Last May, Tooele City Mayor Debbie Winn presented a $48 million tentative budget, which included a proposed tax increase, to the Tooele City Council. 

Minutes from the May 2, 2018, meeting also state the draft budget would be available in the recorder’s officer for the community to view until a June 20 public hearing on the final proposed budget. 

During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Winn presented a resolution to adopt a tentative budget for the upcoming fiscal year and set the time and place for a public hearing to consider adoption of the city’s final budget. 

The presentation, which lasted about one minute, did not disclose a total amount for the tentative budget or outline any details. The City Council approved the resolution by a 4-0 vote, on a motion by Councilman Dave McCall, seconded by Councilman Brad Pratt. Councilman Scott Wardle was absent. 

A request for a copy of the draft budget following the meeting by the Transcript Bulletin was rebuffed until Tooele City Attorney Roger Baker could review the state code on public release of the tentative budget.

In an interview with Winn on Thursday morning, the mayor said the city is not required to release the tentative budget until 10 days prior to the public hearing on the budget, set for June 19 at 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers. 

Utah Code Title 10, Chapter 6, Section 112 states, “Each tentative budget adopted by the governing body and all supporting schedules and data shall be a public record in the office of the city auditor or the city recorder, available for public inspection for a period of at least 10 days prior to the adoption of a final budget, as hereinafter provided.”

Winn promised to release a copy of the tentative budget to the Transcript Bulletin by the end of the day. 

A public meeting to discuss the city’s budget is also scheduled for May 8 at 5 p.m. in the large conference room at City Hall. Winn said additional public budget meetings will be held if required. 

Winn said the City Council received copies of the tentative budget just prior to its meetings on Wednesday night. She said a copy of the tentative budget wasn’t immediately available to the public because the copy received by the City Council contained notes about requests from department heads not included in the tentative budget, some of which concerned personnel issues. 

Department heads made presentations to the City Council discussing their requests including equipment and capital projects, at the previous two council meetings. 

When asked if the tentative budget included a budget message, as required by state law, which explains the budget, outlines the proposed financial policies for the city, important features of the budgetary plan, reasons for “salient changes” from the previous fiscal period in appropriation and revenue items, and explains any major changes to financial policy, Winn said it did not. 

With a public meeting on the budget set for next Wednesday, Winn said she wants the city to be transparent in the budget process. She said prior to her tenure as mayor, councilmembers would meet with the mayor one-on-one to discuss the budget, as opposed to a meeting in the public eye.

In 2017, the final year of former Mayor Patrick Dunlavy tenure, the tentative budget was made available to the public for review in the recorder’s office, according to the minutes from the meeting it was adopted by the City Council. Winn was a member of the City Council in 2017.

The state’s municipal code requires a municipality’s budget officer to prepare and file a tentative budget on or before the first regularly scheduled meeting in May. A public hearing on the tentatively adopted budget must be held with seven days of public notice prior to adopting a final budget. 

Each municipality is required to pass, by resolution or ordinance, a budget for the next fiscal year by June 30, unless there is a proposed property tax increase. If a property tax increase is proposed, the budget must be approved before Aug. 17.

Barring future appeals, the lawsuit between Tooele City and the Aposhian Sod Farm reached final judgment in 3rd District Court on Friday. 

In the ruling from Judge Matthew Bates, the total market value of the sod crop at the farm was determined to be $1.51 million. The city was also awarded $385,600.80 for attorney fees, breach of contract damages, waste damages, and holdover damages. 

The net obligation for Tooele City is $1.13 million, which will be paid out in 10 equal annual installments under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act and the lease agreement, according to a Tooele City press release issued Tuesday afternoon. 

“This dispute may not be over, as appeals may be taken by either party, but Tooele City is and always has been committed to honoring the commitments it made in the lease as they are finally determined by the Courts,” the release said. “The City believes that it will be able to make those annual payments without having to increase taxes or reduce the level of services it provides for its citizens.”

The lawsuit was originally tried before a jury in December 2016. The jury determined Tooele City proved Aposhian committed waste on the property of $137,000 and the market value of the sod crop was $2.77 million. 

In December 2017, the court granted Tooele City’s motion for a new trial in regard to the sod crop value and determined the city suffered holdover damage and Aposhian had revenues totaling $942,719.45 in 2013, which offset the value of the sod crop at the end of the contract. 

Then in May 2018, the court reversed its prior decision that Tooele City was entitled to offset the value of the sod crop with Aposhian’s total farming revenues in 2013.

A new trial on the sod crop issues occurred last December, with the court ruling the value of Aposhian’s sod crop was $1.51 million. In subsequent post-trial memoranda on Feb. 11 and Feb. 15, the court declined to reconsider or denied all requests to adjust the damage or attorney fee amounts. 

The Tooele City Council approved the sale of the 1,784-acre sod farm, located near Vernon, for $1.3 million to Six Mile Ranch, Inc., of Grantsville, at its Dec. 5 meeting. The City will retain the farm’s certificated water right of 4,181 acre-feet (1.36 billion gallons) per year.

The City bought the farm for $810,000 in 1990 for future water development, according to resolution 2018-67, which approved and ratified the sale to Six Mile Ranch. 

The lawsuit was originally filed in 3rd District Court in May 2013 and stemmed from conflicting interpretations of a 1998 lease agreement between the city and Aposhian. 

The lease spells out terms between the city and Aposhian, with the sod farm company paying $30,000 per year to use the sod farm’s acreage and wells to grow and sell commercial sod. 

The disagreement centered around the lease’s term, its termination clause, and how much sod crop buy-out the city owed at the lease’s termination.

After a significantly wetter winter than average, Tooele County Emergency Management and partner agencies around the county are working to mitigate the possibility of flooding this spring. 

Snowpack in Settlement Canyon remains at 157% of the seasonal median, after peaking at 185% in mid-April. At the Mining Fork measuring station in the Stansbury Mountains, the snowpack is at 88 percent of the seasonal median, a steep drop from more than 140 percent in mid-April. 

