Attending Members: Mary Esther Putnam (Chair); Gerald Schiefer (VC); Dall Winn; Spencer Beckstrom; Ron Snow
Also Present: Steve Robinson (Fire Chief); George Cropper (Treasurer) and Beverly Udell (Secretary)
Guests: Guin Winn; Dorrel Booth; Helga Love; John Nichols; Gae Robinson; Gayle Cloud; Ed Anderson
1. General Business:
a/b. Welcome – The meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M. with the opening being the Pledge of Allegiance.
c. Minutes: Minutes from April 4, 2007 were read by Mary Esther. They were motioned for approval (after the correction of typos) by Gerald and seconded by Spencer. All were in favor.
d. Pine Valley Building Permits Reviewed: None
e. Board Member Reports:
Gerald: Regarding the Pavillion effort – Bevin plans to come walk around the whole area with Mark, Gerald and whoever else wants to be there. Helga suggested that if there is an architectural school somewhere in the area, that maybe one of the students would draw up some plans for us. She suggested that we could even have some type of competition between the students, with the winner of the plans we like the best earning a scholarship or something from us as the award. Gerald said that Pine Valley’s Gilbert Jennings would do that same thing for us free of charge. At the potluck last month, it was announced that ideas were wanted for what the people in the Valley wanted to see out of a pavillion/club house. The land is a 316 ft. x 1270 ft. parcel, which also houses the fire station and post office. There has been talk about putting in a box in the post office for property owners to submit their ideas. * Ponderosa day camp area will be open by this weekend. Dorrel said that they are going to turn on the water up there to run samples and then go from there. They hope to have the whole campground open by Memorial Day weekend. * The game warden wants signs posted about hunting in the Valley. The turkey hunt is ongoing. Archery starts in August. A question was asked about the signage including anything about shooting itself, or just hunting? What about someone who wants to kill skunks or raccoons on their own property? The answer is that the law states there is to be NO discharging of fire arms or bow/arrow type weapons in the Valley – all are illegal directly within the Valley. * Gerald asked about the changing of the PVSSD charter – to possibly include law enforcement, recreation and emergency medical service. There is often a 90 day wait in the process of changing the charter. * Gerald said that he talked to Bevin about possibly having signage when people first entered the Valley – a sign stating the rules of hunting, OHV, theft, fire, or anything else we want people to know about. He said that if we contact the correctional facility, they can make us a 4×6 reflective sign for $146. Helga suggested adding that we are a zero tolerance neighborhood.
NOTE: Gae, Steve and Gerald got called out of the meeting because of an emergency motorcycle accident on the way up to the campsite.
Mary Esther was concerned about us putting up a sign and people just using it for target practice. She also didn’t want us to become a “billboard town” with those signs. Dall wondered if people would even read them, as they don’t seem to read (or just chose to ignore) the big sign that is posted each year about no burning. Dall said that he will contact his friends in Cedar City Wildlife to ask how they have handled similar situations. Dall suggested that if we did do such a sign, that maybe we could post it by the town map. Another rule to post on the sign is that no one can live in a trailer in Pine Valley.
Spence: Thoughts on Incorporation – we need to have 100-1000 residents. Signers of petition to Incorporate need to have ½ of the land area and 1/3 of the assessed area. * Stucki subdivision passed yesterday. They can only build to the end of the block and no further out into the meadows. They now might eventually have 11 homes on ½ acre lots.
