[0:00] You know what?
[0:03] Oh, the times if we could
[0:08] call this meeting order. Special town
[0:10] council hearing meeting. It's Tuesday,
[0:12] June 30th, 2026, and it is 6 p.m. Let's
[0:16] start with the pledge.
[0:20] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
[0:23] United States of America and to the
[0:26] republic for which it stands. One nation
[0:31] indivisible with liberty and justice for
[0:34] all.
[0:38] Anybody want to do prayer?
[0:41] Our
[0:46] dear Lord, we thank thee for
[0:50] the
[0:52] blessings that we have here as a town
[0:54] and the community that we have created,
[0:56] the support that we show to each other.
[0:59] We
[1:01] ask you to please bless that this town
[1:03] will receive rain and that we will
[1:06] continue to grow together and come
[1:08] together to support our neighbors and
[1:10] show our love for one another.
[1:13] We ask you please bless our water people
[1:16] with wisdom and guidance that they may
[1:19] make the most prudent choices for our
[1:21] town so that we may prosper and and
[1:24] thrive in the coming years and our
[1:26] children and our children's children may
[1:29] be able to also enjoy the beauty of our
[1:34] little community that we have curated
[1:38] with thy help.
[1:40] We say these things in Jesus Christ.
[1:42] Amen.
[1:44] >> Thank you.
[1:45] >> All right. Roll call.
[1:46] >> Scott here.
[1:47] >> Mike Ferrar here.
[1:49] >> Love here.
[1:49] >> Richard here.
[1:51] >> Kevin will be here, but he'll be a
[1:52] little late. Any conflict of interest?
[1:55] >> No.
[1:56] >> Nope. Me neither.
[1:58] >> Okay. Mayor's town update reports,
[1:59] recommendation, announcements. I'm going
[2:00] to use this uh time to talk about the
[2:03] water. You're going to have to excuse my
[2:05] voice. The no sleeping caught up on me.
[2:07] Body got weak and I got sick. So, I
[2:10] never get sick, but it happens every now
[2:12] and then. So, okay, let me tell you
[2:14] what's going on with the water. I'm not
[2:16] going to cover too much of what I
[2:17] covered in my last meeting.
[2:19] I don't want to be redundant, waste
[2:21] everybody's time. It was recorded. You
[2:22] can go watch it.
[2:25] We had talked about drilling a new well
[2:28] um next to the old one. We were able to
[2:31] avoid doing that. Um, we were able to
[2:34] blast the merit well, uh, get down
[2:36] deeper, run our pipes, which casings
[2:40] deeper, and get towards the bottom and
[2:42] get it working again. It's not
[2:44] performing as it was, but it is working
[2:46] again.
[2:48] Um, when we first hooked it up, we were
[2:51] struggling. As you guys know, I told you
[2:52] I had them turn the pivots back on so we
[2:55] could test. Um, we ran them for three or
[2:57] four days and we couldn't get the merit
[3:00] water and the merit level, I'm sorry,
[3:02] water the water level and the merit well
[3:04] to go up to our pump. It was all the way
[3:06] down. So, I called the the farmer and
[3:09] asked him to shut the pivot off and they
[3:11] did about it was around 11 or 12. And by
[3:14] the late afternoon, early evening, our
[3:16] water levels have come way up. So, we
[3:17] definitely know uh the pivot is creating havoc on our two
[3:22] wells. Now, with that being said, it's
[3:25] not just that. I think if this would
[3:27] have been three or four years ago, it
[3:29] might not have been an issue. My theory,
[3:31] I mean, we are in a drought. We're in a
[3:32] state of emergency in the entire state.
[3:35] We haven't had any rain. Um, we have
[3:38] good aquafer studies from old ones. We
[3:41] have well studies. We have all this
[3:42] stuff that says this shouldn't happen,
[3:44] but they're all before the drought.
[3:45] They're all over three years old. So, I
[3:47] do think, you know, that's the first
[3:49] thing they all say, "Well, according to
[3:50] our data, this shouldn't be happening."
[3:51] Well, I get it, but it is. And I just
[3:54] think the date is old. We haven't The
[3:55] three years of drought is catching up.
[3:58] So, um, we're stabilized right now.
[4:01] After we did that with the merit well,
[4:02] the Gregor well was barely we had about
[4:05] 2 feet and if I turned it up too much,
[4:07] it would make a vortex. Obviously, we
[4:10] can't see this. Well, we did actually
[4:11] put the camera down, but you can't when
[4:12] it's running, you can't get the camera
[4:14] too close, but it created a vortex and
[4:16] would suck some air. So, I had to really
[4:17] play with the with the uh speed of pump,
[4:20] the motor to get a balance there. And we
[4:23] weren't putting out enough water. Once
[4:25] we got the merit well up and running, we
[4:27] were not putting out enough water to
[4:29] supply the town. So, I asked you guys to
[4:31] conserve water. We filled up the tanks
[4:33] all the way as full as we could get them
[4:35] and we just turned that well on. It was
[4:38] producing about
[4:41] almost 100
[4:43] gallons per minute. We need about 250 to
[4:46] keep the town alive. Um, so I asked you
[4:49] guys to conserve. We ran the merit well.
[4:51] We shut the Gregerson Well down, which
[4:52] was a very hard decision. Um, these are
[4:55] all decisions that I have to make. Um, I
[4:58] don't have nobody I get to call. I don't
[5:00] have a boss that I get to call and ask
[5:02] what to do. I get lots of advice from a
[5:04] lot of people, a lot of people in the
[5:05] state, but nobody will tell you what to
[5:07] do. They just give you some facts and I
[5:09] have to make these decisions. So, very
[5:11] hard decision. I decided to shut down
[5:12] the Gregor some well. Um, and we pulled
[5:15] everything out and we blasted that one
[5:17] and got extended the pipe got all the
[5:19] way down to the bottom super deep and it
[5:22] thank God it worked [clears throat] and
[5:23] we got more water out of that one.
[5:26] >> Why scam with it?
[5:27] >> Yeah. Scary.
[5:30] Um, so that was a a positive. That was
[5:33] the only positive through all this. It
[5:35] was very exciting. We did that all in
[5:36] one day. Don't ask me how we got it
[5:38] done. We were out there super late. had
[5:40] the well running by nightfall and you
[5:42] guys were able to start using water
[5:44] again.
[5:46] Sorry, ahead of time. So, that's where
[5:48] we're at now. We've been stabled. We're
[5:50] putting out enough water. I think we're
[5:52] okay. We haven't without the pivot
[5:54] running. Um I'm working with the farmer
[5:56] and the property owners and all that
[5:57] about the pivot. The state I've been in
[6:00] solid state meetings. Um unfortunately,
[6:03] there isn't a lot of um protection from
[6:05] the legislature and the state for
[6:07] municipal water. um you know goes like I
[6:10] kind of told you guys goes by water
[6:12] gates and um stuff like that. So um I
[6:16] know a lot of people I I get some
[6:19] suggestions and I and I appreciate the
[6:20] suggestions stuff like we'll just turn
[6:22] the pivots off
[6:24] if it was that easy. I promise you I
[6:26] would do it. Just do this. Just do that.
[6:28] There's a lot of there's so much going
[6:30] on that that you guys cannot possibly
[6:32] understand all the laws and the rules
[6:33] and all that. So basically
[6:37] what's going on is I told you guys the
[6:39] river I told you guys I said it's a
[6:41] river and I'm going to explain that a
[6:43] little more that we're in our aquifer
[6:45] and when I talk about the aquifer the
[6:46] river is an aquifer any an aquifer is
[6:49] just a source of water down there in the
[6:51] rocks that's it so any source of water
[6:53] doesn't matter where it comes from that
[6:55] is the aquifer but what to make
[6:57] everybody understand it I keep talking
[6:58] about the the aquifer south of the
[7:01] cinder hill right here south of uh
[7:03] Richard Cinder Hill right here. And I
[7:06] think that's the according to all the
[7:08] information I have, that's like a big
[7:10] aquifer. Then I told you guys we're on a
[7:12] we're drilled into a river that goes out
[7:14] to the Virgin River and it's a lava
[7:16] tube. Now it's not I don't and I need to
[7:18] explain this and I didn't explain last
[7:19] time. It's not like this like you think
[7:21] when I said river fast blowing river
[7:23] inside of the river is what they call
[7:24] basalt and basalt is uh holds the water
[7:27] and it's like a big sponge. Picture a
[7:29] big sponge inside of this lava tube. So
[7:32] it's not fast. So, if you can picture a
[7:35] sponge as it's, you know, you tilt it a
[7:37] little bit, of course, the water is
[7:38] going to run in the sponge, but it's
[7:39] going to be very, very slow. So, if you
[7:40] come to this end of the sponge and put a
[7:42] straw on and suck all the water out,
[7:44] this is what your recharge rate is. It's
[7:45] how fast you're going to recharge. So, I
[7:47] may suck all the water right here, the
[7:49] sponge goes dry, but it's still wet up
[7:50] here, but it's not going to instantly
[7:51] flow into there. So, you have to wait
[7:53] and let it recharge. And that's really
[7:56] what the recharge rate of the aquifer
[7:58] has gone down to where it's not keeping
[8:00] up like it did before due to the
[8:02] drought, I believe. So, um, the again,
[8:05] the farmer did nothing wrong. He got a
[8:07] permit. That's the state. That's what
[8:08] the state the state issued. Everything's
[8:10] legit. There's nothing wrong. He's being
[8:12] very cooperative with us. We're we're
[8:14] talking. We're working. Um, he's done
[8:16] nothing wrong. Um, I fault
[8:20] the state. I mean, if I got to blame
[8:22] someone, ultimately it's my response to
[8:24] keep you guys a water, but in my
[8:25] opinion, the reason is the state. But
[8:27] I'm not going to fight the state. I'm
[8:29] sure other towns and other cities deal
[8:31] with the same thing. Um, so that's
[8:35] what's going on. The long-term plan, the
[8:37] long-term solution is I don't remember
[8:39] if I said this last meeting and I
[8:40] haven't said a lot. I I have been
[8:42] awarded
[8:44] couple when this all started when we
[8:46] when I got the pipeline money, I was
[8:48] worried the 3.2 million might not be
[8:50] enough and I knew that we would need
[8:52] more wells and aquafers or a different
[8:54] aquifer. So, we had went to Celeste
[8:56] Malloy. I went to I I spoke to Celeste
[8:58] Malloy and she had this big bill that
[9:00] she was doing and she said um why don't
[9:03] we get you in on this for the money? How
[9:06] much do you think you would need to
[9:07] cover this? And I said well a million and a half might cover but 2
[9:10] million would get us out of trouble.
