countyVoice the
A Publication of the Utah Assciation of Counties
November/December 2013
A New Look for UAC ...Page 6
Denny Drake Preaching the Spirit of Dixie... 10 Gardner Announces Retirement... 14 Gibson Chosen Official of the Year... 16
LOCATION Gardner Village 1100 West 7800 South West Jordan
DECEMBER 5, 2013
MEETING of the MEMBERS Utah Counties Indemnity Pool All elected officials of member counties are encouraged to attend the annual membership meeting. This is your opportunity to hear from, and more importantly be heard by, your Board of Trustees on concerns or needs regarding the protection of county assets. Just as county officials need the input of their constituents to effectively determine and deliver services, the UCIP Board of Trustees need your input to assure that the UCIP Interlocal Agency is providing the services envisioned and needed by its members.
Key Note: Layne Gneiting
AGENDA 11:30 am Holiday Luncheon
12:30-4:00 pm Key Note Business Session CEO Report President’s Report Dividend Presentations Service Awards Election Results
UCIP PO Box 95730 South Jordan, UT 84095 ucip.utah.gov
Please REGISTER online at either: Eventbrite UCIP Website
801-307-2113 sonya@ucip.utah.gov
what’sInside 6
A New Look for UAC
10
Denny Drake Preaching the Spirit of Dixie
14
Gardner Announces Retirement
November/December 2013
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Utah Association of Counties was over-due on an update for its logo. But the Association took it a step further this time, creating a comprehensive messaging strategy that further strengthens the UAC brand.
Washington County Commissioner Denny Drake has lived nearly his entire life in the county. From high school and college athlete to his present job, he just can’t envision any other place as home.
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It’s been 38 years since CEO Brent Gardner began working at UAC and he’s covered a lot of ground for the counties in that time.
Everything Else...
UAC Calendar 4... UAC Notes 5... NACo Notes 5... New UAC Officers Chosen 15... Gibson Chosen Official of the Year 16... Legislative Interim Meeting Notes 17... Sage Grouse Documents Available 18. UAC Executive Committee John Jones, President (Carbon) Brandy Grace, 1st VP (Millard) David Wilde, 2nd VP (Salt Lake) Gordon Topham, Secretary (Sevier) Robert Kirk, Past Pres. (Utah)
UAC Staff Brent Gardner, Chief Executive Officer Jill Brown, Accountant Elizabeth Fukui, UBHC Asst. Director Debbie Goodwin, Office Manager Alice Hancock, Admin. Assistant Doug Perry, Communications Dir. Adam Trupp, General Counsel Arie Van De Graaff, Legislative Analyst Mark Ward, Senior Policy Analyst
The County Voice Published six times annually, The County Voice is the official magazine of the Utah Association of Counties. To subscribe: uacnet.org/archived-newsletters/ To submit articles, ads or other content, contact Doug Perry here: Utah Association of Counties 5397 S. Vine Street Murray, UT 84107 (801) 265-1331 doug@uacnet.org
2013 Utah Association of Counties Board of Directors Past Secretary Art Partridge (Washington)
Uintah Basin Kirk Wood (Duchesne)
Utah County Larry Ellertson (Utah)
Commissioner Bret Millburn (Davis)
Five-County Doug Heaton (Kane)
Washington County Alan Gardner (Washington)
Clerk Norm Johnson (San Juan)
Southeastern Jeff Horrocks (Emery)
Washington County Russell Shirts (Washington)
Auditor Diana Carroll (Grand)
Six-County Claudia Jarrett (Sanpete)
At-Large Kim Carson (Summit)
Sheriff Dave Edmunds (Summit) Assessor John Ulibarri (Weber) Recorder Brenda Nelson (Morgan) Treasurer John Bond (Weber) Attorney Doug Hogan (Tooele) Surveyor Reid Demman (Salt Lake) Bear River LuAnn Adams (Box Elder)
Davis County Louenda Downs (Davis)
At-Large Jeff Merrell (Uintah)
Davis County Steve Rawlings (Davis)
At-Large Mike Kohler (Wasatch)
Weber County Jan Zogmaister (Weber)
At-Large Dale Eyre (Sevier)
Weber County Kerry Gibson (Weber)
At-Large Jim Eardley (Washington)
Salt Lake County Ben McAdams (Salt Lake)
At-Large Cindy Bulloch (Iron)
Salt Lake County Richard Snelgrove (Salt Lake)
At-Large Les Barker (Garfield)
Utah County Gary Anderson (Utah) November/December • countyVoice
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CALENDAR January 17 January 23 February 20
UAC Affiliate Legislative Prep UAC Board Meeting UAC County Legislature Day
Murray (UAC Office) Salt Lake Area (TBA) Salt Lake City (State Capitol)
March 1-5
NACo Legislative Conference
Washington DC
April 16 April 16-18
UAC Board Meeting UAC Management Conference
Salt Lake City (City Creek Marriott) Salt Lake City (City Creek Marriott)
May 21-23
WIR Annual Conference
Anchorage
July 11-14
NACo Annual Conference
New Orleans
September 24 September 24-26
UAC Board Meeting USACCC Fall Conference
Midway Midway
