River Health Audit.

The Commissioners also held a budget hearing later in the day.