[9:12] Long story short, she put us in the
[9:13] bill. We were everything was going
[9:15] great. New president came. Bill went
[9:18] away. Had to redo a whole new bill.
[9:20] Redid the whole new bill got awarded.
[9:23] We've been awarded $2 million. Now,
[9:25] there's some red tape to go through with
[9:27] that, but we we know for sure we're
[9:29] getting $2 million. There is a price
[9:32] match, what they call price match. We
[9:33] have to come up with $400,000. There's
[9:35] some
[9:38] waiverss you can do for that, and that's
[9:39] what I'm doing. I'm working with the
[9:40] state. We're in a state of emergency.
[9:41] So, I'm working on that. The plan with
[9:43] that $2 million is that [clears throat]
[9:45] accompanied with the USGS report that
[9:47] we've been waiting on forever that has
[9:48] now been promised. Now, that we're in a
[9:50] state of emergency. I should mention
[9:51] that I declared a state of emergency for
[9:53] the town. you can't get any assistance
[9:55] from the state unless you declare a
[9:56] state of emergency. So, as the the mayor
[9:58] has the authority to do that, I declare
[10:00] a state of emergency. Um, so being
[10:02] [clears throat] in a state of emergency,
[10:03] we should have the aquifer study back
[10:04] within a month. Um, we will use the
[10:08] aquifer uh study report and the $2
[10:11] million and we will determine where
[10:13] there is likely to be water. This is
[10:16] based on when we're drilling. Let me
[10:17] show you this. When we're drilling, I
[10:18] know I'm jumping all around, guys. I'm
[10:20] sick and I'm I'm tired. When we're
[10:22] drilling, as we're drilling, this is 320
[10:24] ft. This is 310 ft, 3290. We take out
[10:29] we, there's obviously a driller there. I
[10:30] don't drill. I'm watching and probably
[10:32] in their way, but I'm out there all day
[10:34] long and learning. And when they're
[10:35] drilling, they're taking dirt out at
[10:37] different levels. And you study this
[10:39] dirt and you know what the dirt is. This
[10:41] goes into a well log and these samples
[10:42] go to the state. The state does that for
[10:44] every well, town, private, any well that
[10:47] someone drills and they collect all that
[10:48] data. They utilize this data for USGS
[10:52] studies and stuff like this to try to
[10:54] picture paint a picture of how the
[10:57] dirt's working and where there's going
[10:59] to be water because the clay doesn't
[11:00] absorb water. So there's no water in the
[11:02] clay. So if we have clay, there's no
[11:03] water in it. You need to find certain
[11:05] soils and the basalt is where the water
[11:08] will be. So that's the information
[11:11] they'll have. We'll take that
[11:12] information and we should be able to
[11:13] determine some areas throughout town
[11:16] here close to Apple Valley proper that
[11:18] has that kind of material. They'll get
[11:21] us in an area. They can't tell you drill
[11:23] right there. They're not going to do
[11:24] that. Unfortunately, they're not.
[11:26] There's programs we'll put that the
[11:28] engineers have. We'll put that
[11:29] information along with the old aquifer
[11:31] study and all kinds of information and
[11:33] AI will go through there and give us
[11:34] positions where we think there's water.
[11:36] Then, I know this is going to sound
[11:37] corny and crazy. Maybe some of you it
[11:39] doesn't, but you get a Witcher. And uh
[11:43] I've never been a believer, but here
[11:45] recently I've been watching some guys
[11:47] with a Witcher. And I had two different
[11:49] guys come out at two different times,
[11:52] didn't talk to each other, and both
[11:54] picked out two places where there'd be
[11:55] water. So I said, "That's pretty crazy."
[11:57] So I I'm starting to believe it. You get
[11:59] a Witcher. There's another method, but
[12:01] witching actually is very is more
[12:02] successful, has a better success rate.
[12:04] And uh there's a guy known around this
[12:06] area um that's supposedly the best and
[12:09] I've talked to him before and he's
[12:10] always offered to help. So we will witch
[12:12] it. Now the problem with witching is
[12:15] depending on the Witcher, you might just
[12:17] find a little bit of water, you might
[12:18] find a lot. Some guys claim they can
[12:20] tell you that. I don't know. We'll witch
[12:22] it. We'll find the best location for
[12:24] water and we'll drill for water. Now the
[12:27] complications that come with that.
[12:29] First, we got to find the water. I've
[12:31] just told you about all that doesn't
[12:32] guarantee the which you're saying it's
[12:33] right here. None of this is a guarantee.
[12:35] Probably will hit water. Then we got to
[12:38] get enough water. It has to be
[12:39] performing well. Um you know get 10 20
[12:42] gallons a minute. That don't help us
[12:43] much. Um I would think anything under I
[12:47] mean if we get 50 we'll run it. If we
[12:49] get under 50 we're not even going to
[12:50] waste our we're going to drill somewhere
[12:52] else. Maybe at 50 we'll see. It helps.
[12:55] Um then after we find the water then we
[12:58] got to test it. Make sure it doesn't
[12:59] have radium and it meets all the state
[13:00] requirements and all this stuff. It's
[13:02] good water. Then we got to put all the
[13:04] well stuff in and do all that. Okay.
[13:06] Then we're going to with we're going to
[13:08] do a couple of these. I want to get I'd
[13:09] like to get two or three wells. I'd like
[13:10] to get three 400 gallons a minute on a
[13:12] different aquifer. Um that gives us some
[13:15] redundancy and stop depending on this
[13:16] aquifer here. Um then with the rest of
[13:19] the money, we'll lead a pipeline from
[13:20] those wells up to the tank or tie into
[13:23] the pipe somewhere else. We'll have to
[13:25] do engineering for that and see what we
[13:27] can there's pressures involved and all
[13:29] kinds of stuff and we'll get water up to
[13:31] the million-gallon tank the new million
[13:32] gallon tank that should start
[13:33] construction in August.
[13:36] But for now we can talk about those two
[13:37] dates. We get water up to the tanks. So
[13:39] that will give us some redundancy. Um
[13:42] maybe this aquaer will hold out forever,
[13:44] maybe it won't. Nobody knows. I mean
[13:47] honestly it could shut off tomorrow even
[13:49] though we're not running the pivots and
[13:50] everything looks good right now.
[13:51] Tomorrow it could dry up. And and I've
[13:53] known this this is nothing new. I mean
[13:55] this always any town is dependent on you
[13:57] know a couple wells that can happen. Um
[14:00] but we didn't have the money to drill
[14:03] new wells and everything's been good
[14:04] until now it hasn't. So we were very
[14:07] close. We we almost we should have had
[14:08] the celeste money on our own at the end
[14:10] of the year. Now we're kind of
[14:12] expediting everything. So uh there's
[14:15] always silver lining silver lining on
[14:17] the cloud or the silver lining is this
[14:19] happens but it triggers a lot of other
[14:21] stuff to happen. So, that will be the
[14:23] long-term fix for our water
[14:26] is finding other aquifers, drilling into
[14:28] them, and piping the water up to million
[14:30] gallon tanks. So, we'll have backups.
[14:32] Um, if the drought continues, they can
[14:35] all dry up. I I I'm not God. I I know
[14:37] people want to feel warm and cozy, and I
[14:41] can give you my opinions, and I can tell
[14:43] you guys, I'm looking at the level of
[14:45] the water and what I feel good about
[14:47] based on everything I've known, I know,
[14:48] I've learned. But again, I'm not God.
[14:51] Um, nobody even there's nobody
[14:54] in the world that can tell you exactly
[14:56] what's going to happen without you.
[14:57] You'd have to go down there and swim
[14:59] around it, I guess. But and we can't do
[15:01] that. We don't have that technology.
[15:03] Even with the USGS reports and all this,
[15:05] they're educated guesses based on
[15:08] geology and the structure, the dirt in
[15:10] the ground. So, um, none of it's uh a
[15:14] for sure thing. Um, but the more
[15:16] redundancy we have in place, the better.
