The Wayne & Garfield County Insider October 30, 2025

Dan McClendon Announces Retirement as CEO of Garkane Energy

KANAB - After eleven years of dedicated service, Dan McClendon, Garkane’s Chief Executive Officer, has announced his retirement effective January 2, 2026. Under his leadership, the cooperative has grown stronger, expanded its services, and remained true to its mission of providing reliable, affordable electricity to the communities it serves.

Throughout McClendon’s tenure, the cooperative has achieved major milestones, including infrastructure upgrades to major transmission lines, like the Buckskin to Fredonia line that feeds the Kane County area, and utilizing grant funding for renewable energy initiatives for three solar pavilions throughout its territory. Community

River to Reservoir with the Returning Rapids Project

by Beth Henshaw | Corner Post

The Returning Rapids Project May 2025 expedition poses at their put-in location with the waterfall warning sign at Clay Hills Crossing—the location where boaters typically leave the river.

SAN JUAN RIVEROn a sunny morning this past May, as a thicket of tamarisk swayed in the wind along the banks of the San Juan River in southeastern Utah, a fleet of metal skiffs, pack-rafts, pas-

Dixie N.F. Begins Prescribed Fires

Favorable weather conditions in place for hazardous fuels reduction work

@U.S. Forest Service - Dixie National Forest Dixie National Forest, Cedar City Ranger District is planning prescribed fire operations starting the week of October 28, pending all required approvals. dead and down vegetation to help protect local communities, infrastructure, and natural resources from wildfires.

DIXIE N.F. - Dixie National Forest, Cedar City Ranger District is planning prescribed fire operations starting this week, pending all required approvals. We estimate this work to continue throughout the fall and winter of 2025, and into the spring of 2026, as weather conditions allow. We use prescribed fires to help reduce overgrown and

Prescribed fires planned for the Cedar City Ranger District include: Approximately 194 acres south of Highway 14,

Prescribed Fires Cont'd on A5

sengers and guides pushed off downriver from Clay Hills Crossing, the point at which San Juan boaters normally end their trip. The crew posed for a group photo in front of a big sign warning, “DANGEROUS

Utah Water Year Begins with 'Unprecedented Rainfall'

SALT LAKE CITY -

The beginning of our Water Year, which began on Oct. 1, has delivered outstanding early-season precipitation. This historic moisture has profoundly improved water conditions and significantly boosted the outlook for our region’s water supply.

Recent storms have provided unprecedented rainfall for the month. Salt Lake City’s total precipitation for October stands at 4.95", officially making it the wettest October on record over the last 151 years of data collection at the Salt Lake City Airport. This early accumulation is

Water Conditions Cont'd on B2

WATERFALL: TAKE OUT ALL WATERCRAFT HERE.” Smiles, high fives and cheers erupted from the group as the boats drifted away from the eerie sign, ready to face whatever perils lay ahead.

The group was headed into what’s known as the Lowest San Juan, a 35-mile stretch that has been under Lake Powell for decades

WAYNE CO. - The October 20th Wayne County Commission meeting started right on time, with the first item on the agenda focused on an EMS update. EMS Director Tiffany Martineau recommended contracting with International Medical Directors (IMD) for medical direction, medication oversight, and continuing education. IMD’s Utah representative, TJ Reinhold of Kanab, outlined quarterly, in-person training and an online continuing education portal that automatically reports hours to the National Registry. The change will replace the county’s current EMS1 subscription and is expected to save roughly $1,000 per year. The commission approved the IMD contract, set to begin January 1 after the current agreement expires. Commissioners also approved an MOU with Piute County for cross-

During Shutdown, Utah Will Continue to Fund N.P. Visitor Centers & Service

|

Bryce Canyon (above), Zion, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands national parks visitor centers and services will remain funded by the State of

through the current government shutdown.

UTAH - Utah remains committed to supporting visitors in planning and preparing for their best trip to Utah, preserving our parks, and ensuring that our communities and busi-

nesses relying on national park visitation are supported. The State will continue funding operations within our national parks. With the seasonal closure of the Cedar Breaks

National Monument visitor center, the State will be reallocating that funding to support the Zion

Funding Cont'd on A3

Courtesy Beth Henshaw

Emily Leach

Insider

Utah

‘Hopeless’:

Utahns Say Shutdown’s Pause on Food Stamp Funding Carries a Steep Cost

State Senate president says Utah ‘is not equipped’ to cover the program’s costs for weeks

by Annie Knox | Utah News Dispatch

UTAH - When food benefits run out next month, Rose Wakeham is worried about losing access to more than the fresh vegetables they love to cook.

