Clerk/Auditor
Minutes
Duchesne County
Commission Meeting

Duchesne County
Commission Meeting

The following document has been re-formatted from the original for Internet accessibility.  County Commission Minutes, in their original format, are available through the Office of the County Clerk/Auditor.

MINUTES FOR REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING HELD DECEMBER 17, 2001 BEGINNING AT 1:00 P.M. IN THE COMMISSION BOARD ROOM
IN DUCHESNE, UTAH

Commissioners Present:  Commission Chairman Guy R Thayne, Commissioner Larry Ross, and Commissioner Lorna Stradinger.

Others Present:  Road Supervisor Douglas Nielsen, Clerk/Auditor Diane Freston, and Deputy Clerk/Auditor Carol Casey.

Prayer: Commissioner Stradinger

Pledge of Allegiance

Road Issues:
Discussion and Decision on Cost for Receiving Used Tires at the County Landfill   Doug had prepared a letter to the commission regarding the Utah Wast Tire Recycling Act assessed fees.

Dear Commission,

The Utah Waste Tire Recycling Act assesses a fee of $1.00 per tire for each new tire sold in Utah.  The fee is collected by tire dealers and is forwarded to the State Tax Commission.  The dealer is allowed to reatain 2.5% of the fee for processing costs.   The fee is placed in a fund that is used for recycling reimbursements and cleanup of tire piles is a secondary priority.

Tire dealers are responsible for the proper disposal of waste tires.  In many cases tire dealers have added a disposal fee, usually $2.00 per tire, on to the purchase of new tires.  This fee is in addition to the recycling fee required by the Waste Tire Recycling act.  Passenger car tires average about 100 tires per ton, therefore the dealer has about $200.00 to use for tire disposal.

As we have been taking wast tires at the D/W Bluebench Landfill for thirty dollars per ton, it is therefore a benefit to the dealer to dispose of the waste tires at the landfill as opposed to a tire recycler, as it now costs the landfill twenty eight dollars per ton freight and twenty dollars per ton fee to the recycler making it forty eight dollars per ton to dispose of the waste tires.  We should immediately raise our fees to receive tires to seventy-five dollars per ton at the landfill.  If we continue to take waste tires at the landfill we need to be able to cover all the cost as we have not been doing the last several months. 

Thanks, Douglas Nielsen, Public Works Director

Motion:   Commissioner Ross motioned that the Duchesne County Public Works Department increase the fee for receiving waste tires at the landfill to $75.00 a ton, effective immediately.  The fee will cover the cost for taking the waste tires to a recycler.   Commissioner Stradinger second the motion with the understanding that the increase in fee is the result of an increase in cost to the county for used tire disposal.   Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:  All Commissioners Voting Aye.

..........Stan Larsen, and Jean Liddell joined the meeting..........

1:15 P.M. Tele-Conference Duchesne/Wasatch Bluebench Landfill Special Service District - Discussion and Adoption of 2002 Budget   Commission meeting recessed at 1:15 P.M. to accommodate the convening of the Bluebench Landfill District to adopt its 2002 budget.  Commission Meeting reconvened at 1:20 P.M.

...............Deputy Attorney Roland Uresk and Diana Stevens joined the meeting...............

Commissioner Stradinger discussed a letter she received from Mrs. Hone of Tabiona.  Mrs. Hone was requesting that a truck plow, salt and sand Lewis Drive.  Doug answered that a truck can't get up Lewis Drive when it snows because it is too steep and narrow.  A grader has to do all the steep and narrow roads in the county.

Commissioner Stradinger will respond to Mrs. Hone's letter.

Commissioner Thayne reviewed an offer from Kicken "W" for roadside mowing in the summer.  Doug stated that the county already has a tractor, and mower, and a full time person to run it. 

Doug presented a draft for bid specks to purchase hot mix at a designated site and contract for lay down purposes for the summer of 2002.  Commissioner Thayne asked if the county has ever requred that performance bond accompany the bid.  Attorney Uresk suggested that one be in place just in case of default.