Both figures are significantly higher than the snowpack totals in the previous year, which were both well below normal. 

With warmer temperatures causing the snowpack to melt, the most significant flows from canyons in Tooele County, especially Settlement Canyon are expected in the next 10 days, according to Tooele County Emergency Management director Bucky Whitehouse. 

“Our historical data says May 10 to June 15 is peak,” Whitehouse said. 

As a result of the concerns about the potential for flooding, TCEM has been meeting with the National Weather Service and local stakeholders like municipalities and irrigation companies to coordinate flood mitigation efforts. 

Tooele County road department director Rod Thompson said he’s unsure how long its been since water has come down Middle Canyon to the extent it is now, but a number of small trees have grown in the drainage channel which need to be removed. He said since the initial meeting this year, they’ve been clearing debris and preparing for potential runoff around the county. 

“The current plan, every since we had our first meeting, has been to, kinda prioritize which drainage channel or area is in need of attention first,” Thompson said. 

The current focus of mitigation efforts is on Middle and Settlement canyons, though Ophir Canyon is about at max capacity. Grantsville has already seen water moving out of Baker Canyon and through the southwest side of town into low-lying areas in the Tooele Army Depot, Whitehouse said. 

“It’s extremely important for us to make sure that the water flows down unimpeded and if there is debris down in there, that it gets pulled out,” Whitehouse said.

Whitehouse said mitigation efforts help protect property and promote better safety for flooding, while also saving money for property owners and municipalities. 

“Any time we can mitigate any type of potential emergency, it’s about a 7 to 1 cost savings,” Whitehouse said. 

The most recent significant flooding in Tooele County was in 2011, which primarily affected Grantsville, the south end of Rush Valley, and Skull Valley.  

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will update its national flood hazard maps this year, which were last updated in 2009. Whitehouse said the new maps will show where development has come in and its possible impact on flood channels.

If the updated map places residents in a designated floodplain, they will be required to get flood insurance. More than 70% of flooding around the state has occurred outside flood hazard areas, according to Flood Facts Utah, a collaborative effort by FEMA and the Utah Department of Public Safety Division of Emergency Management. 

As many as 97% of Utahns don’t have proper flood insurance, according to Flood Facts Utah. Homeowner’s insurance only covers pipe breaks, not flooding caused by storms, melting snow, or broken water mains. 

Residents concerned about potential flooding can contact their local public works department to fill sandbags to bring back to their property. Tooele City residents can contact Richard Jorgensen at 435-843-2134 and Grantsville residents can call the public works department at 435-884-0627.

For warnings and notifications of natural disasters or other emergencies in Tooele County, residents can sign up for Tooele Alerts, a mobile app, at tcem.org.

A Tooele woman accused of committing multiple acts of child abuse made her initial appearance in 3rd District Court on Monday. 

Pasikalia A. Ungor, 51, is charged with six counts of second-degree felony child abuse to inflict serious physical injury intentionally, two counts of third-degree felony aggravated assault, one count of misdemeanor assault and three counts domestic violence in the presence of a child. 

Ungor contacted dispatch on July 26, stating she was going to kill a minor in her care, according to a probable cause statement. When police officers arrived at her residence, the minor was on the roof. 

The minor said Ungor had thrown rocks and knives at him while he was on the roof, the probable cause statement said. The minor said they had argued with Ungor while he was driving and they got out of the vehicle to walk home after she had hit them. 

The minor said Ungor drove onto the sidewalk in an attempt to hit them with the vehicle, the statement said. Ungor admitted to throwing knives and rocks at the minor victim while they were on the roof and following them on the sidewalk with her vehicle, but she merely wanted to scare him. 

A case worker with the state Division of Child and Family Services went to the Ungor residence in January and witnessed another altercation with the same minor, the probable cause statement said. In this incident, Ungor had a knife and was fighting with the minor and when another minor attempted to intervene, she slapped them. 

Three other children in the home, aged 15 or younger, witnessed the altercation, according to the probable cause statement. Following the incident, some of the children were sent to live with a relative and the others were sent to a youth services non-profit in Salt Lake City.

The relative some of the minors were sent to live with noticed additional abuse, bruises on the thigh and neck, on another child, the statement said. The child said the bruises were from Ungor hitting them with a belt about one week before being removed from the home. 

During interviews with investigators in March, four of the children reported additional instances of abuse, including being hit with wires, belts and back scratchers; cutting their hair as punishment, not allowing them to eat for up to a day, and pushing one child into the pantry door, breaking it, according to the probable cause statement. 

A search warrant was issued on April 18 and items such as those described in the abuse were recovered, as well as photographic evidence of the broken pantry door, the statement said. 

During her initial appearance in 3rd District Court, Ungor was scheduled to return to court for a scheduling conference on May 28 at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Matthew Bates. 

A detached garage sustained substantial damage in a fire Saturday afternoon, according to Tooele City Fire Chief Rick Harrison.

Firefighters were dispatched to the residence in the area of 200 E. 100 South after the east side of the structure was reported on fire around 3 p.m., Harrison said. The fire was spotted and reported quickly by an umpire at a youth baseball game at Red Delpapa Memorial Park. 

By the time firefighters arrived on scene, the structure was engulfed in flames, Harrison said. The garage was being used as a shop and there were solar panels on the roof, which started to collapse during the blaze. 

Due to the state of the roof, firefighters had to switch to an external attack, Harrison said. 

Firefighters knocked the fire down in about a half hour, but continued to work on the fire for about two hours as it spread into the eaves, according to Harrison. 

There was no one inside the garage at the time of the fire and the point of origin was traced to the furnace room inside the garage, according to Harrison. No firefighters were injured. 

Firefighters from Tooele City Fire Department battled the fire, with the assistance of Tooele Army Depot Fire Department. About 25 firefighters and six fire apparatus were involved. 

The roof of the garage was considered a total loss by fire crews, with the whole structure possibly a loss, Harrison said.

Tooele City is taking time to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike, which ceremonially completed the Transcontinental Railroad in Box Elder County, this weekend. 