“I might have to quit school and get a different job,” said Wakeham, 28.

Wakeham’s grocery bills are covered by $200 in aid from federal nutrition benefits each month, while their part-time job at a store helps with other expenses. The idea of having to drop out of their first year of culinary school to work full time “makes me feel a bit hopeless,” Wakeham said.

“I didn’t take the traditional route,” said Wakeham, of Salt Lake County. “I feel like I’m just now finding my path, and it’s like being blocked.”

Across Utah, about 87,000 households are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. None of them will receive those benefits in November as funding for the federal program lapses in the government shutdown, the state.

To administer the program, Utah’s Department of Workforce Services draws down an average of $33 million in federal funding each month, said spokesperson Christina Davis. She noted it’s possible SNAP payment cards will not work after Nov. 1, even if there’s money in the account.

Wakeham plans to donate plasma for extra grocery money and turn to food pantries next month.

“I’m stressed, definitely,” Wakeham said.

In Salt Lake City, Crossroads Urban Center’s two pantries serve more than 13,000 people per month, with traffic spiking in the days before food program benefits come in, said Bill Tibbitts, deputy executive director.

The rising cost of living doesn’t help. Tibbitts noted rent has climbed along the Wasatch Front, shooting up by double digits in 2021, with some estimates around 20%.

“The people we serve still haven’t recovered from that,” Tibbitts said. A pause in food assistance will further stretch many trying to make ends meet, he said.

“If somebody can’t feed their kids at the beginning of next month, they’re going to be mad at everybody who could’ve done something to fix it,” Tibbitts said. “They’ll be mad at the president, they’ll be mad at everyone in Congress, too. They need to come together and figure out how to stop that from happening.”

In a statement to Utah News Dispatch , Utah Senate President Stuart Adams indicated the state won’t step in next month to cover the program.

“The state is not equipped to fund federal programs for weeks or months in the absence of congressional action,” said Adams, R-Layton. “It is unacceptable for Congress to allow Utahns and

Americans to bear the burden of inaction.”

Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz urged Congress to end the shutdown to spare vulnerable Utahns harm, with Schultz faulting Democrats.

“This situation is a stark reminder of how federal dysfunction can cascade down to the states and directly harm the most vulnerable among us,” said Schultz, R-Hooper.

Michael Thomson, 59, and Natalie Rhodes, 45, of Salt Lake City, were figuring out how to stretch their budget to make up for next month’s gap in food assistance.

“We’re going to take what we have left, and we’re going to buy a bunch of ramen noodle soup and a loaf of bread and maybe a thing of peanut butter, and see how far that’ll take us,” Rhodes said. “There’s not much we can do about it.”

Thomson called the

Five New Healthy Utah

SALT LAKE CITYFive new cities have earned the Healthy Utah Community designation, while three cities have been redesignated as Healthy Utah Communities. The awards were announced Thursday, October 2, at the Utah League of Cities and Towns Annual Convention in Salt Lake City. Bountiful, Cedar City, Cottonwood Heights, Midway, and Murray all have earned the Healthy Utah Community designation. The redesignated Healthy Utah Communities included Ephraim, Layton, and North Salt Lake.

The Healthy Utah Community designation is presented by Get Healthy Utah and the Utah League of Cities and Towns. The program encourages cities and towns to adopt policies and programs that support good health for their residents. As Midway Mayor Celeste Johnson said, “I'm really, really excited about this initiative. I'm really excited about the focus that it puts on our health, physical and mental. And I'm really excited that this

impact “devastating,” but said believes it’s largely lost on those in power.

The couple said they are homeless and have used the program to eat healthy and buy fresh fruit even though they do not have a place to cook their own meals.

Rhodes said the word that comes to mind after the state’s announcement is “hopeless,” especially for moms of young children.

The Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, or WIC, is still running, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services said.

For those who receive WIC assistance in addition to SNAP benefits, the pause “can have a significant impact,” affecting families’ ability to afford groceries, the department said.

This article was originally published on utahnewsdispatch.com on October 22, 2025.

Communities Announced

designation will set us apart.”

To earn the three-year designation, each city or town formed a community health coalition and implemented health strategies in the areas of access to healthy food, active living, and mental health. After three years, to be redesignated, a city or town must demonstrate a continued dedication to building a healthy community. Their health coalition must remain active and they must implement additional health strategies since first being designated. Cottonwood Heights Mayor Mike Weichers said, “This is probably the least political thing that we do. Everybody wants to be healthy. Everybody wants to help others be healthy. And so the opportunity that we have to reach out and provide a resource is awesome.”