[15:19] So that's the plan. Um I have like I
[15:21] said I have declared a state of
[15:23] emergency that makes us eligible for uh
[15:26] funding and help and stuff like that. Um
[15:31] in the meantime I am working with the
[15:34] farmer over there. Um a few people have
[15:36] asked me other stuff. Yes I am. And I've
[15:37] told him he knows I am actively pursuing
[15:40] with the state with the property owners
[15:43] to shut him down. Now yes I'm the bad
[15:46] guy. Uh, I know the I know the
[15:48] gentleman. Um, my son knows the
[15:51] gentleman. He's the first person my son
[15:52] calls when he has a problem with a cow.
[15:54] He's always willing to help. I don't
[15:57] like to mess with anybody's livelihood
[15:58] or anybody's wire. Anybody. Even people
[16:00] don't like me in this town. I don't like
[16:02] to do that. Better yet, someone that's
[16:03] nice and I like and they're just a good
[16:05] person. It sucks. I hate this. It's It's
[16:08] horrible. But uh three years ago, I put
[16:11] my hand on the Bible and I promised the
[16:13] sword of God that I would look out for
[16:15] this town and you guys, not the farmer.
[16:18] So,
[16:19] it's one of those things that I have to
[16:21] do and and it's not fun. It's it's one
[16:22] of the anytime I have to deny someone's
[16:25] request or send out a um violation
[16:29] notice and I I hate it. It's the worst
[16:30] part of the job because I just try to
[16:32] please everyone. So, this is probably
[16:33] one of the hardest things I have to do.
[16:35] Um, but it's what I signed up for and
[16:37] I'm doing it and uh, he's working with
[16:40] us, but ultimately in case not, I'm
[16:42] actively pursuing to stop the pivots.
[16:44] Um, I like them. I like looking at the
[16:46] grass and and I like the we're a we're
[16:49] farming. It's what we're supposed to be
[16:50] about, but emergencies call for
[16:53] desperate measures has called for
[16:55] desperate. I don't know. Fired. I'm not
[16:58] going to let that go. But yeah, I don't
[16:59] like to do it, but that's what I'm
[17:00] doing. Um,
[17:02] well, I think that's it for the water.
[17:04] I'm going to see if these guys have any
[17:06] questions. I'm gonna open up some
[17:07] questions. You guys, I don't want to get
[17:08] into it too long of a thing, but we'll
[17:10] go. Do you guys have any questions?
[17:11] Because this is all going to lead up to
[17:12] some stuff that's going on later. So,
[17:14] >> with the fourth, do you want to talk
[17:16] about fireworks?
[17:18] >> We can. Yeah, there's no fireworks.
[17:22] » A reminder.
[17:23] >> Yep. Absolutely.
[17:24] >> We can ban them all. So, you're gonna
[17:25] have to go to St. George. There's so we
[17:28] had a big
[17:28] >> Yeah, that's right.
[17:29] >> We had a big mayor email and they were
[17:31] saying who's going to do what because
[17:32] the governor put out a state uh wideband
[17:35] on the fireworks, but he did give the
[17:37] option for a town mayor and the fire
[17:41] chief to get together and designate an
[17:43] area that you could light off fire. Most
[17:45] everybody said, "No, no fireworks." And
[17:48] that's what Apple Valley stance is.
[17:49] That's my stance. I'm not going to take
[17:52] any chances, especially when
[17:53] everything's dry and we don't even have
[17:54] no water to put out a fire. Um, and I'm
[17:57] not going to disrespect the firefighters
[17:58] and and I think some of the towns, and I
[18:00] don't like to get in with other mayors,
[18:02] some of the towns are allowing this in
[18:03] designated areas. I don't need a
[18:05] firework to show the love for my
[18:07] country. They just don't need it. Um,
[18:09] not in these times. Sure, I like
[18:10] fireworks. I like to light stuff. I like
[18:12] to blow stuff up, but I'm not going to.
[18:14] We're not going to start a fire here in
[18:15] Apple Valley. And you're not going to
[18:17] get much help. Every freaking
[18:18] firefighter in the States out and
[18:20] probably other states is out here
[18:21] fighting these massive fires. There's
[18:23] been three lives lost. I'm just not
[18:25] going to disrespect the fire department
[18:27] uh and put them in that situation. I'm
[18:29] not going to put the town at risk. It's
[18:30] not just our town. The fire is going to
[18:32] spread to the other towns and it's just
[18:34] not going to happen. So, we're not
[18:35] having any fireworks at all here. Um and
[18:38] yes, there will be patrols and yes, if
[18:41] you're caught doing them, we there's
[18:43] going to be a zero tolerance. So, um I
[18:46] will probably have Ildell PD here, the
[18:48] sheriff will probably be up here. Just
[18:50] stuff that's out of my hands. They're
[18:52] just going to be up here patrolling
[18:53] because of these issues. But yeah, no
[18:54] fireworks.
[18:56] >> What a better way to celebrate our
[18:58] country than to show your respect for
[19:00] your community and your your fellow man
[19:03] than
[19:04] >> by not burning it down.
[19:05] Yes. Exactly.
[19:07] >> I just don't think it's fair to not only
[19:09] your town, but the neighboring towns. If
[19:11] something gets sparked off, it's not
[19:12] going to just be Apple Valley or St.
[19:15] George. It's going to be the whole area.
[19:16] So, some of the other mayors were not
[19:17] happy about some of the other mayor's
[19:19] decisions, but that's their business.
[19:21] That's their town.
[19:22] >> Are we gonna go over number four?
[19:27] » No, no, this is just No, we're gonna
[19:29] roll into all that. That'll be us. I
[19:31] just kind of doing look for the town and
[19:32] the residents. Um, okay. Do you guys I'm
[19:34] going to open up to questions out here
[19:36] about the water.
[19:38] >> Yes, sir.
[19:39] >> What I understand is uh just a quick
[19:42] thing that pivot next to the road. I
[19:45] seen the permit on that he had 170 foot
[19:49] whale. We went 300 ft. She went another
[19:52] 130 ft according to permit over 9 and
[19:54] 1/2 in Casey. That's the first pivot.
[19:57] The second pivot is running right now.
[20:00] It's been running and running and
[20:02] running. The second pivot I think I
[20:05] mentioned to you when I came in there
[20:06] was a drilling rig there, but the only
[20:09] thing I could find on the second pivot
[20:11] was 160 ft. I don't know if he went a
[20:14] little deeper with that drilling rig
[20:16] about two months ago. No, they're just
[20:18] cleaning them and stuff like we did.
[20:20] They have to have a permit to go deeper
[20:21] and it will be in the well logs. But
[20:23] >> the one that did went 130.
[20:25] >> Yeah, the one by the highway. That's the
[20:26] one we have shut down right now. He I I
[20:28] didn't tell him to shut down the others
[20:30] first. He needs to run them because it
[20:32] did damage to his crops when we had him
[20:33] off for those days. But though, that one
[20:35] up there does not though that does not
[20:37] seem to be affecting the town's water.
[20:39] My belie
[20:40] >> That's why. Yes, I still believe he's
[20:42] getting surface water. He hasn't gone
[20:43] into our office.
[20:44] >> He hasn't gone as deep. Uh, this is just
[20:47] a rumor, but I don't know. Travis Holm
[20:50] is running that thing.
[20:51] >> I had heard that he quick
[20:55] claimed that land with the pivots to
[20:58] another person.
[20:59] >> He lost all the property.
[21:00] >> He lost all so he doesn't own any of it.
[21:02] And he didn't
[21:03] >> he still owns Crimson, the northern one,
[21:05] the northern development, that property,
[21:07] he still owns that one. There are
[21:08] foreclosures going on, but the West
[21:11] Temple where the this pivot is,
[21:12] everything on Main Street, everything
[21:14] other everything else Travis owned, he
[21:16] lost
[21:17] >> in
[21:17] >> he lost and forclosures. He he quit. He
[21:21] did a deed in lie of there's a lot of
[21:23] legal stuff there. Instead of a
[21:24] foreclosure, the new investors that had
[21:27] the prop uh that held the lean out of
[21:29] Texas now own the property.
[21:31] >> Texas. And that's what I was thinking.
[21:32] >> Yep. They own the property now. Yes,
[21:34] sir.
[21:34] >> Okay. So, we didn't drill well over
[21:36] there. Uh, I seen the drilling rig over
[21:39] there. One of our whales. One of two.
[21:41] >> No, that's what we use. It's the same
[21:42] machine that they used to blast and
[21:44] clear.
[21:45] >> That's the same thing. They cleared it
[21:46] out. And that well itself, those two
[21:49] whales, of course, one's a backup and
[21:51] one we used.
[21:51] >> No, no more. They're both used.
[21:53] >> Yeah. How deep are they? And what size
[21:56] of casing do they have?
[21:58] >> Uh, the Barrett well has an 8 in casing.
[22:00] The Gregerson has a 10-in casing. And
[22:02] they're both sitting right at the bottom
[22:03] of the aquafer close to about 300 ft.
[22:05] >> Are they that deep? Yes, sir. And once
[22:07] you get down to 300 ft on the aquifer,
[22:09] you start hitting clay and clay doesn't
[22:11] absorb water, so there's no water in the
[22:13] clay. So, yeah, we're we're about maxed
[22:15] out. We have and we have our casing
[22:17] about 10 ft off of the off the bottom.