Mary Esther: It will take 2 weeks for the new OHV ordinance to come into effect. Ron Whitehead (Public Works Dept.) was asked if we could get counters on our streets to do our road study. Currently there is not a study in progress. Mary Esther wants counters in place at least from Thursday thru Monday of Memorial Day Weekend. The new ordinance will say that OHV riders can only ride on the paved roads to or from a designated trail destination – not to joy ride around town, or to ride to the post office or Brandin’ Iron. Mary Esther also wondered what kind of police coverage we would get if it were not for the Forestry Department monies, plus what Pine Valley is going to kick in. We will have to pay time and a half, or double time rates to get officers to come on their off time. Mary Esther wondered why we can’t get 8-5 type officers, why do we only get the ones who will come up as overtime? We were told that the County does have money, but not enough for the coverage we need. We will also have to pay for the vehicle. Holiday weekends, when we would need coverage the most, would be an example of double-time pay. We need everyone in town to call sheriff’s dispatch if we even think that an OHV rider is breaking the law. Helga said that she knows of folks who would be glad to pay for the law enforcement. Sheriff Smith is adamant about no longer giving warnings, but giving full tickets instead. We all agree that it should be a crime that an 8 year old can now ride on the streets, same as a car, with same speed limits, etc. Other offenses include racing, kicking up too much dust, too young of riders, no helmets on kids, no adult supervision. The new ordinance should be posted on the County web site. Maybe we should also post it on the Pine Valley web site. Dorrell wanted to know how this will affect our insurance. The County is going to put signage on the dirt roads. * Dorrell questioned the PVSSD Charter revision. He wanted to know if we added Recreation, and the building of a pavilion, would the property owners be assess the costs that might be over and above donations? Would property owners have to pay for the upkeep? Ed Anderson said that he doesn’t see the need for a pavilion when we could still use the church grounds for activities. Beverly explained that activities that were not church related really weren’t supposed to be on the church grounds, such as the Pine Valley Dinner which does fundraising for things that are not church related. Other possible uses for a pavilion would potlucks, town meetings, town activities (variety shows, plays, etc.), summer outdoor game nights. Dorrell said that he felt we were just fine the way we were and didn’t want to assessed extra money for something he didn’t feel we needed. He explained that when he was on the town board, a park idea had been brought up, but at the time was voted down because they thought it wasn’t fair to charge all property owners the extra money. Ed said again that he didn’t see the need either. Beverly said that the town has grown so much since it was previously brought up and that now we have more activities that we just don’t have the space for. Dorrell felt that if we put Recreation in the Charter, then that would definitely make the SSD responsible for everything regarding a pavilion, especially in the area of money. Mary Esther agreed that she has the same concerns and they will definitely explore this area much more before rushing in to add Recreation to the Charter.
Ron: N/A
Note: Gae, Steve and George returned.
f. Treasurer’s Report – George: Passed out a financial report. The Weidner bill has now been resolved and paid for. Impact fees savings account went over $25,000. The bank is willing to up the interest on our account because of that. George looked at the State Auditor’s web site and saw what other SSDs have and he saw ways that we can clean up some. Ron and Dall asked George to continue to research that and get back to us. * George gave a report on the State Auditor’s training meeting that he went to.
g. Fire Chief’s Report – Steve: FEMA application will be done by morning. Mary Esther has been asked to revue the Mutual Aid agreement and get back to Dave Patterson ASAP. House Bill 156 is forcing changes to the Mutual Aid agreement. * No fire, no EMS in April. * Burn permits are now required to do any burning in the Valley. * Dall motioned to accept the Mutual Aid package as written with date correction. Spence seconded and all were in favor.
h. EMS Report – Gae: Case in point on the motorcycle accident about OHV riders. He was speeding and didn’t make the turn. Gae is saying that because of the new ordinance, we will more than definitely be needing more emergence supplies up here. She reminded everyone that there almost certainly will be more accidents and it is a 30-45 minute minimum for an ambulance to get here. Gae is requesting more supplies for them to use as first responders. Mary Esther asked Gae to make a list of their needs and Mary Esther will present that to the County to see if they will pay for the supplies. Gae wants to train for fire fighters in first aid, hopefully spending 30 minutes at each fire training for this purpose. We can only currently handle one patient, max, at a time. We need at least 2 sets of everything. We need to increase our EMS budget threefold just to handle the bare minimum due to the change in OHV rules and the potential for problems. Dall wants the list of needed supplies NOW before the Memorial Day weekend. Helga suggested that the County Commissioner require OHV riders to have added insurance.
2 – Public Comments –
At 7:30 PM, Dall moved for the meeting to adjourn. Gerald seconded.
The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 6:00 P.M.