At their regular meeting on Sept. 14, the Moab City Council heard updates from the Grand County School District, updated the number of road miles on record within the City, and made a decision on the bidding process for the Walnut Lane affordable housing project [See our coverage on page 1 of this edition].
Grand County School District Updates
The week of Sept. 7, Grand County High School closed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among staff members that overwhelmed the school’s capacity to hire substitutes—as of Sept. 8, 10 staff members and 16 students had tested positive [see “Grand County High cancels class,” Sept. 9 edition. -ed].
Classes resumed on Monday, September 13, with a mandatory 30-day mask mandate in place for PreK through 12. Following Utah state law, the mandate was put in place by the Southeast Utah Health Department, Moab Regional Hospital, the Grand County Commission, and the Grand County School District.
Amanda Knill, community coordinator for the school district, explained that the necessity of mask mandates is determined by the county’s transmission rate, positive case rate, and vaccination rate. The current mask mandate will expire in mid-October, when the necessity will be re-assessed. If at that time, the county is rated as “high transmission,” as defined by more than 200 cases per 100,000 over a 14 day period, the mask mandate will be renewed.
“We’ll try to keep the mask mandate for as long as possible, because we know masks work,” Knill said.
Knill also said there is a new push to encourage attendance in schools by getting the community involved. The schools hosted “clap in” events on the first day, to show students the community supports them, and Knill is asking local businesses to put up posters encouraging school attendance. Students will also be entered into a drawing to win prizes for every day, week and month they have perfect attendance.
“It’s a community problem when kids don’t go to school,” Knill said.
Class C Roads Update
The State of Utah allocates Class C road funds to help cities pay for roadway, curb, gutter, and sidewalk maintenance. Funding is based on the roadway surface type and the total street mileage of all city maintained roads within city limits.
The City of Moab hasn’t updated its Class C road mileage since 2009, and in that time, the city has added 1.38 miles. The council passed a motion, 5-0, to adopt the new 2021 Class C road map, meaning there are now 27.49 miles on record with the Utah Department of Transportation.
Other items
The council meeting ended with a closed session, during which the council discussed “reasonably imminent and/or pending litigation” and “the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual or individuals,” according to the agenda.
The Moab City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. Meetings are streamed online at the Moab City Youtube channel. Schedules, agendas and opportunities for public comment can be found at www.moabcity.org