The festivities will take place at the Tooele Valley Museum and Historical Park, with an invitation-only VIP event Friday at 6 p.m. and a free public event on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

The VIP event on Friday evening will feature remarks by Tooele City Mayor Debbie Winn, exclusive exhibit previews and a musical number by Scholar Academy students, according to a press release. Attendees will also be able to watch a screening of “Promontory,” the 2002 documentary produced by PBS affiliate KUED. 

The free, family-friendly event on Saturday will feature a number of interactive exhibits and learning opportunities, according to Stephanie Statz, Tooele Valley Museum and Historical Park coordinator. 

There will be a touch, feel, and see table, where attendees can experience railroad spikes, ties and hammers, as they would have used during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Other experiences include additional screenings of Promontory, motorized mini train rides, a bounce house, railroad games and musical performances. 

With nice weather forecast for Saturday, attendees are also welcome to bring a picnic lunch to the event. The park at the museum has picnic tables available for attendees to use, or they can bring a blanket and picnic on the grass, Statz said. 

“It’s going to be fantastic,” she said. 

Construction work to complete a new deck at the museum is underway, according to Statz, which is funded by park impact fees, Parks, Arts and Recreation tax, and a $10,000 tourism grant from Tooele County. 

The celebration at the museum is an official Spike 150 event, an initiative to inspire, educate, and reflect on the Transcontinental Railroad legacy, according to the release. The Tooele City event is brought by Tooele City Parks and Recreation and Tooele City Library, and made possible by a grant from Utah Department of Heritage and Arts.

As several hundred students make their way to Deseret Peak Complex for the annual 5th Grade Bike Hike, motorists can expect temporary closures on state Route 112, according to the Grantsville City Police Department. 

Students from Grantsville Elementary School and Willow Elementary School will participate in the Bike Hike on May 21, with closures along the route, including Willow and Durfee streets. Once the event reaches SR-112, the highway will be closed for about 45 minutes to allow students safe access to the road. 

The police department obtained permits from Utah Department of Transportation to close SR-112 between Durfee Street and Sheep Lane during the Bike Hike, according to Grantsville City Police Detective Max Chavez. The event begins at Grantsville Elementary School at 9 a.m., proceeds to Willow Elementary School then onto Durfee Street and SR-112. 

About 300 students are expected to participate, according to Chavez. 

The road will close in the morning once the procession reaches SR-112 and will close again once students depart around 2:45 p.m. for about 45 minutes, Chavez said. 

There will be a meeting for parents to discuss changes to the Bike Hike, student behavior expectations and UDOT and Tooele County School District participation requirements. The meeting is Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the gymnasium at Grantsville Elementary School.

What looks to be a busy year of maintenance, projects and new initiatives is well underway for the Stansbury Service Agency. 

A hot-button issue at service agency meetings has been concerns about rule enforcement during the busiest months of the year on Stansbury Lake. The service agency board addressed those concerns by entering a contract with a Tooele security firm to provide a security guard at its last meeting. 

The security guard will patrol the lakefront and other adjacent areas starting this Thursday, according to manager Gary Jensen. They’re scheduled to work Thursday through Sunday and on holidays, under a $600 per week deal with the security firm. 

“If there’s an issue, if there’s a problem, they call the sheriff’s office,” Jensen said. 

One problem area that will be part of the security guard’s patrol area is the skate park near the Stansbury Park Observatory Complex. Many of the problems involve teenagers who frequent the park and issues include drugs, bullying, smoking, profanity and sex, according to Jensen. 

“We’ve had some altercations,” he said. “We’ve had undesirable activities.”

Outside of rule enforcement, the service agency has been busy with projects around the community and at the golf course, which the service agency took direct management of last December. Jensen said the golf course is ahead of last year in terms of revenue generated so far.

There have been noticeable improvements to the maintenance of the golf course with the purchase of new mowers, Jensen said, and other projects to improve its quality are in progress, which include spraying for weeds. 

Jensen said the golf course ponds are receiving a weekly treatment for filamentous algae, which has killed the algae in some ponds and is making the water clearer. Some test aeration will also be installed in select golf course ponds. 

Jensen said The First Tee program, which introduces youth to the game of golf, will kick off at the Stansbury Park Golf Course in June. Golf professional Tom Costello recently attended a training on the program in Washington, D.C. and its open to anyone ages 7-17.

Anyone with questions about the program can contact Costello at 435-882-4162.

Both lake weed harvesters are up and running on Stansbury Lake and Jensen said the service agency may now have a reliable way to dispose of the harvested weeds. 

In addition to the chopping of lake weeds, the service agency has cut down some of the Russian olive trees along the frontage with state Route 36. The trees will be replaced by several different species, including Kwanzan cherry trees, silver linden trees, tuliptrees and three different varieties of maple bred for the soil, according to Jensen, an arborist.

There will be 30 trees planted in Porter Way Park this Saturday as well, as part of an Ivory Homes initiative to plant 30,000 trees around the state. 

Work on Schooner Park, located near state Route 138 on land provided by real estate developers, and an amphitheater is scheduled to begin in August, Jensen said.

The Stansbury Service Agency board meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Stansbury Clubhouse.

The Finger Lakes in upstate New York is renowned for its wine and beautiful scenery. It’s nice, I even got married at a state park at the top of one of the lakes. 

It’s hard to appreciate the natural splendor, however, when you had to wake up at 3:20 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time), and it’s hovering around 40 degrees with a constant drizzle and occasional gust of wind. 

That’s the situation I found myself — and six other hearty souls — in two Sundays ago. I was home to visit my sister on her 30th birthday, but was also roped into competing on my parent’s team in the Seneca 7, a 77.7 mile relay run around Seneca Lake the following weekend. 

I’ve done the Seneca 7 twice before, but I was still living in New York at the time and could still sleep in my own bed the night on race day. This edition was already more challenging just by time zone alone, which wasn’t aided by the weather. 

