Blanding City plans to dedicate new Veterans Memorial

A Veterans Memorial, water-wise landscaping and an update to the fee schedule were all part of the latest Blanding city council meeting.
Members of the city council received an update on the Blanding Veterans Memorial project at their February 24 meeting.
The project is nearly complete, and a formal dedication ceremony is tentatively being scheduled for Memorial Day weekend on Monday, May 25.
Blanding resident Tony Wojcik has been a key proponent of the memorial and reported some final touches to the memorial including using colors black, blue, white and yellow and installing a Native American themed ladder feature.
The city is also finalizing landscaping around the monument. Wojcik also reported that about 60 pavers are still available for residents wishing to honor military family members.
Members of the Blanding City Council also tabled an ordinance that would adopt water-wise landscaping standards. The ordinance allows residents to qualify for state-funded incentives such as $2 to $3 per square foot for lawn removal, but on the flip side requires an ordinance mandating water wise landscaping for future builds. 
Members of the Blanding City Council expressed hesitancy with requirements to restrict front yards to a maximum of 50 percent lawn coverage. Council voted to table the ordinance to get further clarification if the standards are mandatory or voluntary for new builds or voluntary.
Members of the council also adopted an ordinance amending the city fee schedule. Among the key changes include eliminating the account transfer fee to reduce fees for residents moving within city limits. The council also passed fees related to equipment rentals.
An updated public works rental rate is $115 per hour for equipment and $50 an hour for a city operator. In an effort to limit liability, the city will also now require city employees to operate all rented heavy machinery.
While the rates have been set for those rentals, the city tabled a resolution with the fine details related to making rentals available to the public.
Members of the city council also approved a resolution establishing a $150 curb cut permit fee to standardize city drainage.
The policy is meant to ensure that curb or gutter cutting in the city meets standards for city drainage requirements with city staff noting previously contractor or residents could modify curbs and gutters without formal oversight.
Members of the city council also received an update on efforts of the Blanding Legacy Trust efforts to become more independent from the city.
The trust is in process of revising its bylaws to remove city council and mayoral oversight as well as a move toward collecting its own funds rather than providing residents to donate to the fund through the city power bill system. 
Members of the city council also unanimously approved a power pooling agreement with fellow members of the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) of which the city is a member.
Some updates at the airport including a report that the new wildlife fence is keeping deer off the runway. Additional upgrades to the fuel farm have been completed, new amenities for the fuel truck and a report that the signal for the automated weather observing system.