April 2023
Recap of Kayenta Community Forum

by Matt Marten

In early March, a small group of residents started engaging in talks with Terry and Matt Marten to gain information on the workings of the planning and development of Kayenta and the surrounding area.  The goal: to open dialogue so the community can better understand the day-to-day efforts that face our community and future development surrounding long-term planning that is of interest to our community.

The first question the group asked Terry was “What is the biggest current issue you are faced with?” The proposed Dry Wash Reservoir was on the top of Terry’s list.  While other issues are also important and ongoing the reservoir was the most pressing.  Terry explained the proposed project throws a monkey wrench into the plans for Kayenta he has been working on with the city for decades.  

At first glance, the reservoir project seems like a positive step toward responsible water reuse and bolsters conservation efforts but dig a little deeper and many questions begin to surface.  Questions arise about health, safety, pollution, nuisance, aesthetics, management, and cost to Ivins residents become of huge concern.   

Terry Marten has stated that if it is good for Ivins he would be in support of the reservoir but before the final plans are made the community should weigh in to determine if they find the project of value given all of the potential problems.  

The initial group meetings lead to a community forum that took place on April 8^th at the Center for the Arts in Kayenta and focused on the proposed Dry Wash Reservoir located within the Kayenta community footprint.  The area proposed site stretches from Kwavasa Drive and continues south toward Highway 91.  The presentation was made by residents Shelley Lapkoff and Mark Lindquist.   The Martens and others also contributed to the presentation by answering questions posed by the audience of around two hundred community residents.  

With information the group had gathered from City Council meetings, WCWCD public information, interviews, and research the forum presented unanswered questions about the project and focused on the need for more communication and transparency from Ivins City and the Washington County Water Conservancy District.  It was determined a call for more public meetings is the first action needed to gain more information and have questions answered.  

Currently, Ivins City Mayor Chris Hart and the general manager from the Washington County Water Conservancy District (WCWCD), Zach Renstrom have agreed to meet with six members of the group.  The purpose is to acquire clarity, access answers to many questions, and express concerns. 

For more information on the developments concerning the proposed reservoir project and future Community Forums watch for special Kayenta Connection emails.  Information will also be posted on Nextdoor.

April 2023
Recap of Ivins City Council Activities

by Mike Scott, Ivins City Council

Reservoirs

At the same time as there are questions about the use, viability, management, and maintenance of the proposed Dry Wash Reservoir in Ivins, the Washington County Water Conservancy District (WCWCD) has started to look at another reservoir differently. Last year Ivins recommended that WCWCD build a treatment plant to convert irrigation water from the Gunlock Reservoir into culinary water.

I don’t know who came up with this idea first, Lance Anderson or Chuck Gillette, our Public Works Director. Regardless, Lance has been leading the charge to consider this. Well, it appears WCWCD has been listening and now agrees this is a good idea to consider. 

What does this mean for the proposed Dry Wash Reservoir? How would this new culinary water source benefit Ivins? This is a new direction so it will take a while to get answers to these and other questions. Stay tuned.

Fire/EMS & Our Budget

The city has been working on a budget for fiscal year 2024, which starts in July. The first draft budget resulted in a deficit of over $1 million. The latest draft reduces that deficit to a little under $400,000. 

I don’t believe we should pass a deficit budget or dip into reserves to fund a planned deficit. And I’m not confident we can balance the budget without increasing the Ivins portion of property taxes. Now that probably got your attention! But don’t freak out about my tax increase comment. I may be the only council member who would consider that. 

There’s a public hearing at our May 4^th City Council meeting on the budget. It would be valuable to get your input on the budget, ways to balance it or deal with deficits, property taxes, and Fire/EMS which I’ll discuss next.

One of the reasons we’re having trouble getting to a balanced budget is the proposed Fire/EMS budget for 2024 is almost 40% higher than 2023. That’s close to a $500,000 increase. Fire/EMS costs have risen significantly over the past few years. 

The chart below shows public safety cost trends. Based on the proposed budget, the cost of Law Enforcement has doubled in 11 years. Fire/EMS services have more than tripled. 

It’s reasonable/logical that costs increase due to inflation and population growth. Law Enforcement cost increases closely follow population/inflation increases but Fire/EMS costs are almost double what they should be from the impact of population and inflation.

One reason for the cost increase proposed for 2024 is the added cost of re-opening the Center Street station. Andrew Parker, our Fire Chief, should get a lot of credit for getting it opened quickly last year and holding off most of the cost increases to the 2024 budget. 

Another reason for higher costs is that we’ve been transitioning from a volunteer-heavy staffing model to a volunteer-light model. More full-time professional personnel cost more.

Our city council pushed for re-opening Center Street last year because a lot of Ivins was not within a 5-minute response time from the Rachel Street station near Harmon’s. It was a life/safety issue. It also resulted in some areas of the city getting an official “ISO rating” of 9 and even 10, which is the worst rating a fire department (and city) can get on a 1 to 10 scale. Because of that, I heard that some home insurance policies were not being renewed last year. 

