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- Municipalities will meet to prioritize wish list for CIB funds
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
All of the communities in Juab County have been contacted concerning what plans the leadership of those communities thinks should be on the front burner to obtain CIB funds.
A meeting will now be held with all the jurisdiction representatives in attendance. That meeting will take place in commission chambers on March 6 at 6 p.m.
That date is the date of commission meeting which is held at 10 a.m.
Travis Kyhl, Six County AOG Deputy Executive Director/Regional Planner,
Office of Community and Economic Development (OCED), said he was attending commission meeting to give an update on the jurisdictional CIB visits he had made.
Rick Carlton, commission chairman, asked how the final choices of projects will be made.
"At the meeting in March, you could invite the various jurisdictions and, for the one year plan, you could let each of those jurisdictions vote for the top priorities on the lists."
If each were give one vote, he said, then the consolidated list would just reflect what each city wanted and the vote would be meaningless.
"Or you, as commissioners, could prioritize the lists and consolidate them," said Kyhl.
"We represent the people," said Byron Woodland, commissioner.
He said he did not think that allowing each of the cities three votes would be the best way to handle the selection. He thought it would be better for the commission to make the final decision.
"We do represent the people, and I support what Commissioner Woodland said," Carlton said.
Clinton Painter, commissioner, said he agreed and thought it was a good idea to have the commission make the final decisions.
The county will also prioritize a three item list of county needs.
Brent Boswell, County Economic Development Director, said he had accompanied Kyhl on three of his municipal visits. He had already talked with the leadership of the other two communities.
"We will conduct that meeting," said Carlton.
The OCED works under the direction and guidance of the Executive Board and Six County Economic Development District Board (SCEDD).
"Our Community Planning Division helps our incorporated communities with Community Development and Capital Improvements Programs," he said.
"The new concept is looking good," Kyhl said.
He said that was the new ideas he had discussed with Juab County Commissioners when he first attended commission meeting two months ago.
At that time, Russ Cowley, Executive Director of the Six County Association of Governments (SCAOG ) accompanied Kyhl and spoke to the Juab County Commission December 5, 2016, about changes in procedure to write grant applications to the Community Impact Board (CIB) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from local municipalities.
"The project has to be listed before a request can be made for CIB funds," said Kyhl. "The only exception to that rule is if there is an emergency situation such as a major breakdown of the sewer system."
Kyhl, the primary contact with the SCAOG for Juab County, spoke of the need for local municipalities to organize and prioritize their "wish lists" of projects for which they want to apply for grant funding.
In the past, when he spoke to municipalities, Kyhl said, he was often presented with a long list of projects.
Those projects had been listed on one-year, two year and five year plans.
The lists were prioritized but there were many projects on each list from each community.
Lists of desired projects which need to be funded were, in the past, categorized into short-term by date such as April, August, and December of the current year. Medium term projects were those which entities hope to get done in the next six years.
Long term goals were not scheduled to occur until after the six years.
In response to this situation, the SCAOG has changed their procedure, now requiring that the municipalities have a "one- year list" and a "two-five-year list."
The "one-year list" will be prioritized, i.e. listed in order of importance, and should only include projects that municipalities deem very likely to move forward.
The "two-five-year list" will be a long-term list that includes projects that are more hopeful than immediately likely.
The application deadline for the CDBG is January 31, and for CIB it is April 1.
Therefore, these changes will be implemented for the 2018 application deadlines.
Kyhl returned to Juab County to discuss the change and how it is proceeding and, in March, he will return to review the local municipalities' lists and priorities.
Kyhl stated that the new procedure is moving forward and said he is working with the municipalities with the new procedure, to determine which projects should really be moving forward.
"It will be much easier to work on a list of nine projects instead of nine pages of projects," he said. The changes were made this year to fall in line with the state.
Improvements needing CIB funds within the county will now be required to be on a county capital improvement list and that CIB list needs to be in by April 1, hence the reason for returning to the commission in March.
"The capital improvement list will not be carried over from year to year," said Kyhl.
During each year from now on in January and February, Kyhl will also meet with each jurisdiction within the county.
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