November 12 November 12-14
UAC Board Meeting UAC Annual Convention
St. George St. George
Solutions For Your County Property Notices Election Materials Laser Checks Pressure Seal Forms Full-Color Printing Envelopes and Letterhead Mailing Services IC Group is an environmentally responsible company, and is accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council
NOTES from UAC UAC Adopts Position Statements for 2014 Legislative Session On Friday, November 15 during its Business Session, the Utah Association of Counties adopted its set of position statements for the 2014 Legislative Session. These position statements will serve as marching orders for UAC staff as they deal with a number of legislative issues. The complete packet of position statements is now available online at the UAC website. Click here to review those.
New UAC Affiliate Officers Announced Planning Directors: Robert Scott, Weber
As with every Fall, there were many changes in affiliate group leadership. this year. Going into 2014 here’s an updated list of new presidents or chairs of each affiliate group:
Recorders: Jerry Houghton, Tooele
Assessors: Cindy Bulloch, Iron
Sheriffs: Jim Tracy, Utah
Attorneys: Jeff Buhman, Utah
Surveyors: Reid Demman, Salt Lake
Clerk/Auditors: Karla Johnson, Kane
Treasurers: Wendi Long, Uintah
HR/Personnel Directors: Joe McKea, Uintah
USACCC: Bret Millburn, Davis
IT Directors: Don Wood, Duchesne
NOTES from NACo NACo Introduces New Grants Clearinghouse The National Association of Counties (NACo) recently launched a significant upgrade to the NACo Grants Clearinghouse which offers almost 10 times as many grant opportunities for counties. Updated daily in real-time, the new clearinghouse boasts enhanced search features and up-to-date listings of federal, state, corporate and foundation grants available to counties and community-based organizations. The original NACo Grants Clearinghouse had up to 100 grant opportunities at any one time while the new tool has nearly 1,000 grant opportunities for counties. Click Here for More
Congress Approves One-Year Extension of Secure Rural Schools Program Last week the U.S. Congress passed legislation to extend Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funding to counties and schools for an additional year (with payments disbursed to counties and schools in January of 2014). The funding was attached to the Helium Stewardship Act (H.R. 527)—which reauthorizes the sale of U.S. Helium reserves—and was approved by a margin of 97-2 in the U.S. Senate and unanimously in the U.S. House of Representatives. Click Here for More
Fix-It Program Challenges ‘Throwaway’ Mindset For most people, when an item breaks it gets thrown away. Not so in Hennepin County, Minn. Instead of throwing away broken electronics or appliances, Hennepin wants to teach residents how to repair them at Fix-It Clinics. The county started offering monthly free Fix-It Clinics in September 2012, inspired by an article in The New York Times about more than 30 “repair cafes” that have sprung up in the Netherlands. The idea has caught on in Brooklyn, San Francisco and Seattle. Click Here for More
November/December • countyVoice
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A New Look for UAC
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bout a year ago, the Board of Directors of the Utah Association of Counties (UAC) heard a presentation from Jennifer Morrow of the Creative Company, a public relations and branding firm out of Portland, Oregon about creating a new brand messaging strategy. UAC CEO Brent Gardner had heard Morrow make a similar presentation at a conference earlier in the year and was impressed with her message, but more importantly that it was time for UAC to begin the process of creating a new identity and messaging strategy for itself. The Board heard Morrow’s presentation, agreed with Gardner, and created a sub-committee (chaired by Davis County Commissioner Louenda Downs) to begin the process of interviewing Utah-based branding firms to make a proposal that would include among other things: • Overall messaging strategy for each of UAC’s three
key audiences (county officials, legislators and other
“The committee and staff really liked the research component of their offering. They had done some interesting projects with other similar organizations as ours and just seemed like a good fit. The decision to hire them was unanimous,” recalls Doug Perry, UAC Communications Director. Results & Analysis BWP didn’t disappoint as they proceeded to do fairly extensive research and analysis of UAC’s current brand presence among county officials, state officials (including legislators) and the media. Here are the summary key findings: 1. UAC staff perceives the organization as a legislative resource and training support.
