[0:01] We're going to begin with an opening

[0:02] prayer, and that prayer is going to be

[0:04] offered by Reverend Buddy Harrington of

[0:07] the Shepherd of the Hills United

[0:10] Methodist Church. Reverend Harrington.

[0:19] » Thank you.

[0:20] » [clears throat]

[0:20] » Will you please bow in prayer with me?

[0:24] Heavenly Father, we come before you with

[0:26] gratitude for all the blessings you have

[0:28] given us.

[0:30] We're thankful for the place in which we

[0:32] live, work, and share with our families

[0:34] in this great nation, and especially in

[0:37] Southern Utah.

[0:39] Please strengthen the bonds between us

[0:41] as neighbors, friends, and family.

[0:44] Help us to be filled with faith as were

[0:47] so many of our ancestors.

[0:50] Help us to put our trust in your

[0:51] guidance, even among hardships and the

[0:54] uncertainty.

[0:56] Sometimes we cannot see the whole

[0:58] picture,

[0:59] but we know you can.

[1:01] We need you to put everything into

[1:04] perspective.

[1:06] Help us support one another, celebrate

[1:08] together,

[1:10] and face challenges with courage and

[1:12] mutual respect.

[1:14] Let your presence be every action.

[1:18] Let kindness, cooperation, and

[1:20] generosity flourish among us,

[1:23] reflecting your love in all that we do.

[1:27] We live in a time of war and distress.

[1:30] Protect our armed forces and keep them

[1:32] safe.

[1:34] Help us to find correct solutions to

[1:36] resolve conflicts so that the

[1:37] possibility of peace can reign.

[1:41] Lord, bless our homes, our schools,

[1:43] workplaces, and public spaces.

[1:47] Grant wisdom and discernment to our

[1:48] community leaders.

[1:50] May their decisions promote justice,

[1:52] peace,

[1:53] and the well-being of everyone in our

[1:55] community.

[1:57] Send your spirit here today

[2:00] during any discussion so that we may do

[2:02] thy will.

[2:04] May the aspirations of peace and

[2:06] goodwill be ever before us.

[2:09] And again, divine ruler, we give you our

[2:11] gratitude.

[2:13] Let us be peacemakers in your holy name.

[2:17] Amen.

[2:24] » Thank you, Reverend.

[2:26] We will now have the opportunity to see

[2:28] the color guard. The color guard will be

[2:30] performed by the Washington County

[2:31] Sheriff's Office Honor Guard. They will

[2:34] present our colors, after which

[2:36] Washington County Attorney Jerry Yeager

[2:38] will lead us in the pledge. After After

[2:42] Jerry leads us in the pledge, we will

[2:45] hear the national anthem will be sung by

[2:47] Kaylee Ruth, Miss Washington County. So,

[2:50] if you all please rise and remove your

[2:51] hats

[2:53] and stay stay standing.

[3:26] » Please repeat after me. I pledge

[3:28] allegiance to the flag of the United

[3:31] States of America and to the republic

[3:34] for which it stands, one nation under

[3:37] God, indivisible, with liberty and

[3:41] justice for all.

[3:53] » Oh, say can you see

[3:59] by the dawn's early light

[4:04] what so proudly

[4:07] we held

[4:09] at the twilight's

[4:11] last gleaming,

[4:14] whose broad stripes and bright stars

[4:19] through the perilous

[4:22] fight [singing]

[4:24] were the ramparts

[4:26] we watched [singing]

[4:29] were so gallantly

[4:32] streaming?

[4:34] And the rocket's red glare,

[4:38] the bombs bursting

[4:42] in air,

[4:43] gave proof through the night [singing]

[4:47] that our flag was still there. Oh, say

[4:54] does that star-spangled

[4:58] banner

[5:00] yet

[5:03] o'er the land

[5:06] of the free

[5:10] and the home

[5:12] of [singing] the

[5:14] brave?

[6:07] » Thank you everyone. You can be seated.

[6:10] If you guys don't mind, could we have a

[6:11] round of applause for Kaylee and her

[6:13] rendition?

[6:15] Almost feels un-American not to applaud

[6:17] at the

[6:18] at the end of uh

[6:21] at the end of a national anthem,

[6:23] especially when sung that well.

[6:29] So, today we have the opportunity to

[6:31] hear from our three commissioners.

[6:32] They're going to speak with us about the

[6:33] the challenges, the opportunities, and

[6:36] and the future of Washington County. And

[6:39] this is their opportunity to talk about

[6:41] the things that that we face, as well as

[6:43] the things we have faced, and what

[6:44] they've done to be able to improve our

[6:46] lives here in Washington County. I'm

[6:48] grateful to know these three men. We

[6:50] have good relationships. We work well

[6:52] together on many many projects. It's

[6:54] awesome to be able to serve here in a

[6:56] county where everybody is so

[6:58] collaborative and likes to work

[7:00] together, hears one another out, and we

[7:03] we find great ways to move our county

[7:05] forward. And so, without further ado,

[7:07] we'll begin today by hearing from

[7:10] Commissioner Almquist, and then he'll

[7:11] introduce who comes after him when he's

[7:13] done. Please, a round of applause for

[7:15] Commissioner Almquist.

[7:18] » [applause]

[7:23] » Well, it's certainly a beautiful day in

[7:24] Dixie. When it rained yesterday and we

[7:27] were at an at an event,

[7:29] everyone was soaked, but they found a

[7:31] place to huddle under the rain, and then

[7:33] all I could be was grateful for the good

[7:36] citizens that were there, but also the

[7:38] raindrops. And it it certainly has, if

[7:41] you've noticed,

[7:42] wet everything down, washed it all down.

[7:44] It's just an amazing day to be in Dixie.

[7:48] Um I've got the privilege of thanking,

[7:51] as Shawn did already, a few people, and

[7:53] then I would also, not by name, cuz then

[7:55] you leave somebody out, but I want to

[7:57] thank the Dixie Center for their staff

[7:59] and putting it all together and giving

[8:01] us such a wonderful venue to

[8:03] address you. But of course, the mayors

[8:07] and here's the infamous clicker

[8:10] that goes with this. Um we've got

[8:12] mayors, city council members,

[8:15] legislators, and of course, our

[8:17] congressional partners. There's a few

[8:18] that are here that are are some that are

[8:20] still in town. And we appreciate those

[8:23] who have served in those capacities and

[8:25] those who have served in those

[8:27] capacities prior to this because they

[8:29] stay involved, they continue to spread

[8:32] the message of what makes Utah great,

[8:34] St. George and Washington County great.

[8:36] Um

[8:37] in addition to the

[8:39] three of us, there is a total there are

[8:42] total of nine electeds. So three

[8:44] commissioners and then six others, and

[8:46] you might recognize some of them are

[8:48] here and we appreciate not only our

[8:51] prayer, but then there's those who have

[8:53] uh

[8:54] shown up.

[8:55] They won't necessarily be participating

[8:58] today, but I can tell you they all work

[9:00] hard and we definitely enjoy their

[9:03] association.

[9:05] In addition to that, we have

[9:08] department heads.

[9:10] And

[9:11] I'm going to just announce right today,

[9:13] I don't have a medal or something to

[9:15] give them, but they are best of state.

[9:18] As we work around with other cities and

[9:20] other counties, I can tell you the

[9:23] function that they put on and the things

[9:26] that they do above and beyond are

[9:28] commendable. And so therefore, I'm I'm

[9:30] giving them that award.

[9:33] As a little bit of an introduction and

[9:35] maybe a few announcements, you know, the

[9:37] fair is going on.

[9:39] We hope you'll attend the fair, but also

[9:41] the fact that it is entry free fee free.

[9:46] You can just walk in.

[9:48] And Mayor Stahli is laughing abnormally

[9:51] hard. I'm wondering if that's

[9:53] what I said or whatever.

[9:56] But it is free. And I want you to know

[9:58] there's a a fun many fun events. You can

[10:01] look it up online and find out what

[10:02] you'd like to attend.

[10:04] Um as far as what we would like to show.

[10:08] Oh, is somebody in the pictures? That's

[10:10] what Mayor Stahli is laughing about.

[10:12] Okay, I'll better switch off of that.

[10:15] You know, it's it's wonderful when a

[10:16] third-party

[10:18] group starts to make comments about you,

[10:21] especially if they're positive.

[10:23] But in this particular case, the Utah

[10:25] Taxpayers Association has given us a few

[10:29] um accolades, let's say. And I'll get

[10:31] into those here in a minute. But I want

[10:33] to tell you that

[10:36] we care about the purse of the people.

[10:39] Because that's what makes us function.

[10:42] We're not a corporation, a big business,

[10:46] but in reality, as Commissioner Snow

[10:48] often says, we really do function like a

[10:50] corporation.

[10:52] But we don't have businesses that turn

[10:54] profits and things like that. Rather, we

[10:57] rely on the taxes that are incoming from

[10:59] the the people or visitors that come to

[11:01] our area.

[11:03] And I want you to know that there are

[11:05] several things that we consider about

[11:07] them, and especially in creating a

[11:09] budget and spending your money.

[11:12] Which include being

[11:15] prudent about what is spent,

[11:18] about being very visible in what is

[11:21] spent, because you need to know where

[11:23] it's going and what it's paying for.

[11:25] And then of course, we also need to have

[11:27] it

[11:28] to be pretty seriously, broadly

[11:31] uh influential or broadly beneficial to

[11:35] the taxpayers. So, there isn't anybody

[11:37] singling out an area of the county that

[11:39] should get more. In fact, we strive very

[11:42] hard to make sure that there is equality

[11:44] amongst taxes being

[11:47] paid out or or being used internally or

[11:50] externally.

[11:51] Um

[11:53] there are many requests for tax dollars.

[11:56] You [snorts] can only imagine that there

[11:58] are many there's always more needs than

[12:00] perhaps what you have

[12:02] ability to to pay for. And some of them

[12:05] are difficult to accomplish across the

[12:08] board.

