- It’s barns vs seats in county CIB application
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A public hearing drew only four people with all but one of those in favor of submitting a CIB application.
The meeting was held by the Juab County Commission on the topic of a CIB application for replacement of the west end bleachers for the grand arena at the Juab County Fairgrounds.
In attendance was Bob Garrett, Bob Day and Todd Day, representing the Ute Stampede Committee, and Troy Cattoor, a local resident.
The Utah Permanent Community Impact Fund Board (CIB) provides loans and/or grants to state agencies and sub-divisions of the state which may be socially or economically impacted by mineral resource development on federal lands.
The CIB reviews applications and authorizes funding assistance on a “Trimester” basis.
The deadlines for submitting applications for each of the trimesters will be no later than the following dates: First Trimester, February 1st; Second Trimester, June 1st; Third Trimester, October 1st.
“Due to the high amount of use, the number of activities and the need to seat more people, we are in favor of the application,” said Garrett.
Cattoor said that he realized that something needed to be done to improve the seating on the west side but questioned whether a project costing in the millions was the best use of funds. Perhaps, he said, a smaller project would serve and money could be used to build a new barn at the rodeo grounds.
A barn could be used year-round where the outdoor arena was only used during the summer months.
For most of the events, except for the larger ones like the Stampede and the demolition derby, he said, people choose to sit on the small, covered side of the arena, the section that the county is proposing should be replaced.
“I appreciate Troy’s (Cattoor) concerns. My first desire was to build a barn,” said Chad Winn, commissioner.
However, that expense was also in the millions as was a project to add to the old barn in order to make it bigger. Both of the projects were valued at approximately $3 million.
However, he said, the larger issue was one of safety. The old part of the arena seating was deteriorating.
“The first concern there is safety factor,” said Bob Day. “The safety issue is a problem.”
LuWayne Walker, commissioner, said the structure was becoming dangerous.
“Some of the braces are deteriorating,” he said.
Those braces have been being patched and repaired but the structure is built of wood and that material is wearing out due to age and weather even though it is painted and cared for.
Todd Day said he had recently taken some photos of the various points where the braces and other structures had been repaired with shims of both lumber and metal.
“We are a pretty small county,” said Val Jones, commission chairman, “This past year was a tough year. We don’t have the money to run those facilities.”
“The county pays quite a bit of money for the barn and a bigger barn would cost us in the long run,” he said.
Jones explained that under the Federal Mineral Lease Act of 1920, lease holders on public land make royalty payments to the federal government for the development and production of non-metalliferous minerals.
The Board will only fund those applications for funding assistance which are submitted by an eligible applicant for an eligible project.
“We have one shot. We may not get the funding from CIB,” said Jones. “We may not be approved.”
In Utah, the primary source of these royalties is the commercial production of fossil fuels on federal land held by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Since the enactment of the Mineral Lease Act of 1920, a portion of these royalty payments, called mineral lease payments, have been returned to the state in an effort to help mitigate the local impact of energy and mineral developments on federal lands. The state of Utah then allocates the Permanent Community Impact Funds with 32.5 percent of the funds.
One of the reasons people liked the covered part of the bleachers, said Garrett, was for that reason--they were covered and offered protection from rain and from hot sun.
“We’d just like to enlarge them,” he said.
The seats were built by the Stampede Committee many years ago. There was no longer enough knee or seat room. People are bigger today and the seats are no longer comfortable when there is a large crowd.
“The seats will pay for themselves,” said Garrett.
In the past, the committee had paid for the seating improvements. The last time they had done so with a loan obtained through the county which was repaid.
However, the costs of construction had continued to escalate.
“The cost of building has gone up but ticket prices haven’t,” he said.
The committee had chosen to keep the ticket prices at a rate where fans could enjoy bringing the family for the sport.
However, he said that once the new seats were paid for there would be more money resulting from more ticket sales. That money could be used to make more improvements and for more facilities.
This year, new restrooms were being built at the arena, said Garrett.
“A barn would bring people here in the winter,” said Catoor.
The CIB Board has the option of funding projects with loans and/or grants. The Board’s preferred financing mechanism is an interest bearing loan.
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