County commission makes progress on recreation, safety at latest meeting

At its July 16 meeting, the Morgan County Commission addressed two community concerns: the shortage of ball fields for its recreation program and pedestrian safety on Trappers Loop in Mountain Green.

Morgan County is working with Morgan City to be able to run the county’s recreation programs out of Riverside Park at 195 East 125 North in Morgan, County Manager Kate Becker told the commission.

Under their proposed agreement Morgan County would maintain the building while the city would continue to water and maintain the grass. There would not be any exchange of money; instead, the two entities would participate in an interlocal agreement, Becker said. 

Morgan County is going to consult with its public works department to determine if there is adequate staffing for this maintenance or if additional staff would need to be budgeted.

“It's definitely a great deal,” Commissioner Jared Anderson said, adding that the county just needs to ensure that the details are worked out to both entities’ satisfaction. 

Commission Chair Mike Newton also expressed his support.

“I really appreciate the city being willing to work with us to try to find a solution,” he said. “It’s certainly going to be cheaper than building a new ball field at this point.”

At that meeting, the commission also approved a request by Becker to allow her to reach out to UDOT to see if a high visibility crosswalk could be installed on Trappers Loop at the Mountain Green Sinclair station.

“This is a very high-risk area,” Becker said.  “The vehicles coming up 167 turn really fast there. The vehicles coming down Trappers Loop are in no way, shape, or form, following the speed limit. and with all the construction that's going on in that area, specifically with the grocery store where Kent Smith Park is and how we've set up our trail, this is an accident waiting to happen.”

Although UDOT has declined to put such a crosswalk in the area in the past, saying it wasn’t necessary, Becker requested the commission’s permission to try again with the agency. A traffic study completed by Wasatch Front Regional Council indicated the need for such a crosswalk there and community members including parents, teachers and trail walkers have requested the crosswalk be installed, she said.

Morgan County has applied for a Safe Schools federal grant which could help fund the crosswalk but will not find out until August if it has been approved, and then it would be next year before the crosswalk could be constructed. All agreed the need was immediate and expressed the hope that UDOT would be willing to do something before school starts back up next month.

The crosswalk, which would include flashing lights, has a steep price tag at $65,000, Becker said. However, if she were able to approach UDOT with some ideas for funding, they might be more amenable to the proposal, she added.

Would UDOT be willing in those circumstances to install the crosswalk or “just say, ‘Well, apply; go through our typical process to get the monies through the grant of safe schools and you've already done it you're almost there in August… you can do it then,’” Commissioner Jared Anderson asked. 

“I guess the thing is to reach out to UDOT and say ‘Hey we've got this study that's been done. This is a need … Where do we go from here?’” Commission Chair Mike Newton responded. 

After the discussion, the commissioners gave Becker the go-ahead and said they would each reach out to their UDOT and state contacts to see if they could help make the crosswalk happen before school starts. λ