The new designees have each implemented great strategies to promote health in their communities. Some of the strategies aimed to increase active living. For example,

Bountiful City passed a bond to set aside money for trail development. In Midway, the city passed regulations requiring helmets for children riding e-bikes and e-scooters, to protect those using active transportation.

Other strategies aimed to improve local access to healthy food. Cottonwood Heights started a program with a seed exchange to offer classes on composting, gardening, and seed starting. Meanwhile, Murray promoted its farmer’s market and local food pantry.

Finally, some of the strategies that the designees pursued aimed to improve mental wellbeing. For example, in Cedar City, the city partnered with the local Shakespeare festival to put on a play that discussed mental health issues for local schools. The play also traveled to other cities and towns throughout the state.

To learn more about what each community did to earn the designation, visit gethealthyutah.org.

—Get Healthy Utah

Annie Knox Utah News Dispatch

Bill Tibbitts of the Crossroads Urban Center helps prepare a box of food for a family at the center’s west side pantry in Salt Lake City on Oct. 22, 2025.

News from Wayne County

Clair Bird: 'A Man with a Cause'

by Adus F. Dorsey II

WAYNE CO. - It has been nearly fifty years to the day—November 2, 1975—that the Deseret News reported on the plight of Clair Bird, a local Wayne County entrepreneur, and his disputed mining claim in Capitol Reef National Park.

For those that do not know or remember, Clair Bird was a prospector and miner who operated a 160-acre strip-mining claim in Capitol Reef National Park in the 1970s. Bird and other private landholders fought the National Park Service (NPS) for control of their claims after the park was established in 1971. By the end of the 1970s, the NPS successfully brought Bird's land under park control.

Clair Bird was what was considered at the time an “in holder,” meaning he had a private property claim within what would become the boundaries of Capitol Reef National Park. It is an indisputable fact that Bird obtained his 160-acre lease in 1964, before the land officially became a national park. The much coveted rock that Bird strip-mined was what is locally referred to as "ripple rock," a naturally decorative material often sold to admirers for landscaping and facing.

The conflict with the NPS was that they disapproved of Bird's operation and pursued legal action to stop it. To Bird’s independent credit, he continued mining for years, despite the efforts of NPS. As a result, by the late 1970s, the NPS did, with much gnashing of teeth and many sleepless nights, successfully resolve the Clair Bird issue and, eventually, acquired the land, consolidating Bird’s claim into the park.

Clair once confirmed that he was ready to sell for $400,000, but when the offer was refused, Bird said, “I may just stay here and mine for 100 years. I’m a bachelor and have no one depending on me, so I really do not need the money. And I’d just as soon fight them.” And Bird did.

Bird went on to declare that “They just made the Park too big,” as he referred to the act of congress which converted Capitol Reef National Monument into a national park in 1971 and expanded it from 39,000 acres to 241,000 acres. “Thay

have closed the roads into some areas and now nobody can go in there.”

W. Franklin Wallace, Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent (at the time), countered, “The people involved in expanding the boundaries of the park had detailed surveys made and were convinced that everything to be taken in was of significant value. The area included in the expansion is probably one of the most unique geological areas in the United States.” A claim still pursued by environmental groups today. But the fact still remained that Bird obtained his mineral and business leases in 1964 on what was state-owned land. The state had since exchanged the land with the federal government, which then held Bird’s leases, thus complicating the mineral lease kerfuffle further. After two years of litigation, Chief Judge Willis W. Ritter of the U.S. District Court for Utah not only found that Bird’s lease was valid, he found the government had initiated condemnation proceedings and owed Bird a cool $250,000.00, which Ritter determined was the value to the lease based on an estimate of 1.2 million tons of minable rock. In a statement, Bird went on to say, “There are as many as six million tons on the lease.”

The appeals court struck down the money judgement, saying the government had not condemned Bird’s lease but

agreed with Ritter that the lease was well valid.

Feeling somewhat encouraged, Wallace went on to say, “We want to acquire all of Mr. Bird’s holdings: the lodge, the business and the mining lease...We have no need for a concession here when the little towns around have plenty of motels.”

Wallace surmised that whatever happens to Bird, he has become a symbol to some. “The local people think this is just another instance of big federal bureaucracy coming in and telling a man what he can or can’t do with his property.”

For many days, weeks and months afterward, Bird liked to show off a letter he received from a man in Roosevelt, Utah, that read:

“Clair, I just wanted to congratulate you. It’s good to see a little guy beat the 'Big Boys' once in a while."

Reference: Information and photo retrieved from the estate and files of Evangeline Tappan, 1903 - 1998, long-time Deseret News correspondent and Wayne County native.