[12:09] But, I can tell you honestly that

[12:10] » [clears throat]

[12:11] » Our feeling is and

[12:14] enjoy this metaphor. My wife will roll

[12:16] her eyes. Oh, no, a metaphor.

[12:19] But, the fact is we have to analyze all

[12:23] of those requests on three basic simple

[12:26] principles.

[12:28] First of all is, does it keep the lights

[12:30] on?

[12:32] Those are our basic functions that we

[12:33] do.

[12:34] Does it keep the lights on?

[12:37] Then there's another level where people

[12:39] come to us and say,

[12:41] do we need a new light?

[12:43] Well, our question is always, can we

[12:46] make this light last a little longer?

[12:49] Is it doing what it needs to do without

[12:52] suddenly saying, let's get a new one?

[12:55] The final level of our consideration on

[12:57] how taxes are budgeted for is

[13:00] we get these and we kind of have to push

[13:02] them aside because some people say,

[13:05] let's have another light.

[13:07] Well, that grows government, doesn't it?

[13:10] If we are keeping the lights on and we

[13:12] are able to deal with a new light

[13:15] occasionally, once one is burned out,

[13:18] then we really don't need to just

[13:20] keeping keep adding to government. So,

[13:24] with that said, here is

[13:27] uh

[13:28] the next slide that I'd like you to

[13:30] observe.

[13:32] This is that friend that we have in the

[13:34] Utah Taxpayers Association.

[13:36] They have shown that county revenue from

[13:38] taxes and fees per capita are the lowest

[13:42] in the state.

[13:44] We look at Garfield County and our

[13:46] friends there and wonder

[13:50] I don't sometimes I say to Jerry Taylor,

[13:52] why is there not a revolt in your

[13:54] county? It's your taxes are pretty high.

[13:56] But I want you to observe this because

[13:59] it speaks well for the

[14:02] three things that I mentioned about the

[14:03] lights.

[14:04] And

[14:06] yet we don't feel like we're

[14:08] cheating anyone of our citizens. We

[14:10] simply are saying we've been able with

[14:13] frugality

[14:14] to become the county in the state with

[14:18] the lowest revenue from taxes and fees

[14:20] per capita.

[14:21] Another way to put that is simply this.

[14:24] Maybe a little far, but you can see the

[14:26] graph on the right that explains this.

[14:29] But Washington County is also the least

[14:32] taxed uh

[14:34] for

[14:35] every $1,000 of resident income.

[14:39] We're at $11.

[14:41] We have a few large counties up north

[14:43] that compete with us. But there again,

[14:47] when you look at $1,000 of income, $11

[14:50] is being charged or through taxes and

[14:53] fees to our residents.

[14:55] Back to the original point, the 426,

[14:59] I want you to know that there we are in

[15:01] that southwest corner, once again the

[15:03] lowest in that entire chart. And of

[15:05] course it makes sense that again,

[15:07] Garfield is the highest, but we want you

[15:09] to know that of the money that you pay

[15:12] for government,

[15:14] I I'd ask for a show of hands of saying,

[15:17] does your government not serve you? We

[15:20] are serving the county and the cities

[15:22] and other towns that we associate with.

[15:26] Here's a biggie.

[15:28] Washington County is debt free.

[15:30] Other than those debts that might

[15:32] produce an income, we have made the

[15:35] final payment on our general obligation

[15:37] bond, which by the way, when you look at

[15:40] your tax notices, that GO bond does not

[15:42] appear anymore. It's paid off.

[15:45] And that's a critical element of us in

[15:48] that we feel in long-term debt reduction

[15:51] as well.

[15:54] Now,

[15:56] this is some great news. I love it every

[15:58] time that I hear it. I can't take credit

[16:00] for the first 9 years, but the three of

[16:03] us feel very strong that on as you see

[16:06] on your left, that for 16 years we have

[16:10] not changed or raised the mill levy that

[16:13] is applied to your property taxes. 16

[16:17] years.

[16:18] Most

[16:19] other counties have adjusted that many

[16:23] times maybe within those 16 years. In

[16:25] fact, Salt Lake County has just

[16:28] announced that they're asking for an

[16:30] additional

[16:32] 14.65%

[16:35] in their

[16:37] tax collection on property tax.

[16:39] It was 20 and they had an human outcry

[16:43] that dropped it to 14.65.

[16:46] And then of course you look at Davis

[16:47] County, which is also the article up

[16:50] there, 20%. And we're just encouraging

[16:54] sorry, 30%. We're encouraging

[16:58] our citizens to recognize that we can do

[17:01] better in Dixie. In fact, we have since

[17:03] for 161 years.

[17:05] Um

[17:08] before I get to this self-portrait of

[17:10] Victor,

[17:12] that's coming. I've got your attention.

[17:14] » [snorts]

[17:14] » I want to mention a few other things,

[17:16] please.

[17:17] Um

[17:19] our budgets are online.

[17:22] Our audits that we have conducted by

[17:25] Hinton Burdick or anyone else

[17:28] are also online since 2007.

[17:32] So, you can look there on the washco

[17:35] .utah.gov

[17:38] and look under commission or under

[17:40] departments and you can find uh clerk

[17:43] auditor, all of our budgets. Under

[17:45] commission, you can find all of our

[17:46] minutes.

[17:48] There's been some uh talk lately that

[17:50] those things are hidden. They are not.

[17:53] They are there. In fact, [snorts] our uh

[17:56] clerk auditor, Ryan Sullivan, is putting

[17:58] together through a new series of uh

[18:01] software and packages that he purchased

[18:03] what he's going to call the budget book.

[18:06] And that is going to lay out extremely

[18:09] clearly to everyone

[18:10] exactly where your money is being spent

[18:13] and the prior prioritizations. You may

[18:16] come in and say, "Hey." to one of us or

[18:18] to Ryan and say, "We think this is

[18:20] misspent." and he can answer those

[18:22] questions.

[18:23] Finally, I'd like to mention this.

[18:27] We want you to stay informed. That's why

[18:29] we're here doing this. But, it's more

[18:32] than just us sitting up here once a

[18:34] year. I encourage you to join a club,

[18:37] join a group, a service group, a rotary,

[18:40] an exchange club. You know, participate

[18:42] in the nonprofits that are existing

[18:45] here. United We Pledge. If you're

[18:47] interested in staying politically

[18:49] informed, the best group that I know of

[18:51] is the Washington County uh Republican

[18:54] Women.

[18:56] Everyone should be there. There's like

[18:58] 40 people there sometimes and it should

[19:00] be 400 because they drew truly keep you

[19:03] informed.

[19:04] Um and finally, um

[19:07] I want you to celebrate America's 250.

[19:10] Uh Victor Adam may be mentioning this,

[19:12] but it is a landmark time for all of us.

[19:16] And I hope that you recognize that the

[19:17] principles we stand on are the same ones

[19:20] that occurred 250 years ago.

[19:23] Thank you for being here so much. I I

[19:25] appreciate your involvement, and that's

[19:27] a rundown of my portion until the

[19:29] question and answer period arrives. Um,

[19:33] here's that blessed picture.

[19:39] » [applause]

[19:43] » Yeah, this is me in fifth grade up by

[19:45] the by the Huron

[19:47] Canal. I want to go back to this this

[19:50] picture right here, and I want to

[19:51] complain about whoever put the slides on

[19:53] cuz we used to have a picture that we

[19:55] were all equal, and suddenly

[19:58] I have been shortened, and I'm now

[20:01] demonstrated as the shortest person on

[20:03] the County Commission. You know, I was

[20:04] talking to Mayor Stavely, and I was

[20:06] complimenting him on on the state of the

[20:08] city [clears throat]

[20:09] of Washington City. And And as I was

[20:11] thinking here today, um, you know, city

[20:14] government is a little bit like a

[20:16] football, and and the mayor is kind of

[20:19] like the quarterback. And I would say

[20:21] that county government, we talked about

[20:23] the nine elected officials, our county

[20:26] sheriff, our county attorney. Jerry

[20:28] Jaeger is here. Um, Gary Webster, our

[20:32] recorder is here. Tom Durant is here.

[20:35] Our world-famous uh,

[20:38] clerk-auditor, Ryan Sullivan is here.

[20:41] And I'm Actually,

[20:43] my point of it is is it's

[20:45] it's more like rugby.

[20:47] Uh, is David Whitehead here?

[20:49] Am I Am I going to miss somebody out?

[20:52] Yes. [clears throat]

[20:53] In fact, it's it's a team effort in in a

[20:56] lot of ways. I know we have a couple

[20:57] county employees here. Could Could I ask

[21:00] the county employees to stand up?

[21:04] Thank

[21:12] » I did say Gary Christensen, didn't I?

[21:16] I said Gary Webster and he works for

[21:18] Senator Mike Lee. Gary Christensen is

[21:20] much better looking than Gary Webster

[21:22] and I don't even know if Gary Webster's

[21:24] here. But Oh, Gary Webster's here. Well,

[21:26] stand up, Gary. Thank you for being

[21:28] here. If anybody has any problems

[21:30] with Senator Lee's office, go.

[21:33] My point in having everybody stand up is

[21:35] it's a little bit

[21:37] sometimes strange for me to do a state

[21:39] of the county.

[21:40] I'm the I'm the voice, but in reality,

[21:43] we have a tremendous team in Washington

[21:45] County. We have tremendous staff that

[21:47] work very hard. We have the best staff

[21:50] ever and I just want to personally thank

[21:52] them and celebrate them as we celebrate,

[21:54] you know, this last year and we go into

[21:56] another one. Um you know, this picture

[21:59] of me it kind of demonstrates my first

[22:01] point. My My father's family came to

[22:04] Washington in in 1859, 1860 and I know

[22:08] that because uh Mayor Stahli gave me a

[22:11] book and it was called the Red Cliffs of

[22:12] November and I read that book and I

[22:14] found my family's name as the second

[22:16] wagon group in. And a lot of times when

[22:19] I talk to people

[22:20] Oh, yeah.

