Manti City learns animal violations were down last year, licensing clinic coming up
Judy Chantry
Staff writer
1-26-2017
MANTI—Manti City Council heard an audit report during their meeting last week, along with updates on local code enforcement and some upcoming cooperative projects the city is considering.
At the meeting which took place on Wednesday, Jan. 18, Gary Keddington, financial advisor for Manti City gave a report on the 2015-2016 audit for the fiscal year which ended June 30, 2016.
“The audit went smoothly,” Keddington said, “which was in part because the city updates financial reports monthly.”
There were only two findings which Keddington says were minor and easily rectified. One was escrow accounts that were supposed to be reported to the state, were, up until now, not.
The other finding was in regards to posting monthly public meeting minutes to the Utah Public Information website within three days of approval. Reportedly, the city does fulfill that requirement often but in a couple of instances the minutes were not uploaded in the required time frame.
Mayor Korry Soper assured the auditor that the city would henceforth upload the minutes on time. Soper also committed to making sure the city complied with the escrow account reporting requirements.
Blake Demill, electrical superintendent, reported to the council that there were two new electrical services installed during the past month. Also, the crew is working on replacing light bulbs on city street lights. Upcoming projects are tree trimming and supplying power to the new sports complex, along with other tasks
On another matter of business, Mike Tillack reported that the total stray dogs picked up had lessened from 2015 to 2016.
“The problem is still there with roaming dogs, but it is much better,” said Tillack. “The cat problem goes in spurts but is being kept under control.”
Last year there were 74 orange tags cautioning residents about removing old cars and debris from city property and other nuisance violations. Tillack said that citizens are taking those tags serious and only two citations were issued, which he says is a vast improvement over past years.
The shot/licensing clinic will be held Feb. 25, which is the day that dog licenses are due. At that time there will be notices posted about the increased fees for repeat offending owners of stray dogs.
A discussion took place regarding possible action regarding Manti City Dog Ordinance No. 6.08. Changes in wording for some of the dog ordinances are being implemented to give the ordinance more clarification and substance. City leaders say the modifications will justify increasing fines for violations.
The new Manti City logo will become more visible soon. Funding was approved for the logo to be placed in various places of Manti City Hall. Several areas were suggested and a final decision will be made when the signage is ready.
Soper reported that the Snow College Recycling Center had expressed the desire to expand their services and resources to accommodate the entire county.
“The center is looking for support and ideas from individual cities to help accomplish this,” said Soper. He went on to explain that they do not have the resources to accomplish this on their own.
“I see this as a positive thing as recycling helps to reduce our trash deposits in the Sanpete County Landfill,” he said. “Recycling will extend the life of the landfill and reduce the cost to our citizens in the long run. It is important for us to be good stewards of our own environment.”
On a final note, Soper reported that the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands would like Manti City to enter into an agreement with them to clean up overgrowth, weeds and fire dangers around town to help mitigate wildland fire risk. Soper says this may help prevent a fire extending beyond the borders if there were to be a fire in Manti.
“Look at what happened in Tennessee. We don’t want that happening here”, Soper said.
