REGULAR MEETING
JULY 13, 2021
MINUTES
Mayor Blakley brought the First Regular Meeting of the Dinosaur Town Council to order at 6:00 p.m.
Those presents were Mayor Richard A. Blakley, Trustees Darcie Rocque, Devonna Wilczek, David Heinrich, Robert Essex, LeRoy Trujillo, Town Marshal/Administrator Laurance Elarton, Town Clerk Tamara Long. Absent was Trustee Charles Winkler.
Trustee Heinrich made a motion, seconded by Trustee Rocque to accept the accounts payable of $170,305.71 as presented. Ayes: 6. Nays: 0. Motion carried.
Trustee Essex made a motion, seconded by Trustee Heinrich to accept the minutes from June 15, as presented. Ayes: 6. Nays: 0. Motion carried.
Ms. Trisha Hedin a Grand County Commissioner from Utah was here to do a presentation, about the Eastern Utah Regional Connection (aka Book Cliffs Highway). She said that there are seven Counties in Southern Eastern Utah that put this proposal together their goal is to produce infrastructure throughout the South East of their State. She said that they want to put a road just outside of Vernal. She said that they have been pushing for this highway for about 30 years. She said that they are looking at 35 miles of highway and the cost projection is ranging from 200-400 million. People from UDOT said that it would be way more than that. They believe that the funding can come from Biden’s Covid and/or infrastructure money.
The Objectives are. They believe that they are developing a transportation corridor from the Uintah Basin to I-70. They said that the existing travel corridors through Dinosaur/Rangely and Duchesne/Helper are miles longer than the proposed route.
Ms. Hedin said that taxpayers’ dollars will be going to an infrastructure project that is unwanted and irrelevant. Trustee Essex asked what the Ute Tribe thinks about this. She said that it does not touch their land at all. Trustee Essex said that he thought it went through there and they will not let people trespass. We will be spending monies on enforcement, search and rescue and maintenance on that road. She said that if this goes through there are land owners that will lose a portion of their ranch via imminent domain.
Ms. Hedin said in building this highway, the Eastern Utah Regional Connection will bypass the existing travel corridors. These travel corridors are vital to the economic diversity of communities on the west side of this proposal such as Duchesne, Helper, Price and Green River and on east side Dinosaur and Rangely.
She said to stop the proposal she suggested contacting the local press, contact the Governor of Colorado and Utah. The more pressure they get, they seem to retract. She said that the Co-Chairs are Brad Horrocks (Uintah County) and Lynn Sitterud (Emery County Commissioner). The real driver for this road is Mike McKee out of Vernal. She said that this road will only save about 10-12 minutes.
Trustee Heinrich mentioned that it would breaks up the Dinosaur Diamond. He said that people coming down from Yellow Stone and Flaming Gorge will go straight through instead of coming through Dinosaur.
She said that she would be happy to give the Council anything they need from her, if they are going to do a letter.
Ms. Donna Franklin presented some information to the Council. Trustee Essex mentioned dying trees, he said that there are dying trees all over town. Ms. Sarah Jones said that her trees had a few dead branches that froze and they did not know it they were going into hibernation or not. Ms. Franklin said that there is a problem with voles and she has learned how to correct that problem.
Mayor Blakley said that he didn’t think they were trapping cats. Marshal Elarton said that by Town Ordinance a cat is like a dog. They are supposed to have their rabies shots. There was a resident that did not want cats on their property. So, we were trapping feral cats, they are not legal in Town. He said there are other towns that have the same Ordinance. Ms. Franklin offered to take the cat to Meeker to get it fixed and get its shots. Marshal Elarton said that it was a feral cat and did not want the town to be liable for her and her other cats. Trustee Essex asked Ms. Franklin what do you want us to do. Ms. Franklin said that they keep the mice and voles gone and without the feral cats we will be over ran by the mice and voles.
Trustee Wilczek asked about the cameras. Ms. Franklin said that the Ms. Jones has a camera trained on her property. Ms. Jones said that the reason she has the camera is because Ms. Franklin has almost hit her pedestals. Ms. Franklin said that she has her camera on her fence trained on her driveway and kitchen. Ms. Jones said that she was informed by the District Attorney that she could have cameras because she has had problems with people harassing and stalking her, and surveillance her.
Ms. Franklin asked what about the rocks and boulders by the street that the snow plow cannot get through. Trustee Essex said that she has worked hard to make her place look good. Ms. Jones said that
she will address that when they snow plow. Ms. Franklin mentioned that the street is only 16 feet wide and there are people that need to back out and use the easement to get out. Trustee Essex said that the property owner is responsible to take care of the easement.