Author’s note: Although the aforementioned material comes from a mountain of Evangeline Tappan files from the 1930s thru to the late 1990s, what is true, even today, is that Clair Bird’s legacy still lives large in the minds and lives of the "Little Man’s" continued effort to hold the federal government accountable.

Funding: Utah remains committed to supporting visitors in planning and preparing for their best trip to Utah, preserving our parks, and ensuring that our communities and businesses relying on national park visitation are supported. The State will continue funding operations within our national parks.

Funding Cont'd from A1

National Park Backcountry Permitting staff. All permitting systems are operational on recreation.gov for applying for permits, and walk-up permits are being issued at the Backcountry desk, both depending on their availability or existing lottery permit application windows. All existing permits will be honored.

The following visitor centers and services will remain funded:

• Zion National Park • Zion Backcountry Permit Desk

• Bryce Canyon National Park

• Capitol Reef National Park Arches National Park

• Canyonlands - Island in the Sky

• Canyonlands - Needles District The visitutah.com/ shutdown page will continue to be updated with the most current information. —Utah Office of Tourism

Courtesy Adus F. Dorsey II

Photo of Clair Bird retrieved from the estate and files of Evangeline Tappan, 1903 - 1998, long-time Deseret News correspondent and Wayne County native.

Wills, Trusts, and More

From Treats to Trusts: A Halloween Twist

What could Halloween and the process of doing a will and trust and other essential documents have in common? Both can be scary!

I’ll confess, I hate the idea of going to a haunted house or spooky corn maze. While a teenager growing up in Las Vegas, I’d act brave with my friends and later have to sleep with the lights on.

However, having been an estate planning attorney for over 25 years, I’m comfortable planning for one’s demise. I’ve helped thousands of clients take this step. I’ve figuratively held their hand as they contemplated their mortality.

I promise that I do understand how scary the process can be for some. I know many clients have avoided doing planning because of fear. However, like exiting a spook alley, when it’s over and the estate planning documents are signed, most say, “If

by Jeffery J. McKenna

I knew it was this easy, I would have done it earlier.”

Why do people fear estate planning? I will share three reasons.

First, as stated above, many don’t want to think about their death. They will procrastinate and ignore something that is essential. Estate planning, by definition, is the easiest thing there is to procrastinate. This is true because as long as you do it before you take your last breath, you did it in time. Most of us, just don’t know when we will be taking that last breath.

Second, many are scared that their family situation is such a mess that they don’t have the answers to fix it. I’ve had dozens of clients say something like, “I bet you’ve never seen a situation this messed up.” I can

usually smile and say, “Oh, I’ve seen worse.” Addressing what you may consider a “mess” with good estate planning, is always better than ignoring it until you die.

The last reason many are scared of estate planning relates to the many decisions that have to be made. If you have minor children it can be very scary to decide who will raise the children if something happens to you. Decisions relating to terminal medical treatment can also be hard for many to make. In conclusion, I’ve come to like Halloween.

Once my wife and I had children and I realized they were the reason for the Pumpkin Season, I came to appreciate the holiday. Estate planning is the same. You don’t do it for you. You do it for those that you leave behind.

Now with Richfield and Panguitch offices to serve clients in and around the surrounding counties.

Jeffery J. McKenna is a local attorney whose practice has been focused on Estate Planning for over 25 years.

He is licensed and serves clients in Utah, Arizona and Nevada. He is a shareholder at the law firm of Barney, McKenna and Olmstead.

If you have questions you would like addressed in these articles, please feel free to contact him at 435 628-1711 or jeff@bmo.law or visit the firm’s website at www.bmolawfirm.com. He would enjoy hearing from you.

country roads

Is There Anybody Up There?

A climber fell off a cliff, and, as he tumbled down, he caught hold of a small branch. "Help! Is there anybody up there," he shouted.

A majestic voice boomed through the gorge:

"I will help you, my son, but first you must have faith in me."

"Yes, yes, I trust you," cried the man.

"Let go of the branch," boomed the voice.

There was a long pause, and the man shouted up again, "Is there anybody else up there?"

911 Operator

A redneck's father passed away in his sleep. So in the morning, he calls 911 to come pick up the body. The 911 operator told him that she would send someone out right away.

"Where do you live?" asked the operator.

He replied, "At the end of Eucalyptus Drive."

The operator asked, "Can you spell that for me?"

There was a long pause, and finally he said, "How 'bout if I drag him over to Oak Street and you pick him up there?"

THEME: In the Woods

ACROSS

1. Flows' partners

5. "When Harry ____ Sally..."

