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Newly Hatched: Capital Improvements Emerge from Hatch Town Planning Process
WGCI photo
Members of the Town of Hatch Fire Dept. strike a pose with their brand new fire truck, which was delivered to the town in early November. The crew held their initial training on the truck on December 1. HATCH - The leaders of Hatch town have recently put the elbow grease to a number of community projects that give a new shine to the town’s infrastructure and services. After several years of planning, followed by aggressive pursuit of funding, the town now boasts a new community center, energy conservation upgrades including grid-tie solar installations, fire station renovations, and most recently, a brand new fire truck. The town raised more than $672,000 to complete these projects. “The community center was a process we started back in 2008,” says Hatch Mayor Lucinda Josie. “We set it as one of our five-year priorities.” The town then applied for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) through the Five County Association of Governments and also for a Community Impact Board (CIB) grant. In all, the town raised over $400,000 for the community center, which was completed in 2011. Josie, who was appointed mayor this past summer after former Hatch Mayor Kevin Eldredge stepped down from the post, is credited by other town leaders for her grant writing expertise during her terms as both a council member and as mayor. “I’ve seen more happen within the last four years than in the whole time I’ve lived here,” says Jacie Torgerson, who has served as Hatch’s town clerk for fifteen years. “It’s been really aggressive. Lucinda did all
of the grants and all the credit goes to her.” “The community center we have now compared to what we had before is awesome,” she added. For many years, the city council met in a ten by fifteen foot room. Although the former meeting room was small, the structure was sound and has been incorporated into the new building. Josie notes that the additional funding for energy-related projects arose out of their work on the initial community center grant. “When we were working with Five Counties, they said to us, ‘Hey, all of you who are applying for block grants, there’s energy funding available, too.’ The question was--would we qualify? We found out that if we did solar on the new buildings, that we would qualify for support.” The energy project funding came through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG), a U.S. Department of Energy program that came out of the federal stimulus package. The town received $55,000, and with this support they installed solar panels on the town well pump, the well chlorination building and on the new community center. “So we actually make enough power to send it back to Garkane, and it’s made a big difference on our energy bills,” says Josie. She said she and others had mixed feelings about going after stimulus funding, but she’s happy that the town is
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benefitting from the cost savings of the energy upgrades. “If you are building something brand new it’s just a smart thing to do,” she says. Josie says that most of the energy grant, however, was used to do a number of renovations to the fire station. “The city was paying out a huge amount in propane for the fire station. The biggest part of the energy grant was at the fire station for the ground source heat pump, and it also paid for stucco work to create a better envelope for the building, and a new garage door.” As part of the fire station remodel, they also created separate interior spaces for offices and storage, making the space more functional for the fire crew. Lastly—but not least as far as the fire department is concerned—is the acquisition of Hatch’s new fire truck, which just arrived in early November. The crew held their first training on the truck on December 1. Fire Chief Merrille Burrows, who’s been with the department for 25 years, is really pleased with the new equipment, noting that it will improve their response times
Thursday, December 13, 2012 • Issue # 974
and their ability to support fire response to the surrounding communities. “It’s new, bigger, stronger, faster, and more reliable,” he says. “We can put everything on one truck. It has a bigger pump, more water capacity, and it’s warmer—we can actually fit the crew inside it.” Burrows says the truck will improve their capability to help other towns. “This is the same truck that Bryce Canyon City has. Now the Hatch and Bryce crews will be trained on and familiar with the same equipment, and that’s half the battle.” The truck cost $198,000, and was purchased with support from an additional $150,000 CDBG grant, and $30,000 in support from Garfield County, with the balance paid by the town of Hatch. “We were lucky because there were no other building projects and fire trucks competing with us at the time we applied for the CDGG funds,” says mayor Josie. With the fire truck, we were able to start the process over, but we also had to have a certain percentage of matching funds. The county had already helped other communities with fire trucks, so they helped us out.” The Hatch Town leadership is continuing with improvement planning, though right now there is nothing so substantial in the works as the recent capital improvements. Currently, they are planning for Main Street and side street improvements, annexing the town in the direction of the Garkane substation and the Riverside Resort and RV park, making changes in the town beer laws to facilitate the annexation proces—this past week the city council rescinded the law that prohibited beer sales in town— and incorporating the cemetery district into the town district. Josie may get a lot of credit from her community for the planning and funding efforts, but she says, “Let me assure you, it took a whole council and the community for all of this to come together and materialize.”
