Discovering Truth Takes Time and Investigation -- 2/15/2020

County Commission Meeting Tues. Feb. 18

Agenda: Citizens are always invited and encouraged to attend
February 18, 2020

1. Opening: Invocation 2. Public Comments
a. *CITIZENS COMMENTS: Anyone wishing to address the Board of San Juan County Commissioners on a non-agenda item is invited to do so during the citizens comments period in the meeting. Comments or presentations are limited to three (3) minutes, if requested, the Commission Chair may at their sole discretion extend the comment time. PROCEDURE: Please complete the request form (available at the door) and hand it to the Commission Clerk, as you enter the meeting. Thank you for helping us provide an orderly productive meeting. 3. Consent Agenda (Routine Matters) Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
a. Meeting Minutes
b. Check Registers
c. County Seat Contract Ratification
d. Host Compliance, LLC Amendment (a.k.a Bear Cloud Software)
e. 2020 Census Boundary Approval
f. Beer License Renewal 4. Recognitions, Presentations and Informational Items:
a. Notice of Cancelation of March 3, 2020 Commission Meeting, Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
B. Natural History Museum Utah Marker Location Support Letter, Natalie Randall, San Juan County Economic Development and Visitor Services Director
C. Proposed Revisions to Grazing Provisions Support Letter, Nick Sandberg, San Juan County Planning
D. Goosenecks State Park Campground and Trail System Support Letter to BLM, Nick Sandberg, San Juan County Planning 5. Business/Action
a. Bluff Interlocal Agreement, Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
b. TB Prevention and Control Agreement, Kirk Benge, San Juan County Public Health Director
c. AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE RULES, PROCEDURES, AND BYLAWS FOR THE SAN JUAN COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION. Walter Bird, San Juan County Planning and Zoning Director
d. Planning Commission Recommended Revised San Juan County Spanish Valley Zoning Map, Walter Bird, San Juan County Planning and Zoning Director
e. Spanish Valley Special Service District Loan, Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
f. West Mountain Irrigation Company request for support regarding the West Mountain Irrigation Companys application to the U.S. Forest Service for a Special Use Permit allowing the Company to maintain and protect the final steep one-mile section of the Allen Canyon Access Road (FS Road 5215) and Letter Approval, Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
g. A RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM) AND FOREST SERVICES CONTINUED PROTECTIONS AGAINST MINERAL DEVELOPMENT AND LEASING IN AREAS THAT WERE TAKEN OUT OF BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT. Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
h. AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING AN UPDATED SAN JUAN COUNTY PURCHASING POLICY Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
i. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE SAN JUAN COUNTY PERSONNEL POLICY SECTION 11, REIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSE RELATED TO TRAVEL, TRAVEL EXPENSES, USE OF PERSONAL VEHICLES, USE OF COUNTY VEHICLES, LODGING, PER DIEM AND ADVANCE PAYMENTS BY THE ENTITLED BOARD OF SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator. 6. Public Lands Updates, Nick Sandberg, San Juan County Planning 7. Commissioner Comments

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Who's Reading Bear Essentials?  An Observation and Question

Bear Essentials has been published for nearly four years now, with 26,769 hits, or readers who take time to read at least a few articles and follow the links. That isn't an overwhelming amount in the world of sensationalized mass media, but at least enough that it's worth rounding up the news that impacts San Juan County every week or two.   

I've noticed on the stats map, however, that usually page visitors come only from the United States.  However, any time  I post anything related to Uranium, the stats map lights up world-wide.  A few weeks ago when I ran on article on Energy Fuels and the White Mesa Mill,  these stats accumulated showing what countries readers came from that particular day. Note that there were twice as many hits from Russia, as from the United States.   Why??

Russia	50
United States	25
France	15
Philippines	3
Unknown Region	2
Ukraine	2
India	1
Netherlands	1
Pakistan	1
Sweden	1

Why would nations worldwide care about our little town, and the fact that we support the only Uranium processing plant in the Nation?     Russian Tolling Farms are one possibility:     Not only fuel for thought, but fuel for the future?  

~~ Federal Agencies Sign Management Plan for Bears Ears National Monument

Lance Porter: "Existing 2008 Resource Management Plan continues to provide the appropriate framework to manage the public lands.  Livestock grazing was outlined in the proclamation that created Bears Ears and grazing will continue. Porter said that several specific areas in Butler, Comb, and Arch canyons will be unavailable to grazing.

The plans specifically prohibit commercial logging on BLM-administered lands. Forest Service-administered lands will also be unsuitable for timber production within the monument. The plan allows the option to use a variety of vegetation treatment tools, but the BLM shared that no chaining has occurred in more than 30 years and none is likely to occur except under very unusual circumstances.

The BLM states that any vegetation treatments within the monument would use the least impactful method as possible. Popular local uses, such as firewood collection, grazing, and Native American traditional and ceremonial uses will continue to take place.  

~~ Senate Acquits Trump: Mitt Romney's Loyalty Questioned: Censor resolution

The sponsor of the censure resolution, Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, said he didn’t want Utah’s relationship with Trump to be “damaged by the actions of Sen. Romney.” Lyman attended the House leadership meeting with Romney. “I wanted to send a message that Utah supports President Trump,” Lyman said. “I didn’t want that message to be lost.”

