- Aagard appointed to Fire
District Board by Levan Town Council
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By Sandra J. Mangelson
Times-News Correspondent
Ryan Aagard was appointed to be Levan's representative
on the Fire District Board at Levan Town Council meeting on
Oct. 17, 2001. Fire Chief Bruce Rowley can no longer
represent Levan on that board because he receives
compensation from that board. Ryan Aagard stated that all
fire chiefs have stepped down from the Fire District Board.
Mayor Robinson asked for a motion to have Ryan Aagard to
represent Levan. That motion passed. Town Clerk Rachelle
Bryan was then instructed to sent a letter to the Fire
District Board stating that Ryan Aagard was appointed as the
new representative. The letter was needed to give Aagard
authority to vote on the board.
•Heber Taylor asked the Council what they
intended to do with the area west of the Town Park. Mayor
Robinson stated that was the area that an arena is going to
be built. Taylor said at the last meeting the council said
they intended to have that area land leveled. "I'm surprised
you consider that more important than to level the
cemetery." Robinson replied that the land leveling that is
going to be done there is free, "it is donated time, donated
effort, donated energy and that is what the 'donator' has
chosen to level, so with that we let him do it." Craig
Worwood stated, " We may catch him and see if he will do our
cemetery while he is right here in the neighborhood."
Taylor continued, "some time in the future, the people
who are going to be responsible for continued expansion of
that cemetery will wish it had been leveled. It's too bad to
have a piece of property like that, as valuable as it will
be and is for that purpose to be expanded just a little
piece at a time." Robinson asked, "You think we should land
level that whole piece and get it all ready, huh?" "Some day
you'll wish you had," said Taylor, "you not might wish, but
somebody will."
Robinson replied, "I suppose you would have to ask the
question, since we are asking it, who ever originally set
that cemetery up why didn't they make it twice as big?"
Taylor replied, "Well, I don't think that's a very good
question, that cemetery has lasted a hundred years. You've
got a piece of property up there now that will last another
hundred or so." Robinson said, " I don't think we want to
grass that whole piece of property all the way down. I think
we can still use that for grazing purposes, certainly a
portion of it needs to be prepared." Taylor then said, "If
you would have talked to a developer or a farmer, they would
have told you while you have the property to level it." It
was stated that the Town has 15 acres south of the present
cemetery.
The Mayor asked Rod Wankier to review the arrangements
that have been made to level the west end of the park.
Wankier said, "We got this guy to do it for free. It's
somebody that Tim Larsen got. I don't know if it is somebody
he works with or who it is." Taylor said, "You don't know
who it is." Wankier continued, "Tim Larsen lined it up and
he is just going to do it when he has the time. He's
actually up north working his way this way doing leveling
and when he got down this far he would do that for nothing.
It's only 200 by 375, it will take him no time at all. I can
have Tim contact him and see if he would be interested in
doing that."
Mayor Robinson didn't think the cemetery was that bad
and since the Town had a "significant amount of money in to
the fence" around the cemetery, they would have to wait
until next year. Wankier said it cost about $90 per acre to
have leveling done. Taylor thought a person in the business
of leveling wouldn't charge that much to do a cemetery if he
was going to do the park as well. He suggested the person
lined up to do the park be asked what he thinks about doing
the cemetery ,"for the future of the cemetery."
•Taylor said he had another concern about the
"delinquents". In a past meeting Mayor Robinson had stated
that he had a formula to solve the problem of delinquency.
Robinson said, "I would have to run a report on it, the
number has been kind of skewed because of the pump work that
was done and other things with the Irrigation Company. One
month of them makes us look like we have 50 residents that
aren't paid up." "Why was that? What did that have to do
with your monthly collections?" asked Taylor. "The monthly
delinquent bill reports all delinquencies and it was skewed
high because the Irrigation Company owed us so much," said
Robinson.
Taylor wanted to know if the delinquency number was
good or bad. Taylor said, "at that time, it was bad because
you told us a figure and you were concerned yourself." "Ya,
I would have to pull the reports again to look what it is
right now. I'm not exactly sure what that number is right
now." said Robinson. "Good or bad?" asked Taylor. Robinson
answered, "I believe we are to the positive once the
Irrigation, cause see, what you got to realize is the
Irrigation Company is 30 to $40,000 every two or three
months and so if they miss one month it skews up..." "I'm
not talking about the Irrigation Company, you'll get that
money. I'm talking about individuals,"said Taylor.