state and local officials, and the media).
2. County officials and Legislators are of greater
2000).
3. Even though UAC’s three main audiences are diverse
• An update or refresher of the UAC logo (created in • Tagline development (either continued use of current tagline or a new one).
• Style guide created (including treatments of
typefaces, logo placements, color swatches, etc.).
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More than 50 firms and individual consultants were contacted and the committee eventually interviewed the top four companies. Shining the brightest out of the group was a small firm, based in Salt Lake City called BWP Communications.
countyVoice • November/December 2013
importance in terms of messaging than are the media. in nature, they do share some common threads such as
how they like to be communicated with, work lives that consist of information overload at times, and an affinity for transparency.
4. County officials perceive UAC as a resource for training
Photo: Eric Schramm
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and networking, and a “convener of thoughts.”
5. Legislators perceive UAC as an organization
representing all counties and as a lobbyist for the counties.
6. The media perceives UAC mainly as an organization that represents the counties.
7. UAC’s strength is its personal communication,
such as through individual and group meetings and events.
8. County officials and legislators would like to see
UAC continue its personal approach, but would also like to have more electronic communication with them to round things out.
9. UAC should be aware that its members often contact (or are contacted by) legislators and media on their own and thus the importance that high levels of
training and coordination efforts need to continue between UAC and members to ensure messaging strategies are consistent.
Tagline One other key finding was in UAC’s tagline - “A unified voice for county government.” BWP’s research found that not only is the tagline very fitting for UAC, but that the organization has built up a tremendous amount of brand equity in it. Unaided recall rates of it included 50% among legislators, 75% among the media, and 89% among county officials. UAC did make two adjustments to the tagline, changing “A” to “The” to strengthen UAC’s position as the only representative of all 29 counties; and “unified” to “unifying” to indicate that unification of the counties isn’t always possible, but is an ideal UAC is constantly striving for. New Logo & Colors Included in the BWP report was a number of different logo options and color schemes. In the end, the group agreed on one design that strengthened the key points of the research. Like UAC’s former logo, BWP felt that an outline of the state of Utah was a critical element and kept it as the centerpiece of the
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countyVoice • November/December 2013
design. This time, however, the state takes on a double image as a speech bubble that points to the tagline. This sends a very clear message that UAC is a statewide organization with one voice. BWP designers also wanted to strengthen the prominence of the words “Utah” and “Counties” to further drive home the geo-political communities UAC represents. and serves. Colors were a hot debate initially. In the end everyone was on board with a bold orange color that can be complimented with an entire palette of similar colors UAC can use in tandem with its material designs. Strategic Messaging From the BWP research, UAC was able to craft a number of statements that will help UAC members in their communication with those who know very little or nothing about UAC. These statements also give UAC a starting point when developing messaging and other communication strategies to its various audiences. A new mission statement was created as an over-arching guide for the Association. UAC’s mission now reads: To advance county issues with the state and federal
government, improve public understanding of county
government, assist all twenty-nine counties to develop and
share solutions through research and education, and provide effective support services to county officials to foster public trust and improve the efficiency of county government.