[22:22] I know Adam is pretty handsome there,

[22:24] but um

[22:25] I want to go back to this handsome guy

[22:27] right here. So, um

[22:30] I I get to talk to a lot of new

[22:32] residents and people that have moved

[22:33] here recently and the first question

[22:35] that always comes is what's our

[22:37] situation on water?

[22:39] And um

[22:40] when I think about my family, my

[22:42] father's family coming here in 1859,

[22:45] 1860, I know what their first question

[22:48] was. What is our situation about water?

[22:50] And so, we've been asking the question,

[22:52] what is our situation about water? What

[22:54] are we going to do about water? We've

[22:56] been worrying about water and we've also

[22:58] been working to solve the problem in

[23:00] Washington County for a very long time.

[23:03] There's a pro and a con to every place

[23:05] you live, but I'll tell you our one

[23:07] disadvantage in Southern Utah is that

[23:10] water is a limited resource that we need

[23:12] to be thankful for and we need to use.

[23:14] Um just to cheer you all up uh this year

[23:17] we've had a beautiful winter um but a

[23:20] beautiful winter has a downside to it.

[23:23] And that is that right now we're sitting

[23:24] at 53% of our of our snowpack as of this

[23:29] last March. And so we've had a very warm

[23:32] April. I'm sure it's gone down quite a

[23:34] bit. What this means is that we're going

[23:36] to be dependent on our water

[23:39] storage. And we've been very good

[23:41] uh as far as building that. And I want

[23:43] to go back and I want to I want to tell

[23:45] a little bit about the county nexus

[23:46] here.

[23:47] Because

[23:48] um in the late 18 in late 19 uh 50s uh

[23:53] the city started to recognize that they

[23:55] were

[23:56] that they needed more water and there

[23:57] started to be this competition between

[23:59] cities and at that time

[24:01] the county created what is known as the

[24:03] Washington County Water Conservancy

[24:05] District. And they worked tirelessly to

[24:09] help us meet our water de demands going

[24:12] into the future. And so a few of the

[24:14] bragging points that we'd like to talk

[24:16] about is is the importance of

[24:18] conservation.

[24:20] Um over the last few years we've been

[24:22] able to reduce our per capita use by

[24:25] 50%. We've been able to adopt the

[24:27] highest conservation standards yeah for

[24:30] new construct new construction and

[24:33] implement um excessive water surcharges.

[24:36] I want to talk about that really quick

[24:38] because most of our water conservation

[24:40] in Washington County is focused on new

[24:42] growth. So if you're going to build a

[24:43] new home here, if you're going to come

[24:44] in and and and build a new home, then

[24:48] you're going to have to come at it a

[24:49] certain level of conservation. And some

[24:52] of our uh long-time citizens have said,

[24:55] "Why I want to necessarily conserve just

[24:57] so that more people can move here." I've

[24:59] heard that a couple times on on social

[25:02] media.

[25:03] Well, you can use all the water you

[25:04] want. We're just going to charge you a

[25:05] little extra and it's called a

[25:06] surcharge. So, anyway, the point of it

[25:09] is is we'd like to encourage

[25:10] conservation across the the board. We've

[25:13] also been able to replace um

[25:16] turf that's non-functional. We we love

[25:18] grass. We love trees. Uh

[25:21] Um Commissioner Almquist especially

[25:23] loves trees, if you know him very well.

[25:25] And if you need a tree planted, he's

[25:27] really good at it. If you want to know

[25:29] the variety of a tree that will will

[25:30] thrive here, you can also talk to him as

[25:32] well. What we don't want is to hurt is

[25:35] to turn into Tucson or a heat desert,

[25:37] but we do want to make sure that our

[25:39] outdoor watering goes to good to good

[25:42] use.

[25:44] As we look at water in the future, um

[25:46] the water conservancy district and the

[25:48] county and cities are working on some

[25:50] very important projects going forward,

[25:52] and this is how we're going to meet our

[25:54] needs. Through conservation, reuse,

[25:56] groundwater optimization, uh remain uh

[25:59] remaining uh local supply development.

[26:02] And I'd also like to say that storage is

[26:06] an important part of that. We have some

[26:07] incredible projects going on right now.

[26:10] A lot of you are probably already aware

[26:12] of the Chief Toquer Reservoir that is

[26:14] well under construction. And soon to be

[26:17] fully permitted and under construction

[26:19] as well as a small reservoir known as

[26:21] Graveyard Wash, which is a project

[26:23] between St. George City and the

[26:24] Washington County Water Conservancy

[26:26] District. In our 20-year plan, we this

[26:29] year, the water conservancy district uh

[26:31] working with the county as well, was

[26:33] able to secure the real estate for what

[26:35] will be the largest uh storage reservoir

[26:38] in our county, which is Warner Valley,

[26:40] and that's a few years out. So, um

[26:43] but but it's it's to come.

[26:46] Let's talk a little bit about the

[26:47] facilities of of the county. You're in

[26:49] one of our

[26:51] our our facilities right now which is

[26:52] the Dixie Convention Center.

[26:54] I don't know how much you all appreciate

[26:57] what a great facility this is.

[26:59] As you look across the the state,

[27:01] there's not as many facilities like this

[27:03] that brings people here. Over 30 million

[27:06] dollars of economic impact every year is

[27:08] brought in because of this this great

[27:10] facility we're here. A few years ago we

[27:12] upgraded the chairs here, thank you

[27:14] you're welcome as you sit there. And and

[27:16] I complained about the price tag to to

[27:20] some of our folks and then I went up and

[27:22] sat in some of the Salt Palace chairs

[27:24] and I realized that it was money well

[27:25] spent and I'm sure that's the reason

[27:28] that we're able to get as many

[27:29] convention dates as we as we

[27:32] as we have here at the Dixie Center.

[27:35] As we look at the Dixie Center, we're

[27:37] we're maxed out almost year round. We

[27:38] used to have slow times of the year, we

[27:40] no longer have slow times and we're also

[27:43] getting to the point that we're

[27:44] seriously looking at the expansion of

[27:46] the Dixie Center in order to meet our

[27:48] needs and also meet community needs as

[27:51] well.

[27:51] One of our other facilities that we want

[27:53] to brag about this year is our shooting

[27:55] sports park. A lot of people don't know

[27:57] about the shooting sports park. If you

[27:59] go past the fairgrounds in Hurricane and

[28:01] Purgatory, you'll find the shooting

[28:03] sports park. Let me explain how it

[28:05] belongs to the county, the county runs

[28:07] it but each one of the shooting

[28:10] ranges are ran by non-profit clubs that

[28:13] have a venue agreement with us. It's a

[28:16] good way for us to protect the Second

[28:18] Amendment, to have safe shooting. So you

[28:20] have Purgatory Clays, you have archery,

[28:24] you have

[28:25] cowboy action, you have um

[28:28] practical as well and we also have a

[28:30] black powder event as well. So anybody

[28:32] who's involved and enjoys shooting, we

[28:35] have a wonderful facility there and it's

[28:37] getting better each and every year. And

[28:39] let's talk about Legacy Park which you

[28:41] have to go by if you're going to go to

[28:43] um

[28:44] to the shooting sports park. I don't

[28:46] know if you know this but there's a fair

[28:48] in town.

[28:49] We're kicking it off and it's fantastic

[28:51] and

[28:52] Commissioner Almquist stole my my

[28:54] thunder but I've been pushing for a long

[28:57] time to to do away with parking fees and

[29:00] entrance entrance fees and I finally

[29:03] pulled it off because you know what?

[29:04] This is America's birthday and we need

[29:06] to celebrate America and so it's all

[29:09] free cuz that's what we're doing.

[29:16] But what I'd really like is to encourage

[29:18] you all to go out especially on

[29:20] Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We have a

[29:22] colonial village there that's going to

[29:25] be set up. There's obviously music and

[29:27] and all of the things that a fair has

[29:29] and really what the fair is is to

[29:31] celebrate our county and

[29:33] so but also Legacy Park continues to be

[29:37] a great venue in in uh

[29:40] in our in our county as well. We have

[29:42] another celebration obviously going

[29:45] right along with America's 250 is

[29:48] reopening of the historic courthouse up

[29:50] on Boulevard right across from

[29:52] Angelica's and

[29:54] the reason I say across from Angelica's

[29:55] because I I talked to people about our

[29:59] historic courthouse and then I would get

[30:00] the question like well where is it at?

[30:02] It's like you drive down the Boulevard

[30:04] all the time. How could you miss the

[30:05] historic courthouse but just in case you

[30:08] you need to know it's across from

[30:09] Angelica's. It has been under the care

[30:12] of our of our wonderful partners at St.

[30:15] George City for since 1970 and for a

[30:18] long time we've asked ourselves what are

[30:20] we going to do with this courthouse? How

[30:22] are we going to share it with the

[30:23] public? It was opened several times. The

[30:26] the historical society did a lot of

[30:28] great work but we have a great

[30:31] partnership with

[30:33] United We Pledge a local nonprofit which

[30:36] is able to keep it open celebrating our

[30:38] heritage and celebrating America's

[30:41] county and America's heritage And it's

[30:43] open, it's going to have programming and

[30:45] a lot of things going on. So, recognize

[30:47] that it's your courthouse and you can

[30:49] go. So, um I want to brag a little bit

[30:53] about one of our other elected offices,

[30:55] which is our attorney's office. Jerry

[30:57] Jager is our new county attorney this

[30:59] year. He is doing an outstanding job.

[31:02] Jerry represents a little bit of a shift

[31:04] in in our county attorney. He comes from

[31:06] the prosecutor side. For several

[31:09] decades, I think we've had great county

[31:11] attorneys, but they've come from the

[31:12] civil side a little bit. And when we

[31:15] think about this county, we think about

[31:17] the importance of where county

[31:18] government interfaces with the other

[31:21] local government, you know, we're very

[31:23] into the public safety. Obviously, you

[31:25] have you have your local police

[31:26] departments, but once somebody has

[31:28] committed a crime, how do we seek

[31:30] justice? And um

[31:32] this has been under the

[31:34] This has been the work of Jerry and

[31:36] Jerry's been busy, but our community

[31:38] continues to be safe. Justice continues

[31:41] to be served. And it's it's hard to

[31:43] believe that you know, they deal with

[31:45] over 2,500 victims every year and uh

[31:48] we're so busy down here

[31:50] that the the state legislature just

[31:52] barely approved another judgeship. So,

[31:55] we're expecting another judge judgeship.