Ms. Franklin said that she will be putting up a six-foot-high fence that Mayor Blakley had approved in 2018.
Ms. Franklin said that she does not think that a city manager should also not be a police man because he is making policies and enforcing policies. The Council said that he isn’t. Ms. Franklin said that he suggested that she license her cats. Mayor Blakley said that he did not know about this ordinance. Marshal Elarton said that it is under rabies control. He said that if he has a complaint, he has to enforce the policies that the town has.
Mr. and Mrs. Zufelt said that the State waived the fees for the renewal on the liquor license. Mr. Zufelt said that they would like to do a modification to the premises. He said that with the Covid they were able to serve drinks and beer out a window. It was a variance. Mrs. Zufelt said that they would like to make modifications if this happens again, they want to make sure that they are covered to serve alcohol on their premises. Mr. Zufelt said that they have a grass area to the West, and they would like to put picnic tables there. Trustee Wilczek asked if it would be fenced in and enclosed. Mr. Zufelt said that it would not be enclosed at this point. He said that eventually they would like to do a rod iron fence around it or something to designate that area. He said the state said it would be okay to do it, but they would have to get the approval from the town first.
Mayor Blakley asked Marshal Elarton what he felt about it. Marshal Elarton said that he also talked about them putting in something to keep others out. Trustee Essex said that in Carbondale they do not have an open container law. Marshal Elarton said their concern is they are selling off premises, and they are responsible for watching their property. Mr. Zufelt said that they are liable for the parking lot and all the property around it. He said that is someone comes in when they are closed and sits at their tables and drinks a beer, they are still responsible for it according to state liquor.
Trustee Wilczek asked how they are going to monitor it. He said the same way that they have been monitoring it. Mrs. Zufelt said that you can only order one beer at a time. Mr. Zufelt said that they cannot serve more than one drink at a time.
Mrs. Zufelt said that they are just thinking ahead. Mr. Zufelt said that they would like the approval for the modifications at the same time. Mayor Blakely said that the modifications have to go to the state for their approval also.
Trustee Wilczek said that she would like to see it fenced off. Marshal Elarton said that with the liquor laws their liability would be the same rather their fenced or unfenced. Trustee Heinrich made a motion, seconded by Trustee Essex to approve the liquor license renewal and modifications to the premises at the Highway Bar and Grill. Ayes: 6. Nays: 0. Motion carried.
Mayor Blakley said that they are working on the sewer truck and will call when they are done. The $2800 includes the clutch, pressure plate and throughout bearings.
Mayor Blakley said that Natural gas is moving slow. Mr. Steve Shute met with Williams about a week and a half ago. EDA is supposed to be setting up a meeting with USDA to see what kind of money they might grant to help pay for the hookup.
The lagoon project is almost lined. He said that they hope they don’t get rain under the liner. He said that the liner crew has been here for two days and they are probably 7/8 done. They only have one side to finish up.
Mayor Blakley said that they had problems at Well 3, but have got that taken care of. We said that it was bad wire going to the pump, so we did not have to replace the pump.
Mayor Blakley said that the Town clean up went excellent, he said that they got a lot of stuff cleaned up. Trustee Wilczek asked if they are going to do citations on yards. Marshal Elarton said that they can’t if they are going to do another round of dumpsters. He said that there were people taking advantage of the dumpsters. Mayor Blakley said that he thinks they will use the dumpsters again. Trustee Essex suggested doing a fall clean-up. He said that we don’t want to mess with people that are trying to clean up. Trustee Wilczek said that there are people that have trash that has been there forever. She said that it is not the towns responsibility. Trustee Essex said that we need to help our citizens. Trustee Essex made a motion, seconded by Trustee Trujillo to set up another town cleanup for August 28-29. Ayes: 6. Nays: 0. Motion carried.
Mayor Blakley said that we need to reschedule the Model Traffic Code for July 27th. We will have to advertise it twice in the paper.
Mr. Elarton mentioned that the Department of Public Health has a medical take back program. He said that we will have a prescription drug disposal and they will pay for the removal cost. The Marshal Office will keep it secure.
Mr. Elarton said that they fired up the sewer camera and started inspections. He said that it works pretty well, they started on Ceratosaurus. He said that it lets you see if the rod machine is working or not. He said that the line did look good. Trustee Wilczek asked if they are going to do the rest of them. Mr. Elarton said yes, they will do the whole town. He said that we do not know what the rod truck is doing until you put the camera down the lines. He said that he would like a survey on all pipes to see if there are broken or damage pipes so that we can get them fixed with the infrastructure.