So I schlepped on down from Rochester to Geneva, about a 45 minute drive, with my best friend – and our designated driver — Cody, to be there for the 6 a.m. start. We met the rest of the team, including my parents, Amy, Lindsay, Nancy and Kate, near the start line, loaded up the rental Chevy Tahoe and got ready for a 13-hour day of running and resting. 

Since the Seneca 7 is a relay race, each of the seven runners on the team are assigned three separate legs to run. The total distance for each runner varies, as does the distance of each of the 21 legs. 

For my part, I was running 4.1 miles, 3.1 miles and 3.6 miles as the seventh runner on the team. With the varied terrain, surfaces and scenery around the perimeter of the lake, it makes for an interesting experience. 

I had just run the Salt Lake City Half Marathon two weeks before, so I was, thankfully, still in shape for my portion of the race. I’m pretty sure I didn’t fully wake up until my first leg, which I didn’t start until about 9:45 a.m. 

The Seneca 7 is a strange race because of how long it takes, but how quick the individual segments feel. The longest segment is 6.1 miles long, so each leg of the race is over quickly, but with six other runners, you spend a lot of time waiting around. 

This extra time means you spend a lot of the day sitting in an SUV or van, trying to balance out when to go to bathroom at the assorted portable toilets on course and what, and when, to eat. For me, it meant a lot of micro meals between runs of Clif Bars, mini bagels, Pop-Tarts and fruit. 

The exchange zones are also always a zoo, with more than 300 teams trying to fit in the small parking lots at wineries or along the side of the road. Around the midpoint of the day, when the fast teams, which start later, begin to overtake the slower teams, it can get really congested. 

Another layer of challenge was added by the weather. When it’s damp and cool, I usually feel cold while I’m waiting around to run, but can heat up rapidly once I’m on the move. 

While the weather wavered between annoying to unpleasant, with variable wind and local temperature, I ended up wearing the same thing for each of my three legs. It worked, but the experience definitely varied from run to run. 

We did catch a break when, at the end of my mom’s final leg, the sun came out. It was about 4 p.m. when this happened, so it was only 10 hours of miserable weather we had to endure. 

For my final segment, a winding downhill to the finish line, the sun was finally out but low enough to be blasting me in the eyes as I tried to get the team to the finish line by 7 p.m. It was a pleasant inconvenience after the dreary weather up to that point. 

A fun aspect of the final leg, which I’d never run, is you meet up with your teammates just before the finish line, so you can all cross together. It was nice to see the team and know I was just about done. 

Our final finishing time was at 7:00:57 p.m., so we missed the sub-7 p.m. by less than a minute. I guess I should pack a watch the next time I do a race like this, so I know exactly how close we were. 

Despite the early start and wet conditions, the Seneca 7 was a lot of fun, as it always seems to be. While many of the team members were first-time acquaintances, we got along well and it was a successful day. 

I was glad to have the opportunity to compete in the round-trip of Seneca Lake again. Even if I like to complain, it’s a unique and fun experience as long as you have the right crew, right food, and a bathroom when you need one.

A Tooele woman made her initial appearance in 3rd District Court on Monday after she was charged with intentionally setting a fire in a residence. 

Erma Jean Prince, 22, is charged with first-degree felony aggravated arson and second-degree felony criminal mischief. 

Tooele City police responded to a residence on 600 North at 6:43 p.m. on April 6 on report of a possible arson, according to a police report. The responding officer spoke with a witness on scene, who said he first noticed a pile of debris behind the same apartment window as the suspected arson about a week ago and he attempted to contact the apartment occupant. 

The witness told police around 3 p.m. he noticed the same window was burned and he attempted to make contact with the rentee, the report said. The maintenance man for the apartment complex suggested looking inside the residence in case there was an electrical problem. 

Another individual at the scene said it was possible Prince had started the fire, as she had broken the window a week ago, the police report said. The responding officer collected a melted bottle at the scene of the fire, which had an odor of gasoline. It was photographed and booked into evidence. 

Police received information that Prince, who was seen in the area prior to the arson and was a parole fugitive, was staying at a motel in Tooele City, according to the police report. Several officers responding to the motel, where Prince was contacted and eventually agreed to speak with investigators at the police station. 

After being read her rights, Prince told police she believed she knew what the interview was about, because she was told someone threw a “fire bomb” at the apartment her ex-boyfriend was staying at. 

After saying there were other people who had reason to cause the fire, Prince eventually admitted to investigators she caused the fire, the police report said. She told police she filled up a bottle with gasoline at a gas station, dumped it on the back of the apartment and lit it on fire with a match. She also admitted to breaking the window the previous week.

Prince was appointed counsel during Monday’s appearance and is scheduled to return to 3rd District Court for a scheduling conference on May 21 at 9 a.m.

A recent review of law enforcement agency policy and procedure on evidence storage and management was released by the state auditor’s office last week. 

The state auditor’s office selected seven agencies, which were not identified, from around the state for the review. Findings included property records not matching evidence storage, inadequate controls over property storage, insufficient controls for property disposal, not issuing receipts to the owners of seized property, and inadequate controls regarding access to digital property records. 

The three largest local law enforcement agencies in Tooele County — Tooele City Police Department, Grantsville City Police Department and Tooele County Sheriff’s Office — all have established procedures that dictate how they handle obtained evidence. 

Tooele City police catalogue their evidence using a records management system, according to Tooele City Police Sgt. Jeremy Hansen. Each piece of evidence is assigned a specific barcode, placed on the package it is contained within, then secured in a different area of the evidence room depending on whether it’s drugs, firearms or general evidence. 

If a sheriff’s deputy confiscates evidence, it is transported to an evidence building, where each piece is documented in the Spillman system, according to Tooele County Sheriff Chief Deputy Brian White. Spillman Technologies provides record management services, computer-aided dispatch and other services to law enforcement agencies. All seven agencies in the state auditor’s report use Spillman. 

If drugs are part of the evidence collected, they are weighed or counted, with the amount recorded on the booking sheet, White said. 

The deputy packages the evidence and gives it a label with the case number and evidence number, according to White. The evidence and its booking sheet are placed into a temporary locker and secured. 

