The Hanksville Town Council meeting convened its regular session on the 2nd day of February, 2023 in the Hanksville Community Center; meeting commenced at 6:00 p.m.
Present: Mayor Jeffren Pei, C. Morgan Roberts, C. Eric Wells and C. Mona Wells
Absent: Treasurer Jessica Alvey and C. Tanesha Conder
Employees: Clerk Lisa Wells
Public in Attendance: Doug & Katy Roberts, Cathy Rosenbaum, Kelly Florez, Carl Watson, Brian and Jenna Pearce, Sgt. Micah Evans – Division of Natural Resources and Quinn Davis - Bullfrog
Meeting to Order: Mayor Jeffren Pei
Pledge: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei
Prayer: C. Eric Wells
Roll Call: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei
Motion to approve minutes of previous council meeting: C. Eric Wells; Second Mayor Jeffren T. Pei Aye: All in attendance
Council member Mona Wells:
Nothing to report
Council member Tanesha Conder:
Absent
Council member Morgan Roberts:
Nothing to report
Council member Eric Wells:
The new crossing at Bull Creek that is being installed will change the main water line location. There is still discussion of who will be responsible to pay for materials and time to move the line. UDOT said they got approval to clean out Bull Creek from the new crossing under the road going north to Fremont River.
Mayor Jeffren Pei:
The remaining grant money on the roads project must be spent on items within the scope of work of the original road project. Asphalt patches are needed and also the drainage issue by the firehouse at the park that was discussed in the original plan of the road project.
No funds were approved by FEMA for the flood event in August 2022. Moving forward to apply with USDA for funds of $1.6 million for a dike south of town to protect from Bull Creek flooding, new bridge at the Bull Creek crossing by Ernie Robinson’s property, Locust Lane Road that has been damage by flooding, sewer ponds and also cleaning out Bull Creek. This was the full scope of the project from the beginning but they have cut out of the project the sewer lagoons (that project is being completed with other funding) and Locust Lane repairs. Which has left the small dike south of town, cleaning out Bull Creek and the town bridge crossing of Bull Creek. This grant requires 20% matching funds of about $320 thousand; the majority of the money would be spent on rip rap building the mile long dike, the second project would be cleaning out Bull Creek and the last project will be repairs to the town bridge crossing Bull Creek. The mayor is estimating that out of the $1.6 million about $400K to $500K will be needed for projects with in Hanksville Town boundaries. Some of this project, the mile long rip rap for the diversion is outside Hanksville Town boundaries and would require the majority of the funding. Wayne County commissioners have backed out of the project leaving Hanksville to figure out how to fund the project. Mayor is trying to see if the money already spent for in-kind services on the day of the 9.1.2021 flood will count toward the matching funds and also future spending on materials. The mayor will be attending a meeting tomorrow regarding this and looking for clarification of the matching grant stipulations. Is it 50% in-kind services and 50% cash to meet the 20% matching fund requirement.
Treasurer Jessica Alvey: ABSENT
Clerk Lisa Wells:
Bills presented to council for approval (spreadsheet attached)
Motion to approve bills for payment C. Eric Wells; Second C. Mona Wells Aye: All in attendance.
Conflict of Interest statements – Yearly form that each council member and town employee need to declare and sign.
2023 Elections – 2 – 2-year term council member seats and 2 – 4-year term council member seats will be open and any interested candidate will need to file their intent of candidacy in June.
2023 Town event assignments:
Easter – Tanesha Conder
4th of July – Morgan Roberts
Founder’s Day – Mona Wells
Christmas Tree Lighting – Eric Wells
Planning Commission:
Katie Roberts – Met with the clerk to discuss Hanksville specific ordinances that are already in place and getting those aligned with the zoning ordinance and deciding if they need updated. The planning commission meeting was very productive following this meeting and Katie will continue to meet with the clerk’s office. The planning commission would like to align what Hanksville already has with what could possibly be changed such as business licenses. Hanksville has several different fee rates versus the Torrey sample ordinance has one fee for any business license. They are considering the building codes to match Wayne County zoning for property set-backs and maybe lot sizes.
Tabled Business: NONE
New Business and Public Comment:
Sgt. Micah Evans from Utah Division of Natural Resources, here on behalf of Lt. Bruce Johnson, with him is Quinn Davis – head of operations in Bullfrog. Reported on the 2022 aquatic invasive efforts. They inspected just over 7000 boats at Lake Powell, Bullfrog did 187 decontaminations. No check points were performed at Bullfrog this past year. Hanksville RV & Marine performed 250 decontaminations. Hanksville has been a really good partner for Bullfrog as they didn’t have the staff this year. The Hanksville station does microscopic killing of mussels, no live mussels are allowed out of the Bullfrog area. There is no fee to the boater for the decontamination, DNR pays about $75/boat. Once a boater has gone through decon at Bullfrog or Hanksville they can launch at other bodies of water.
Morgan Roberts presented the application of 2 business licenses for her and Colton Roberts. Mowgli’s will be a coffee shop and CR Performance is a company Colton has started that does spray foam insulation.
Motion to approve a business license for Mowgli’s and CR Performance: C. Eric Wells; Second C. Mona Wells Aye: All in attendance.
Carl Watson – Would like to purchase the old Whitby house but there is a 2 ton pot belly stove that the Whitby’s want and Carl is wondering if there is anybody in town who could help with that project. Mr. Watson has done painting and dry wall professionally and would be willing to trade his labor. He really likes the town of Hanksville and would like to make it his home.
Brian & Jenna Pearce introduces themselves as the owners of the old Sam Wells’ house at 70 N 100 W. They bought the house more than a year ago and love it here in Hanksville. They have been renting their house as a short-term rental on Airbnb and occasionally visit here themselves.
Kelly Florez – Had heard that Hanksville has been designated as an Emergency Evacuee Destination for that State of Utah. The council is unaware of any formal designation but gave Kelly the Wayne County Emergency Management contact of James Harris, he is new to this position. Kelly also offered her services as a grant writer. She doesn’t have any experience in writing a grant but is willing to look at the process and see if she could do it if there is an interest by the council in any of the projects that need funding. She realizes there is no pay unless the grant comes through and the project is funded. She discussed the possibility of Hemp farming here in Hanksville and the beneficial uses of Hemp products and would be a carbon negative crop. Hemp is very versatile; people use it to build and it is a non-toxic product.
Discussion of growth in Hanksville and the projection of water usage. Has the town looked into how much area can be sustained with the water resources the town has and how will that affect future development? The need to study an expansion of a 500-population base. What would be required to maintain that as far as business, employees, recreation, water, housing etc. Annexation was discussed and the process for that.
MOTION TO ADJOURN: C. Mona Wells; Second C. Morgan Roberts Aye: All in attendance Adjourned 7:15pm
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