[31:57] Part of that is it does hit our budget.

[32:00] It means that we're going to need more

[32:01] prosecutors, we're going to need more

[32:03] defense attorneys, and we're going to

[32:05] need more bailiffs in order to cover

[32:07] that. But he's done a great job at

[32:09] instituting training, hiring uh

[32:12] prosecutors.

[32:13] And he's been busy. You've probably seen

[32:16] the headlines as some very high-profile

[32:19] cases have been going through our

[32:21] attorney's office. You know, I have to

[32:23] to say this cuz I see um

[32:25] Brock Belknap uh here and uh when I

[32:27] first became a county commissioner, we

[32:29] went about 4 years without a capital or

[32:31] without a murder. And um of course, I

[32:33] said that was because of great

[32:34] leadership at the county. Really, it

[32:36] wasn't. It was a It was It was just a We

[32:39] had

[32:40] a string of good luck. Um

[32:42] but we are our crime is still lower than

[32:45] the normal, and it's because of the

[32:46] great men and women who serve in public

[32:49] safety. I think people need to recognize

[32:51] how how important that is. And with

[32:53] this, I'm going to hand off

[32:55] to my uh

[32:57] esteemed uh

[32:58] county commissioner Adam Snow to talk

[33:00] about public lands and finish it up.

[33:05] » [applause]

[33:09] » Yeah, I I can't stand behind a podium.

[33:11] That's just going to drive me nuts. So,

[33:13] um

[33:14] Commissioner Iverson, it's not that we

[33:16] we made you look shorter in the picture.

[33:19] It's that we finally told the truth. You

[33:21] had made me shorter before. I can't help

[33:23] that I'm good-looking.

[33:25] Um

[33:26] Okay, federally owned land.

[33:28] Unfortunately, this is Washington

[33:29] County. The uh everything in white is

[33:32] private. Everything in yellow is owned

[33:34] by the state of Utah, and everything in

[33:36] orange is owned by the federal

[33:37] government.

[33:38] Uh that mirrors the state of Utah pretty

[33:40] closely. About 2/3 of of the state is

[33:43] owned by the federal government. About

[33:44] 2/3 of Washington County, almost 70%

[33:46] actually, is owned by the federal

[33:47] government.

[33:49] And that's that's in from lots of

[33:50] different land managers. Obviously, Zion

[33:52] National Park is a huge portion. Uh

[33:54] Dixie National Forest from the US Forest

[33:56] Service. The rest of it's uh Bureau of

[33:59] uh Land Management from the Department

[34:01] of the Interior. And uh

[34:04] and what this really means is that

[34:07] anytime we try to do anything, we have

[34:09] to go and ask the federal government,

[34:11] "Mother, may I please let us do

[34:14] something

[34:15] as it crosses federal land?" If we want

[34:16] to put in a power line uh

[34:19] for for new power infrastructure, we

[34:21] have to cross federal federal land.

[34:23] Uh that takes We've got Representative

[34:25] Colon Jack here, who's the COO of Dixie

[34:27] Power. Takes years and years to get a

[34:29] single power line across federal land.

[34:32] You'd think that it doesn't disturb

[34:33] cause that much disturbance, but I

[34:35] remember when I first started working

[34:36] for Congress in

[34:38] a previous life that

[34:40] we were trying to time the the

[34:43] getting the land the power line over the

[34:45] river for when there was a possible

[34:48] mating season for a bird and we had

[34:50] about a 2 and 1/2 week window for Dixie

[34:52] power to come and build that to build

[34:53] that line.

[34:55] And that took years to plan for that 2

[34:57] and 1/2 week window. You want to put in

[34:59] water infrastructure, you have to cross

[35:01] federal land. You want to put in a road,

[35:02] you have to cross federal land. You want

[35:04] to to do anything and and it affects the

[35:06] cost of our land as well because we are

[35:08] landlocked not by oceans but by the

[35:10] federal government. And so

[35:14] so it also means that we need strong

[35:16] federal partners

[35:18] that whoops, there we go. Wrong one.

[35:20] Strong federal partners because we need

[35:22] somebody to help us push back against

[35:25] bad ideas out of Washington D.C. which

[35:26] honestly most ideas out of Washington

[35:28] D.C. are bad ideas. And so we think and

[35:31] I don't this isn't a political

[35:33] political event, but I can just tell you

[35:35] on on ashamed that this administration

[35:37] is way better to work with in the last

[35:38] administration. They they allow us to

[35:41] talk to them. They're accessible. We

[35:43] have relationships with them and we're

[35:45] actually able to get some things done.

[35:46] So we we thank the administration

[35:48] Senator Lee, Senator Curtis,

[35:49] Congresswoman Malloy who are all really

[35:51] good advocates for us and we're helping

[35:53] navigate the disaster of dealing with

[35:56] the federal government on so much of our

[35:57] land.

[35:59] Speaking of a disaster,

[36:01] um

[36:02] the Northern Corridor.

[36:03] Uh this is another one that's happened

[36:05] this year is is an update for you and

[36:07] that we're continuing to work on.

[36:09] For anybody who hasn't doesn't know what

[36:11] the Northern Corridor is,

[36:13] you have not been paying attention cuz

[36:14] we talk about it all the time. I think I

[36:15] talk about it in my sleep. But it's a

[36:17] road in in this fast as I can possibly

[36:20] tell you it's a road that we need

[36:22] because there's a pinch point. This is

[36:23] not a laser, is it?

[36:25] It is. Where do I push the laser?

[36:28] Is it the red button? Oh, yeah, it is.

[36:30] Ah, no, shoot.

[36:32] Okay.

[36:33] Carefully you push the red button.

[36:35] There's a pinch point right here,

[36:37] which is the cut in the hill for I-15.

[36:40] Uh right now it is wall-to-wall with

[36:43] 14 lanes of traffic. You got four on the

[36:45] north side of of the frontage road, six

[36:48] for I-15, four on the south side of

[36:50] frontage road. There is not another

[36:52] square inch of of available space that

[36:54] we could put asphalt. And so we are

[36:56] trying to move 208 to 210,000 residents

[36:59] in the county and uh roughly 10 million

[37:02] visitors, not to mention all the cars

[37:03] that are just traveling on I-15 through

[37:06] that pinch point right there. And some

[37:08] of them obviously come down around the

[37:10] the south end of the town, but but most

[37:12] people are traveling through that spot.

[37:14] And most and and as all of us do, nobody

[37:17] wants to drive miles out of your way to

[37:19] avoid a single traffic light

[37:21] or a few traffic lights. So you just sit

[37:23] and sit in it, right? And and what

[37:25] that's what that's doing is it's

[37:26] actually causing traffic failure in uh

[37:30] in several of our intersections already

[37:32] and will only get worse. So if we can't

[37:34] get people around to the south way out

[37:36] of their way by miles, and we can't put

[37:38] any more people through the middle, the

[37:40] only other way to go is to the north,

[37:42] hence a northern corridor.

[37:44] And what this is this is the proposed

[37:46] route here

[37:48] uh in blue Dang it, that is really

[37:49] sensitive.

[37:51] Um

[37:51] in blue and in

[37:54] uh

[37:54] that was a law that was passed in 2009

[37:56] called the Omnibus Public Lands

[37:57] Management Act or OPLMA

[37:59] that enhanced the Red Hills Desert

[38:02] Reserve from a desert reserve land to a

[38:06] national conservation area. But it's

[38:07] also a deal between the the city of St.

[38:09] George, Washington County, the state of

[38:11] Utah, and the federal government that if

[38:13] we enhance this from a desert reserve to

[38:15] a national conservation area, which

[38:17] comes with more land protections, that

[38:19] uh we will also get a road. So in the

[38:21] exact same legislation that Congress

[38:23] passed, President Obama signed, that

[38:25] gave the conservation area, we get a

[38:27] road. And in the exact line says that

[38:29] the Secretary of the Interior shall

[38:31] identify one or more alternative routes

[38:33] for a northern transportation corridor

[38:34] in

[38:35] cooperation with the city of St. George

[38:37] and Washington County.

[38:39] That's what it says, right there. And

[38:41] so,

[38:42] uh, we we applied several years ago, we

[38:46] got it approved in the last week of the

[38:48] Trump administration, it was sued on,

[38:50] the Biden administration voluntarily

[38:52] pulled it back

[38:54] uh, for dumb reasons, and then

[38:57] the just uh, end of last year, uh, just

[39:01] a few months ago, the Trump

[39:02] administration re-looked at it and said,

[39:04] "Nope, that's what the law says." And

[39:07] re-re-approved the northern corridor.

[39:10] We moved very quickly on it. You can

[39:12] drive up by Cottonwood Road right now.

[39:13] You can see there's flags out there.

[39:15] They've faded a little in the sun now,

[39:16] but they're bright pink flags and green.

[39:18] That's the that's the center of the

[39:20] right-of-way. And uh,

[39:22] and this is a big deal for

[39:23] transportation in Washington County.

[39:25] Unfortunately, there's a local group

[39:27] that hired some of their enlisted some

[39:28] of their friends called Conserve

[39:30] Southwest Utah. I'm not changing names

[39:31] to protect the innocent cuz I'm really

[39:33] upset about this. But uh, but they they

[39:37] sued the federal government on that

[39:40] transportation route and said that

[39:43] uh, they they don't want this.

[39:46] And they found a judge in Washington

[39:47] D.C. that gave them an injunction. And

[39:49] so, everything is held on on hold for

[39:51] right now while we continue through the

[39:52] legal process.