An evidence technician removes the evidence from the temporary locker, confirms each piece of evidence to its booking sheet, then places it on a shelf with a specific location number. The exact location, time, date, who booked it, and who received it into the Spillman system are recorded. 

Grantsville City police catalogue their evidence by case number, according to Grantsville City Police Chief Jacob Enslen. The department has separate storage rooms for drugs and weapons, with all evidence organized using a grid system for the shelving units. 

Once the evidence at any of the agencies has been safely stored away, internal audits can help ensure items don’t go missing. The state auditor’s office found some of the subject agencies had problems with missing or misplaced items, or items that were marked for destruction but still in inventory, and items destroyed but still listed in their inventories. 

Following their move into the new justice center last year, Grantsville City police are in the midst of an evidence audit that began last August. Once the reorganization is complete, there will be monthly inventory checks and annual audits, according to Enslen. 

In its latest audit this February, the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office found no discrepancies, according to White. In the February audit, the evidence technician was given a list of random case numbers and pulled the evidence locations based on the Spillman system. 

If drugs were involved, they were weighed or counted to insure it matched the records, White said. Any evidence cleared by the judicial system in the audit was reviewed to ensure it was either properly destroyed or returned to the proper owner and documented properly. 

The property room at the Tooele City Police Department is audited annually, according to Hansen. The audit is conducted by a division commander, as selected by Tooele City Police Chief Ron Kirby. 

The only issues in the annual audits come from cases prior to 2006, when there was no computerized evidence management software system, Hansen said. Some of the older evidence folders could not be located and the evidence technician from that time is no longer employed by the department. Any discrepancies were documented in the audit report. 

In addition to internal audits to ensure evidence is properly documented and held, evidence rooms must be secured. In the state auditor’s report, some of the seven agencies reviewed had concerns with unrestricted access by individuals other than property technicians and their supervisors. 

The auditor’s report also identified many of the agencies had property rooms that didn’t have alarm systems or multiple requirements to enter the room, such as keys, personnel cards or biometric identification. 

In the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, there are two locations where evidence is stored, which are in secured rooms with confidential security measures, according to White. The rooms are under video surveillance and access is restricted. 

Only the evidence techs, the lieutenant and chief have access to Grantsville City’s evidence room, according to Enslen. Officers secure their evidence in lockers and lock them; once secured, the lockers can only be opened from inside the evidence room. 

Tooele City police secure their evidence room inside the evidence custodian’s locked office, behind a chain link fence with two locks, which require different keys, according to Hansen. Only the evidence custodian, evidence supervisor and those specified by the chief are allowed into the evidence room. 

Any other personnel accessing the evidence room are required to sign a log, showing their name, date and time, reason for entrance and the identity of their escort. Cameras are located outside the evidence technician’s office, which also cover the evidence lockers where officers book the evidence, Hansen said. 

Once a court case has run its course and is deemed closed, evidence is returned to the original owner, if permitted, or destroyed. Law and department policy inform how local agencies release the evidence. 

If notified by prosecutors, evidence may be returned and the evidence custodian attempts to notify the rightful owner their property is available by mail or certified mail, according to Hansen. Prior to release, the owner must provide documentation establishing ownership and proof they may lawfully possess the property. 

Once the property is returned, a receipt listing the details of the property is signed by the owner and retained within the department, Hansen said.

For the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, evidence lists are generated and sent to the County Attorney’s office, where each case is reviewed, according to White. Once a case is deemed closed, it is documented on the evidence sheet and approval for destruction of specific evidence is documented on the sheet as well. 

The evidence technician then pulls all evidence approved for disposal, which is removed from the storage shelves and placed into boxes, White said. The boxes are taped shut and the technician documents the destruction in the Spillman system. 

The boxes of evidence are then placed in a truck and secured, according to White. Two deputies then transport the evidence to a secure landfill to observe the destruction of the evidence to ensure it’s completed properly. 

Grantsville City police submit requests for destruction to the city attorney’s office, according to Enslen. Once approved, the items are destroyed “by the appropriate protocol.” 

Utah state code dictates much of the procedure around the disposal of evidence, under Title 24, Chapter 3, Section 103.

The complete report from the state auditor’s office is available online at reporting.auditor.utah.gov.

The Tooele City Council held a work meeting Wednesday night, where it discussed the city’s approximately $53 million tentative budget for about two hours.

Tooele City Mayor Debbie Winn gave a brief presentation on the tentative budget, which was received by the City Council on May 1, at the beginning of the meeting. The current tentative budget includes holding the certified tax rate at its current amount, which Winn said was discussed during last year’s budget process. 

The certified tax rate is adjusted each year by Tooele County, per state law, to make the total revenue from property tax the same year after year, including a small increase for growth. If property values in the city increase, or there is substantial new growth, the certified tax rate generally decreases. 

Prior to the 82% increase to Tooele City’s current property tax rate, the city’s certified tax rate had declined for five straight years as the value of taxable property increased. 

The tentative budget also includes a judgment levy, which is a new, separate tax from the city aimed at paying off the remaining $11.2 million from the Tooele Associates lawsuit, settled in 2014. The judgment levy would run through 2037, when the bonds from the lawsuit payment are settled, then come off the books. 

The judgment levy was originally proposed last August, but was postponed until this year. For the 2019-20 budget, the tax would impact residents at 8% of their city property taxes.

The owner of a home valued at $240,000 would pay $440 in property taxes, plus $38 in the new judgment levy tax.   

All of the money raised by the judgment levy tax would go toward paying the lawsuit payment bonds. 

“We want to make sure that we again reiterate to the public that when this bond is paid for, that tax goes away,” Winn said. 

When looking just at property taxes, locking the certified tax rate the same as last year means some homeowners won’t see an increase in their property tax bill this year. If their property has been revalued — the city reassesses property on a five-year rotating basis — the homeowner will see a change, based on whether the home value increased or decreased. 

