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  • Six County executive meets with commissioners to plan for CIB funding request list


By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent

It is time for Juab County and the communities in the county to plan for their annual needs of which will be submitted on a CIB funding request list.

Travis Kyhl, Six County AOG Deputy Executive Director/Regional Planner, met with Juab County Commissioners to discuss the annual CIB list.

Russ Cowley, Six County AOG Executive Director, could not be present at the meeting, said Kyhl.

“Each year, the Six County Association of Governments (SCAOG) is required to submit a current CIB list for each county to the state CIB staff by April 1,” said Kyhl. “To ensure that SCAOG is able to submit an accurate, complete and prioritized list by the date, certain procedures have been adopted.”

He said that SCAOG had already sent out the previous year’s list and a blank list to each jurisdiction in the Six County region.

“If a jurisdiction wishes to have a project listed on the new CIB list they must add it to the blank list,” said Kyhl. “Projects will not be carried over from year to year on the one-year or two- to five-year lists.”

He said that, with the understanding of the county, he would be meeting with each jurisdiction in the county and helping them with the process of filling out the blank list and getting it done in time.

Typically, he said, the lists were due back by the end of February.

Byron Woodland, commissioner, said that he would like to be included in the meetings with the various communities when Kyhl met with them as often as possible.

“A CIB prioritization meeting will be scheduled for each county, typically in March, and all jurisdictions that submitted a CIB project on the one-year list will be invited to the meeting,” said Kyhl.

He said that each community would also be notified, prior to the meeting, that the meeting was the final opportunity to get a project on the one-year list.

“At this meeting, each jurisdiction requesting to be on the one-year list will present their project including the timeframe for completing the project,” Kyhl said.

Any project that cannot be reasonably submitted during the year will not be included on the one-year list. They will be placed, instead, on the two- to five-year lists.

“Once all the projects for the one-year list have been identified, you, as county commissioners, will prioritize the list for your county,” he said.

SCAOG will then submit the final one-year CIB list to the state. Only those projects on the one-year list will be allowed to apply for CIB funds.

SCAOG will work with jurisdictions that have projects on the two- to five-year lists throughout the year to help them become ready to go on a future one-year list.

“Amending the one-year CIB list throughout the year is strongly discouraged, and should only be done for unforeseen situations,” Kyhl said.

However, if a jurisdiction has a project on the two- to five-year list and thinks they have a justifiable reason to move it to the one-year list they can request through the county commission that the one-year list be amended.

A letter must be written to the commission documenting the project and the unforeseen situation. A copy of the letter must be sent to the regional planner (Kyhl).

“If the commission determines that the project should be added to the one-year list, they will reprioritize the list and SCAOG will submit a new revised list to the state staff,” he said.

It becomes a bit more complicated if the project is not on the two- to five-year list.

If the project is not on the list, the jurisdiction must first submit the project through the clearinghouse review of the SCAOG Executive Board. If the project is approved by the board, a letter will be written to the commission, they will suggest that SCAOG amend the one-year list.

“The two- to five- year list cannot be amended,” said Kyhl. “In addition the two- to five-year list should only contain projects that jurisdictions are actively working toward and should not be a ‘wish’ list.”

Each AOG must agree to commit a full-time planner, who reports to the AOG, but whose time and responsibilities will be dedicated solely to the core mission and goals of the CIB.

That planner is to help determine the needs of the communities impacted by such development, evaluate the communities’ assets and capacity to meet their needs and create a capital improvements list for each county.

The planner must provide technical assistance to communities to meet their planning needs, assist communities to prepare grant applications for planning and capital improvement needs, in particular, applications to the CIB.

Outputs and programmatic activities will have a direct relationship to the efforts of the communities and CIB to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of natural resource development.>