Stan Larsen - Tax Issues
Mr. Larsen stated he has six parcels, which he bought in 1999 at the tax sale.  The tax notices on these parcels did not reach him through the mail.  Mr. Larsen stated that he was in last year to talk with the commissioners about getting the penalties and interest waved.

The commission asked treasurer Colene Nelson, to com in.  Colene explained that Mr. Larsen would have put the address on the deed when he purchased the property at a May tax sale.  There was a problem with an incorrect zip code.  Because of improper addressing the tax notice did not get delivered to Mr. Larsen.

Commissioner Ross stated that it is the counties responsibility to mail to the address that the buyer puts on the deed.  It is the property owner's responsibility to make sure all taxes are paid regardless of receiving the notice.

Mr. Larsen stated he made sure all taxes were paid in perosn.  He then received notices later and it is his understanding that he already paid the taxes on these parcels.

Mr. Larsen will return with the canceled check and review it with the treasurer.

Resolution 01-21 - Ceritification of 2002 Budget - All Funds
DUCHESNE COUNTY
Calendar Year Ending December 31, 2002
ADOPTION OF BUDGET INFORMATION:
In compliane with Title 17, Chapter 36, Section 15, Utah Code, which states:
"On or before the last day of each fiscal period, the governing body by resolution shall adopt the budget which, subject to further amendment, shall thereafter be in effect for the next fiscal year.  A copy of the final budget, and of any subsequent amendment therof, shall be certified by the budget officer and filed with the state auditor not later than thirty days after its adoption.  A copy, similarly certified, shall be filed in the office of the budget officer for inspection by the public during business hours."

WHEREAS the legislature of the Stae of Utah has granted legislation providing for the adoption of said county annual budgets and;

WHEREAS there exists a need to utilize this provision of the State statutes to serve the best interest of the County and the residents thereof and to promote the most efficient and practical operation of county government.  The purpose of this resolution is to adopt the 2002 Duchesne County Budget by revenue and expenses;

NOW THEREFORE, be it hereby resolved as follows;

WE, THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS of Duchesne County, State of Utah as governing body of this county do enact this resolution to adopt said budget for the year 2002.

Motion:   Commissioner Ross motioned to adopt the 2002 budget.  Commissioner Stradinger second.  Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:  All Commissioners Voting Aye.

Resolution 01-22 - A Resolution to Increase the 2001 Duchesne County Budget

WHEREAS the legislature of the State of Utah has granted legislation providing for the increase in unencumbered or unexpended appropriations from one department to another within the same fund, the said legislation being designated as Section 17-36-25 & 26 of the Utah Code annotated, 1953, and amended 1975; and

WHEREAS there exists a need to utilize this provision of the Stae statutes to serve the best interest of the County and the residents thereof and to promote the most efficient and practical operation of county government.  The purpose of this resolution is to increase the 2001 Duchesne County Budget by revenue and expenses and free up said monies spent;

NOW THEREFORE, be it hereby resolved as follows;

WE, THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS of Duchesne County, State of Utah as governing body of this county do enact this resolution to increase the following amounts to the listed departments within the following funds for the Budget year 2001.

FUND 10	GENERAL FUND
	Revenue
	Property Taxes Due to New Growth	140,000.00
	General Fund Surplus	- 33,847.00
	Livestock Sale Revenue	- 92,000.00
	Interest Earnings	- 14,153.00
	Balance	0.00
	Expense
	Commission	1,500.00
	District Court	15,000.00
	Data Processing	35,000.00
	Aging	7,000.00
	State Wildland Fire	33,000.00
	Bookmobile - General	500.00
	Livestock Sale Expense	- 92,000.00
	Balance	0.00
FUND 22	DUCHESNE COUNTY LIBRARY
	Revenue
	Property Taxes Due to New Growth	5,500.00
	Prior Year Taxes	-   5,500.00
	Balance	0.00

Motion:  Commissioner Stradinger motioned to accept Resolution 01-22 as read.  Commissioner Ross second.   Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:  All Commissioners Voting Aye.