“So for those homes that aren’t revalued, when they get their statement it’s going to say, ‘This is your tax rate this year, this is next year,’” said Tooele City Assistant Finance Director Shannon Wimmer. “The difference is going to be zero. Where it goes up is for those people who get revalued.” 

If the budget moves forward with the same certified tax rate as last year and the judgment levy tax, it would need to complete the Truth-in-Taxation process. This would require the city to keep its budget tentative until after a public hearing in August.  

The tentative budget includes labor cost increases of approximately $835,000, including $515,857 in wages, with a 50 cent raise for all employees. Winn said she felt strongly about the flat amount increase, as it benefits lower and middle-income employees more. The 50 cent increase would average to a 2.5% increase in pay for city employees; no elected official would receive a pay increase under the proposed budget. 

During her presentation, Winn outlined equipment, personnel and capital requests from department heads, with some included in the tentative budget and others that are not. The department heads presented their budget proposals during April City Council meetings. 

“It’s a difficult task to put this budget together and it does take several months to do this,” Winn said. “And I do appreciate all of the department heads and all of the time and effort that they put forth talking to their staff and getting those requests in to us.”

Included in the capital requests were estimates to build a new public works facility ($1 million), a new cemetery shop and equipment building ($350,000), and redoing the floor in the Pratt Aquatic Center ($42,000). 

Winn said there’s a need for new storage facilities for the city’s equipment, which sits outside and is exposed to the conditions and possible burglary. She said backup cameras were stolen off the back of snowplows. 

Other changes to the budget include the addition of a $255,000 line item for the police department to purchase five new vehicles to replace existing ones. The vehicle purchase line item would allow the department to replace five vehicles each year, to overhaul the existing fleet. 

Other equipment requests funded in the tentative budget include two dump trucks and backup generators paid through the water fund and new computer servers.

Employee requests from department heads included an additional police officer ($88,000) and a full-time human resources tech ($59,724), as well as suggested positions not included in the tentative budget. The suggested positions include a civil inspector for water, sewer and storm drains ($77,000) to aid the city’s building inspectors, and raising the on-call rate for public works employees from $7.50 an hour, to $25 an hour, to have a more competitive rate and improve retention. 

City Councilman Scott Wardle said he was concerned about adding the judgment levy tax to residents’ tax burden on the heels of an 82% tax increase for the 2018-19 budget. He suggested looking at other ways to find the $401,772 to cover loan payments this year, either by cutting the budget or using savings. 

Wimmer said it would not be the recommendation of the city’s finance department to put off the judgment levy tax for another year by using savings or sales to pay for the ongoing expense. 

“We’ve tried to save (taxpayers) from this expense and by doing that, we’ve let our equipment go, the employees have taken cuts,” Wimmer said. “So I just want you to understand that it’s not just as easy as, ‘Oh, we could find $400,000 in here.’”

City Councilman Brad Pratt said he supported freezing the certified tax rate this year and it may be a good practice for a while. 

“Because I think had we done that … over the past 32 years, the impact this last year would have been probably minimal because of the need,” he said. “We would have been closer to meeting that need.”

While he said he didn’t want to have to raise taxes, City Councilman Dave McCall explained a recent encounter in which he defended the city and its policies to an agitated constituent. McCall said he later found out the resident’s major complaint was tied to an incident in which only three of the city’s snowplows were functional, causing significant delays in snow removal.     

If the city’s equipment is failing, then citizens aren’t getting the services they pay for, McCall said. He suggested following the mayor’s tentative budget — which would freeze the certified tax rate and apply the judgment levy tax — instead of only looking for cuts in the budget. 

“We’ve had this judgment for years,” McCall said. “ … When we first got hit with this lawsuit, I said we should raise taxes to pay it. I said that, because to me it only made sense.”

At the end of the meeting, the City Council scheduled a second work meeting on the budget for May 29 at 5 p.m. Prior to the meeting, Council Chairman Steve Pruden tasked the councilmembers with finding suggestions to trim the budget and to bring questions to the city’s finance department.

The Tooele City Police Department is reminding residents to be on the alert after two separate mountain lion sightings in Tooele City limits over the weekend. 

The first cougar sighting was on Saturday just after midnight in the area of Tahoe and Ontario streets, according to Tooele City Police Sgt. Jeremy Hansen. Officers responded to the location and searched, but did not find the animal. 

The second sighting came on Sunday at around 7:40 p.m. near Sterling Elementary School, Hansen said. The reporting party observed the cougar for a brief period of time and it was during daylight hours. 

Officers responded to the scene and searched the nearby field and ravine, where they found and disturbed other wildlife, but no mountain lion was observed.

The cougar sightings were in back-to-back days but with officers unable to locate the animals, the department is unsure if the sightings were of the same mountain lion, Hansen said. It is not uncommon for mountain lions to be seen out of higher elevations in the spring, he said. 

Anyone who spots a cougar should contact Tooele County Dispatch by calling 435-882-5600 and keep their distance from the animal, Hansen said. Officers will respond to the area where the mountain lion was last spotted. If multiple calls come in, the state Division of Wildlife Resources is contacted to tranquilize and relocate the animal, if possible. 

In August 2017, a mountain lion was spotted in Overlake and eluded officers for several hours before it was cornered and tranquilized in the backyard of a home on Berra Boulevard. The Overlake cougar, which was about 2 years old at the time, was released in an area canyon. 

Last October, a young mountain lion was spotted three times in Stockton, including one incident where it was treed by hunting dogs that had gotten loose.

With warm temperatures and clear skies the past several days, there are more motorcycles on the road.

Motorists will need to be on the lookout for a new law that allows motorcyclists to engage in lane filtering. Motorcyclists can now overtake and pass another vehicle stopped in the same direction of travel in the same lane, according to state Department of Public Safety. The law went into effect Tuesday morning and permits lane filtering if certain criteria are met. 

Motorcycles can only lane filter if they’re on a road with a speed limit of 45 mph or less, which excludes freeways. The road must have two or more adjacent lanes in the same direction of travel and the motorcyclist can only lane filter between vehicles that are stopped. The motorcyclist lane filtering must travel at speeds of 15 mph or less, according to state DPS.

