Fairview to apply to DWR for

 deer management plan

By Rhett Wilkinson

Staff writer

9-24-2020

 

FAIRVIEW—The Fairview City Council has decided to work with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to manage its deer population.

Councilman Casey Anderson made a motion for the city to fill out an application with the DWR to manage its deer herd.

The council first wanted to confirm that the city had a deer problem. The council made the determination that the city does, Anderson said.

The council previously talked about if the city should fly drones to check for deer populations “and so forth,” Anderson said.

DWR biologist Wes Alexander attended a previous council meeting and discussed “the next steps in the application process, Anderson said. The DWR requires city governments to follows a series of steps before being permitted to destroy or relocate deer found within the city limits.

And in the Aug. 20 council meeting, in a follow-up discussion on a deer study, Mayor David Taylor talked about reaching out to DWR.

At that time, Councilman Brad Welch spoke about the deer issue, saying: “What’s very clear is it’s a localized problem … Not our whole city.”

Welch later said “If [the deer] are not scared of people, then that changes things.”

DWR “will look at the application and say they are fine with your management plan,” Anderson said.

The council will have more information once its application is approved, Anderson said.

In other meeting action, Mayor David Taylor and Welch said that funds available through the CARES Act were being used in the city.

The funds are being use for cleaning supplies and bathroom improvements at the city ballfields, dance hall, city hall and park. They funds are also going towards the sewage pumps and a plastic cage for the city’s police vehicle.

“Right now, it’s just a wire one,” Welch said. “It makes sense to have one that is plastic and a barrier.”

Almost $20,000 from the funds went towards fixtures just for the bathrooms, Welch said.

While they are getting “no-touch stuff,” Welch said, the bathrooms will get various things depending upon what they need, like hand air driers or faucets that are motion-sensitive.

“The bathrooms are all in different stages,” Welch said, stating that the funds were being used to get the bathrooms to a “more current standard.”

While Welch wasn’t completely sure of the exact monies used so far from CARES Act funds, he said that by the time the city was done in using the funds, the city should be close to the $120,000 it was allotted.