Large crowd asks county to justify proposed tax increase Suzanne Dean Publisher 11-10-2016 MANTI—Sanpete County commissioners tried last week to explain to a crowd that nearly filled the Manti High School auditorium why they are proposing a 60 percent hike in the county tax levy. But most of about two dozen people who…
Enough! Ephraim blight should not be tolerated Ephraim City Council members, the city staff, and hopefully, a few people in other towns in Sanpete County, are starting to utter the “B” word. That’s “B” for blight. Until you admit you have it, you can’t do anything about it. Ephraim and Sanpete County are 100…
Sanpete proposes property tax hike Suzanne Dean Publisher 10-27-2016 MANTI—The Sanpete County Commission has scheduled a public hearing for next Thursday, Nov. 3 on a proposal to raise county property taxes for the first time since 2004. The hearing will be at 6 p.m. in the east courtroom of the Sanpete County Courthouse….
Ephraim makes it clear: Council wants action, not just talk Suzanne Dean Publisher 10-13-2016 EPHRAIM—The Ephraim City Council made it clear last week that it wants action, not just talk, regarding two target properties riddled with what inspectors said were serious code violations. Mark Huntsman, senior vice president of Sunrise Engineering of Fillmore,…
Ephraim getting tough on code enforcement Suzanne Dean Publisher 9-8-2016 EPHRAIM—The Ephraim City Council, taking perhaps its strongest stand ever on enforcement of city building and utility codes, voted last week to give the owner of a mobile home park at about 200 West and 200 North a final, 30-day notice to correct…
Power of persistence will win in the end on Narrows Project “Nothing is more powerful than persistence.” And no group of people is a better example of that statement by Calvin Coolidge than citizens of Sanpete County, as represented by the Sanpete Water Conservancy District (SWDC). In order to get the Narrows dam and reservoir…
Ephraim expects lobbying to pay off By Suzanne Dean Publisher 8-18-2016 EPHRAIM—The Ephraim City Council has approved a contract under which the city will pay $5,000 per month to a Washington, D.C. firm for lobbying and grant writing. At a meeting in late July, the council approved the contract with the Ferguson Group,…
Narrows hits big stumbling block By Suzanne Dean Publisher 8-11-2016 BOUNTIFUL—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has thrown a stumbling block in the path of the Narrows Project that could take as much as $2 million and as long as two years to surmount. In response to an application for a 404 permit…