In all cases, lane filtering is only allowed where the movement may be made safely, state DPS said. 

Lane filtering also must occur between two lanes of traffic. Once traffic is permitted to go from a stop, the motorcyclist must safely merge back into traffic.  

An example of a place where lane filtering would be permitted is Main Street in Tooele City, which has multiple stop lights in speed limit zones of 35 mph and 40 mph, with two adjacent lanes of traffic in the same direction, according to Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Street.

In a release from state DPS, some major roads affected by lane filtering were identified, including Redwood Road and State Street in Salt Lake County, Park Lane and Antelope Drive in Davis County, and State Street and Geneva Road in Utah County. 

More information on lane filtering, including example videos, can be found at dpsnews.utah.gov and ridetoliveutah.org.

A project to improve state Route 36 between 3 O’Clock Drive in Tooele City to the junction with state Route 73 began on Monday. 

The project will include 4 miles of widening the roadway, with pipe extensions installed within the widening area, according to the Utah Department of Transportation. A total of 10 miles of asphalt will be milled and paved along the stretch of road. 

The road construction work is scheduled to run throughout the summer, with completion in August, but all work is weather dependent, according to UDOT. 

Different assets of the project will be completed during the duration, UDOT said. Work to lower utilities for the project is expected to begin Wednesday, with concrete work and excavation set to begin Thursday and run through the middle of June. 

Work on a drainage pipe in the construction area is scheduled to start on June 23.

During road construction, motorists will need to be prepared for intermittent lane and shoulder closures, according to UDOT. 

To receive updates on the construction project, email sr36improved@utah.gov to be subscribed to the mailing list. Any questions can also be emailed to sr36improved@utah.gov.

A Grantsville woman is facing misdemeanor charges in Grantsville Justice Court after she allegedly tattooed a minor.

The 20-year-old woman is charged with a misdemeanor count of unlawful tattooing of a minor and two counts of misdemeanor adult selling tobacco to adolescents. 

On March 28, an 18-year-old drove her 14-year-old brother to the woman’s home on East Main Street, according to the search warrant affidavit from Grantsville City police. While at her home, the woman offered to tattoo the boy for $40 and he agreed to be tattooed but did not obtain parental consent. 

The woman tattooed an Egyptian design on the boy’s chest, then drove the boy and his sister to a convenience store to purchase them tobacco products, the search warrant affidavit said. 

On April 23, the responding officer was contacted by the reporting party, the boy’s mother, the affidavit said. She told police she wanted the woman cited and said her major concern was the tattoo needles may not have been sterile and the area where the tatto was applied may not have been sterile, either. 

When investigators contacted the Tooele County Health Department, they said the woman did not have a license to practice body art, according to the affidavit. 

Police spoke with the accused woman, who said she thought the minor was 17 years old, not 14 years old, the affidavit said. Investigators informed her it would still be illegal to tattoo a 17-year-old without parental consent. 

A search warrant was requested and executed on April 23 at the woman’s home, according to the return to the search warrant affidavit. The items taken from the home included nine tattoo guns, a “tattoo machine,” two boxes of unused needles, 46 bottles of tattoo color, miscellaneous tattoo equipment and a disc for tattoo training. 

The misdemeanor charges were filed in Grantsville Justice Court on May 2 and the woman charged is scheduled to appear in 3rd District Court for arraignment on May 21.

A Tooele woman has been charged in 3rd District Court with a pair of felonies connected to alleged incidents of abuse that occured in April. 

Kharyn-Ashley C. Goodwin, 24, is charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault producing a loss of consciousness and second-degree felony child abuse to inflict serious physical injury intentionally. 

The state Division of Child and Family Services provided Tooele City police with allegations of abuse by a 12-year-old who was possibly being abused by Goodwin, who was in a position of trust, according to a probable cause statement. Information provided to police included pictures of bruises and marks on the child, such as a bump on the back of the child’s head. 

The child reported the bump on their head was caused when Goodwin pushed them, causing them to trip over and hit their head on the floor, the statement said. They also reported scratches on their chest and shoulder, which they said were caused by Goodwin the previous night. 

In an interview, the child told police they were eating dinner and Goodwin had the child place their hands on the table, then started making small cuts with a knife, causing the child to pull their hands back, the probable cause statement said. The child also said Goodwin threatened them with additional abuse, such as cutting their arms or hitting their kneecaps with a hammer. 

When the child attempted to run away, they said Goodwin grabbed them by the ear, then pushed them, the statement said. As a result of the push, the child said they fell and hit their head on the floor. 

Photos of the child showed the bruise to the head, a scratch on the child’s ear and what appeared to be small cuts on the child’s hand, according to the probable cause statement. 

The child also described another earlier incident in which Goodwin allegedly woke them from a nap, grabbed them by the throat and choked them while holding a knife, the statement said. 

Police spoke with Goodwin at her home and she allowed police and DCFS officials to speak with two children at the residence, the probable cause statement said.

Goodwin told police she did ask for a knife from an 8-year-old child at the home while near the 12-year-old victim, which she said was for “intimidation,” but it never made contact with the child, the statement said. She admitted to scratching the 12-year-old on the shoulder and chest, and said she pushed the child to get them away from her, which caused the fall and head injury. 

Goodwin denied ever choking the 12-year-old child, according to the probable cause statement. 

Goodwin is scheduled to make her initial appearance in 3rd District Court this morning before Judge Matthew Bates.

A preliminary plat for a subdivision on Vine Street received a positive recommendation from the Tooele City Planning Commission during its meeting last Wednesday. 

The project, in the R1-7 planned unit development zone, would create 62 single-family  residential lots on 13.5 acres immediately south of Oquirrh Hills Golf Course. Due to the PUD designation, the development, dubbed Par Fore Estates, has lots of 4,200 square feet to 6,200 square feet but maintains the R1-7 density due to open space. 

The development includes an open space along a golf cart path north of the residential lots and two stormwater detention basins. A homeowner’s association would be required to maintain the open space. 