In an earlier Des. News article: Mike Lee, senior senator from Utah explained how "an aggressively deteriorating balance of power and the creation of what he called a “4th branch” of unaccountable bureaucrats has led to the partisan rancor fueling the impeachment by the House.". . ."Lee began his speech defining the constitutional powers of the separate branches of government and invoked the federalism debate to argue that power has been taken from American people and centralized in the executive branch.  Trump is “a serious threat,” Lee said, to those that have been empowered by this phenomenon, alluding to what he has previously described as a “deep state.”    Related Article Contrasting Senator Lee and Sen. Romney

~~ Reflections on State of the Union Speech

"President Washington himself declared of partisan politics, “One of the expedients of a [political] party is to acquire influence within particular districts, to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection.”

Fact Checking Trump's Claims

~~ Plusses and Pitfalls of Change in San Juan County

"A Word to the Exhausted Majority

The fact is that the rolling Bears Ears controversy has, among other things, enormously complicated the normal operation of local government in San Juan County. This is clear in Bluff’s absurd new town boundaries, in the “Make It Monumental” controversy, and, yes, in the school board’s struggle to find a sound basis from which to set tax-subsidy policy. Current conditions are unfair both to local government actors and also to the private parties impacted by policy-making dilemma and paralysis." Stacy Young  Read more

~~ Bluff, the Epicenter of Change in the New West?

~~ THE NEXT ACT IN THE WESTWATER SAGA: ENTER THE POWER PLAYERS 

By Bill Keshlear

Larry Echo Hawk, who serves as an advisor to Herbert, and Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, presented a $500,000 funding request to a House appropriations subcommittee.

Recap of  Westwater's  50 year History of Progress: (Written 2010)

"Over the past fifty years Blanding City has participated in many meetings and invested hundreds of hours to identify resources and    to    rally support   to    develop     suitable   housing   and utilities   for   Westwater   residents.   Because   of   the   costly   engineering   needed   to   adapt   the   Westwater terrain   for   this   purpose,   initial   efforts   focused   on   finding   alternative   building   sites   to   which   Westwater residents   could   move.

 Previous activities: "In the mid-1960s community leaders initiated a program to alleviate poverty. Many meetings were held with active Westwater       community              participation. .              One outcome of these efforts was the building of  at least fifteen USDA financed subsidized homes. This program effort lasted two and a half years.  

--In 1968 a Work Incentive Program (WIN) was initiated through Work Force Services and over the next two and a half years ,   approximately   fifteen   additional   homes   were  constructed   in     collaboration  with    UNDC.   (Utah   Navajo   Development    Council)

--In 1971 what became the Utah Navajo Trust  Fund  (UNTF)   entered   the   equation   and   over  the next    decade   about  35   more   subsidized   homes  were  constructed   and   again   financed  by  USDA. These  combined   early   efforts   resulted   in  well  over  50   subsidized  homes  being  built." 

--" In 1997, working  with  UNTF  and  Blue  Mountain  Diné, the   City  annexed  the   area  by the  Chapter  house   (on  the   east  side  of   town)  as  part  of  a    Planned   Unit  Development (PUD). This  was  a  Zion Bank issued  tax  credit project  constructed  through  Gaddis  Investments  as   a   501 C 3  with  a  UNTF management   contract. The   project  consists  of  20 homes  that  can  still  be   rented   at   a  subsidy – based  on   family  size   and   income.

--This    project   specifically   targeted   Westwater   residents, who   wanted  to   move   into   town   to   take advantage    of    modern   conveniences.   Additionally,  four   multi-family   subsidized   units   have  been developed:  Kigalia I,  Kigalia II,  Juniper  Village,  and   Baus            Butte,   to   serve    our   community   at   large. 

--After  over  forty  years   of    trying   to   solve   the   housing   needs    of   Westwater   residents   within   the  Blanding    community,  it   was   evident   that   some    still   preferred   a   solution   on  the  Navajo   Nation’s 120 acres   across  the   canyon  from    the   City.   In  2004   the    City  and   County   collaborated   to   create   a   plan   that   would   extend  Center   Street   across   Westwater  Canyon   with   City   utilities   delivered  to   Westwater."

Download  additional   related    information  

~~   Governor   Prioritizes  Plan   to   Bring   Water  and    Power  to   Westwater.  

~~  In  1999   SUWA   Opposed  Visitor's  Center  Because Tourism  Would  Impact  San  Juan.  What   Changed?    by Jim Stiles

~~   Leland  Pollock, Black  Hat  Sagebrush  Rebel             by  Majorie Haum

~~  Federal   Agencies  Sign Off    Management    Plan   for   Bears   Ears   Monument

~~ Trump  Moves  Ahead  on  Shrinking  Utah  National  Monuments

~~   Energy  Fuels   Lays  of   30% of  Workers  Nation wide --   White  Mesa   Mill  only  had a 12%  Reduction  

~~ New  Expert   on   Sage Grouse  in   the    American  West

~~  Ozone  Pollution  Levels  High  in  Some   National  Parks