Salina Area Chamber of Commerce President Carol Lowman approached the council at their regularly scheduled meeting held July 14, 2021 to announce the county’s acquisition of a Main Street Revitalization Roadmap Grant. According to Lowman, Sevier County submitted an application to the Revitalization Roadmap Grant committee and was awarded $22,000 which will be split between Salina City and Richfield City. The funds are not for revitalization projects, rather a Roadmap which will give the area specific information regarding revitalization goals. Lowman was asked to continue to spearhead the process for Salina City, and following her appointment she asked for the addition of elected officials and other municipal employees to be on the steering committee. Both Salina City Councilmen Cade Hunter and Danny Viers were asked to serve, as was County Commissioner Scott Johnson. Local business owners Angie Viers, Tammy Harrison, Natalie Porter, and Sherri Sampson will be participating as well. Council members agreed that Main Street does not just end at the four-way, it goes all the way through town, and with the new city building scheduled to be constructed, it’s imperative the entire street area gets cleaned up. They were in support of the project and acknowledged that it will be helpful to have concrete findings regarding what is best for the area. “The objective of the ‘Revitalization Roadmap’ project is to increase employment, and the study will ask for people’s input as to what they’d like to see happen to Main Street and the key problems as they see it,” said Lowman. “That way it’s not just me and you speculating as to what Main Street needs or doesn’t need. It will show what’s happening and what businesses would thrive in the area. It’s not money to do anything with, rather a booklet of research and a checklist as to what could be done, then the city amends their general plan to work with it as they see fit.” Ryan Savage, Savage Engineering, also approached the council regarding a recent $1 million grant awarded to repave the surface of the local airport. Mayor Jed Maxwell reported that Gunnison and Salina were awarded the grant which provided $900,000 towards the project with the two cities splitting the remaining $100,000 needed. Sevier County contributed $25,000, as did Salina City, and Gunnison was working with Sanpete County to potentially split the remaining $50,000 needed. He said the project has been in the works for over four years and they’ve attempted various avenues to receive the funding, so it will be nice to get the work underway.
Pending UDOT approval, Staker Parson will be awarded the bid as lowest bidder.
Discussion turned to reported interest in more hangers coming in, and Councilman Newell Hales asked about the possibility of getting fuel on location. Estimates have been put together which total $40,000 to construct fuel accessibility on site as this is a common complaint of the pilots- they can land here but must go into Richfield for fuel. Fund availability for the project is under consideration and research.
Councilman Hales read a statement to the council regarding his opinion that citizens in the city should be able to purchase whatever size of water connection they want and motioned to do so.
Fellow councilmen agreed that that may be true and could be looked at, but current municipal codes state otherwise and to pass a motion to disregard city regulations would be illegal. They agreed to look into the situation and agreed with Hales when he expressed vehement frustration at the “255,000 gallons of water going down the creek, per day, that should be captured and sold to the Salina City citizens willing to pay for it. It’s not right that people outside Salina limits have more access to this than the citizens who pay taxes on it.”
Various scenarios were proposed to ‘capture’ the water but were concerned with the growth potential that must be balanced with water usage.
“It bothers me to no end to have to cut water off to citizens when we’re wasting water,” he said.
The council discussed various piping issues to utilize all available water, especially during these drought conditions including costs and metering issues. No final plan was devised but options were discussed, and further investigation will continue.
In other council business:
- Councilman Cade Hunter announced the opening of the pool and the problems that have since arisen but said the community has received the newly renovated facility very well and night rentals are fully booked for the remainder of this season. Safe storage of necessary chemicals was arranged and an assistant manager, fully certified in all necessary categories, was approved.
- Salina City Police Department’s vehicle lease with Ken Garff was approved.
- The Blast from the Past Car Show committee received permission to bring in portable restrooms to the Veteran’s Park for their event.
- Maintenance Supervisor Brad Allen reported intermittent power failure issues at the city’s lift station and Councilman Earl Taylor scheduled a time to inspect it.