—Insider Report
Panguitch held their first wrestling duel on December 5 with the Bryce Valley Mustangs and Escalante. The matches were great and the sportsmanship shown was outstanding. The highlight of the evening were the two pins by wrestler Payton Johnson.
—Alberto Vasquez
Café Diablo Awarded Wayne County Business of the Year by Michelle Coleman
Wayne County Commissioner Robert Williams presented Cafe Diablo’s Barbara and Gary Pankow with the Wayne County Business of the Year Award on December 5. FILLMORE - The Six County Association of Governments and staff hosted an Award Ceremony & Banquet where recipients from the Six County Region (Juab, Millard, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier, and Wayne) attended and received Business of the Year awards on December 5. Café Diablo, owned by Gary and Barbara Pankow, was selected because of their outstanding business for the last 18 years. Theirs has proven to be a pronounced business because of the exceptional service, quality and support they give to their customers, community and other organizations. Gary and Barbara not only employee 48 residents of Wayne County with attractive wages and benefits helping Wayne County’s economy, they are also well known for the unique taste of their many varied cuisine dishes and the decadent desserts that tease your eyes and fill your appetites. It is not unusual to hear Café Diablo being spoken of in high regard nationally as well as internationally. Gary and Barb support and make continued donations to organizations such as: Wayne County Travel Council and the many FAM Tours, Community Events, County Volunteer Fire Departments, Wild Land Firefighter Organizations, American Cancer Society, Friends of Scouting and many more other foundations, festivals, schools, & societies that are in and around Wayne County. They are well known for their generous support in the Five County region as well as our Six County region and to other programs and organizations throughout Utah. One extraordinary program that Gary and Barb offer is their internship program. Gary and Barb are generous with this program by sponsoring a young person interested in the Culinary Arts by helping them with their continued education in Culinary Arts and then reserving a place of employment for the student after they have received their accomplishment in the Art. Café Diablo is nestled along Utah’s Scenic Highway 24, near the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park, in Torrey. Café Diablo is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, from April to mid-October.
Wayne Phone: 435-836-2622 Garfield Phone: 435-676-2621 Fax 1-888-370-8546 PO BOX 105, Escalante, Utah 84726 snapshot@live.com
I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph. —Shirley Temple (1925 - ) THE WAYNE & GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER is owned and operated by Snapshot Multimedia, LLC and is distributed weekly to all of Wayne and Garfield Counties, Utah. Its purpose is to inform residents about local issues and events. Articles submitted from independent writers are not necessarily the opinion of Snapshot Multimedia, LLC. We sincerely hope you enjoy the paper and encourage input on ideas and/or suggestions for the paper.
International visitors and local residents alike will enjoy a warm and relaxed atmosphere with views of deep red sandstone cliffs to the north and pine covered mountains to south while savoring cuisine worthy of the setting. Café Diablo opened in June of 1994 after Certified Executive Chef, Gary Pankow, a native of Detroit, Michigan and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, made his way to Wayne County Utah between the years 1980 and 1994. He loved and enjoyed the adventures that Wayne County provided such as hiking, mountain biking and other recreational passions. While visiting the area, Gary was persuaded by Mayor Adus Dorsey to join the community by establishing a restaurant business in Torrey. Since this time, Café Diablo has received numerous awards including “Best in Utah.” Barbara joined Gary in 2003; she is the catering director, gardener, events coordinator and dining room manager. Barb has strong influences in Public Relations and Marketing. Barbara is a friend to everyone she meets, she is a very special lady. Currently, Chef Pankow is involved in many fronts including providing signature fruit pies and ice cream available at the Historic Gifford House in Capitol Reef National Park. He also caters weddings, business functions, board meetings, hiking groups, and car clubs, makes innovative desserts, consults with restaurant owners, mentors chefs, has written a cookbook, and is involved in his daily passion of cooking specialty lunches and dinners at his restaurant. Wayne County is pleased to honor a business such as Café Diablo with this prestigious award. It is businesses such as this that help keep Wayne County’s travel and tourism industry thriving and replenishing our county economy with a new hope for a better tomorrow! Congratulations Gary and Barbara! Michelle Coleman is Director of Wayne County Economic Development See related story: Area Business Leaders Honored, on page 2.
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