The Grand County Commission held an exceptionally short meeting—about 25 minutes—on July 5. The body unanimously approved the certified property tax rates, which are determined based on the previous year’s tax revenues. The commission also approved the final plat of a minor subdivision, and approved a finding of no significant impact required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to release grant money to the Housing Authority of Southeastern Utah to proceed with a project in the Arroyo Crossing affordable housing subdivision.
The commission also unanimously approved a letter to the Bureau of Land Management, requesting that the agency consider expanding existing nighttime closures of off-road routes in the Sand Flats Recreation Area, with the hope of reducing noise impacts.
“We understand that BLM has already restricted nighttime use on some SFRA routes in order to
reduce noise impacts at campgrounds, and that this past decision was relatively uncontroversial,” the letter says. “We believe it would be equally uncontroversial to build on this precedent, and that further nighttime restrictions on motorized trails would go a long way to alleviate much of the noise pollution that takes place during sleeping hours.”
“The letter to the BLM is just asking them to consider the designations—it isn’t actually requesting much action at this point,” Commissioner Evan Clapper noted before the vote.
After the short regular meeting, the commission reconvened for a special meeting to canvass the election results of the June 28 Republican Primary.
“The purpose of this canvass is to confirm that each valid vote is included in the official results,” explained Grand County Clerk/Auditor Gabe Woytek. He gave a detailed account of how ballot counters conducted their task—how they separate ballots from envelopes to preserve privacy, check signatures, and follow up with voters if there’s a question about the validity of a signature. Woytek also emphasized that the computers used to tabulate votes are secure and are not connected to the internet.
Grand County Republicans voted for Senator Mike Lee and Representative John Curtis.