Resolution 01-23 - A Resolution Establishing 2002 Salaries of the Elected Officials

Ordinance establishing and affixing the salaries of elected and statutory officers of the County of Duchesne:

WHEREAS, Utah Code Annotated (1953 as amended), Section 17-16-14, provides for the establishment by the Board of County Commissioners of salaries for County Officers; and,

WHEREAS, it is appropriate that said salaries be set forth in the resolution form;

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED and resolved that the annual salaries of the elected and statutory officers of Duchesne County be fixed or established as follows:

Board of County Commisison Chairperson	$36,892.80
Board of County Commission Member	$35,692.80
County Assessor	$38,875.20
County Attorney	$60,153.60
County Clerk-Auditor	$38,875.20
County Recorder	$38,875.20
County Sheriff	$43,680.00
County Treasurer	$38,875.20
Justice Court - East Side	$23,608.00
Justice Court - West Side	$30,617.60

The annual salaries set forth herein shall be effective from January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2002.

Dated this 17th Day of December, 2001.

Motion:   Commissioner Ross motioned to accept Resolution 01-23 a resolution establishing the salaries of elected and statutory officers of Duchesne County.  Commissioner Stradinger second.  Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:   All Commissioners Voting Aye.

Resolution 01-24 - A Resolution Establishing the 2002 Commission Meeting Schedule

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN OF THE 2002 MEETING SCHEDULE
OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF
DUCHESNE COUNTY, UTAH

PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that the 2002 meeting schedule for the Board of County Commissioners of Duchesne County, Utah, will be every Monday (except holidays) beginning at 9:00 A.M. for the working session and again at 1:00 P.M. for the regular session.

Meetings will be held for working meeting in conference room #1 and for the Regular Meeting in the Commission Board Room of the Duchesne County Administration Building, 734 North Center Street in Duchesne, Utah.

I, Diane Freston, Duchesne County Clerk/Auditor do hereby certify that from December 18th 2001 to January 14th 2002 pursuant to U.S.A., 52-4-6(1), this notice was posted.  Notice also given to Radio Station K.N.E.U. and Uintah Basin Standard.

NOW THEREFORE, be it hereby resolved as follows;

WE, THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS of Duchesne County, State of Utah as governing body of this county do enact his resolution to set the meeting schedule of the Commission Meetings for the year 2002.

PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS 17TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2001 by the following vote of the Board of County Commissioners:

Motion:  Commissioner Stradinger motioned to accept Resolution 01-24 establishing the 2002 commission meeting schedule.  Commissioner Ross second.  Roll Call Vote:   All Commissioners Voting Aye.

Motion:   Commissioner Ross motioned to adopt the 2002 budget - all funds.  Commissioner Stradinger second.  Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:   All Commissioners Voting Aye.

2:00 P.M. Chris Denver Disposal Pond Issues
Present for Discusssion:  Chris Denver Disposal Inc, Brad Hill and Gil Hunt from the Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, Jean Liddell Uintah Basin Standard, Clayton Chidester and Teresa Nielsen Planning & Z oning, Tammie Pierce, Bill Pierce, Charmaine Hurley, Mike Hurley, Diane Ross, Kathie Powell, Roy Powell, Diana Stevens, Carol Allred, Nile Chapman, Laura Baur, Lance Denver, Charles Denver, Stan Larsen and Kevin Adamson.

Commissioner Thayne informed those present that they would hear from Mr. Chris Denver representing Water Disposal, Inc. and Tammy Pierce representing the citizens livving next to the disposal ponds and Clayton Chidester planning & zoning.  The commission wil lhave a time for questions, they then will take the issue under advisement and will have a decision by the end of the year.

Mr. Chris Denver is petitioning the Duchesne County Commission to overturn the decision of the planning & zoning commission to not renew his conditional use permit.