[39:54] What this means for you is it's wasting

[39:57] millions of your tax dollars

[39:59] in in multiple ways, not only in the

[40:01] lawsuits, which are frivolous and

[40:02] ridiculous, but also in the cost of

[40:05] inflation. Had this road been built in

[40:07] 2009 or 2010, it would have cost tens of

[40:11] millions of dollars less than it's going

[40:12] to cost us when we build it now. And

[40:15] it's all because and I'll show you on

[40:17] the next slide here

[40:19] that road disturbs of actual asphalt

[40:21] less than 100 acres of asphalt. Between

[40:24] the fences of the right of way, less

[40:25] than 200 acres.

[40:27] The exchange for that roadway

[40:30] is what we call zone six, which is

[40:32] almost 7,000 acres over here, which is a

[40:36] prime prime

[40:38] recreation and and open space. It's

[40:41] beautiful Moquah Valley, Bear Claw Poppy

[40:44] Trail, some of our our our best gems in

[40:46] Washington County happen to be in the

[40:48] blue section right over here, which is

[40:50] private. It's owned by the the school

[40:53] kids of Utah. And if the road doesn't go

[40:55] through, then this doesn't need to be

[40:58] used as mitigation for that. And it will

[41:00] be developed and all those things that

[41:02] we really like are going to be gone and

[41:04] they'll be under somebody's house and or

[41:05] under their basement.

[41:07] Any group that calls themselves Conserve

[41:09] Southwest Utah, but doesn't mind trading

[41:13] less than 200 acres at best for 7,000

[41:16] acres. I have a 9-year-old daughter. She

[41:18] can do that math on which one's better,

[41:20] 7,000 or 200.

[41:22] Conservation means this was a great deal

[41:24] for the tortoise. There's over 10 to 1

[41:27] ratio of tortoises in this land

[41:30] as what we would have disturbed with the

[41:31] tortoise.

[41:33] We're conserving way more acres than

[41:35] what we're going to disturb. It's what

[41:36] the law grants us.

[41:39] And yet they're suing on it because it's

[41:40] a great way to raise money.

[41:42] And I think this organization needs to

[41:43] be called out for what it is. It's a

[41:45] scam and they should be driven out of

[41:46] Washington County.

[41:49] » [applause]

[41:53] » Anybody unclear on how I feel about

[41:55] that? Do I need to keep going? All

[41:56] right. Speaking of roads, we'll go on to

[41:59] happier things. People often ask, you

[42:01] know, man, there's so much growth going

[42:03] on. There is. How do you plan? We

[42:05] actually try not to be reactionary, but

[42:07] very proactive and we work with the

[42:09] cities.

[42:10] We work with our Metropolitan Planning

[42:12] Organization or the Dixie MPO, and we

[42:15] actually plan out over 40 years in

[42:18] advance of where we think we're going to

[42:19] need major arterial roads, and not so

[42:21] much the surface streets. The cities

[42:23] really handle that really well on their

[42:24] own. But, uh, as you can see here, I'm

[42:26] not going to go through each and every

[42:27] one of them, but there are tons and tons

[42:29] of roads that we have planned, and we

[42:32] buy up corridors now when they're cheap,

[42:34] when it's maybe just dirt and sagebrush.

[42:36] Uh, we buy them up now, and we'll we'll

[42:38] hold them for a long time, but we we buy

[42:40] up easements and corridors where we know

[42:42] we're going to need roads in the future

[42:43] so that we can purchase them when

[42:44] they're cheap and not have to condemn

[42:46] things or use

[42:47] uh, or spend a lot more of your tax

[42:48] dollars sometime in the future.

[42:50] So, hopefully you can see that we we are

[42:52] really planning. Um, as far as road work

[42:54] goes, this year we rebuilt 5 mi of Kolob

[42:57] Terrace Road. Um,

[42:59] we did a lot of work after the Forsyth

[43:01] fire up on Pine Valley Mountain, a lot

[43:03] of work uh, in the Pine Valley area,

[43:06] tons of culverts and and things to try

[43:07] and affect the drainage for when the

[43:09] rain and the snow melt comes and takes

[43:11] all that debris and the ash down off of

[43:13] the burn scar uh, into Pine Valley, and

[43:15] then it it actually makes its all the

[43:16] way down into the Virgin River through

[43:18] the Santa Clara River.

[43:19] Um, and so that has worked uh, really,

[43:21] really well. We've improved rural roads

[43:24] countywide.

[43:25] Um,

[43:26] every time you go out to recreate

[43:27] somewhere that's not downtown, and you

[43:30] say, "Man, this is a nice road." Or you

[43:31] probably don't actually even think about

[43:33] it. Somebody actually had to maintain

[43:34] that road and get it there so that you

[43:36] could drive nicely with your bike or

[43:38] your kayak or wherever you're going out

[43:39] to recreate. Um, we maintained a hundred

[43:43] or 833 mi of roads across the county.

[43:47] Uh, 90% of those are rated as good or

[43:50] better condition. Um,

[43:52] and and we've got other major projects

[43:54] in 2026 including the Gunlock Road,

[43:56] Sheep Bridge Road paving, which cuts

[43:58] between uh,

[44:00] uh, Virgin and the highway over to

[44:02] Hildale, uh, and Ash Creek Bridge, the

[44:05] Kolob Terrace Road phase two project.

[44:09] Economic development is another area

[44:10] that I oversee.

[44:11] Um

[44:12] we coordinate countywide economic

[44:15] development. And what we really try to

[44:16] do with our partners and and there's two

[44:19] of them that I'm going to talk about

[44:20] here in a second, but we believe that

[44:22] that government's job is to set the

[44:23] table, but it's really the private

[44:24] sector that makes the meal. So, we just

[44:26] try to to to provide the resources and

[44:29] allow the

[44:30] the free market to to do what it does

[44:32] best. Um

[44:34] we have two partnerships that we've done

[44:36] in this last year. One of them really

[44:38] kicked off. It started a little bit in

[44:39] the year before, but but this last year

[44:41] is really when it's kind of hit the

[44:42] ground running. That's the Southern Utah

[44:44] Economic Alliance, which actually used

[44:46] to just be Washington County. We We kind

[44:47] of gave that name over to

[44:50] to another organization and have the has

[44:51] a regional aspect to it now because

[44:53] there's aspects

[44:55] outside of of Washington County like

[44:57] rail in Iron County that we just don't

[44:59] have a a single inch of of rail in

[45:01] Washington County and we probably never

[45:02] will. But having access to that to the

[45:05] inland port up in Iron County,

[45:07] that hub gives a great economic benefit

[45:10] to Washington County where we have

[45:11] things that they don't have such as a

[45:12] labor force

[45:13] that's much much larger, many more

[45:15] companies,

[45:17] and a better quality of life. So, um

[45:20] over Iron County. So,

[45:22] we we developed that. It has a regional

[45:24] aspect. And so, especially for

[45:26] recruitment or for large regional

[45:27] projects, that's the entity that that

[45:29] focuses on that. And then if you're

[45:31] really just within the four walls of

[45:32] Washington County, that's the Washington

[45:34] County Economic Development Office

[45:35] headed up by Darren Prince. Um

[45:38] we've supported more than over 1,500

[45:41] projected jobs this year

[45:43] in the growth both in entrepreneurship.

[45:46] We really focus on three areas:

[45:47] entrepreneurship,

[45:49] startup companies, right?

[45:51] Growing existing companies that are

[45:52] already here and helping them expand,

[45:54] build, hire more more people, increase

[45:57] their wages, and then obviously

[45:59] recruitment of other companies to the

[46:00] area.

[46:01] Um we've expanded support for local

[46:03] businesses through 120 plus company

[46:05] visits here in Washington County. Uh,

[46:07] um, the million 1 million cup program,

[46:09] which is an entrepreneurial hub and uh,

[46:12] support place where they can they can

[46:14] um, interact with each other and network

[46:16] and and try and solve and work through

[46:17] some of their problems. And then, um,

[46:20] all through the also through size up,

[46:21] which is really cool

[46:23] uh, software program through the

[46:25] Southern Utah Economic Alliance, which

[46:27] is a free resource to any company that

[46:29] provides really in-depth market research

[46:31] and market analytics uh, for anything

[46:33] that you might need for your business

[46:35] and see what your competitors are doing,

[46:36] maybe uh, synergies with other companies

[46:38] or suppliers that you might need. And

[46:41] uh, and that and that's up and running

[46:42] on their website now.

[46:44] And then the last piece is the St.

[46:46] George Airport, which uh, the county

[46:48] pays uh, some of the bills for now.

[46:50] That is a major economic driver. Uh,

[46:53] anybody tried to fly out recently? It's

[46:54] it was probably a really busy uh,

[46:56] airport. It's it's getting a ton of use

[46:59] and we need um, we need a bigger

[47:02] airport. We need to expand. And so, that

[47:04] uh, that airport is going through an

[47:05] expansion. We'll be helping with some of

[47:07] the uh, some of the funding on it. The

[47:09] city is bringing in some of the funding.

[47:10] The state has come in with with some of

[47:12] the funding. And that will provide more

[47:14] flights, more airlines. We fly to five

[47:16] destinations right now. We're expecting

[47:18] to to provide to many more. And that's a

[47:20] key piece that companies say they

[47:22] continue to look for when they're

[47:23] looking to come here or to expand here.

[47:25] I need to be able to get out or bring

[47:27] people in a lot easier.

[47:30] Speaking of the economy, the visitor

[47:31] economy is is big in Washington County.

[47:34] Uh, if you look around, obviously it's a

[47:35] beautiful place. People want to be here.

[47:37] They want to come visit. Uh, that drives

[47:40] an enormous portion of our economy.

[47:42] While we try and diversify, we're trying

[47:44] to do uh, so many other things in tech

[47:46] and bio research, uh, agro research,

[47:49] desertification tech,

[47:51] the the visitor economy is still a major

[47:53] piece of it. And so, uh, Zion National

[47:55] Park is the second busiest park in the

[47:56] country, second busiest National Park in

[47:58] the country. We have the busiest state

[48:00] park in Sand Hollow, which gets over 2

[48:02] million visitors a year.