BWP also crafted a positioning statement (indicating UAC’s relevance to other similar organizations); a value proposition (sharing what UAC’s value is to its members and others); and a brand promise (which is how UAC intends to fulfill its mission). Positioning Statement The primary purpose of UAC is to represent county
governments before the state legislature, executive branch
and the federal government, while educating the public, the media and elected officials about the value of and need for county programs and services.
Value Proposition Assist all twenty-nine counties in developing and sharing
In communications with UAC members: Collaborative Services
solutions through research and education, and provide
• “UAC guides counties to connect around common
better serving their constituents.
• “UAC shares information to solve both unique
effective support services to county officials for the purpose of
Brand Promise Advance county issues at all levels, foster the public trust in County Government and develop programs and services to
ensure the success of counties into the future as the closest level of government to the people.
issues and on solutions which foster public trust.”
and common problems, allowing partners to work together more effectively.”
• “UAC provides programs that enhance skills and strengthen professional development.”
In communications with the media: Engage and Inform
Finally, BWP and UAC created three distinct messages for each of UAC’s three key audiences. UAC members are encouraged to become familiar with this language and as they have opportunities to share with others who UAC is (in person or writing) they will be able to enforce a message that is consistent statewide.
• “People can rely on UAC’s straightforward
In communications with legislators: Persuasive Voice
• “UAC conducts forward-thinking and objective
• “UAC delivers plain, honest information that represents all citizens of the state.”
communications through access to multiple channels of information.”
• “UAC engages the media and others in dialogue
about county issues regarding organization, culture and relationships.”
analysis to identify and resolve day-to-day issues that affect all citizens of Utah.”
• “Through organizational strength, UAC ensures local
needs are not overshadowed by state or federal actions.”
• “UAC brings together the goals of all 29 counties, unifying them into a single, focused purpose.”
November/December • countyVoice
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Washington County Commissioner Denny Drake has a love for his community that runs deep.
Denny Drake Preaching The Spirit of Dixie
T
alking with Denny Drake one would think the second term Washington County Commissioner worked for the local chamber of commerce or visitors bureau... maybe that will be his next big job. He’d be a natural. The nearly life-long resident of Dixie isn’t just a promoter of the community he calls home, but a true believer. “When I was growing up there was a phrase often used here called “The Dixie Spirit” and if you were to look back over the history of Washington County, it’s been a hard place to live,” explains Drake. “But there’s always been a spirit of cooperation and concern for the area that most people who come here feel and are inspired to get involved.” Drake proudly shared the always impressive amount of
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countyVoice • November/December 2013
volunteerism found in Utah’s most populated southern county. “We have an Iron Man race with more than 4500 volunteers every year, for example,” said Drake. “The people moving here are willing to share their time and effort. We see them running for public office in both the cities and county with a great desire to keep what we have.” Admittedly, what Washington County has is pretty good and Drake went on to drive home the point. “Trail systems that are connecting communities, as many bicycle races as any other place in the country, the St. George Marathon with more than 7,000 runners, and then all the red rock activities,” he said with hard-to-contain enthusiasm. “I think as a state, we’re the best in the Union and Washington County is the best county in the State.”
JoAnn B. Seghini, Mayor, Midvale City Trust Board of Directors Chair Executive Committee
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A TRUSTED FIDUCIARY? IT MEANS WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK. THIS IS THE TRUST.
We protect member resources by vigorously defending claims for which members are not liable. We value members’ insight, feelings, and perspective. We communicate throughout the claims process and provide information and tools to keep members informed.
But Denny was born into a much different Washington County than the one of today.
quarterback of the 1967 State Champion Dixie High squad, leading them to a perfect 10-0 season. The team was so good they outscored opponents 444 - 66 that year. He excelled on the baseball diamond, as a pitcher and shortstop. In fact he was so good, athletic scholarships helped pay his way through the first couple years of college at Dixie College and Southern Utah State University. His first two years of college were interrupted by an LDS Mission to Australia that he calls “a major change in my life.”
His father was a rancher and mom, still living in a small community north of St. George, was a homemaker. But his roots sink deeper than that even. “My grandparents were part of the original settlement sent in St. George. My grandfather had a farm in the Mountain Meadows area and we would go up there and help with the hay and cows,” he said.