[22:18] You don't want to put it all the way on
[22:19] the bottom because you'll start you can
[22:21] start sucking silts and stuff. So,
[22:23] >> and I wonder you can run all those
[22:24] pivots over there and have a lot of
[22:26] water when we're kind of uh still
[22:29] pushing bubbles.
[22:32] >> You'd have to talk to the state
[22:33] legislator about that one. So yeah,
[22:35] that's uh that's the way the states ran.
[22:37] I just have to play by those rules.
[22:39] >> You blew out the pivots and you say that
[22:40] did help.
[22:41] >> Uh we No, he shut the pivot down. The
[22:43] southern pivot,
[22:44] >> the wells. Yeah. Yeah. No, we Yeah, we
[22:46] blew them up. We got the pivots. We got
[22:47] the casing. The casing is the pipe. I
[22:50] say casing. I I used to say pipe and so
[22:52] I hung out with the drillers all weekend
[22:54] and they kept saying, "No, it's not
[22:55] pipe. It's casing. That's the pipe that
[22:57] goes down there and the pump and the
[22:58] motors hooked to the end of the casing
[23:00] or the pipe and we are sitting all the
[23:02] way as deep as we can go." I didn't know
[23:04] we realized we were that deep. Yeah,
[23:06] >> there's nowhere left to go. I went as
[23:08] down because what I did on my property,
[23:12] I had those sprayers that with the long
[23:15] nets. I eliminated all those and put in
[23:18] a quarter inch little drip line and cut
[23:20] my water down to a lot with the little
[23:23] drip line rather than those sprayers.
[23:25] If you want to make change, Richard, on
[23:28] a
[23:28] >> on a community level, we really need to
[23:30] reach out to our representatives and
[23:33] plead our cases to them
[23:35] >> because
[23:35] >> And you think they will hear us?
[23:37] >> No.
[23:38] >> I'm agree with them. I agree. Try
[23:42] >> we've done nothing.
[23:43] >> No, I agree with Kevin 100%. But
[23:45] ultimately,
[23:47] >> no. Because St. George and Salt Lake and
[23:49] all these other cities are going through
[23:51] the same kind of stuff and they're all
[23:52] complaining and they have way louder
[23:54] voices than we do.
[23:55] >> Got more fires, 92,000 acres than
[23:58] anywhere in the United States. They're
[24:00] busy. They haven't got time for Apple
[24:03] Valley
[24:04] on their general.
[24:05] >> You would
[24:07] usually gets taken care of.
[24:09] >> You are correct. Not when we only have
[24:10] two. Correct.
[24:11] >> Not when we have 450 registered voters.
[24:15] Only half of those votes.
[24:16] >> That's right. It's a fact. I don't care
[24:18] what anybody says. I be politically
[24:20] correct or not. That's what they look
[24:21] at. But I will tell you the state has
[24:23] actually been very responsive and very
[24:25] helpful. And so at the water
[24:27] conservancy, Zach always jumps in. I,
[24:30] you know, when this all goes down, I
[24:31] send out a massive email. I've the
[24:33] governor had given me all these
[24:34] connections to different people, heads
[24:36] of departments that can help and I send
[24:38] out a massive email and Zach was the
[24:40] first one to jump in and said, "Let's
[24:41] get a Zoom call going. Let's do this."
[24:43] Zach's always there. But they've all
[24:45] been very good at helping and offering
[24:46] assistance and expediting permits. We
[24:49] had the permit while I was on the Zoom
[24:51] call. She said, "Is that permit right
[24:52] now to blast that well and get going?"
[24:53] So, they've been very cooperative with
[24:55] stuff like that. And we're trying to
[24:56] help with expedition.
[24:57] >> Shame is look at who's here. I mean, I
[25:00] am totally disgusted at who shows up.
[25:03] There may be a few people on Zoom, but I
[25:05] thought
[25:06] >> a lot on Zoom.
[25:06] >> Not
[25:08] >> and they and most people watch the video
[25:09] later. I don't know. It usually has a
[25:11] count up here. Oh, 34. Last time there
[25:12] was over 100, but there's 30.
[25:14] >> Most of part should be with the people
[25:16] coming here, too.
[25:17] >> Sure.
[25:18] >> I I think they expect us to do our job,
[25:20] Richard. I really do. A lot of people in
[25:23] the community, I think they expect us to
[25:25] make the right decision as best we can.
[25:27] >> Well, I think they need to be involved.
[25:29] >> Well, I do too.
[25:30] >> You know, I don't expect
[25:32] >> I don't disagree with that, but I'm just
[25:33] saying I I believe a lot of people
[25:35] >> Yeah. Well,
[25:36] >> just want
[25:38] All right,
[25:39] >> Linda, go ahead. So, I know that when we
[25:43] had this study done, we had the one
[25:46] aquifer, which is one, which was running
[25:48] the town, and we had aquafer 2 that I
[25:50] understood was up in Main Street high
[25:53] up, but it's still ours. But it was at
[25:56] that point it was what um Homes was
[26:00] going to use.
[26:02] >> Nobody owns the aquafers. Anybody can
[26:03] use it. If you own the property on top,
[26:05] then you get water, right?
[26:06] >> So, do we own the property on top?
[26:08] >> No, we don't own any propert. town owns
[26:10] the this town. I don't know. I'm new to
[26:12] being mayors and stuff, but I feel like
[26:13] this town
[26:13] >> piece right here.
[26:14] >> I would think I thought the town would
[26:16] own a lot of property, but of course, we
[26:17] own the roads, but that's we don't want
[26:20] properties.
[26:21] >> That one that supposedly
[26:22] >> Here's the thing. These these property
[26:24] owners that I've dealt with, these large
[26:26] properties, Carrie Holt, the grass, the
[26:28] brothers, they are the Hershey's very very generous with I can give you a
[26:35] small easement and stuff like that. I
[26:36] can imminent domain it. It's not a
[26:38] problem. I don't believe in it. I don't
[26:40] want to do it. I would rather work with
[26:42] them. If I have to, even though I don't
[26:43] believe in it, again, I promised you
[26:45] guys these things. I will do it. But so
[26:48] far, like with the pump house, the
[26:49] easements, I got all those guys to
[26:51] donate that land. And I'm sure that's
[26:53] going to happen.
[26:54] >> Nobody really did the well.
[26:56] >> Not yet. We haven't We don't know where
[26:57] we're going to drill yet. So, once we
[26:58] figure out what we're going to drill,
[26:59] then I'll go to the property owner and
[27:01] say, "Hey, I need to come out here and
[27:03] drill because this is where we think
[27:04] there's water." And I'll talk to Carrie
[27:06] Holt or the Graphs or Hershey or whoever
[27:08] owns the land and I'm very confident, they will work with the
[27:13] town. They've been great to this town
[27:14] and they're always like, "Yep, no
[27:16] problem." And they'll give us the small
[27:17] easement and then we got a drill. Then
[27:19] we have water rights. We don't need
[27:20] their water rights. We have our own
[27:21] water rights.
[27:22] >> Yeah.
[27:23] >> And the other thing is it looks like he
[27:26] um the farmer cut the one that was
[27:29] taking so much water.
[27:31] >> Yeah. It's been off.
[27:32] >> No, but it looks like he cut it today.
[27:34] No, I cut it the other day.
[27:37] >> Oh, the grass. I see. What? Yes. Yeah,
[27:39] it was time to cut it. Um, he didn't get
[27:42] much. I talked to him. He didn't get
[27:44] much because of he stopped watering it
[27:46] for us that very first Thursday, but
[27:48] it's been cut. But that doesn't mean
[27:49] it's it's done because you cut it, you
[27:51] water it again. Usually get three or
[27:53] four. I'm not a farmer, but you get
[27:54] three or four cuts out of one plant,
[27:57] >> right?
[27:57] >> So, yeah.
[27:58] >> I saw it cut and I thought, well, he's
[28:00] at least taking his loss and getting as
[28:02] much as he could. And then he's still
[28:04] watering the one that's
[28:06] >> Yeah, it's a horrible situation because
[28:07] I mean we're over here going our water, our water. And I get that.
[28:11] And like I said, I feel horrible. He has
[28:13] put money into the well. He's put money
[28:15] into the pivots, the plants, and he has
[28:16] a lease and it's a bad situation. No
[28:19] matter there's there's no winners, so
[28:21] he's going to lose um if he shuts those
[28:23] down and loses the crop. He's out money
[28:25] of his pocket. So it's a bad situation.
[28:27] It's not something I feel good about.
[28:29] >> Yes, ma'am. government agency gave the
[28:31] okay to do the pipeline originally
[28:35] >> without without the the the updated USGS
[28:38] ser survey
[28:40] >> state division of drinking water
[28:43] everything
[28:44] >> they would be really the ones at fault
[28:48] for giving the okay and now we didn't
[28:50] now we were in a water you know
[28:52] >> pipeline has nothing to do with this
[28:55] pipeline was everything was fine until
[28:56] we turned the pivot on you'd be out of
[28:58] water regardless
[29:00] due the drought, the pivot turned on and
[29:02] we're out of water.
[29:03] >> In fact, the pipeline if we do run out
[29:05] of water completely will be the saving
[29:08] grace cuz I can turn on those t like I
[29:09] always told you guys someday you'll be
[29:11] so happy to have these when you can't
[29:13] flush your toilet. I went through we I
[29:15] amongst a few other people that live in
[29:17] Cedar Point went through three days
[29:19] without water and you can't flush your
[29:20] toilet. You have to take a bucket of
[29:22] water and pour it in there. It's not a
[29:24] pleasant thing. You don't shower. We
[29:25] bathe with uh what do you call them?
