By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Nephi will not seek to obtain a low interest CIB (Community Impact Board) loan to help fund any item on an old priority list, but the council is interested in funding for an update to the general plan. Justin Seely, mayor pro tempore acting in the absence of the mayor, after discussion of those old priorities, asked the council for direction to pass along to the city staff. “We resurrected an old priority list,” said Seth Atkinson, city administrator. “Due to some of the recent loans the city has entered into, this may not be the best time to pursue additional funding from CIB for these projects.” Kent Jones, council member, said he would just as soon put any request on that list on hold for the present. “I would recommend that we look at a grant for an updated general plan,” said Seely. “Then at budget time we could look at other projects.” Those projects could be considered for next year. Jones said that if there was still the potential for a grant to update the general plan that should be the city’s number one priority. “Would the general plan grant be for one-half the funding?” asked Jones. It would be, said Atkinson. The grant that Mona City obtained to update their general plan was for half the cost. Mona paid the other half. A general plan is a broad planning guideline to a city’s future development goals and provides policy statements to achieve those goals. Cities are statutorily required by Utah Code to adopt and periodically revise general plans. A general plan is the local government’s long-term blueprint for the community’s vision of future growth. The general plan serves as the “how to” resource or a compass for the direction of the way the city should progress. Atkinson said that Six County used to like each city to prioritize a list of projects they hoped to address in the near future. However, now the direction was to choose a top priority project. The Nephi Public Works Building was second on the county list last year. “Mayor Glade Nielsen and staff will be meeting with representatives from Six County later this month to prioritize the Community Impact Board (CIB) list for the upcoming year,” said Atkinson. For the last two years, the Public Works Building has been the top priority for the council and the city was successful in obtaining a low interest loan from the CIB last October for that project, he said. At the beginning of each year, the Six County Association of Governments speaks with the municipalities in Juab County as well as with the county to put together a one-year list for projects the CIB will consider for one of their three annual funding cycles. The list Atkinson presented contained projects the council had considered in the past. “Recently the CIB has moved away from grants to just low interest loans,” said Atkinson. “This is especially true for larger entities like Nephi City who apply for these funds.” His recommendation, said Jones, was that the city look at updating the general plan. The current one left a lot to be desired. “We need a compass,” said Jones. Seely said that he thought it was important to update the general plan. “CIB is still offering grants for plan updates (e.g. General Plan) and this may be something to consider when prioritizing projects,” said Atkinson. “If we do go to CIB for funding for a plan update, there are funding cycles.” He said that those were June, October and February. “It would probably be next year before we could get the funding. There are regulations we have to follow in applying,” Atkinson said. He said that the city did have some money set aside and could use that to pay the one-half cost. It would depend on the cost of the general plan. Donald Ball, resident, asked if sidewalk replacement funding (one of the projects on the old list) would be used for current sidewalk improvement or for future sidewalks. Jones said that sidewalks already in existence were broken up and the money would go for replacement of those dangerous spots. “Developers will be required to put sidewalks into their developments,” said Jones. However, said Ball, there were areas in the city, already developed areas, where there were no sidewalks at all. “Are we all in agreement as to what we want to do?” asked Seely. Since the council indicated that they were all in accord, Seely said that the direction the council would give to the mayor and staff as they met with Six County AOG was that they would like to have an update for the general plan be added to the priority list for the city.
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