MANTI-- New Sanpete County Commissioners Steve Frischknecht and Spencer Cox, were sworn into office and accepted the commissioner responsibility assignments suggested by Commission Chair Claudia Jarrett at the Jan. 6 meeting.

Commissioner Jarrett asked if it was okay for her to continue as chairman for 2009 and the new members agreed. Sanpete County Attorney Ross Blackham then recommended they choose a "vice-chair" to stand in for Commissioner Jarrett should she miss a meeting. They agreed to have Steve Frischknecht to be the vice-chair.

Commissioner Jarrett laid out the duties, starting with commission chair. She would handle the Water Conservancy, forest and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) access management, Utah StateUniversity (USU) extension, the county fire district, remain the Six County representative, continue working with Utah Department Of Transportation (UDOT) and look after the "north roads" which would be from Indianola to Manti.

Commissioner Frischknecht would be responsible for the south roads ranging from Manti south, handle commerce and economic development, the county fair, county building grounds, Bookmobile, oversee the new planned Special Service District (SSD), law enforcement and weed control. Commissioner Cox would be responsible for the "north west roads" which is the west end of the county taking in Moroni, Wales and Fountain Green area. He will oversee voting, public welfare, drug court, 911 emergency response, planning and zoning board, mental health and will be the voting member for the county for the landfill.

Jail project

The commission approved additional expenditures and staffing for the jail project. They selected Direct TV for the cable television service at a total of $9,351 for three years. Also biding was CentralCom, asking for $12,016 for three years. Commissioner Cox abstained from voting as he is a manager for CentralCom.

The commission approved the third change order for the $16 million jail complex. Commissioner Jarrett said the change order was to add a cooling unit to a room of electrical equipment. She said the cost was $14,579.55. They also approved $102,375 payment to Architect Joseph Linton. She said he gets 8.5 percent of the cost of the project for his design work.

Amanda Bennett was hired as a secretary at $12.71. Bradey Ellis was hired as road deputy sheriff starting at $16.10 an hour. Sheriff Holman added that Deputy Ellis has three years experience. Also hired as control room operators were Brian C Butler, Veronica Christensen, Scott Guyman, David Holmes, Marisol Najera, Glenn Neill, Gretchen Nunley and Kathy Robbins. They all start at $12.71 an hour. Shehriff Holman explained they are civilian hires.

Miscellaneous

In other business, new-hire IP computer person, Deb Boyd, was permitted a $38 cell phone stipend.

Other large expenditures include approval of $1,632 for engineering work on 100 East by the Sanpete County Fairgrounds to Jones and DeMille Engineering. They approved payment of $4,200 to MSC for a maintenance agreement for the new scan system in Sanpete County Recorder department. They approved of an $18,845 contract with Ludlow Engineering, Nephi, for the Indianola Fire Station project.

And the commission approved for Commission Chair Jarrett to sign for the Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit for the Axtell Bridge replacement.

She said two years ago the county had gone to the (UDOT) for help on the bridge and was turned down. She said UDOT is now interested in helping.