[29:27] Baby wipes and stuff. So, in an
[29:29] emergency, if this does go dry, we will
[29:31] turn those wells on over there. I've
[29:33] told you guys before, I got the state
[29:34] approval to fire up those well with
[29:36] radium. I got to give you guys a 24-hour
[29:37] notice and say, "We're putting the
[29:38] radium water in and we will turn those
[29:40] wells on and we'll send water back this
[29:42] way." So, you will have water. It's
[29:44] going to be tight, but you'll have water
[29:46] and we'll put out a a strict water
[29:48] conservation and you will have water.
[29:50] So, thank God that the state gave us
[29:52] that money and we have that pipeline
[29:54] because this aquafer is is we're in a
[29:56] drought, guys. Well, the the main reason
[29:58] for putting it in even from the very
[30:00] beginning was so that we had flow across
[30:03] the whole community from one end to the
[30:05] other
[30:06] >> ultimately we are one community.
[30:08] >> Well, exactly. And also we had three
[30:10] separate units which it takes three
[30:12] times the amount of effort to keep it
[30:14] maintained for the state and everybody
[30:16] involved in it. By consolidating those
[30:18] together, it makes it a lot easier to
[30:20] operate the whole water system as a
[30:22] whole.
[30:23] >> Drought's bad. I mean there like I said
[30:25] it's not just us. It's the entire state.
[30:27] Unfortunately, we're out here in the
[30:28] desert. I think it makes it a little
[30:29] worse than Salt Lake. At least they have
[30:31] snow up there, snow pack. Although it's minimal, but it's an issue. I mean,
[30:36] like I said, back on May
[30:39] 25th, I think it was, the governor
[30:41] declared a state of emergency. We're in
[30:42] a state of emergency due to the drought.
[30:44] The entire state, um, you guys haven't
[30:47] seen me implement water restrictions too
[30:48] much. I've tried to avoid it. I don't
[30:50] like to tell people that they can't wash
[30:52] their car and squirt down run their kids
[30:55] slip and slide till their kids pool is
[30:57] the last thing a mayor wants to do. I've
[30:59] avoided long as I can. They are coming.
[31:00] I don't want to miss I am working on
[31:02] water conservation now. You are not
[31:04] going to see for a very long time uh uh
[31:08] no water conservation. This is going to
[31:09] be a way of life in Utah now. Um it's
[31:12] just the way it is. I mean, um I don't
[31:14] know how bad it's going to get if if
[31:16] even if we got rain tomorrow, it I know
[31:18] soon it rains, everybody goes, "Oh, we
[31:19] got rain." Listen, we're not even that's
[31:21] not the tip of the iceberg. The only
[31:22] good thing rain does is you should be
[31:23] turning off your sprinklers and not
[31:25] watering your lawns and that saves us a
[31:26] little water, but we only get 10% of
[31:29] that water going down and it takes years
[31:31] to recharge. It's this is going to be
[31:33] the way of life for a long time. We live
[31:34] in the desert and we're in a drought. I
[31:37] don't I I'm not God. So, we will be I am
[31:39] working on water conservation plans.
[31:41] They will be implemented. I'm going to
[31:43] do my best to make them voluntarily, but
[31:45] if push comes to shove, they will be
[31:47] enforced and you will be cited for it.
[31:49] it it's we're in a state of
[31:51] emergency. Yes, ma'am.
[31:52] >> So, maybe it's time that the state
[31:54] starts monitoring wells.
[31:57] >> What did you say earlier?
[32:00] >> No, I'm not going to say it.
[32:01] >> That's the same thing as what he just
[32:03] told Rich. You got to go talk to Yeah, I
[32:04] agree with you. I I'm on your guys'
[32:06] side. They don't monitor wells. They
[32:08] don't have there's no meters on these
[32:10] wells right here. Any of these wells,
[32:12] any private well in Utah does not have a
[32:14] water meter on it.
[32:15] >> Everybody here is accountable for the
[32:16] water, but not private wells. And I've
[32:18] disagree with that from the moment I've
[32:19] came here and they've said, "Oh, yeah.
[32:21] We're going to fix that. We'll fix
[32:22] that."
[32:22] >> Do you think he's taken more than acre
[32:24] feet?
[32:25] >> Who? The private people.
[32:27] >> Yeah.
[32:27] >> Oh, no. He has he has tons of water. He
[32:30] has more water. Yeah, he has 800
[32:34] >> shares just right there. There's more
[32:36] over here because here's remember
[32:37] everybody of these guys that own these
[32:39] water shares want him to use them
[32:41] because if you don't use your water
[32:42] shares you lose them.
[32:43] >> So he doesn't have to own them. Other
[32:45] people can own them and say hey use mine
[32:47] because right now we're going through
[32:48] adjudication process and people that
[32:50] aren't using their water rights lose
[32:51] them. Use them or lose them
[32:53] >> and they're taking they're going to
[32:54] Yeah, but they're going to take people's
[32:55] water rights. And uh
[32:58] >> so people will tell him all day long use
[33:00] my water rights. Use my water rights.
[33:02] >> Do the private wells around.
[33:04] >> Yes. Nobody's nobody's monitored. So
[33:06] they may get one water right and use
[33:08] more um they're not monitored. So yeah,
[33:10] I agree with you 100%.
[33:13] >> Culinary water in the future.
[33:16] >> I agree with you 100% on that. I wish
[33:18] they'd be monitored. Yes, sir.
[33:19] >> Apologize for not being here for a
[33:21] while.
[33:22] >> I probably have a couple redundant
[33:23] questions if you don't mind.
[33:25] >> Sure.
[33:25] >> So
[33:28] Richard just said that the upper well of
[33:30] Justin's is possibly on a different
[33:32] aquifer. No, it's I don't think he's
[33:35] into the aquafer. I think he's getting
[33:36] groundwater. He's not deep enough to hit
[33:38] the aquafer.
[33:39] >> So, where I go with that question is
[33:42] right Farmer John down the road when we
[33:44] were talking about the golf course and
[33:46] the hotel. The guy across the street up
[33:49] there had 3,000 acres.
[33:54] » He come to a meeting when we were
[33:56] talking about the golf course, the hotel
[33:58] being built. And he's told us in this
[34:01] meeting. He goes, "I got enough water to
[34:03] feed Alpha Valley three times over." Do
[34:06] we remember that conversation?
[34:08] >> No, but I think you must be talking
[34:09] about a ballad for the Ballard. Was he
[34:11] come here? And
[34:12] >> so if you leave Alpha Valley, you go
[34:14] down with that car.
[34:14] >> There's no water over there. That's what
[34:16] you're asking me about.
[34:16] >> That's what I'm asking. But we already
[34:18] know that the golf course they didn't
[34:20] find any water. He bragged about having
[34:23] water. So that was one of my questions.
[34:24] I'm
[34:25] >> guessing he's bragging about water
[34:26] rights. Some people think that water
[34:28] rights mean you have water.
[34:29] >> The difference
[34:29] >> and water rights is pay for water.
[34:32] >> Oh, no.
[34:32] >> Yeah, you can own all kinds of water
[34:34] rights, but if there's no water down
[34:35] there, nobody owns anything. So, yeah,
[34:37] there's no water. There's not that kind
[34:38] of water anywhere that way.
[34:40] >> What did that happen to? Again, sorry,
[34:43] redundant.
[34:45] >> What's happening with the hotel is
[34:46] supposed to get the 8 in pipeline out of
[34:48] our well
[34:50] >> what's going on with that?
[34:52] The state has to approve all that and
[34:54] the state has asked for a updated uh
[34:58] water
[35:00] basically saying what do we have and
[35:02] what they're going to require. They only
[35:03] require max because you have to go by
[35:05] max. The worst case peak day 80 gallons
[35:08] a minute. So here's the thing. If we we
[35:13] have promised to give them water um this
[35:16] is based on the information we had at
[35:17] the time if we're in a drought. So, I
[35:19] still want to get them water and that's
[35:20] part of the Celeste Malloy bill that I
[35:22] want to get uh wells drilled in a
[35:25] different aquifer and get water over
[35:27] here because we need that because if
[35:30] they go away, your water tank goes away
[35:31] and I don't know what we're going to do
[35:33] from there. We got a
[35:34] >> fourth question.
[35:35] >> Failing water tank for the water tank.
[35:37] >> They are.
[35:38] And so, we have to make sure
[35:40] that we get water to them no matter
[35:42] what. So,
[35:44] >> oh
[35:45] >> it's a thing for our water tank. Yep.
[35:48] So, they're doing a water tank and one
[35:50] more. So, what about if someone wants to
[35:52] build 500 houses? Now, are we promised
[35:55] we have to do all that as well?
[35:57] >> It's a very
[36:00] >> a good question.
[36:00] >> It's a good question because yes,
[36:03] legally legally a town, a water company
[36:07] has to provide people with water. If you
[36:10] have it, if you have water rights,
[36:12] legally you have to provide it.
[36:15] With that being said, I fight it all I
[36:16] can and there's gray areas and stuff
[36:18] like that, but ultimately I've been told
[36:20] if we go to court, we would probably
[36:21] lose. Um, but a lot of them are willing
[36:24] to help you bring water in from other
[36:26] sources. Um, but the state's not
[36:30] >> We talked about every source we got.