[48:04] Uh Sand Hollow Snow Canyon gets uh my

[48:07] favorite park, gets um over a million

[48:10] visitors a year. Gunlock is over half a

[48:12] million a year. Uh Quail Creek gets just

[48:14] under a million a year. I mean, it's We

[48:16] all of our state parks are very, very

[48:17] busy. And uh and so people come here,

[48:19] about 10 million a year, come here to

[48:21] recreate and to experience what we have.

[48:23] We ask them to come and drop off their

[48:25] water and their money and then go back

[48:27] home with their memories.

[48:28] Um

[48:29] but that also means that they shop here,

[48:32] they spend money here, and that impact

[48:34] of the visitor economy, while sometimes

[48:36] we like to complain about it, lowers on

[48:38] average every Washington County home

[48:40] your property tax bill by $1,500 a year.

[48:43] That's a lot of money. Um so maybe it's

[48:46] not quite as much of an imposition

[48:47] sometimes when the road's shut down.

[48:49] Um

[48:50] with that money, we also are able to uh

[48:54] to reinvest in projects that our own

[48:56] citizens like to enjoy.

[48:58] Um

[48:59] just over $5 million

[49:01] last year in in things like the the

[49:03] brand new Washington Wheels Park, which

[49:04] is an incredible facility.

[49:10] Mayor Stanley started that one off. Good

[49:11] job, Mayor. Um

[49:13] most of the trails, the parks, the

[49:15] trailheads that are in Washington County

[49:17] have been funded in part by uh or

[49:19] subsidized in part by the funding from

[49:21] visitors that have helped pay for those

[49:23] things. So when you go out and enjoy

[49:24] them, thank the visitors for helping

[49:26] helping pay for those facilities.

[49:28] Um

[49:30] Yeah, I've covered that pretty well.

[49:32] The legislative session, um thank you uh

[49:35] Representative Cole and Jack for letting

[49:36] me uh

[49:38] snap a picture of your picture of you

[49:39] there. Uh we work really, really well

[49:41] with our legislators, uh who I think

[49:43] we've got two of them here today.

[49:45] Um

[49:46] the but but it the county kind of is the

[49:49] last line of defense against bad ideas.

[49:52] We complain about bad ideas out of uh

[49:54] Washington D.C. but occasionally there's

[49:55] bad ideas out of Salt Lake City, too.

[49:58] Or something that might be a good idea

[49:59] somewhere else that does not work here.

[50:01] And so

[50:02] we spend a lot of time at the

[50:04] legislature.

[50:07] The last couple of years I have kind of

[50:08] lived there almost as much as they do

[50:10] during the 6 weeks that that they're

[50:12] there to to make sure the Washington

[50:14] County's interests, your interests, are

[50:15] defended and and pushed in in Salt Lake

[50:18] City during the legislative session.

[50:20] Um

[50:21] is way too too much. They get what

[50:23] almost a thousand bills a year, right

[50:25] representative?

[50:26] They they luckily don't pass a thousand

[50:28] bills a year. But but they work really

[50:30] hard. But that means things are coming

[50:32] really fast. You don't get to years and

[50:33] years to to try and play defense against

[50:36] things. You have to work in real time

[50:38] with them, which is what takes so much

[50:39] time up there.

[50:42] I am the

[50:43] the current vice first vice president of

[50:45] the Utah Association of Counties and

[50:47] next week I'll become the president

[50:49] through next year,

[50:50] which gives Washington County a great

[50:52] seat at the table. I have a standing

[50:54] meeting every week with the speaker of

[50:55] the house, the Senate president, and the

[50:57] governor's office to make sure that

[51:01] while it it's supposed to be for all of

[51:03] the Utah Association of Counties, really

[51:05] I make sure that I am there for on

[51:06] behalf of Washington County and that

[51:08] that your interests are being

[51:09] represented. And it's been it's been a

[51:12] great blessing for Washington County

[51:13] because it means I can stop bad ideas or

[51:15] I can try and tweak things. Say, "Well,

[51:16] look, could we change it this way?" And

[51:18] we've we've been very very effective at

[51:21] doing that.

[51:23] So with that, thank you very much. I

[51:25] know I think we're going to have some

[51:26] Q&A now. So that's the end of my

[51:29] beautiful portion.

[51:32] » [applause]

[51:40] » Well, I think that that's a lot of

[51:42] information to digest and we're not

[51:44] going to let them off easy and and have

[51:46] them walk away after giving great

[51:47] presentations. We're going to do a

[51:49] little Q&A here and so I have some

[51:52] questions prepared. And

[51:54] as I ask the question if

[51:57] in the interest of time if just one of

[51:58] you would raise your hand to answer and

[52:00] we'll hand the time to you. So I'll

[52:02] begin the first question is what do you

[52:05] foresee being the biggest obstacle to

[52:08] the county population over the next

[52:10] year?

[52:14] » I'll take that.

[52:16] The biggest obstacle

[52:19] probably housing.

[52:21] You know when we think about water,

[52:24] that's something we can really apply and

[52:25] we can really fight that on our own a

[52:28] lot of the time. When you think about

[52:30] transportation, we already talked about

[52:31] roads.

[52:32] But it's so limited what counties can do

[52:35] and even cities can do when private land

[52:38] owners want to build something on their

[52:40] land. If it's zoned for it

[52:43] already, we pretty much have to make

[52:45] sure they build it right and that they

[52:47] comply with the zoning.

[52:49] But if somebody wants to come in and

[52:51] change the zone to build a different

[52:53] style or density

[52:56] we can help with that, but the real fact

[52:58] is that in the county portion, let alone

[53:01] cities

[53:03] we have limiting factors out in the

[53:05] county.

[53:06] Distance from population centers where

[53:09] they need groceries or they need

[53:10] services. We also have limitations on

[53:13] the amount of

[53:14] sewage they can put in the ground with

[53:16] septic permits.

[53:18] There's limits of how much water that

[53:19] they can drill a new well. There's those

[53:22] kind of things. But I'm not being a

[53:24] downer. I'm just saying the reality is

[53:26] is that housing probably for our kids to

[53:29] stay here, for people to come here that

[53:31] have expectations of higher income,

[53:34] whether they're coming from somewhere

[53:35] else that are they're an engineer or

[53:38] they're an attorney, that's It's thing

[53:40] that our attorney will always say, we

[53:42] can get attorneys, but we can't find

[53:45] houses for them. So, the point being is

[53:49] uh I believe that will be one of the

[53:50] biggest obstacles, but I also want to

[53:53] tell you there are opportunities that

[53:55] abound in Dixie because we have solved

[53:58] things many times over, and some of them

[54:00] are allowing multiple units on a the

[54:03] same parcel, uh perhaps smaller size of

[54:07] uh housing unit, but

[54:10] also I'm hoping that we can see some

[54:12] relief in the interest rates. The The

[54:14] legislature has helped with down payment

[54:15] assistance for first-time uh buyers, and

[54:19] I'm hoping that we can extend that to

[54:20] even further uh with some of the reserve

[54:24] funds that State Trust Lands holds. I've

[54:26] always thought that should be a re-

[54:28] revolving loan fund. Anyway, lots to be

[54:30] done there, but I think one of our

[54:32] greatest obstacles will be how we can

[54:34] have our

[54:35] people stay here with reasonable in

[54:38] reasonable well-built homes. That's my

[54:40] thought.

[54:41] » Thank you, Commissioner.

[54:43] The next question, the public deserves

[54:46] to know where and when we you spend our

[54:48] tax dollars, including our RAP tax.

[54:51] It's difficult, some would say, for a

[54:53] citizen to see exactly where you spend

[54:55] taxpayer funds.

[54:57] What are you willing to do to make it

[54:58] easier for your constituents to ex- see

[55:01] exactly where you spend our money?

[55:05] » Well, I guess I'll take that since I'm

[55:07] sitting right here. Um so, one of the

[55:09] most important things that we do as

[55:10] county commissioners is pass the county

[55:12] budget. And I can remember, I don't know

[55:14] if it was this year or last year, we had

[55:16] some sort of item in the on our agenda

[55:18] prior, and the room was full of people,

[55:20] and they were there, and this item

[55:22] passed, and then everybody got up and

[55:24] left, and then there was supposed to be

[55:26] a public hearing on a $200 million

[55:28] budget for the county, and not one

[55:30] citizen was there to stand up and ask

[55:33] questions or speak to it. So, finding

[55:36] transparency on on the budget and making

[55:38] sure that the public is engaged there is

[55:41] one of the most important things that

[55:42] we've been trying to do. When I first

[55:44] became a county commissioner, one of the

[55:46] first things that that I did was we

[55:49] implemented um

[55:51] this this step where every commission

[55:53] meeting we vote on all items, budgeted

[55:56] items, that are $10,000 or more. And so,

[55:59] if you ever come to a commission

[56:00] meeting, any item and it doesn't matter

[56:03] if it's it's food for the jail or

[56:06] ammunition for the sheriff's office or

[56:08] or paper clips for for the

[56:11] clerk-auditor's office. Just kidding. I

[56:13] know Ryan doesn't use that many paper

[56:14] clips because he hates paper. But, um

[56:17] but actually the budget process starts

[56:20] with our clerk-auditor and that starts

[56:23] in late August and then it moves through

[56:25] and we are on an annual budget. When we

[56:28] talk about the RAP board and and I think

[56:30] that the question, whoever asked that

[56:32] question, they're probably also talking

[56:33] about some of our tourism fund. So, let

[56:36] me talk about both of those. So, the RAP

[56:38] board actually has an advisory board.

[56:40] And when I say the RAP board, we're

[56:42] really talking about the 15% of the RAP

[56:45] that was set aside for cultural and art.

