November 6, 2025 - Hanksville Town Council

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

Present: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei, C. Robert Gilner, C. Mona Wells and C. Eric Wells

Absent: C. Morgan Stephen

Employees: Clerk Lisa Wells and Treasurer Jessica Alvey 

Public in Attendance:  Slate Banner, .Brennen Rees and Jack Jeppson - Ensign Engineering, Brad Childs - Gerber Construction, Kelton Brown - Brown Brothers Construction, Duke Alvey, Ashton Brian, Cathay Rosenbaum, Brittani and Adam Wells.

Pledge: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei

Prayer: Lisa Wells

Roll Call: Mayor Jeffren T. Pei

Motion to approve minutes from the October council meeting: C. Mona Wells; Second C. Robert Gilner Aye: All in attendance.

 Motion to move new business items to first of the agenda: Robert Gilner; Second C. Eric Wells Aye: All in attendance.

 New Business: 

  Kelton Brown -Brown Brothers Construction - Truck traffic on 100 East - An email from Brown Brothers Construction “regarding the town’s current restriction on our cement trucks using 100 East to Highway 24.  We fully understand and respect the Town’s desire to protect its roadways, but we’d like to ask if there’s any flexibility in that decision.  The alternative route available to us adds considerable travel time and involves rougher conditions, which increase wear on equipment and overall project costs.  Using 100 East would allow us to operate more efficiently and safely.  To address concerns about potential road damage, we’d like to propose the same approach we’ve successfully used in other cities:

• Before beginning hauling, we take a video inspection documenting the existing road conditions.

• At project completion, we take another video to compare and confirm the road’s condition.

• If any damage occurs, Brown Brothers will repair the road at no cost to the Town.

• If any issue becomes evident before the project concludes, we will immediately stop using the route, switch to the alternate route, and make the necessary repairs right away.

It’s worth noting that our concrete trucks are designed specifically for city street use, with proper axle spacing and load distribution to minimize pavement impact.  We value our working relationship with Hanksville Town and want to operate in a way that benefits both parties.  We would greatly appreciate your reconsideration of this route restriction and the opportunity to discuss a potential arrangement that protects the road while allowing us to use 100 east.”  Mayor Pei mentioned a previous construction project where a sign was broken and not repaired by the construction company. Kelton is hopeful that there are no incidents, they don’t want to make anybody angry. He said if they do something wrong, for sure Brown Brothers will fix it.  When this location of the batch plant was originally discussed the mayor was mainly concerned about triple axle truck traffic on 100 east.  The mayor doesn’t see a problem with loaded cement trucks driving on that road. Kelton said the trucks are all axled out for correct weight span to drive on city streets.  He reminded the council again that if Brown Brothers do any damage to the road they will repair it. Brad Childs with Gerber Construction said that Hanksville agreed to maintain that road for potholes and normal wear and tear.  Brown Brothers and Gerber Construction have both taken a video of the road (100 East) and he would suggest the town also take a video of the road to compare at the end of the job and make sure everybody is on the same page. So everyone understands this is the condition of the road currently and it needs to be in this same condition when they get through with the project.  The mayor mentioned some complaints about speed and noise, he realizes that those things are just going to happen.  That’s the nature of this type of project.  The council understands that aspect of the job and asks that the drivers be aware of that. C. Eric Wells clocked the alternative route and it would add an extra mile to their route, the difference of using the dirt road and 100 West, just something for Brown Brothers consideration.  There will always be complainers, he doesn’t know all the details about running cement trucks.  C. Eric Wells asks Brown Brothers to consider that it might just be better for Brown Brothers to be out-of-sight-out-of-mind for the Hanksville residents.  The citizens are concerned about kids riding bikes on the road and that kind of thing with the heavier truck traffic; just something to think about.  C. Robert Gilner has worked with Brown Brothers and believes that they have integrity and will do the right thing all around.  He agrees with the mayor to let them drive on 100 W, the alternative is only a mile more but it’s all dirt road and uphill.  C. Mone Wells mentioned the project has to be done. Mayor Pei agreed that all parties are aware of this concern and will allow them to continue to use 100 East and get this project done but also to be mindful of the community.  Keep the town updated throughout the 4 year project.

  Duke Alvey - Red Desert Inc. - Tourism Advisory Board idea -Hanksville is based on tourism and he would like to know what are the plans of the town council to promote tourism.  The council didn’t respond with any ideas.  Mr. Alvey went on to discuss the transient room tax collected that should benefit the town.  In the past year about $22 thousand was collected but what was that money spent on?  The only thing the money was spent on that is tourism related is the town website and flyers promoting the town.  

C. Robert Gilner - Hanksville attracts other tourists besides Lake Powell Boaters.

C. Eric Wells - There has been a kiosk proposed to be placed at the community center with a map showing the trails all around us.  

Duke Alvey - Presented an idea of forming a Hanksville Tourism Advisory Board.  He said people from every walk of life come through this town.  He recently attended a tourism conference at Ruby’s Inn by Bryce Canyon and he highly recommends someone from the town council attend to hear what the State is doing to promote tourism and also what surrounding counties and towns are doing to promote tourism.  His company, Red Desert, went on a quest to promote Hanksville instead of just promoting their several businesses.  

Brittani Wells - Created a new brochure to find your next adventure in Hanksville.  All of their motel rooms and cabins have a book promoting Hanksville and the surrounding area with brochures, flyers, business cards, maps, local business advertisements and more.  