[36:32] >> I know. I know. Trust me, I'm I'm
[36:34] >> We do have a limit.
[36:35] >> So, the state is not very supportive of
[36:39] anti-growth people.
[36:40] >> There's just not
[36:42] >> I get that. That's why we're in a state
[36:44] of emergency. And you'll go town still
[36:45] building to find water and then we have
[36:48] to guarantee water to
[36:50] >> the good news that I always say. Here's
[36:52] the good news is here's what I always
[36:53] say. Within the last 50 years, I don't
[36:56] want to go back a 100 years to a ghost
[36:57] town. Does anybody know anywhere in our
[36:59] country that a town or city's ever ran
[37:01] out of water?
[37:04] >> I don't know of anywhere. So, you don't
[37:06] run out of water. this ultimately the
[37:08] state
[37:10] >> ultimately the state is not going to let
[37:12] a town run out of water.
[37:14] >> And my belief, this is my belief, the
[37:16] ultimate the state's not going to let us
[37:18] run out of water if they got to go down
[37:19] to
[37:21] uh St. George and steal water and bring
[37:23] a pipe up here. I don't know. But
[37:25] ultimately, I've never heard and if you
[37:27] do I even did an internet search, I
[37:29] couldn't find of any towns other than,
[37:30] you know, ghost towns a long time ago
[37:32] that have let ran out of water and went
[37:34] away, gone down for a few days. that
[37:37] think a water truck the water
[37:38] >> I mean was there five people in the town
[37:40] as a water truck won't do nothing
[37:41] >> the people
[37:43] >> I I should say of any significance I
[37:45] mean if you have three people in a town
[37:46] and it ran our water maybe but
[37:48] >> couple years ago
[37:49] >> the water tank will do nothing for us to
[37:50] bring a water tank it would wouldn't
[37:51] even last a millisecond so um yeah I've
[37:55] never seen one so that's the that's the
[37:56] silver lining I guess I just think you
[37:58] know but ultimately
[38:01] as we get these $2 million grants and
[38:03] stuff like that they throw money at
[38:05] things
[38:05] >> and that's awesome some
[38:08] when you first said that Mike like
[38:10] [clears throat]
[38:11] are we going to spend $2 million with
[38:13] somebody going that's where I won't
[38:15] spend $2 million right there you know
[38:18] >> yep
[38:18] >> that's not being funny I'm serious it's
[38:20] like um
[38:22] >> so
[38:23] like I'm in the discussion
[38:25] >> one more go ahead
[38:26] >> question is so when we run out of water
[38:28] and hire this well drilling company to
[38:31] go out there and stuff
[38:34] being the construction stuff like that.
[38:37] You got guys go and drill the well. Do
[38:39] they have some agency? Are they a
[38:42] contractor that's known to know
[38:45] about Apple Valley? They got the knowhow
[38:48] or they just guys to punch a hole in the
[38:50] ground wherever you tell them to.
[38:52] >> Some Some will have some will have
[38:53] knowhow. The guys that we hired.
[38:55] >> Yeah.
[38:55] >> Oh, they had a lot of knowledge. Yeah.
[38:56] They drilled the well. They drilled the
[38:58] pivot that that took our water.
[38:59] >> Well, I know. [laughter]
[39:02] So, yes, they they were very good. Okay.
[39:04] In fact, uh, if I would tell, and I
[39:06] don't use the club business, but Cluck
[39:07] Drilling, if anybody needs to drill
[39:09] well, they they literally, we're going
[39:11] to get into this later, we had quote
[39:13] from them for almost $140,000 to drill a
[39:15] new well, and he screwed himself. I
[39:18] should watch, sorry for my language, he
[39:19] screwed himself out of that deal. He
[39:21] didn't get to drill a new well by saving
[39:22] us money and fixing our well. So, very
[39:25] good guy, very honest, hardworking. They
[39:27] were out there all night. Changed family
[39:29] plans.
[39:30] >> Total respect for Club. Joe was amazing.
[39:32] He really was. one story real quick. I'm
[39:35] at Melba a week before we had a water
[39:38] problem and I I drove out of town
[39:41] before this all happened. I was out of
[39:43] town and all this happened. I could shut
[39:45] my water off. I'm I'm out of town. But
[39:47] I'm at the mailbox. I talked to two
[39:49] residents and I haven't been to these
[39:50] meetings for a while, but I've been
[39:52] watching Justin drilling the well
[39:54] alongside the highway. They stopped a
[39:57] week, then they start drilling again.
[40:01] Something's going on with this. I'm
[40:03] pondering this. This is before anybody
[40:06] told me that we had a water problem or
[40:08] facing one and I'm going something's not
[40:11] good here. So I asked the other
[40:14] residents
[40:17] one thing was have we got back results
[40:20] for aqua per study. Both of them told me
[40:23] yes it's on the Apple Valley website.
[40:26] >> The old one is from 2015.
[40:28] >> Yeah the one the old one ate 10
[40:29] >> and it's not going to be it. that one
[40:31] from 2015. You can read it and it's
[40:33] going to be pretty. They don't change a
[40:34] lot, but
[40:35] >> we started one a year ago, though,
[40:36] right? We've been
[40:37] >> Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. Yep. I've got
[40:38] the preliminary report. We a verbal.
[40:40] It's not written.
[40:41] >> I remember that.
[40:43] >> No, we have not got it yet. It's
[40:44] supposed to have it within a month now.
[40:46] >> So, they were misinformed. The other one
[40:48] was go,
[40:49] >> why why is Justin drilling a well along
[40:52] the road there?
[40:54] >> What do you mean?
[40:55] >> Oh, we were told that he needed to move
[40:57] his well.
[40:59] Can you drill deeper?
[41:00] >> You have two residents so misinformed.
[41:03] >> Oh, trust me, there's a lot more than
[41:05] two spent
[41:07] move a 30 ft.
[41:09] >> There's a lot more than two people
[41:10] misinformed. Unfortunately, I get people
[41:12] I half the critic 90% of the criticism I
[41:15] get is always bad information. people if
[41:18] you could and even when I tell people
[41:20] there's still I could we and you could
[41:21] go back to my office for the next week
[41:23] and I could just flood you with
[41:25] information that all this stuff I have
[41:27] to process and I mean that's all I might
[41:29] it's like being an how much I hate this
[41:32] misinformation and I know better believe
[41:35] it
[41:35] >> yes I appreciate that because I won't
[41:37] lie to you guys I'll tell you and I try
[41:39] to do this as often as I can on social
[41:41] media as much as I used to be because
[41:43] I'm out here in the sun all day drilling
[41:45] wells and I'm trying to get stuff done.
[41:47] But I do my best to keep you guys and I
[41:49] will not lie to you guys. Will not
[41:51] >> question.
[41:52] >> Yes, sir. And then I'll jump online. I
[41:54] think I got one.
[41:55] >> Is Hillale in Colorado City
[41:58] having water problems too like us?
[42:00] >> Everybody in the state had water
[42:01] problems.
[42:01] >> State they've been working on theirs for
[42:04] even before we got started over the last
[42:07] water.
[42:08] >> They've had a bunch more well pushing.
[42:10] The good thing is they have that that
[42:12] creek creek up there and they do have
[42:14] springs up there, but everybody's going
[42:16] through the water problems and they have
[42:18] they used to have well problems where
[42:19] they would go have to do water
[42:20] conservation when the wells went down.
[42:22] It used to be a little worse than ours
[42:23] because the wells I don't know about the
[42:25] actual aquafer but the aquifer they're
[42:27] sitting on is supposedly comes all the
[42:28] way over here. It's huge. That's where
[42:30] we were drilled into a Cedar Point, that
[42:32] aquifer, but we got the radio. So we
[42:34] knew if we drilled anywhere around Cedar
[42:36] Point, the odds were very high we'll get
[42:39] radio. We're not going to go back there
[42:40] and drill now. We're hoping to come this
[42:42] way just east of Main Street and try to
[42:44] get away fur f far f far f far f far f far f far f far
[42:45] farther away from Cedar Point and not
[42:47] have radium. But there's there's a
[42:49] chance we could drill down and have
[42:50] radium. Now the the geologist USGS says
[42:54] there's no more odds of us hitting
[42:56] radium there than anywhere else just
[42:57] because there was radium in Cedar Point.
[42:59] We're far enough away that that
[43:01] shouldn't affect because the water
[43:02] doesn't have radium. The dirt has radium
[43:04] and it goes into the water. just start
[43:05] one more and then I'm gonna go.
[43:06] >> Uh so in the future now
[43:10] I know you sent out emails.
[43:13] >> Are you going to continue that if we
[43:15] have emergencies where we have to come
[43:16] back on water?
[43:17] >> Yeah we'll do we'll always send emails
[43:19] once we get the water conservation plan
[43:20] in place we'll send it out in in regular
[43:22] mail. The best form of communication in
[43:25] my mind I know some people don't like
[43:26] social media that's fine is signing up
[43:28] for the text. I try to put everything on
[43:30] the text too
[43:31] >> and I know a lot of people have said
[43:33] that's great. I think just about
[43:34] everybody texts. Um I don't spam it. We
[43:37] don't go on there and just I try to only
[43:40] I can do it. Nobody else. I'm the only
[43:41] person has access and I try to keep it
[43:43] that way. So we keep the min I I kind of
[43:45] watch what we send so you're not getting
[43:47] hit with a bunch of stuff and that is
[43:49] the best way. I truly believe
[43:50] >> last one I saw seven o'clock Saturday
[43:54] week and go back watering and stuff.