Mr. Elarton said that they had an electric issue on Well 3. Well 2 is still on hold we hope that can be done by summer. We have not heard back from water people on whether they are approving or denying the well. She seemed pretty positive when they spoke to her that they were not going to take the well since she had not seen any paper work yet. He said that the town had put a new pump in it, and have been testing the flow and flushing it.
Mr. Elarton said that 3rd Street and that area has been graveled, we are waiting to get bids on paving 3rd street. He said that they are not going to pave Boodle or 2nd Street this year. He said that they will look at those roads next year.
He said that the school design in nearing completion. We have been working with Colorado Denver Campus.
He mentioned that they have been doing a lot of mowing. The school looks good and Blue Mountain Trailer Parks is paying for theirs to be mowed. Trustee Trujillo said that they got around the old jail, and his sister got theirs all cleaned up.
Trustee Essex said that he has been working for the town for a few weeks. He said that he has dedicated on cleaning up town property. He said that he went in the old Ledford Building. And said as far as he is concern everything in there is garbage. He said that he will clean the exterior part of the property. He said that someone needs to go through the inside and see what they think. He said that he took the old propane tank from there and put it at the old town hall. He said that he would like Sav on Propane to come over and do a pressure check on the valves and make sure everything is good on it. He said that way the building can be heated while they are working on thing over there. Mayor Blakley said that we will have to buy a heater.
Trustee Essex said if there is anything on their agenda that needs to be addressed cleaning wise just let him know. Trustee Wilczek asked what he is on. Trustee Essex said that he is doing contract labor. Trustee Wilczek said that he needs to turn in a certificate of insurance for the contract labor. Trustee Essex asked how that works. Marshal Elarton said that is not how the town has ever done it. He said that we got an application from them to go on our insurance as summer help. He said there are several gentlemen that take advantage of this and we are going to put a few more on. Trustee Essex said that he would like to get at least one more helper. He told Mr. Joe Flores that he needs help during the day. Trustee Wilczek asked if it is required to do drug screens. Marshal Elarton said that they are contract. Trustee Wilczek said that they are using town equipment. Marshal Elarton said that they get paid $15 an hour and that is for extra help. He said that they are basically volunteers that are getting paid.
Trustee Wilczek asked if the town was going to do mosquito spraying. Mayor Blakley said that we just have to call them.
Ms. Sarah Jones said in reference to her easement. She said that her property is in Lollar Subdivision in the original plat drawn up in 1946. In the original plat the easements were recorded by the town to go to the property owners. She said that her land cannot be impaired or taken away without compensation, for all of the work that she has done to her easements. These easements in the subdivision are part and partial with the land that they affect. She said that they do not change when property changes hands. She said that the easement gives her the right to use it as described in ordinances of the town, in easement provisions. She said that she has had people drive into her fence in the past. She has spent thousands of dollars in her fence and the repairs to it from damages. She said that before she purchased her fencing she consulted with the town, the town council members, the mayor as well as the clerk. Plus, has done research with the town ordinances. She said that she was told that she could land scape her easement. She said that there are several people around town that have things on their easements. She said as far as snow plowing there is no reason that they need to be on her easement with that blade. She said that she takes care of her easement.
Ms. Jones said that she has been continually harassed, slandered from her neighbor from Vernal, Rangely and Craig with officers. She said if this don’t stop, she will serve legal actions to decease and desist, or there will be further actions taken for slandering.
There was a gentleman from Salt Lake that was wanting to put a mobile home on part of his friends’ lots that can be subdivided. Mayor Blakley asked what is the size and year of the mobile home. He said that it is an older home it is a 72 but it has been totally redone. Trustee Essex said that the home is too old. He said there is an ordinance and it has to be 10 years or newer to be brought into town and set up.
Trustee Trujillo asked even if it has been remodeled. Trustee Heinrich said the issue was probably because of the plumbing and electric. The gentleman said that he has redone the roof is has a commercial roof. Mayor Blakley asked how big is it. He said that it is 12x48. Mayor Blakley said that it has to be at least a 12x60 to have the 720 square feet. The ordinance reads it has to be 720 square feet of living space to be set on a lot.
Trustee Heinrich made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:19 all were in favor.
Town of Dinosaur
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Richard A. Blakley, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Tamara Long, Town Clerk