Everyone on the city council supports the need for the Center Street station to be fully operational. But there have been questions about the wisdom of our move away from volunteers. At last week’s city council meeting Dennis Mehr asked if the higher cost from a professional staffing model was worth it. That’s a great question. One way to answer it is to look at changes in our official rating over time.

Our Fire Department was just reevaluated, and we now have an ISO rating of 4.  That puts us in the top 16% of fire departments statewide and 17% nationally. Looking back, we had a rating of 5 in 2013, then it improved to 4 in 2014 and stayed there until the Center Street station closed. 

The ISO rating doesn’t tell the whole story. The ratings are based on the score fire departments get from an evaluation of 16 items. Departments get a rating of 4 if their score is between 60 and 69.99. Our score is 66.27. So, we’re a strong 4, approaching a 3, which fewer than 10% of the fire departments in the country achieve. 

In prior years when we did get ISO ratings of 4, our best year’s score was 60.69, just barely enough to move us from an ISO 5 to ISO 4 rating. Does ISO 4 matter? I asked my home insurance agent. He said an ISO rating of 4 is great and qualifies homeowners for preferred rates.

Our current score puts us close to an ISO 3 rating. Chief Parker plans to secure that rating by 2027. Do we need to be that good? Is it worth the added cost? We’re already better than 80% of the fire departments nationwide. Should we be satisfied with simply being in the top 50%, like Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average?

People have suggested other models to save us money. One would be a return to the volunteer-focused department we used to have, with a balance of full-time professionals and volunteers. But it sounds like getting volunteers is harder than it used to be. 

Another idea is to turn everything over to a “fire district” to save money. I’m not sure how well that works in practice as a cost-saving strategy. Last year the Hurricane Valley Fire District proposed a nearly 90% property tax increase. 

I believe that before considering any alternate plan we take a detailed look at what we’re getting from a full-time department that won’t show up in an ISO rating. I can see the benefit of a full-time professional staff with regular assignments and cohesive team training. And I think the alphabet soup of state & federal regulatory agencies and standards like NFPA, BEMS, NIOSH, NIMS, FEMA, UOSH, US Department of Labor, OSHA, IFC, ISO, and UFRA not only add to costs but make it harder for a volunteer department to work as well as it used to when there were fewer regulations.

Going back to my tax increase comment, we would need to increase the Ivins portion of property taxes by $47/year on a primary residence with a $500,000 market value. Ivins has not increased its share of property taxes since 2010. Anyway, come to next Thursday’s city council meeting and tell us what you think about the budget and all of the issues I touched on here.

More information

I try to keep these articles relatively concise. Not doing too well at that. It’s frustrating because there’s so much I want to discuss. So, please email me at Mike@MikeScott4Ivins.com for more information about these and other Ivins issues. Also, please tell me what issues in Ivins matter to you. Visit my website at www.MikeScott4Ivins.com for regular updates.

April 2023 Update

Protecting the environment while preserving the beauty of the wood

While some very talented local artists and some local school kids joined in the fun at the Street Painting Festival in mid-April, other crafts were also represented, including some beautiful wood pieces made of Tamarisk from Kayenta. 

Barry Gray of the Southern Utah Woodturners manned a table showcasing a variety of unique pieces as well as talking to visitors about the work of the Desert Preservation Initiative (DPI), whose volunteers cut the invasive Tamarisk trees that Gray and others turn into bowls, trays, vases and more. Many visitors commented on the beauty of Tamarisk as it is worked into finished pieces, Gray reports. A portion of the sales through Gallery 873 go to support the ongoing work of DPI.

As DPI President Chuck Warren says, “Tamarisk has to go. It poses a huge fire risk, creates drainage problems, and excretes salt that kills some other plants. But there’s no reason it can’t be repurposed, as Barry does, to make some truly beautiful works of art.”

DPI also received direct assistance from Joseph Rawlinson, Ivins City Arborist, and Heber Heyder, Washington County Emergency Services Fire Warden, who brought equipment and crews to help chip Tamarisk debris at the DPI chipping corral in Kayenta.

DPI President Chuck Warren and Secretary Terrence Walters have driven outreach to these agencies. These connections have led the DPI team to new resources and have identified grant opportunities. And these conversations have increased our understanding of the complexities that face governmental agencies at all levels, from staffing limits to managing related environmental issues, such as wildlife, that need to be taken into consideration. Conversations are ongoing with the cities of Ivins and St. George, both of which address the need to remove Tamarisk.

“It’s thrilling to know that so many people working at so many levels of government are interested in and invested in the work we do to preserve the natural habitat of the Southwestern desert,” says Warren. “When you take on a project this big, it feels good that we can tackle it as part of a true team effort.”