Fairview council measures roads for consideration for future improvements

 

By Rhett Wilkinson

Staff writer

10-22-2020

 

FAIRVIEW—The Fairview City Council did more than discuss future road development, they measured it.

Mayor David Taylor asked in the Thursday, Oct. 15 Fairview City Council meeting if the councilmen had thought about pending road projects.

Councilman Matt Sorensen and Councilman Casey Anderson did more than think about it, Sorensen said.

The two measured eight different roads in Fairview, including Canyon Road.

“We didn’t really find any road that was really the same anywhere that we measured,” Anderson said, noting that at least two differed by up to 14 feet.

The “moral of the story” is that some of Fairview’s roads need to be widened, Anderson said.

In other meeting action, Taylor spoke regarding the state of Utah rolling out new restrictions regarding COVID-19, which included mask rules.

“Please be cautious,” Taylor said.

Taylor hopes that the city can get back on Oct. 29 to the level it was at, saying the city must be “vigilant.”

At the start of the meeting, Taylor asked attendees to leave the meeting if they showed COVID-19 symptoms. He said at the end of the meeting that he was “kind of horsing around” with attendees, but then said, “This is reality.”

Councilman Brad Welch noted that families in Utah are great at getting together once a month and said that his family that gathers once a month in North Ogden, Utah, canceled their get-together for the weekend of Oct. 17.

            Taylor said that he asked city staff to line up Santa Claus for the first weekend after Thanksgiving. Taylor said “let’s get him ordered … but we have got to get used to start living our lives differently.”

Welch said the city may do a parade with Santa rather than have children sitting on his lap.

To further adjust to the pandemic, Taylor wanted to start considering Pioneer Day activities. He wants to have something ready for the council in November because the city starts preparing for Pioneer Day in January.

Also in the meeting, Police Chief Steve Gray thanked the city for its help amid “a couple crappy weeks.”

“I’ve worked for five cities,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt family like I’ve felt here.”

Gray mentioned that his mother passed away.

“The phone calls and the messages and hugs and the time off was huge for me,” Gray said. “I appreciate everything.”

“He’s had a full plate-and-a-half,” Taylor said of Gray. “Appreciate everything he’s done.”

In other meeting action, the council passed an ordinance as amended creating a general policy for control backflow and cross connections. It was for the purpose of protecting the public drinking water supply, according to the meeting agenda.

Justin Jackson, the Fairview City water and sewer superintendent, said the law was a “boilerplate ordinance.”

“Cross-connection backflow requirements have been around since the 1980s,” he said.

With the ordinance passed, the city will need to choose a plumbing official, Jackson said.

Taylor suggested that Jackson call Tracey Christensen, building administrator for Sanpete County, and ask him point blank if he’s qualified?