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“Up until that point, I thought I wanted to be a Major League Baseball player or NFL player - you have those big dreams as a youth,” he said. “But learning to serve and what life is really about was a life-changing episode for me.” Drake returned home and did continue to play but his focus was more toward what he calls “being a wellrounded person.” He went from turning double plays to getting straight A’s and looking for other ways to complete his personal brand. That included some initial thoughts of public service, and as it turned out, that realization wasn’t too far away and was certainly more than just an interesting idea.
He explained that Dixie back in his early years was mostly agricultural. And so unless your family owned a business in town, you were probably working on a farm. There just weren’t any other vocational choices.
He received his teaching degree and put it to work, teaching for his first four years out of college. From there he decided to continue that theme of being well rounded and got into real estate and insurance businesses.
But he never let that get in the way of using his talents as an athlete. Drake was a football All-State selection as
In 2000, Denny was ready to make good on those earlier thoughts of public service and ran and won his
countyVoice • November/December 2013
first political job as mayor of Santa Clara. He enjoyed six years in that position for the small town, but wanted to make a bigger impact on the Dixie region and saw that a job as county commissioner was the way to do it. So, in 2006 he threw his hat in the ring to replace Jay Ence who was not planning another term on the commission. After making it through Convention, Drake was able to beat his opponents with 68% of the vote. It wouldn’t be a complete profile without mention of the things that make him happiest, which of course would be his wife of 41 years, Dawna, four children and 14 grandchildren. “She’s a special lady,” he says with a fond smile of his wife. “She keeps me focused on the things that need to be done and has always been a huge support for me. She’s very smart, and was a great student at Dixie, where we met, and probably could have married anyone she wanted to, but fortunately chose me.” Drake still loves sports, but has moved on to golf and racquetball and even some four-wheeling to keep himself feeling young. He also has aspirations of learning a second language and some travel, including a trip back to Australia where he served his mission.
“As you get older, you think time will become more of yours, but it seems like I’m busier now that I ever was,” he laughs somberly. “But I like to go watch my grandkids play sports, it’s pretty fun.” But he plans to keep serving the public because he derives a great deal of satisfaction from making a difference and doing his part to continue his favorite mantra - The Spirit of Dixie. “In my mind, being able to actually improve the lifestyle of those that you serve is what’s most rewarding and the thing that keeps me going each day,” he concludes.
November/December • countyVoice
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Gardner Announces Retirement
M
any of you have already heard that during the Board of Directors meeting, as part of the annual conference last week, I announced to the Board my intention to retire in June of next year. “Have I really been here 38 years”? That sounds like a long time . . . . about the same length of a legislative committee hearing on a Friday afternoon and seems to go on and on. I remember coming to UAC in 1976 when a County Commissioner from Iron County, who was the President of the Association, by the name of Ivan Matheson hired me right out of college. My great knowledge of county government amounted to one class in college titled “County Government the Invisible Level of Government.” Some of your experience in county government will surely relate to that title, as well. When I came to UAC , there were three full time employees and very small offices on the third floor of the office building on the corner of 300 South Main Street in downtown Salt Lake. Now you have built a beautiful building owned by the Association located in Murray and we have seven full time employees and two part time employees. Someone once said, “It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.” I have tried to live by that saying, always expecting the best from myself and from everyone who works here. I have been privileged to work with a tremendous staff that is dedicated and enthusiastic. They give their best every day. I want to pay tribute to them for their support, camaraderie and their examples of serving faithfully and respectfully. Thank you to all of you, as members of the Association, for your never-ending-supply of friendship, notes of appreciation, words of encouragement, sharing of resources and sharing of your time but mostly for your sincere trust.