[56:49] The rest of it the other 85% is

[56:51] immediately sent to cities based on

[56:55] point of sale and population and then

[56:57] they they they spend it on through their

[56:59] budget process. But, at the county

[57:02] portion, the 15% actually has an

[57:04] advisory committee. That those are

[57:06] public meetings, those are meetings that

[57:08] are noticed, the minutes are are

[57:09] published, and they vote on it and then

[57:12] they recommend it to us and then we take

[57:14] it into a public meeting. We have a a

[57:17] public meeting upon which we vote on it

[57:19] again. Similarly, um when we talk about

[57:22] all of the tourism tax, TRT, and

[57:25] restaurant tax,

[57:27] it under state code has what's called

[57:29] the tourism tax advisory board. That

[57:32] board is made up of taxpayers. So, you

[57:35] have hoteliers, restaurant owners, etc.

[57:38] People who are paying that tax sit on

[57:40] that board. All of that money goes

[57:42] through that board before it's

[57:44] recommended back to the county

[57:45] commissioner on how county commission on

[57:48] how best to spend it. And so, in the

[57:51] it's basically a double step as far as

[57:54] spending goes. And then any additional

[57:56] money, once again, comes onto our

[57:58] commission agenda after it's spent. So,

[58:00] how do we I think the questioner also

[58:02] wants to know how we can improve. And

[58:04] so, there's there's several things that

[58:06] we're working on. The the county budget,

[58:09] and I keep pointing this way because

[58:10] this is where the world's famous

[58:13] Ryan Sullivan, our clerk auditor, sits.

[58:16] He is actually in county government, it

[58:18] is his budget. We pass it, but it goes

[58:21] through the clerk auditor's office. And

[58:23] so, he's working on ways for it to be

[58:25] even more transparent on our website.

[58:28] You know, websites have to be rebuilt.

[58:30] We're actually rebuilding our website.

[58:32] We've actually just barely last year

[58:34] implemented an entire new accounting

[58:36] software, which

[58:38] probably aged most of our county staff

[58:40] by a couple years as they had to learn

[58:43] this new system. But that new system

[58:45] will allow us to to have more reports

[58:49] and and it'll be easier to access. All

[58:52] of the data is there, but it's not any

[58:55] good if you can't find it. So, we

[58:57] continue to work on transparency. I

[58:58] think we've made leaps and bounds over

[59:01] the last few years. It's been a high

[59:02] priority of all of us commissioners and

[59:04] a high priority of of our clerk auditor

[59:06] as well.

[59:08] » Thank you, commissioner.

[59:10] We're going to stay on the money

[59:11] subject, and since we only have time for

[59:13] one more question, commissioner

[59:16] Snow, this is going to you.

[59:18] Um

[59:19] new home buyers across Washington County

[59:21] pay upwards of $20,000 in combined

[59:24] impact fees. This is passed directly

[59:26] through to the families that are already

[59:28] stretched thin by inflation, rising fuel

[59:31] costs, and the cost of raising a family.

[59:34] At the ribbon-cutting of the Washington

[59:37] Wheels Park, Councilman Ivy credited

[59:40] generous donations, making no mention of

[59:43] impact fees.

[59:44] Do you believe home buyers deserve to

[59:47] know exactly how their compensatory fees

[59:49] are being spent? And if so, why wasn't

[59:52] it disclosed at the ribbon-cutting?

[59:55] » Yeah, they should

[1:00:02] » [laughter]

[1:00:03] » Is only mine working? Here you go, Alan.

[1:00:04] » A joke? Is that There we go. Okay. Uh

[1:00:06] yeah, they should. But they already are.

[1:00:09] And my understanding is that

[1:00:11] the impact fees they I mean these aren't

[1:00:13] like hidden

[1:00:14] things. Uh maybe it could have been

[1:00:16] I was at the ribbon-cutting for the

[1:00:18] Wheels Park, so I don't I don't think

[1:00:19] that's what uh Councilman Ivy's point

[1:00:21] was not to try and say nobody else

[1:00:22] contributed. Actually, I remember him

[1:00:24] specifically cuz I didn't realize that

[1:00:25] uh impact fees had been used on that

[1:00:27] park. But uh

[1:00:29] it it was mentioned in addition to the

[1:00:32] to the uh

[1:00:34] donations and the the money that the

[1:00:35] county and the and other, you know,

[1:00:37] there's very generous donations from the

[1:00:39] the landowners that I think they got

[1:00:40] their arms twisted into giving the land.

[1:00:42] Um

[1:00:43] but but it's just as an example.

[1:00:45] But the answer I guess the short answer

[1:00:46] is yes. Every every citizen should know

[1:00:48] exactly what's happening with their

[1:00:49] dollars. These aren't government

[1:00:50] dollars. These aren't mine. Uh they're

[1:00:52] not Commissioner uh Iverson's. They're

[1:00:54] or the mayor's. They're your dollars.

[1:00:56] And of course transparency is absolutely

[1:00:58] paramount. Uh and my understanding is

[1:01:00] that those dollars are all they all go

[1:01:02] through the budget process and that

[1:01:04] means that they're all very transparent

[1:01:05] in how and how they're spent. Uh there

[1:01:07] is no secondary second book that we

[1:01:10] actually spend money out of and and we

[1:01:12] hide things in the back of it. That that

[1:01:13] doesn't happen, right? It's all very

[1:01:15] public uh knowledge. Um

[1:01:18] on the tr- but there's kind of two parts

[1:01:20] to that question though. Maybe they

[1:01:21] didn't mean to be or and I know probably

[1:01:23] combined a couple of like questions into

[1:01:25] one, so maybe that was some of the

[1:01:26] combination process there, but but

[1:01:29] impact fees

[1:01:30] because they they mentioned about

[1:01:31] families being stretched thin and

[1:01:32] everything. Well, and and that's true,

[1:01:34] right? But the it's also true of the

[1:01:36] families that already live here.

[1:01:38] And they're they're paying the same

[1:01:40] price at the pump and this

[1:01:41] the the cash There we go, the cash

[1:01:43] register.

[1:01:44] Um and so it's

[1:01:46] it's what we try to do is make sure the

[1:01:48] development pays for development, right?

[1:01:50] That we don't subsidize new development

[1:01:52] by taxing existing residents and say,

[1:01:54] "Okay, hey, uh you want to build a new

[1:01:57] development, so you need to pay for his

[1:01:59] roads so he can go make a bunch of money

[1:02:00] on the new development." No,

[1:02:03] the the new development pays

[1:02:05] for the new development's roads. And and

[1:02:07] the way they do that and the way the

[1:02:08] city provides resources and the way the

[1:02:10] county provides resources for those

[1:02:12] services that we need to provide is

[1:02:13] through impact fees. And so it's it's

[1:02:16] you can't just do away with them. And

[1:02:18] yes, $20,000 is a lot, but uh anybody

[1:02:20] tried to go buy a water meter recently

[1:02:22] or pipe or dig to put something in or

[1:02:25] put in a road? Uh roads are insane. I

[1:02:28] mentioned earlier, they are really,

[1:02:29] really expensive. I remember growing up,

[1:02:31] I think my dad was off by half, but he

[1:02:33] used to always say that the the gorge

[1:02:35] was the most ex When it was built in the

[1:02:37] 1970s was the most expensive road in

[1:02:39] America when it was built. And he always

[1:02:41] said he he he'd pause at a million

[1:02:44] dollars a mile. I would kill for a

[1:02:46] million dollars a mile right now, right?

[1:02:49] That they're they're really expensive.

[1:02:51] And so impact fees help off help pay for

[1:02:54] all of those things.

[1:02:56] Um

[1:02:56] and and that's

[1:02:58] you so we can't just do away with them.

[1:03:00] Um and we don't want to put it on

[1:03:01] existing residents. And we try to

[1:03:03] minimize it for new residents who want

[1:03:05] to live here and we try and make that

[1:03:07] it's a delicate balance that we're

[1:03:08] always in search of.

[1:03:10] » Thank you, Commissioner.

[1:03:11] Let's just finish up with a a question

[1:03:13] for all of you and we can start again

[1:03:15] here with with Commissioner Almquist,

[1:03:18] but looking forward for Washington

[1:03:20] County, um

[1:03:22] what are you most optimistic or most

[1:03:23] concerned about and share that with with

[1:03:26] the with the crowd and after

[1:03:27] Commissioner Almquist, we'll go to

[1:03:29] Commissioner Iverson and then finish up

[1:03:32] with Commissioner Snow.

[1:03:34] » I'm most optimistic of the people who

[1:03:36] live here

[1:03:38] because quite frankly, we can't do it

[1:03:41] ourselves and we do receive a lot of

[1:03:43] feedback from other community leaders,

[1:03:46] from citizens because really what they

[1:03:49] want to do is they want to wake up in

[1:03:50] the morning, have some breakfast, go to

[1:03:52] work or go play or do something and not

[1:03:54] worry that the government is going to

[1:03:56] change their lifestyle.

[1:03:58] And because of that, the onus is on us

[1:04:01] to then respond to as a representative

[1:04:04] government, the people and what they

[1:04:06] really desire. Um

[1:04:09] I remember

[1:04:11] I'm the board chair at Dixie Tech. I

[1:04:13] work side by side with Steven and

[1:04:16] together we are on a board

[1:04:19] that is made up of professionals in the

[1:04:22] area, all with one desire.

[1:04:24] Train those in the fields of electrical

[1:04:28] work, welding, nursing, you name it, uh

[1:04:32] diesel repair, huge. Um

[1:04:35] when I look at those who bring in their

[1:04:38] students who are graduating that have

[1:04:40] shown exceptional uh

[1:04:42] skills

[1:04:44] and they brag to us of their not only

[1:04:46] training ability, but also that they are

[1:04:49] at Dixie Tech.

[1:04:50] Um I know that Steven and I have talked

[1:04:53] about this. We get kind of fair klemped.