[43:56] >> Yeah, that was the last one I said.
[43:57] >> If anybody needs help signing up with
[43:59] the text messages, I can definitely help
[44:01] them.
[44:02] >> Anybody else? So, we can get out. I got
[44:05] one person on the line and I know
[44:06] Peter's going to have a a long- winded
[44:08] one. So, if there's anybody with a short
[44:10] question. Nope.
[44:10] >> Not everybody has text and email.
[44:13] >> Yes, ma'am.
[44:13] >> I have a question. Does anybody else's
[44:15] water smell like garbage and just smells
[44:18] so horrible and I I never seen drink it
[44:22] >> just recently?
[44:23] >> Yeah.
[44:23] >> No, it's been going on for a while.
[44:26] >> Like, what do you mean the whole time?
[44:27] Like the last few weeks or years?
[44:29] >> No, just since salt this situation. So,
[44:32] we drilled down so we got down so deep
[44:35] we've hit water that hasn't probably
[44:36] been utilized in a while and you'll get
[44:38] some sulfur smell to it. Um, the first
[44:41] day I had a few people saying they smell
[44:43] sulfur, but they said it went away
[44:44] quickly. As we cycle through the water,
[44:46] as it gets to the tank and different
[44:48] stuff, the smell will go away. It's
[44:49] perfectly safe. There's nothing wrong
[44:51] with it. It meets all state guidelines.
[44:53] Sulfur smell is just a cosmetic thing.
[44:56] Yeah, I agree it doesn't smell great,
[44:57] but uh it will clear up. I don't I can't
[44:59] tell you it's going to clear up tomorrow
[45:01] or a week or a month, but it will clear
[45:03] up.
[45:03] >> I scared to drink.
[45:04] >> No, no, you can drink it. I promise you.
[45:06] I would not lie to you. I'm drinking it
[45:08] right now. This is what I don't you
[45:09] know, this is what I drink. It's
[45:12] >> Nope. You're good. It's just It might
[45:13] just have a sulfur smell to it and it
[45:15] should be going away. I've heard a lot
[45:16] of people tell me it's getting better
[45:17] and better. Some people say it
[45:18] completely went away. Okay, Peter
[45:21] online. Peter has his hand up.
[45:25] Let's unmute Peter and see if he's still
[45:27] there.
[45:31] muted on his end. No, there you go. Go
[45:33] ahead.
[45:34] >> Yeah. Yeah. It's good to speak with you
[45:36] again.
[45:37] >> Thank you.
[45:38] >> Do you hear?
[45:39] >> See you. Good to see you, Gloria.
[45:41] >> Yes. Yeah. Well, I I must I must say the
[45:45] water looked really good today. Um, I
[45:49] filled up my poor man's swimming pool
[45:52] and uh it's a cattle cattle trough. You
[45:57] know, I'm I'm I'm trying to move things
[46:01] into a little bit of a lighter heart,
[46:04] but can uh my question is can we get a
[46:08] commitment from our town reps to
[46:11] preserve
[46:13] the assets, the commons, the water that
[46:17] we have for the people that have already
[46:19] committed to live here. And um that
[46:23] would be that'd be fabulous because I
[46:26] know this is a beautiful place and
[46:28] developers would love to Excuse
[46:33] me. Sorry. Um you're going to have to
[46:36] delete that. Um they would love to, you
[46:41] know, we could condize this area, but
[46:45] you got to be you you got to work within
[46:49] the resources we have. So, can we get a
[46:52] commitment from our town reps, the town
[46:55] council, your planning commission that
[47:00] we're a little bit limited, aren't we?
[47:03] >> You know, I don't think there's been an
[47:05] administration in this town that fights
[47:07] the growth more than our planning
[47:09] commission and our current council.
[47:11] >> I know.
[47:12] >> And I appreciate that.
[47:13] >> The only thing we can't promise is stuff
[47:15] that was approved in the past. If
[47:17] they've done a zone change, there is
[47:19] nothing we can do about it. And
[47:20] including water. Water is not an excuse.
[47:23] Unfortunately, for according to the
[47:25] state legislature, water is not an
[47:27] excuse to not grow.
[47:29] >> Like it or not, makes sense or not, I'm
[47:31] [laughter] with you. But that's the fact
[47:34] is that's not an excuse not to grow. So
[47:37] change has been done. There's not a lot
[47:39] we can do. I continue to fight it. Um
[47:42] we, you know, lawsuits may come from it.
[47:44] I don't know. I'll do everything I can
[47:46] to protect it. If I get us in a lawsuit
[47:48] over protecting our water, as long as
[47:50] you guys agree with me and you have my
[47:51] back, I'll I'll do it and we'll fight
[47:53] and I'm not as scared to fight with
[47:54] anybody. Uh, and I'll do it. So, that's
[47:56] my commitment. I I'm sure that they're
[47:58] pretty much feel the same way. Um, but I
[48:00] think they're we all live here and we're
[48:02] all protecting it the same way. We have
[48:04] our investments here. We live here. But,
[48:06] yeah. Um, you know, you guys know how I
[48:08] felt coming in. I didn't want to change
[48:09] nothing about Apple Valley. I guess some
[48:11] people said, "Come in and shut the door
[48:13] behind you." Yeah, I guess I'm guilty.
[48:15] Yeah, I would have loved to have done
[48:16] that. I know it's not realistic, but I
[48:18] would have loved to have done that. So,
[48:19] yeah,
[48:20] >> I'm I'm just saying that, you know, the
[48:23] resource
[48:24] >> there's a limit.
[48:27] >> You know, um
[48:28] >> Yep.
[48:29] >> We we agree with you, Peter.
[48:31] >> We agree with you 100%. We'll do what we
[48:33] can.
[48:35] >> We too that everybody in this community
[48:37] should
[48:37] >> It's a lovely place. I would love to
[48:40] have everybody come here and live here
[48:43] and enjoy what I have enjoyed for 23
[48:46] years. Um, and
[48:49] >> not me, I'm stingy.
[48:51] >> Um, Zion National Park is a nice Zion
[48:55] National Park is a nice place to have in
[48:58] your backyard. So,
[49:00] >> yes, it is. It's a beautiful place. I
[49:02] agree with you. Oh, uh,
[49:03] >> fight every day to protect it. And, and
[49:05] yeah, I I, uh, in fact, if you don't
[49:08] know already, I'll go ahead and tell you
[49:10] we were served with Travis Holmes
[49:11] lawsuit, um, a few days ago. I don't
[49:14] think it's public knowledge yet, but it
[49:16] is now. I just told you guys. So, we
[49:17] have been served with the lawsuit that
[49:19] we had that I said was just a threat
[49:21] because we haven't been served. We've
[49:22] actually been served now. So, yes, we do
[49:24] everything we can, including getting in
[49:26] lawsuits to protect the water and
[49:28] protect the growth. So, um, as long as
[49:30] you guys support that, I'll keep doing
[49:32] it. Um, and we'll we'll fight them.
[49:35] We'll go to court and we'll fight
[49:36] people. I mean, I know what's right and
[49:38] we'll fight for you guys. So,
[49:40] >> anybody else?
[49:42] >> Yes, sir.
[49:43] >> Doesn't the city have the right to
[49:47] make developers when they come in bring
[49:49] some water with them?
[49:52] >> They can. They have to bring in water
[49:54] rights. But, but remember, water rights
[49:56] don't mean there's water. So,
[49:58] >> so yes, we can require we can we have
[50:00] the option of making them purchase some
[50:02] from us if we have extra
[50:04] >> or they have to bring in their water
[50:05] rights.
[50:06] >> There still got to be water.
[50:06] >> But you still got to have water. Yes,
[50:08] sir. You know, but you are correct.
[50:11] >> Real quick, did that land sell that the
[50:14] farmer lease
[50:18] >> last two weeks ago or a week ago? We had
[50:21] heard that just that day there was a new
[50:24] owner. Yeah, it got Yeah, there's that's
[50:26] what we were saying earlier. He Travis
[50:27] lost the property. There's a new owner.
[50:29] It didn't sell. It was foreclosed, if
[50:32] you want to say that way. Repossessed.
[50:33] Yeah. Okay.
[50:34] >> So, there's a new owner. Now, the new
[50:36] owner is sending it to auction uh as a
[50:39] foreclosure. And the reason he's doing
[50:40] that is that will clear all the loans on
[50:42] it because Travis took out after he he
[50:46] went and got more loans on the property.
[50:48] And so, when those guys take it, they
[50:50] have to assume those loans. But if you
[50:51] go through the foreclosure process,
[50:53] unfortunately those people that loan
[50:54] millions of dollars to Travis lose
[50:56] everything. There's there's no recovery
[50:58] because they're not the senior leanh
[50:59] holders. So this will clear the land and
[51:00] they'll own it free and clear. They are
[51:02] not developers. They're investors. They
[51:04] will sell the property.
[51:06] >> So [clears throat] it doesn't mean
[51:07] everything's
[51:09] done and over. But
[51:11] >> and do we have to go with the halfacre
[51:14] lots or whatever the zoning?