Robinson then said, "there are a couple of bills that
are of some concern that are delinquent. Most of the others
are within reason, but there are a couple that we struggle
with and we are working with. The formula that we talked
about back then was they needed to pay 1/4 of their
outstanding balance plus their whole new balance. If they
did that in essence, after four months their account would
be knocked way down."
"It's not working on some of them, Andrew" said Alden
Shurtz, "I pulled it up and checked it. We've got one up
that's got too high. We shouldn't allow it to get up that
high." Taylor asked, "Andrew, and the whole board, do you
think that you do an individual a favor if you let them go?
If they can't pay $100, when it gets up to $500 it gets
harder." The Mayor replied,"We are not letting them go,
first of all, and it is not a favor. We've went down and
gave them shut off notices, and put limiters on them and
we've actually shut them off and they come up with the
minimum payment and we continue to work with them." Taylor
continued, "the Church has a welfare program, the County has
and the State has, but the Town can't be in the welfare
business." You're absolutely right," the Mayor replied, "and
that's why they get charged a significant amount of
interest." "If you've got one that let's it go, the interest
gets added on and it just gets that much worse. It's really
not fair to them and it's not fair to the rest of the Town
to let it go. I know two towns that don't have that problem
because they cut them off the first month they are
delinquent." "I inherited a significant amount of
delinquencies. The majority of the problem is with five
people. We'll continue to work on it," Robinson replied
•In other new business, a question was raised
about the way the park was being used. All summer long the
park is reserved for reunions on weekends. If citizens try
to use the park on weekends, they are told sometimes by the
reunion attendees that the entire park is reserved for their
use alone. It was suggested that overnight camping be
eliminated from the park so the citizens could enjoy the
park.
•Craig Worwood said that he has the papers to
apply for a $100,000 grant to improve the park. It would be
a 50% matching grant by the Town There has to be a public
meeting on the subject. Worwood said the Town could put
trailer hook ups in the west end of the park and another
pavilion for reunions and the townspeople could then use the
east end of the park. A comment was made that it was not the
responsibility of a government to furnish camping spots for
reunions. There were camp grounds in the canyon and KOA's in
which to camp. Worwood suggested putting $50,000 into the
park, "what else have we got in town? Let's put 50,000 into
it and if it takes us two years to use the money, we can
come up with $25,000 a year. We'll do fund raisers, or
whatever." Matching labor was also suggested. Rod Wankier
said, "If we are going to continue to rent the park out for
overnight camping, we need to make it a lot more money."
Worwood continued, "We can put another pavilion down in that
corner, they are talking about another ball field, a
complete sprinkling system. If you want to rent it out, lets
get them out away from us and charge them a fee and recoup
our money." A public meeting to get input from the community
will be held November 14, 2001 at 6:30 p.m.
•Dave Carter asked what the responsibilities were
for each council member. Mayor Robinson then recited the
responsibilities for each member. "Alden is over the
garbage, economic development, beautification and he is the
pro-tem treasurer. He basically signs checks along with
Rachelle. Ryan is over the natural gas, cable TV, animal
control, fire department, he will be sitting on the Fire
District Board. Rod is over planning and zoning, electrical,
and the park. Craig is over the cemetery, streets and water,
and is the pro-tem mayor. I am responsible for budgeting,
the budget each year, human affairs and the city office. No
reason was given for the question.
Alden Shurtz had no concerns.
•Rod Wankier scheduled the public hearing on the
park for Nov. 14, 2001, at 6:30 p.m.
•Ryan Aagard said the Fire District had approved
a $52,000 brush truck for the Levan Fire Department. Bruce
Rowley was said to be very happy.
•Craig Worwood said he was approved a grant for
$3,000 for pine trees at the cemetery.
•There was an item for the executive session, but
the person requesting it could not make it to council
meeting.
•After the approval of the claims, the meeting
was adjourned until next month.
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