Par Fore Drive, which runs through the development and connects to Vine Street at Alberta Drive and 850 East, would be a public road. 

A positive recommendation for the preliminary plat was approved unanimously, on a motion from Commissioner Chris Sloan and seconded by Commissioner Tyson Hamilton. 

A zoning map amendment that would change 16.4 acres of RR-1 residential zoning to R1-7 residential zoning was not met with the same approval at Wednesday’s meeting. 

The rezone would change the acreage from 1 acre lots to 7,000-square-foot lots and is surrounded on all four sides by rural residential zoning. The property is located north of Utah Avenue and west of Coleman Street. 

A public hearing on the proposed rezone lasted more than 50 minutes, with local residents expressing concern about traffic, safety, infrastructure and having a higher density of housing so close to larger lots, some with livestock. There were also several speakers who supported the developer, Brad Lancaster, and the need for affordable, single-family housing in Tooele City. 

Resident Steve Wilcock said he felt it was the same issue dressed up differently, as a zoning map amendment to MDR, or medium-density residential, was proposed in March and received a negative recommendation.  

“You’re putting this zone right in the middle of an RR-1, which to me again is spot zoning,” Wilcock said. “And I don’t know why the city or you would want to do that.” 

Lancaster said he was sympathetic to preserving the rural housing designation in the city, but the need for housing outstrips current demand.

“This is a market-driven demand and markets should be allowed to be free,” he said. “And this is a market that is screaming at us all, ‘Build houses.’”

Commissioner Shauna Bevan, who motioned for the negative recommendation on the rezone of the property in March, said she knows of problems in subdivisions where a lot of homes are built adjacent to established corrals and barns for existing livestock. 

“It just doesn’t create a good neighbor environment,” Bevan said. “You’ve got the flies, the noise, and people think it’s going to look lovely and they’re going to like it and then they come and they complain to the neighbors with the animals.”

Bevan motioned to send a negative recommendation to the Tooele City Council on the zoning map amendment, seconded by Commissioner Melanie Hammer. The vote passed by a 6-1 vote, with Commissioner Phil Montano the lone dissenting vote.

A Tooele man pleaded guilty to two felony charges in 3rd District Court on Tuesday, receiving three years of probation.

Mikhail B. Moore, 18, pleaded guilty to an amended count of second-degree felony aggravated robbery and second-degree felony distribution of a controlled substance. A charge of first-degree felony aggravated burglary was dismissed without prejudice. 

Moore was also sentenced on Tuesday to 36 months probation after the prison term for both second-degree felonies — up to 15 years — was suspended. The prison time for the two charges would be served concurrently. 

Tooele City police officers responded to a report of an assault the evening of April 16, according to a probable cause statement. Officers determined Moore, along with another suspect, struck the alleged victim with their fists, a hammer and a two-by-four piece of wood. The victim said Moore also brandished a firearm during the assault. 

The victim said he agreed to meet Moore and the suspect to buy marijuana, the probable cause statement said. Following the assault, Moore and the suspect allegedly took the victim’s cell phone and a silver pendant on a chain necklace. 

During the investigation, officers reached out to Moore, who agreed to meet with police at his home, the statement said. Once he arrived in a vehicle matching the description provided by the victim, Moore was arrested. 

While interviewing Moore, he said he went to sell four tabs of acid to the victim, according to the probable cause statement. Moore said he only received $2 from the victim for $40 worth of drugs. 

Moore said he left, but returned to the victim’s residence, where he forced his way into the shed the victim was hiding in, the statement said. He began to yell at the victim and struck him with a piece of wood and the metal watch on his wrist. 

Moore said after the assault, he stole the victim’s cell phone and scooter. He was subsequently booked into the Tooele County Detention Center for aggravated robbery.

A rezone for 16.4 acres of rural property along West Utah Avenue to R1-7 zoning was unanimously denied by the Tooele City Council during its meeting Wednesday night. 

The rezone had been forwarded to the City Council with a negative recommendation from the Tooele City Planning Commission at its meeting last Wednesday. 

In a public hearing preceding the City Council’s deciding vote, several residents spoke out against the rezone, which would have permitted 7,000-square-foot minimum lots instead of 1 acre minimum lots. The RR-1 zone also permits large animals, which the R1-7 designation does not. 

Angela Hill said she had concerns about infrastructure, including adding so many homes near Northlake Elementary School, adjacent to the intersection of Coleman Street and Utah Avenue. Like others speaking at Wednesday’s meeting, she also had concerns about rezoning property with the rural designation.

“They talk about affordable housing that’s needed in the city limits. I agree with that. I agree that it’s going to grow,” Hill said. “But don’t take away the RR-1 that we have so little of.” 

Hill’s sentiment was echoed by Mike Leonelli in his comments during the public hearing. 

“The unfortunate thing is you’re reaching into a part of town that is dwindling, the RR-1 property,” Leonelli said. “We need to retain something.”

The property considered for the rezone is surrounded on all four sides by RR-1. A previous attempt to rezone the property to medium density residential received a negative recommendation from the planning commission in March. 

During last Wednesday’s meeting, the planning commission voted for a negative recommendation by a 6-1 vote, with Commissioner Phil Montano the lone dissenting vote. 

Prior to his vote to deny the rezone, Councilman Brad Pratt said he had seen a number of farms and rural areas in the city be replaced by single-family housing over the years. 

“But again, I think that needs to grow from the inside out, and not from the outside in. So therefore, Council, I’m against rezoning this to an R1-7 situation,” Pratt said. “ I think for now the best purpose is to leave it where it’s at.” 

Councilman Scott Wardle agreed with councilmembers in their opposition to a rezone to the R1-7 designation. 

“We can’t guarantee what another council will do in 20 years or 15 years,” Wardle said. “But for right now, I would agree with the council on this and that is that this is not the time nor the place, nor the type of rezone that should be thrust on this area.” 

The City Council voted unanimously to deny the rezone on a motion by Pratt, seconded by Councilman Dave McCall. Council Chairman Steve Pruden was absent from the meeting.