August 7, 2025 - Hanksville Town Council

The Hanksville Town Council convened its regular meeting on the 7th day of August 2025 in the Hanksville Community Center; meeting commenced at 6:00pm.

Present: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei, C. Morgan Stephen, and C. Robert Gilner 

Absent: Treasurer Jessica Alvey, C. Mona Wells and C. Eric Wells 

Employees: Clerk Lisa Wells 

Public in Attendance:  Ashton Brian, Dan Thatcher, Doug Roberts, Sara Bradbury and Slate Banner. Ensign Engineering - Brennen Rees and Jack Jeppson.

Meeting to Order: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei

Pledge: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei

Prayer: Ashton Brian

Roll Call: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei

  Motion to approve minutes from the June council meeting: C. Morgan Stephens; Second C. Robert Gilner Aye: All in attendance.

Report of Officers:

Council member Mona Wells:

  Absent

Council member Morgan Stephens:

Considering the needs of town housing - roof on one building, laundry room repairs and painting needed, she is not sure how to address those needs.

Council member Eric Wells:

ABSENT - The sewer project is complete and the left over money, which is about $60,000, we have been working with George Meadows with the Division of Water Quality, to get his approval for a project. C. Morgan Stephens would like to know when all the equipment will be moved off her property.

Council member Robert Gilner:

He is still planning on doing the crack seal this fall on town roads.

Mayor Jeffren T. Pei:

The mayor is considering hiring Nate Maire as an additional part-time employee to help with the gun range project.  He will talk with Eric Wells and Anthony Jones to get their input.

Treasurer Jessica Alvey:

Absent

Planning Commission:

  Ashton Brian - The planning commission has completed the draft subdivision application ordinance and submitted it to Brock Jackson with R6 for his input.  They will be meeting next Thursday, August 14th, to do the final review of the draft and they hope to schedule a public hearing on August 28, 2025.  The council wants to make sure they take enough time to complete it and will support their decision of when to hold the public hearing.  The Ekker Subdivision has met all the requirements and the planning commission has signed off on the plat map provided by Dennis Ekker, they did move the property that was land locked into Kathryn Hoggatt’s name and he met all the requirements of the council and the planning commission.  The mayor and council signed the plat map accepting the subdivision.

Clerk Lisa Wells:

• Bills presented to council for approval (spreadsheet attached)

• Motion to approve bills: C. Morgan Stephens; Second C. Robert Gilner. Aye: All in attendance.

• 2 applications for new sewer/water hookup have been submitted. Scott Livingston and Kenny McCoy both within the town boundary.  

• Poll workers for the Primary election are Sue Fivecoat, Deanna Mecham, and Cathy Rosenbaum with Slate Banner as the alternate poll worker. The clerk held a training meeting on August 6, 2025 with all the poll workers and the alternate.  The polls will open Tuesday at 7am and close at 8pm.  People can vote in person on that day.  The Wayne County clerk will be down that day to verify the signature on the ballots.

Tabled Business:  Brennen Rees and Jack Jeppson with Ensign Engineering reported on their progress in updating the water master plan.  The most recent water master plan is from 2015 and for any funding to make improvements or upgrades a current water master plan must be in place.  The water master plan provides a guide and an overview of 3 items:

• Source - Hanksville has 3 wells 

• Storage - Hanksville has 2 storage tanks - 100,000 and 200,00

• Distribution - reviews the current pipe size, meters, fire hydrants, etc.

Ensign has calculated the equivalent residential connection (ERC) for Hanksville and is checking with the council for their input regarding the fire suppression guidelines from the Wayne County fire department and should increase storage capacity by raised for fire protection.  The master plan also projects 10 to 10 years out with census data used for growth to calculate the future needs of Hanksville.  They will continue to refine this report and in future town council meetings officially present this water master plan.  Brennen will email his draft to the clerk so council members can review it prior to council meeting.

UDOT Safe Routes to School report - Brennen has completed a survey and will contact UDOT to get the project going with the design phase and then out to bid for the sidewalk starting at 100 east and turning up center to Hanksville Elementary.  This grant application was submitted for FY 2025 but was kicked down the road and was resubmitted for FY2026.  The mayor received confirmation that Hanksville was awarded the funding from Rep. Celeste Maloy’s office.  He will forward the information to Brennen so he can follow up with this project.

C. Robert Gilner would like to get input from Ensign Engineering on a project to consider the storm water drainage for Hanksville, he wants to address this issue since Bull Creek is the only drainage option and there has been flooding with insufficient drainage..  Brennen Rees said he will look at funding options for a project like this, and he would start with a storm water master plan.

New Business: 

None

Public Comment: 

.Sara Brandbury - She is concerned about Brown Brothers Construction and their water usage.  She believes they will need over 300gpm to clean their gravel or their other construction needs for the Hanksville Diversion project.  The council will find out their anticipated water usage.

Doug Roberts - Hanksville has a generator proved by Garkane, why didn’t it get put into operation earlier during this long power outage?  

Slate Banner - He would like to know why the generator didn’t work, how come Hanksville isn’t being taken care of and would the council address Garkane and get answers about the generator.

Mayor Pei- What can Hanksville do to provide for our own power needs? He has approached Bishop Duke Alvey about getting a generator to operate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints building located in Hanksville in case people need a cool place to reside.  He has also contacted the Wayne School District regarding the Hanksville Elementary building about a generator to operate that building in case of power outage and a place of refuge for citizens.

Ashton Brian - Hanksville could compile an emergency checklist and a central place for information to be shared to inform the public about the emergency and to conserve power.  Possibly an Emergency Management Plan for the community.  The council agreed that is a great idea.

Motion to adjourn: C. Robert Gilner; Second C. Morgan Stephens. Aye: All in attendance. The meeting adjourned at 7:20pm.