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countyVoice • November/December 2013
New Officers Chosen at Convention Salt Lake County Council Member David Wilde, who served as second vice president in 2013 and would have been in position to move up to the first vice president position offered his resignation to the executive committee following an earlier announcement this year that he had cancer and that it would prevent him from continuing several of his professional interests, including a run for mayor of Murray City. During the Opening Session of the UAC Annual Convention, Washington County Clerk/Auditor Kim Hafen swears in UAC’s new Executive Committee. Left to President John Jones took right are: Brandy Grace, Kerry Gibson, John Ulibarri, Richard Maughan, and John Jones. nominations of those who could fill the vacancy left Millard County Auditor Brandy Grace took over as by Wilde. Davis County Commissioner Bret Millburn and president of Utah Association of Counties (UAC) as the Weber County Commissioner Kerry Gibson were nominated organization concluded its 89th Annual Convention. and added to the ballot for voting among the general membership. Gibson won the vote and was sworn in as first “This is a real honor to represent the county officials of vice president, replacing Wilde. Gibson will be in the running Utah through UAC,” said Grace after being sworn in for president of UAC in November 2014. as president at the Closing Banquet. “I look forward to meeting with all of you this coming year and in doing Weber County Assessor John Ulibarri was chosen as second everything I can to keep the Association strong and vice president. He will have the opportunity to move up to unified.” first vice president in 2014. Davis County Recorder Richard Maughan was selected as secretary (a one-year position). Grace, who took office in Millard County in 2001, Carbon County Commissioner John Jones will remain on the previously served as UAC first vice president and will serve executive committee for one year in the role of past president. one year in the position of president. She replaces Carbon County Commissioner John Jones, who will remain on the The Executive Committee of officers oversee the day-tocommittee in the Past-President position. day operations of UAC, representing the overall Board of Directors of the Association. She is the 93rd president in the history of UAC, which was created in 1923, and is the fourth from Millard “Year after year, we are so fortunate to have a collection of County, preceded by former Commissioner Mark Johnson outstanding leaders at the helm of UAC,” said UAC CEO in 1951, former Clerk Guy Robins in 1967, and current Brent Gardner. “They truly keep the organization unified and Commissioner Daron Smith in 2010. represent our members well.”
November/December • countyVoice
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Gibson County Official of the Year Weber County Commissioner Kerry Gibson was chosen among his county peers to be recognized as the 2013 Overall County Official of the Year at the Utah Association of Counties 89th Annual Convention last week. “I am extremely honored and thankful to receive this award. However, I would not want this in any way to overshadow the day-to-day efforts of all our elected county officials,” said Gibson in acceptance of the award at the Closing Banquet. “We all work hard to make Utah a better place to live. It takes our entire team working together to be successful and effective for our constituents.”
From Left to Right: John Bond, Jerry Houghton, Kerry Gibson, Diana Carroll, Ricky Hatch, and
Linda Little. Recognized but not pictured: John Slaugh, Dave Edmunds, and James Swink. Gibson was chosen among nine elected county officials, one from each elected office in Utah, by a selection committee that met while at the Convention. The committee was The eight others in the running for County Official of the given background information, service records, and other Year were: materials highlighting each candidate’s qualifications, and Kane County Assessor Linda Little from those details along with a vote among Convention Weber County Auditor Ricky Hatch attendees made their selection. Cache County Attorney James Swink Grand County Clerk Diana Carroll Gibson is the first from Weber County to have received the Tooele County Recorder Jerry Houghton award since it began in 1998. He earned the opportunity Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds to be selected in a vote among his county commissioner/ Weber County Treasurer John Bond council member peers at a September meeting of the Unitah County Surveyor John Slaugh group.
Other Annual Convention Highlights The 89th Annual Convention of the Utah Association of Counties had a pretty rough theme: Game Plan: Protecting Your Blindside. But by all accounts the football motif was lots of fun for those able to attend. On Thursday, keynote speaker, Sean Tuohy, who’s reallife story was portrayed in the academy award winning movie The Blindside (starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw), shared some very genuine moments that resinated with attendees, leaving them with a challenge to be the one that says turn their car around on kids and other people society would just soon forget about.
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countyVoice • November/December 2013
On Friday, representatives from both sides of the Count My Vote Issue presented their information and allowed for audience members to ask some excellent questions. Cicero Group founder and CEO Randy Shumway shared with attendees some interesting facts about the state of Utah’s economy and how we compare to other states. Finally, general session attendees were treated to a surprise visit and presentation from college football legend Lavell Edwards, who shared several inspiring and humorous stories from his years as head coach at BYU.