[51:16] >> I don't know yet. I mean, we're
[51:18] >> we're we're going to I'm sure we're
[51:19] going to wind up in court over some of
[51:20] this, and that's not our plan. No, no,
[51:23] they we voided those DAs. And that's
[51:25] what I thought we did.
[51:26] >> So, yeah, we we've
[51:28] >> Yes. I can't say too much about it.
[51:29] Okay.
[51:30] >> But, yep, we're fighting it. So, okay
[51:32] guys, with that, we are going to close
[51:34] that out. And if you guys online don't
[51:36] want to stay around for the last two
[51:38] little portion of this, you guys want to
[51:39] leave, that's fine. We're just going to
[51:41] go into our meeting for our budgets and
[51:44] stuff like that.
[51:45] the audio which is the break phone
[51:48] because I can't hear the line.
[51:49] >> Yeah. So, if you guys want to talk, you
[51:50] can go outside and talk, but she has to
[51:52] be able to hear the recording for our
[51:53] official meeting.
[51:57] » Trisha,
[51:58] >> we have to be quiet because she has to
[51:59] be able to hear. If you guys want to
[52:00] talk, go outside, talk all you want. The
[52:02] meeting's over. We're just going to do
[52:04] uh town council stuff now.
[52:05] >> You have a public hearing though.
[52:07] >> Yep.
[52:08] >> So, now I'm going to open up public
[52:11] comments. Three minutes each. If anybody
[52:12] has any comments that are not about that
[52:14] water stuff we just went over, I I guess
[52:17] you can't comment on that, but we're not
[52:18] going to answer questions. Anybody
[52:20] online? Anybody in the audience? Nope.
[52:24] Okay, I'm going to close out the public
[52:25] comment. We're going to roll into public
[52:27] hearing for item number two, resolution
[52:29] R-20226-2024.
[52:31] I'm sorry, let me do that. Item number
[52:33] two, resolution R-20226-24,
[52:36] adopting the fiscal year 2027 budget.
[52:40] Any comments online? Anybody in the
[52:43] audience?
[52:45] Nope. Okay, I'm going to close the
[52:47] public hearing for item number two,
[52:48] resolution R-2026-24,
[52:50] adopting the fiscal year 2027 budget.
[52:53] Going to roll into discussion and
[52:54] action. Item number three, resolution
[52:56] R-2026-24,
[52:58] adopting the fiscal year 2027 budget.
[53:00] Nothing changed since you guys saw it
[53:02] last. We made zero changes. There was no
[53:05] comments. There was nothing. So, it just
[53:06] stayed exactly how it is. So, now we
[53:08] just have to make final approval. So, it
[53:10] goes into effect tomorrow morning.
[53:15] Just if you guys got any questions about
[53:16] it, but like I said, nothing changed
[53:18] from our last meeting.
[53:19] >> I'm make a motion we approve resolution,
[53:24] excuse me R-2026-4
[53:27] adopting fiscal year 2027.
[53:30] Second
[53:30] >> roll call vote.
[53:32] >> Got the other I s I
[53:34] >> Mike Ferrar I have I
[53:36] >> Richard Palmer I
[53:37] >> motion carries
[53:39] >> on item number four resolution R-2026-23
[53:44] declaring a water supply emergency and
[53:46] authorizing emergency expenditures.
[53:49] Now let me tell you guys what's going on
[53:51] here.
[53:52] So, the original quote was to $130,000
[53:58] to drill a new well and then $25,000 to
[54:02] clean the merit well um to get it up and
[54:05] running. So, we had to clean the merit
[54:07] well, get it up and running to hopefully
[54:09] hold this over with water and then drill
[54:11] a new well we thought next to it. And
[54:13] then we were still going to have to
[54:14] blast the Gregerson well. So, uh, we
[54:17] were able to get to the bottom of the
[54:19] merit well, clear it, get the get the
[54:21] casing down there, so we didn't have to
[54:22] drill a new well. So, we could
[54:23] eliminate, I quote, $130,000 quote, but
[54:27] we still had to blast out the two wells.
[54:29] We're into this for about $70,000 for
[54:32] the drilling. We're into this for about
[54:35] $25,000 for the pump company that did
[54:38] the pump and the motor and pulled
[54:40] everything out. We're still waiting. Oh,
[54:43] I had to buy a shipping container
[54:44] because we had to tear down the
[54:45] buildings to drill deep to get the drill
[54:47] rig in there. We bought a shipping
[54:48] container with 4,000. So, we're right
[54:51] about 100,000 right there. The only
[54:53] things that are still outstanding is the
[54:56] electrician and the Kada guy, which are
[54:58] going to be some pretty heavy costs. I
[55:00] estimated this whole thing um at less
[55:02] than $150,000 or less. I have applied
[55:06] for
[55:08] state emergency funding with the
[55:11] I could remember the department um but
[55:13] it's the emergency state of emergency
[55:15] with the with the state. Technically
[55:18] these are kind of not eligible for that
[55:21] but they're trying to help us. They're
[55:22] looking at a gray area. It's going to
[55:24] the governor's desk. Um, so we're
[55:26] looking to get some relief there, but
[55:29] ultimately if we do not, ultimately the
[55:31] town is responsible for these charges
[55:33] and I'll figure out how to pay for
[55:35] everything. Um, but what the resolution
[55:38] is, I know Kevin was suggesting question
[55:39] is just
[55:41] basically approving these emergency
[55:43] expenditures.
[55:45] Um, and
[55:47] >> I guess my biggest question is where are
[55:49] these funds coming from? How can we
[55:51] afford to take care of this? And also, I
[55:54] just want to make sure that I'm looking
[55:56] at this $200,000
[55:59] merit authorized. Are we approving you
[56:02] to authorize an emergency spender of
[56:04] $200,000 at this meeting right now?
[56:07] >> Yes.
[56:08] >> Okay. And is that like a one-time thing
[56:10] or to come to council? We need to all be
[56:13] involved in it or is this something that
[56:14] you do on your own?
[56:19] » Yes, this is an emergency situation that
[56:22] we are authorizing. I'm trying to
[56:27] » No, this is the one time deal
[56:30] council part
[56:32] in the future with somebody else where
[56:34] we don't
[56:35] >> Yeah. Yeah. Remember and and I
[56:37] >> need to stay within.
[56:38] >> Yep. And I agree. And and remember every
[56:40] anything we change I do keep a log of
[56:42] and if if uh at some point we think
[56:45] we're going away, we want to change
[56:47] something, we can but the next council
[56:49] will change it back. But um
[56:52] >> those uh until the emergency condition
[56:54] has been mitigated.
[56:55] >> Yeah, that's what this says. And and I
[56:57] try and I and I tried to bring it to
[56:58] council as soon as I can. We actually
[57:00] were going to do this something sooner,
[57:02] but we knew we had this on Tuesday. But
[57:04] yeah, I mean honestly,
[57:06] even if I can't, I'm not going to lie to
[57:08] you guys. I'm going to do it. I'm not
[57:09] going to let my town run out of water.
[57:11] >> Got to do it.
[57:11] >> I mean, the same as I told the state,
[57:13] I'd rather ask for forgiveness than
[57:14] permission. When they were sapping about
[57:16] the permits and all this stuff, I said I always told you guys the state, I
[57:19] won't do something without your per
[57:21] without telling you, but I'm not waiting
[57:22] for permission. I'm telling you, this is
[57:24] what we're doing. And uh I promised you
[57:27] I'd tell you. But yeah, ultimately, I
[57:29] mean, I'll try to get a meeting as
[57:30] quickly as I possibly can and get you
[57:32] guys involved. Um, but yeah, ultimately,
[57:35] just like the last few days, I mean, I
[57:37] know you know, Kevin, because you're
[57:38] here. Um, yeah, I wasn't sleeping. I was
[57:41] out there. If I wasn't in here on
[57:43] conference zooms or shooting emails, I
[57:45] was out there at the well site um
[57:48] drilling wells and stuff. Yep.
[57:50] >> Yep. So yeah, I've uh I've uh
[57:55] overstepped my purchasing power on this
[57:57] one. So like I said, I'm going to ask
[58:00] for forgiveness instead of permission.
[58:02] Um
[58:03] >> well, as we approve resolution RS2026-23
[58:07] declaring a waters by emergency
[58:09] authorizing emergency inspectors. Just
[58:11] before we vote on that,
[58:14] >> thank you. I just want to make sure we
[58:16] all understand what we're handing over
[58:18] here is temporary, but it could go long
[58:21] term. I'll be honest with you, I for the
[58:23] most part don't question anything the
[58:25] mayor's ever done because everything
[58:26] I've ever been involved in, it's been
[58:28] 100%. And I believe this will be the
[58:31] same way. But I still need to bring it
[58:32] up
[58:34] >> that we understand what we're doing
[58:35] >> for sure. Absolutely. Okay.
[58:37] >> Motion on the table. We're just waiting
[58:38] for a second.
[58:39] >> Second.
[58:41] Who' you get Jenna?
[58:42] >> Richard got roll call vote.
[58:46] >> Mike Far.
[58:48] >> Richard.
[58:50] >> Motion carries. We don't need a close
[58:52] session. If someone wants a motion here.
[58:57] » All in favor?
[58:58] >> Motion carries. Meeting adjourned.
[59:01] I take a few.