Mr. Denver submitted to the commission and to those in attendance the history, finding of facts, and exhibits relating to the denial of the conditional use permit issued to Water Disposal Inc. for the North Crescent disposl ponds.  Mr. Denver believes the previous decision from the planning & zoning commission not to renew the permit was based on emotion and not the facts surrounding the issue.  Mr. Denver believes that the decision made by three members on the zoning commission was incorrect.  Mr. Denver stated that it is important that decisions like this be based on facts surrounding the disposal ponds and the odor issues at present.  Mr. Denver presented a binder with the history, findings of fact, information, and personal notes relating to this issue, and a time line chart outlining the events that have taken place the last few years pertaining to the conditional use permit.  (the binder with the history is on file in the clerks office for review.)

Mr. Denver summarized the history of Water Disposal Inc. and the North Crescent disposal ponds for the past five years.   Mr. Denver stated that his proposal for an injection well to control the smell has not been given the opportunity to solve the odor problems.

Tammie Pierce presented her appeal to the commission.  She stated that in the years the ponds were run by Mr. Moser there were very few times that the odor was a problem.  Mrs. Pierce also stated that the past few years the odor from the ponds has become a real issue.  The smell enters the homes through teh ventilation systems and stays for hours.  There is no way to get away from it.  Some of the physical effects from the smell are sleeplessness, nausea, headaches, asthma attacks, breathing problems and burning eyes.  The odor has seventeen volatile chemicals.  No one can tell us what the effects of these combined chemicals could be.  The property values have gone down because of the odor and concerns for safety for those living there.

Mrs. Pierce stated that in her opinion the injection well proposed by Mr. Denver will not solve the problem because he will continue to receive production water and will be pumping the newly received water down the well while very little of the stagnate water will be pumped udnerground.   The stagnant water will continue to set and omit odors.  She suggested that the water be stored in closed tanks while waiting to be pumped down the disposal well.   Mrs. Pierce asked the ocunty commissioners to support the decision made by the planning commission to not renew the conditional use permit.

Clayton Chidester reviewed copies of the planning & zoning minutes regarding the North Crescent disposal ponds.  He also reviewed the history of complaints starting in 1999 to almost daily in 2000.  In late 2000 the complaints started to become health related and were forwarded to the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining for review.  (This information is on file in the planning & zoning office.)

Commission questions:
Commissioner Stradinger - is the odor from the water being dumped from the trucks or water in the ponds.
Mr. Denver - all research indicates the odor comes from the stagnate water.
Commissioner Stradinger - where is I & R located in relation to your ponds
Mr. Denver - seven miles west on Bluebell Road.
Commissioner Stradinger - how did Mr. Moser solve the odor problems
Tammie Pierce - by using limestone.
Commissioner Stradinger - Mr. Denver do you add limestone.
Mr. Denver - yes, I also added chlorine, may I add that when I purchased the ponds from Mrs. Moser there were only two pnds.  I increased my business three times which meant I increased the volume of water.
Commissioner Stradinger - will the injection well take out all the stanate water.  Will there be no more ponds.
Mr. Denver - the goal is to pump all the water down the well.  With 350,000 barrels of water sitting in the ponds I will need to continue to generate income to pay the large electric bill to pump the water.  I will have to continue to receive production water.  The pump will handle a certain amount of water.  On days when I receive more than the pump will handle I will need to be able to store the overflow.   At times when less water is being received water from the ponds will be pumped down the well.  We need time to eliminate the ponds.
Commissioner Ross - you began using the injection well five days before the decision by the planning commission, are you continuing to use the injection well.
Mr. Denver - yes, but I'm only pumpoing new water from teh trucks down the well.
Commissioner Ross - how deep is the second zone in the well
Mr. Denver - I believe it is about 9,000 ft. up to about 8,200 ft.
Commissioner Ross asked how long it would take to empty the ponds.
Mr. Denver - it will take approximately two hundred days to empty one pond.  Once the state increases my injection rate I can increase my pumping capacity.
Commissioner Ross - whenever we come to zoning issues it always comes down to who was there firest.  Is Mr. Denver's information correct regarding who lived there first.
Tammie Pierce - when we moved in there was a small pond that was closed down.  We had no idea it was there.  The Allreds and the Hurleys lived in teh area before us.  Some of the existing homes have been there for sixty to seventy years.
Commissioner Ross - Does anyone have any factual information regarding health issues.
Mrs. Pierce - Once you get away from teh odors the symptoms start to subside.  Dr. Packum was here for the planning & zoning meeting.  He personally inspected the onds and stated that there is a real problem with health issues.   The air sample tests done by the health department determined that some of the chemicals in the sample are odorless.

