EVANSTON — Amber and Jeremy Lowrey were appointed to fill two vacancies on the Uinta County Veterans Board at the Nov. 16 meeting of the Uinta County Commission. Other new business included the signing of the agreement for the airport grant; approving FY22 budget amendment No. 1; a resolution authorizing the realignment of an unnamed county road; and approval to remove the A&L subdivision from being tabled in order to vote on its approval.

Uinta County Planner Kent Williams stood in for Gary Welling in asking for approval of the $22,000 grant for the Evanston Uinta County Airport from the Federal Aviation Administration for eligible COVID-19 expenses. This grant, Williams explained, is in cooperation with the City of Evanston. The commission approved the agreement for the grant.

Williams then moved to the resolution for the realignment of an official county road.

“This resolution will establish a procedure to move forward on choosing which county road will best serve the need for the data center that is being built. If the resolution is approved, viewers will be appointed to come and review the county roads and decide which is the best location for realignment. The conditional use permit for the data center has already been approved.  They would probably utilize what is an old asphalt road.”

Williams said that the resolution would not give permission to change a road or build a road but would only allow the planning department to move forward with the process of planning activities.  The commission approved Resolution 21-50.

The commission then voted to approve removing the A&L subdivision from the table and Williams repeated the information given in the previous commission meeting regarding the matter. He reminded the commission the subdivision approval had been tabled as they were waiting for the confirmation from the state engineer’s office regarding the authorization of the water rights transfer which the commission had approved earlier.

Williams said he had now received an email with confirmation that the state office had received and approved the paperwork.

Surveyor Fred Coles said they were just waiting for the paperwork to be processed but it was safe to move forward with the approval as he had received confirmation of approval from the state engineer’s office. They had received the paperwork and were on the way to being processed.

“This did go through the planning and zoning commission and was approved, so I think we are safe to move forward with approval. We have also now received confirmation from the state engineer’s office,” Williams told the commissioners, who approved his request.

Uinta County Clerk Amanda Hutchinson addressed the commission asking for approval of an amendment to the FY22 budget. Hutchinson said they needed to add money into the budget for engineering services at the Ft. Bridger airport and, secondly, they needed to take monies from the general fund into the Sheriff’s vehicle-buying budget as the $14,218.90 didn’t get transferred from the 2021 budget and needs to be put in the 2022 budget. This money, Hutchinson explained, comes from reserves put in at the beginning of the year. 

“We have money in the budget from the American Recovery Plan but we have not spent any of that yet so it is still in the 2022 budget.  The money not spent from the CARES grant will have to be sent back,” Hutchinson informed the commission. “Also, added to the budget is a new grant of $8,000 from the State Outdoor Trails for SWOT, and they will determine the spending of that grant. That concludes the changes stated in Amendment No. 1 to the fiscal year 2022 budget.”

The commission approved Amendment No. 1 to the fiscal year 2022 budget.

Under old business was the Ty Pickett agreement with Uinta County Assessor Lori Perkins. The commissioners approved removing the agreement from the table in order to address it, which Perkins did.

“At the county attorney’s suggestions, I had them draw up a contract as what I previously gave you was in the form of a resolution,” she said. “I have given you a copy of the contract today. I am asking for your approval to sign the agreement with Ty Pickett for appraisal services.”

Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson-Kallas advised the commission. “It is important that you note that you are approving the expenditures to be paid by the assessor’s office, as the assessor is responsible for the payment of these expenditures; not the retaining of the expert,” Howieson-Kallas said. “The contract needs to be changed to reflect that and this will allow her office to enter the agreement with Pickett.”

The commission approved Perkins’ office to administer the expenditures agreement with Pickett.