[1:04:55] A good old Yiddish word. When it comes

[1:04:57] to the fact that these are people just

[1:05:01] starting out or some who have never had

[1:05:04] any education before and I look at that

[1:05:06] and I say there's so much promise. And

[1:05:09] there's no favorites

[1:05:11] when a principal says, "Well, well,

[1:05:13] who's that is asked, "Who's your

[1:05:14] favorite student?" Or "Who's your

[1:05:16] favorite teacher?" Usually, that's a

[1:05:19] long list. And I've got to tell you, I I

[1:05:21] enjoy working with Victor and with Adam,

[1:05:24] all of our county employees and

[1:05:26] department heads and other elected

[1:05:28] because if any of us ever said, "Well,

[1:05:31] what's your favorite thing to work on?"

[1:05:33] It might be a multiplicity of things

[1:05:36] that show opportunity and

[1:05:38] what I'm optimistic about, but it really

[1:05:40] comes down to those who live here and

[1:05:42] how we can serve them. And

[1:05:44] it's Dixie. We've we've always done

[1:05:46] that. We've we've risen a city and

[1:05:49] cities out of nothing. And uh sure

[1:05:52] appreciate the the question. Thank you.

[1:05:56] » Thank you, Commissioner Iverson.

[1:06:00] » That's actually a really great question.

[1:06:02] I just want to echo a little bit. I I

[1:06:04] think a lot about our history and about

[1:06:06] about this Dixie spirit that we talk

[1:06:08] about, these rugged individuals that

[1:06:10] came into this area. This is a really

[1:06:11] special area, Washington County. We have

[1:06:14] these three great western formations

[1:06:16] that meet here, the Mojave Desert to the

[1:06:18] south, the Colorado Plateau, and the

[1:06:21] Basin and Range. Now, the Basin and

[1:06:22] Range, that's Nevada. That's not as

[1:06:24] pretty as the Anyway, we'll move on, but

[1:06:26] it's a it's the Dixie spirit, this idea

[1:06:29] of working together. You know, I I

[1:06:31] talked a little bit about water and how

[1:06:33] difficult it is.

[1:06:35] You know, these great big projects that

[1:06:37] we have going on. But the fact of it is

[1:06:39] it was difficult on the same type of

[1:06:41] scale when our pioneers came. But it

[1:06:45] doesn't I people that move here are so

[1:06:47] impressive. Like the the people that are

[1:06:49] drawn to Washington County, I continue

[1:06:52] to be amazed at the quality of people

[1:06:55] who just want to move here. And and I

[1:06:57] kind of feel like,

[1:06:59] you know, they're all being drawn,

[1:07:01] they're all pioneers. And they all add

[1:07:04] to our community. So, when I think about

[1:07:07] optimism, we've always had to be a

[1:07:09] little bit optimistic here in Washington

[1:07:11] County. We've always had to to believe

[1:07:13] that we're going to get it done. Nothing

[1:07:14] is necessarily easy here, but working

[1:07:17] together, the Dixie spirit, the great

[1:07:20] cooperation that the county has with our

[1:07:22] city partners, with our mayors,

[1:07:24] working to solve problems, that's that's

[1:07:26] what gives me a lot of optimism going

[1:07:28] forward.

[1:07:30] » Thank you.

[1:07:32] Commissioner Snow.

[1:07:34] » Uh

[1:07:35] yeah, same thing on the optimism. I'll

[1:07:37] say things that that worry me. I'll I'll

[1:07:39] answer that part of the question cuz you

[1:07:41] know, that that I'm concerned about. Uh

[1:07:43] cost of living, cost of housing is is

[1:07:45] definitely tough. Um there's a

[1:07:48] I saw Neil Walter here earlier. I don't

[1:07:50] know if he's still here.

[1:07:51] Uh but but he's got a great answer on on

[1:07:54] housing being a real estate expert. Um

[1:07:56] but uh

[1:07:57] but there is not any one item that we

[1:07:59] can just solve, right? I can I can tell

[1:08:01] you if any of our cities or if the

[1:08:02] county or if the state could just come

[1:08:03] in and say And actually, it was funny.

[1:08:05] Last year the the governor

[1:08:07] uh his office kind of threatened, you

[1:08:08] know, if if the cities and the county

[1:08:10] won't around the state, not just here,

[1:08:12] if you won't solve the housing problem,

[1:08:14] we'll come in and solve it for you. And

[1:08:15] everyone was like, "Great.

[1:08:18] Go ahead. If you think you can, go right

[1:08:20] ahead." Turns out they can't, so they

[1:08:21] didn't. Um

[1:08:23] but the the point being that the uh

[1:08:27] some of that is that really low interest

[1:08:29] rates have kept people in their homes

[1:08:30] and they normally would have would have

[1:08:32] moved on, right? They would have

[1:08:34] especially some of the older population

[1:08:36] would have downsized into your, you

[1:08:37] know, condo. They'd have all moved to

[1:08:39] SunRiver by now and they haven't because

[1:08:41] they don't want to leave their really

[1:08:42] low interest rate. Um

[1:08:44] nature will solve some of that issue

[1:08:46] eventually and

[1:08:48] and the rest of them will will move on

[1:08:51] and and and they'll they'll downsize cuz

[1:08:54] even even interest rates right now

[1:08:55] historically are not that high, right? I

[1:08:58] wasn't alive yet. My parents told me

[1:08:59] that there There a one point there's

[1:09:01] like 14% interest rate.

[1:09:03] That we're not anywhere near that,

[1:09:05] right? And they were really happy when I

[1:09:07] got them cuz I owned a mortgage company

[1:09:08] in college. When I got them 6% and they

[1:09:11] thought, "Well, that was a great rate."

[1:09:12] Well, 6% right now you're crying cuz

[1:09:14] it's so high, right? Um

[1:09:16] but but eventually that will normalize

[1:09:18] and people will have to move on cuz life

[1:09:20] just demands that. Um

[1:09:22] but we we there are things that we can

[1:09:24] do. We're working with cities. I know

[1:09:25] the cities are working on it. Of all the

[1:09:27] levers on housing, uh we can't affect

[1:09:29] the cost of land. Everybody sells land

[1:09:31] at the highest price they can. We all

[1:09:33] would do the same when we own land,

[1:09:34] right? Nobody sells it a discount just

[1:09:36] to be a good guy. Um

[1:09:38] we can't affect the cost of the

[1:09:39] materials. We can't affect the cost of

[1:09:40] labor. We can't affect the

[1:09:42] macroeconomic, you know, the interest

[1:09:43] rate side.

[1:09:45] So, we can affect density and we can

[1:09:48] affect a little bit

[1:09:50] uh impact fees, but like I already

[1:09:52] talked about, you can't really just wipe

[1:09:53] them away because that's only $20,000

[1:09:55] off of it and the city has impact. So,

[1:09:58] all you're doing is moving that to

[1:09:59] somebody else to pay for. And so, we can

[1:10:01] affect density and there's things that

[1:10:02] we can we can do and I know cities are

[1:10:04] doing it. The county actually just

[1:10:05] passed uh a new zone where we can

[1:10:08] affect some higher density housing in

[1:10:10] certain areas where it makes sense. And

[1:10:13] uh and so, there's there's things that

[1:10:15] we're working on.

[1:10:16] Um some of that will just take some time

[1:10:18] to work through. I would say cost of

[1:10:20] cost of living used to be water was my

[1:10:21] number one concern. That's moved to

[1:10:23] number two. If Zach's still here, sorry

[1:10:25] Zach. It's now number two, cost of

[1:10:27] living and housing specifically is

[1:10:29] number one. But the reason I am why I

[1:10:32] said amen is that we have continued to

[1:10:34] figure things out here at the lowest

[1:10:36] possible cost in the state. And that is

[1:10:39] the Dixie spirit, right? We work

[1:10:41] together. We we just figure it out. And

[1:10:42] I can tell you since I am at the

[1:10:44] legislature all the time and in and as

[1:10:45] the president of all of all the Utah

[1:10:47] counties,

[1:10:48] so many other counties

[1:10:50] will will turn to us and they'll they'll

[1:10:52] be some big issue that we all care about

[1:10:53] and they'll go, "Well,

[1:10:55] we're behind you, Washington County."

[1:10:57] And I'm like, "No, don't be behind me,

[1:10:58] be next to me. You know, like fight with

[1:11:00] us, but like you you get them and we'll

[1:11:02] support you.

[1:11:04] And well, that's kind of a crap answer,

[1:11:06] but they but they they do that and that

[1:11:08] means that Washington County has strong

[1:11:10] leadership. We work with our our

[1:11:11] delegation at the federal and at the

[1:11:13] state level. We've we've worked

[1:11:15] together. We work with our cities. We

[1:11:17] work with all of our community partners.

[1:11:18] We get things done at a low cost and and

[1:11:21] it's not just a claim. We've proven it

[1:11:23] already here. And and it's the best

[1:11:26] managed state and I would say the best

[1:11:27] managed county in the best managed state

[1:11:29] in the nation

[1:11:30] for a reason. And it's it is that Dixie

[1:11:33] spirit. So even any of these tough

[1:11:34] problems that we have facing us, we can

[1:11:36] overcome. We're working on it. Nobody is

[1:11:39] treating this like we do like they do in

[1:11:40] California where it's like, I don't

[1:11:41] know. Let's just go more into debt.

[1:11:43] Nobody's in debt doing this. As you saw,

[1:11:45] we're debt-free, right?

[1:11:47] We don't just throw money at a problem

[1:11:48] and say, maybe that'll fix it or let's

[1:11:51] get some more DEI in there and maybe

[1:11:52] that'll fix it, right? We we solve the

[1:11:54] problem with real solutions and and

[1:11:57] that's what will will get us over

[1:11:58] anything. And that's what I'm most

[1:11:59] optimistic about.

[1:12:06] » Well, let's have one final round of

[1:12:08] applause for our county commissioners,

[1:12:09] their presentations today.

[1:12:12] » [applause]

[1:12:14] » I think they did a fantastic job sharing

[1:12:16] with us what's going on in Washington

[1:12:17] County and we're appreciative to all of

[1:12:19] you for coming out and participating

[1:12:21] today in our state of the county and

[1:12:23] we'll look forward to seeing you again

[1:12:25] in another year. Thanks you so much and

[1:12:26] travel safe.

Meetings

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