A person should not have to live with nausea, headaches, and sleeplessness, these symptoms are going to cause illnesses down the road.

Commissioner Thayne thanked everyone for coming and announced that a decision will be made by the end of this year.

Commissioner Thayne excused himself for a meeting in his office.

Library, Weed, and Planning Commission Board Appointments  The appointment of Weed Board and Planning Commission board members will be rescheduled for commission meeting on December 24, 2001.

Motion:   Commissioner Ross motioned to appoint Jolene Opsahl to the library board.   Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:  Both Commissioners Voting Aye.

Auditor's Office - Vouchers - Tax Adjustments - Department Head Time Sheets

Tax Adjustments - Assessor - Treasurer

Serial/Account	Year	Debit/Credit	Comment
00-029-7873	2000	-$10.00	Penalty charged in error
00002-4194	2001	-$19.40+pen	Taxes paid at time of closing
00002-4178	2001	-$1,112.28+pen	Taxes paid at time of closing
00001-4880	2001	-$31.28+pen	Taxes paid at time of closing
00001-2579	2001	-$37.05+pen	Belongs to Ute Tribe
0322910	2001	-$110.96	Mobile home paid as persoanl prop
0297063	2001	-$31.93	Should have been primary
RHS-28B	2001	-$31.6	Should have been primary
RHS-30B	2001	-$31.6	Should have been primary
HT-20-41	2001	-$27.98	Pd and given cirucit breaker to refund RHS 29B
0330792	2001	-$237.75	Over charged on escape log 2002-12

Motion:   Commissioner Stradinger motioned to accept the tax adjustments with the exception of an entry for $1,649.65 (it has no other information.)  Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:  Both Commissioners Voting Aye.

Approval of December 10, 2001 Commission Minutes - The minutes were reviewed and corrections made.

Motion:  Commissioner Stradinger motioned to accept the minutes with corrections.  Motion carried.

Vouchers:   Deputy Clerk/Auditor Andrea Higbee presented vouchers #77480 to #77580 totaling $404,754.36 for approval.

Motion:   Commissioner Stradinger motioned to approve the vouchers.  Motion carried.   Roll Call Vote:  Both Commissioners Voting Aye.

..........Commissioner Thayne returned to the meeting..........

Personnel Issues - Judy Mutton
Judy presented information regarding the agreement with BFW/IDT for mandatory drug testing.

Motion:   Commissioner Stradinger motioned to renew the agreement with BFW/IDT for drug testing.  Commissioner Ross second.  Motion carried.  Roll Call Vote:  All Commissioners Voting Aye.

Adjournment 4:30 P.M.

TOP

Back to Minutes and Agenda Main Page

Auditor's Office Information

|| Staff || County Budget, Independent Audit, Other Financial ||
|| Tax Relief-Abatement ||
|| Property Valuations - Taxing Entities Information ||
|| Board of Equalization - Exempt Applications ||
|| Delinquent Tax Sale Information & Surplus Property Sale ||

Clerk's Office Information

|| Commission Meeting Minutes and Agendas/Records ||
|| Passport Information || Business & Beer Licenses ||
|| Marriage License  || Voter Registration - Election ||
|| Elementary School Packet ||