Issues of County Interest Heard at November Interim Meetings At the November legislative Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee meeting, the committee heard testimony on a couple of issues of county interest. Centrally Assessed Values and New Growth First up the committee heard testimony on a proposal that would limit the effect centrally assessed property has on new growth for property taxing entities.
centrally assessed values fall between the plus or minus 20 percent change. The bill would definitely help counties that suffer when sharply decreasing centrally assessed values make new growth next to impossible, but would limit new growth in counties where centrally assessed values are booming. The bill’s sponsor has worked close with UAC on the issue and was gracious enough to hold off on passing the bill out as a committee bill while counties and other taxing entities study the impacts of the bill closer. Local Option Gas Tax The committee also heard testimony on the countysupported local option gas tax. The testimony came from the Utah Manufacturers Association and the Utah Retail Merchants Association. The two associations shared their opposition to the proposed tax.
New growth is included outside the rate setting process for property tax, the idea being that if a taxing entity is going to service new developments, the tax base has every right to grow. The trick is centrally assessed values are included in the calculation of new growth. That works fine when centrally assessed values are growing, but when they drop dramatically, they can wipe out any locally assessed new growth. An example of this took place in Salt Lake County this past year where a large landslide severely limited Kennecott Copper’s production. In a number of jurisdictions in Salt Lake County any real new growth in homes and business was swallowed up with Kennecott’s decreased value.
The proposed local option gas tax would grant counties the option of imposing a 3 percent user fee on gas— currently equivalent to a 10 percent motor fuel tax—that would be indexed with the cost of gas. The county which imposes the fee would share the revenue with the municipalities within the county off of the B&C road allocation formula with some county discretion for regional projects.
The proposal before the committee, would limit the effect any one centrally assessed taxpayer could have on new growth either positively or negatively to 20 percent. Data supplied by the Tax Commission suggests that this would affect the outside edges of centrally assessed value bell curve where most of
The associations which spoke against the proposal expressed unease over an indexed tax as well as the concept of a local option gas tax. The fact that these two associations would speak out against the local option gas tax suggests that the proposal will likely take a lot of work to pass it out to the legislature. November/December • countyVoice
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Greater Sage Grouse Public Draft Land Use Plan Amendment and EIS The Draft Land Use Plan Amendment (LUPA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (GSRG LUPA/EIS) was recently released by the BLM and Forest Service. This draft GRSG LUPA/EIS proposes to amend several BLM and Forest Service land use plans in Utah and other western states. The 90 day public comment period on the draft GRSG LUPA/EIS ends January 29, 2014. The draft plan is accessible on line. Go to: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/planning/SG_ RMP_rev/deis.html Comments may be submitted electronically by email to: blm_UT_comments@blm.gov Comments may be submitted by mail to: BLM/FS Greater Sage-Grouse EIS Attn: Quincy Bahr 440 West 200 South, Suite 500 Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1345 Open houses are available for the public to meet BLM and Forest Service officials to discuss the draft GRSG LUPA/ EIS at the following locations: Dec. 4 - Vernal, UT Vernal City Office Community Room 374 East Main Street Vernal, UT Dec. 5 - Price, UT Carbon County Event Center 310 South Fairgrounds Rd Price, UT Dec. 10 - Salt Lake City, UT Downtown Library, Conference Room 4 210 East 400 South Salt Lake City, UT
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countyVoice • November/December 2013
Dec. 11 - Randolpt, UT Randolph Senior Center Gymnasium 5 North Main Street Randolph, UT Dec. 12 - Snowville, UT Snowville Elementary School, Gymnasium 160 North Stone Road Snowville, UT UAC by recent resolutions of its Public Lands Committee and Board of Directors favors a GRSG plan that combines the best of the BLM’s preferred alternative (D) and the State’s proposed management plan alternative (E1) in the draft GRSG LUPA/EIS. UAC will be submitting comments accordingly. For more information, please contact UAC’s Mark Ward at (801) 265-1331.