There is a Wayne County Tourism Board and Jessica Alvey is a member of that board.  Is there an interest from the town council in becoming a member of this board?  There was discussion of social media and the town should focus more on that.  Brittan said we don’t need to focus on social media because the public are already promoting us.  Hanksville needs to address those people seeing us on social media.  The town of Torrey loses money from TRT because they were not willing to annex more property so those businesses that surround Torry collect TRT money but all of that goes to Wayne County.  

Brennen Rees - There are grants available through the State for Outdoor Recreation projects that the TRT money could be used for.  

Brittan Wells is willing to head a Hanksville Tourism Advisory Board.  This board would consist of community members and business owners that would discuss best ideas to promote Hanksville and then recommend options to the town council.  She already has several ideas for the community.  Duke Alvey said tourism is the industry we have now so let’s focus on that.  

 Tabled Business:

Report of Officers:

Council member Mona Wells:

   She continues to work on the cemetery pavilion, she may need scaffolding to finish the walls.  C. Eric Wells mentioned that many people are using the gun range and a gentleman from Toole was there recently and said it’s one of the best shooting ranges he’s seen. Thanks Mayor Pei for your hard work on that project.  

Council member Morgan Stephens:

ABSENT - Council discussed tenant #2 at the Affordable Housing and where are they at with eviction.  Mayor Pei said the tenants will be moved out by the 9th of November.         

Council member Eric Wells:

The new Bobcat extended reach was delivered last week but it was not what C. Eric has ordered.  He had the mayor sign a new order today that has the correct equipment.  On the grinding pump for the sewer that is in the works to purchase with the remaining funds for the sewer project, Peterson Plumbing is working directly with Jones & DeMille.  The sewer system needs all lines to be flushed and would either hire that out or buy a jester and vac truck to complete that project.

Council member Robert Gilner:

.Nothing to report.

Mayor Jeffren T. Pei:

He would like the planning commission to get going on the annexation plan.  He has several ideas to get land swaps in place with BLM ground and also some State sections as part of annexation of surrounding property.  He agrees that an economic board is needed for different kinds of industry for Hanksville.  He would like to see more projects like the At Your Leisure video about trails around Hanksville.

Treasurer Jessica Alvey:

The transient room tax has to be used for tourist related expenses and she recommends to stay in compliance with the purpose of the tax and use the money how it should be used.  She gave an example of how Garfield County has created a nice video promoting the whole county.  In her studies she learned the people will spend 7x more money if they stay an extra night in a town.  She is proposing a budget policy addendum for the use of transient room tax revenue.  (See Attached)

Clerk Lisa Wells:

• Bills presented to council for approval (spreadsheet attached)

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

• New door locks needed on the Old Church doors, Eric Wells will get those installed.

• Audit for Hanksville Special Service District is required due to the funding received for the sewer project; Kimball & Roberts will handle that on 11/14/2025.

• Kenny and Kim McCoy have submitted an application for a building permit.

• Election Canvass date 11/18/2025

• Tonya Pearson - Delinquent sewer bill - discussed ideas to collect payment - lien on property, theft of services, an attorney, notices with all options that could be pursued.

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Planning Commission:

The revision of Ordinance 2023-01 regarding the process to create a subdivision is ready to present to the public and hold a public hearing.  The hearing was set for 11/18/2025 at 6pm.  The clerk will post that meeting on the public meeting notice website, town office, and the post office 10 days before the public hearing.  They will hold their regular meeting portion after the public hearing where they will discuss the priority list for 2026 from the council and review 2025 and how they can improve their processes.  

Public Comment: 

Brennen Rees - Ensign Engineering - Presented where they are at on the Hanksville Water Master Plan and distributed the map of our system. Jack Jeppson - Ensign Engineering - came and met with Eric Wells and went through the maps.  Ensign is lacking one or two sections that need to be finalized to be complete.    The map shows all water lines, fire hydrants, water wells, and how water is distributed throughout the town.  A tablet was given to Eric Wells with GIS mapping that Eric can update or make changes to the map so it will be accurate and up-to-date.

Brennen Rees - Ensign Engineering - Reviewed the water master plan.  Alternative A - would be to do nothing.  Alternative B - would involve a new storage tank, some 8” and 10” lines, control valves for the arsenic plant and address different pressure zones.  This would cost approximately $3.15 million.  Alternate C - would be system improvement.$975,000.  Their recommendation is to install a new 500,000 tank south of town, with a distribution system involving the arsenic treatment plant.. The funding options: Division of Drinking Water has a moratorium on funding for the next 6 months.  Hanksville is not showing on the modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) list. Rural Water can help with this or possibly R6 can help with the MAGI. This will need to be addressed prior to any funding.  The council would have to address a rate increase to the water user.  This discussion was tabled for today and Ensign Engineering would like to request it to be on next month's agenda. All this information will be in the completed water master plan.

                      Mayor Jeffren Pei - Council members remember that your phone and your communications with each other or anything government related is available to the public and can be brought up.  How they do it is they will email you for a request.  So that being said, if the mayor's phone, from now on, can be looked at, or requests of his texts, he would like the town to pay for his phone bill, or purchase 5 different phones for each council member so they can use that strictly for town business.  He highly regards his privacy and his texts, it’s very personal.  Clerk asked if all communication could be through hanksvilleutah.gov emails? Mayor doesn't want any of his records accessed.  Clerk requests the mayor and council members to check their email.

Motion to adjourn: C. Mona Wells; Second C. Robert Gilner. Aye: All in attendance. The meeting adjourned at 8:11pm.