The Summit County Council appointed three people Wednesday to the influential Snyderville Basin Planning Commission.
Incumbent Basin Planning Commissioner Mike Washington will serve a term that expires in February 2012. Bassam Salem, also an incumbent, was appointed to a two-year term that expires in 2011 and Sibyl Bogardus will serve a term than expires in February 2012.
Meanwhile, there are two vacancies on the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission and those living in the North and South Summit school districts can apply for those positions. The planning panel meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month.
The application deadline is Feb. 10. For information about applying contact Susan Ovard at 336-3025 or 783-4351 ext. 3025.
Retired captain is back on patrol
A former captain at the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Alan Siddoway, has been rehired by the department as a patrol deputy even though a hiring freeze was placed on all new government positions.
Interim Summit County Manager Brian Bellamy said the Sheriff’s Office needs to be fully staffed because crime increases during some economic downturns.
“We probably ought not start running short on deputies,” Bellamy said. “With law enforcement we ought not get behind.”
But Summit County Councilman Chris Robinson countered that “lots of other law enforcement departments are experiencing layoffs and reductions in force.”
“I don’t know that any department should be left intact in that way,” Robinson said.
Siddoway, who is in his mid-40s, is a seasoned death investigator who retired from the Sheriff’s Office last year to pursue a career with the Office of the Utah Medical Examiner. His career in law enforcement began in Summit County in the 1980s.
A North Summit resident, Siddoway was a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team at the scenes of Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 attacks and a plane crash in Guam.
“[Siddoway] is such a wonderful employee that he just needs to be welcomed back with open arms,” Summit County Councilwoman Sally Elliott said.
Council appoints manager compensation committee
The Summit County Council has appointed a committee to recommend how much the new Summit County manager should get paid.
The committee includes Chet Smith, Franci Eisenberg, Mike Luers, Mike Legge and Robbie Beck.
A six-figure salary is needed to attract qualified applicants for the county manager post, government officials say. The form of government in the county changed in January from a three-member county commission to the five-person council/manager model.
The Summit County Council, charged with hiring a manager to oversee the executive branch of government, may need to pay the county manager upwards of $125,000 per year, according to interim Summit County Manager Brian Bellamy. Bellamy hopes the committee will examine what county managers earn in other resort areas before suggesting a compensation package.
A manager could be hired by mid-summer after Summit County conducts a nationwide job search.
Fire budget could be cut
The Summit County Council is bracing for cuts this year from state lawmakers that could impact that county’s ability to fight wildfires.
“They’re considering pulling state funding for the fire warden,” County Councilwoman Sally Elliott said.
But the county already funds 60 percent of its fire warden’s budget, Summit County Public Works Administrator Kevin Callahan said, adding that the state Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands pays for the remaining costs.
“The state would probably continue with that program,” Callahan said.
Taxpayers in Summit County pay about $350,000 each year into a state fund that assists counties with firefighting costs, he said.
“This thing may be on the chopping block In the hierarchy of state agencies, the Division of Forestry is not a big power player,” Callahan said. “If [state lawmakers] were to say, either they don’t have the program, or the costs go way up, the county has always retained the option of saying we are not going to participate in that fund.”
Essentially, the $350,000 is an insurance premium paid to the state, Callahan said, adding that if a major fire occurs in Summit County the state requires an additional $80,000 before coverage kicks in.
“You buy in and then you’re guaranteed that the state’s going to back you up,” Callahan said. “So we put in $430,000, and we have a $2 million bill. They pick up everything beyond the $430,000.”
But because the fire season in Summit County begins later than in Southern Utah, “the money we put in the state program, inevitably, every year goes to repay jurisdictions in Southern Utah, and by the time we have a potential for a fire up here, the money’s gone,” Callahan said.
“Every year, when this issue comes up the council or the commission struggle with it,” Callahan said. “It’s good to be protected, on the other hand, we’re just giving the state money and maybe one year out of 10 we’re getting some value out of it.”
Forest Service is hiring in Kamas
The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is looking for people to fill summer seasonal jobs this season in the fire, recreation, archeology, forestry, range and wildlife programs. Positions are available in seven ranger districts in Northern Utah, including: the Heber-Kamas and Evanston/Mountain View districts in Summit County.
Information about how to apply is available at www.fs.fed.us/fsjobs. Click on the “Centralized Temporary Employment” link for details.