8. Sound of laughter

12. *"Hide" behind the bush

13. Bébé's mother

14. *Age units in the woods

15. Rum cake

16. Placido Domingo's solo, e.g.

17. Concluded

18. *"Into the Woods" star Anna

20. Come clean, with up

21. Terra ____

22. Urge Spot to attack

23. One of seven gnomes

26. Prior to the present (3 words)

30. FEMA provisions, e.g.

31. Erratum, pl.

34. Int. org. in Brussels

35. Merge

37. Time frame

38. Right-hand page

39. 1920s art style

40. Cause of wheezing

42. Like The Hot Chili Peppers

43. ____ God we ____," on U.S. currency

45. Some vipers

47. Clairvoyant's gift

48. Source of chocolate 50. Form of payment 52. *Edible fungus 55. Multi-layered cake

Mélange

Utah's national park

Bake an egg

Two Campers

Two campers are walking through the woods when a huge brown bear suddenly appears in the clearing about 50 feet in front of them. The bear sees the campers and begins to head toward them. The first guy drops his backpack, digs out a pair of sneakers, and frantically begins to put them on.

The second guy says, "What are you doing? Sneakers won’t help you outrun that bear."

"I don’t need to outrun the bear", the first guy says. "I just need to outrun you."

62. Prefix for multiple

Japanese honorific 64. Barely got by

Singular of #1 Across

*Woodpecker's pecker

*One lost in the woods

Posture

Boy Scout's badge

"Fear of Flying" author ____ Jong

Plural of #22 Down 61. *"____ the Woods" play and movie

Obituaries

Connie Smith Kleese

HENRIEVILLE - Connie Smith Kleese, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, passed away peacefully of natural causes on October 23, 2025, at the age of 92. She was born on February 25, 1933, in Henrieville, Utah, to Bart and Virginia Smith, and was one of ten siblings in a close-knit family.

Connie grew up in the small town of Henrieville, surrounded by the red cliffs and open skies she always loved.

As a young woman, she moved to Nevada to live with her oldest sister, Gloria, and began working to help support herself. While there, she met Robert Kleese, and the two were married soon after. Together they had five children—each born in a different state as Bob served in the U.S. Navy.

After Bob’s military service, the family settled in Iowa. Following a divorce in 1971, Connie returned to her hometown of Henrieville, where she raised her five children as a single mother. She worked at the local sewing plant just a few blocks from home, while living with and helping her widowed mother. Her strength, perseverance, and work ethic were an inspiration to her family. In 1977, Connie moved to Cedar City to attend a secretarial training program, associated with the college, for single parents. She was later employed by the U. S. Forest Service, where she worked faithfully until her retirement in 1995.

Connie was known for her dependability, diligence, and loyalty in every task she undertook. A devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Connie dedicated countless hours to family history and temple work. She spent years recording names from microfilms and later indexing thousands of records for FamilySearch, blessing the lives of many through her quiet, consistent service. Connie loved her family deeply and cared sincerely for others’ well-being. She was frugal and practical, yet generous with her time, compassion, and friendship. She cherished the home she was able to get and shared it with many family members. Her unwavering devotion to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ was evident in the steady, Christlike example she set for all who knew her.

Connie is survived by three of her five children— Kolene (Curtis) Creek, Rita Twitchell, Marty (Jerri) Kleese—eleven of her twelve grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren, who will miss her dearly but find comfort in her enduring love and legacy of faith. She was preceded in death by her parents, Bart and Virginia Smith, two of her children—Virginia “Robyn” Cox and Kelly Kleese—son-in-law, Lamonte Twitchell, one grandchild, and all nine of her siblings.

Services will be held on Friday, October 31, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at the Henrieville Cemetery, Under the direction of Cedar Valley Funeral, with a viewing from 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. prior to the service at the cemetery. Online condolences can be sent to her memorial page at www. cedarvalleyfuneral.com

The big news in town, is that the Panguitch girls volleyball team has won the state championship. This makes Panguitch two for two in terms of championships so far this year, with a victory for the baseball team. This week was the state cross country meet, and who knows what that might bring, with the Cats having two really good teams.

Tomorrow will be Halloween, and the city has a lot of fun things going on to keep the kids off the street. Don’t forget the elementary school costume parade on Friday morning. They start at the school, go around Joe’s Market, and then return back to the school. There will be a lot of fun picture taking moments, as most of the kids and teachers have costumes on.

Don’t forget to vote on November 4; it is an important election. Then on that night, there will be a meeting of the Panguitch Lions Club at the Panguitch Senior Citizen Center. If you are interested in getting involved in the Lions Club, the meeting will start at 6:30.

On the next weekend, there will be the great craft fair, and it will be at

FYI PanguItch

by Mack Oetting ~ mackoetting @gmail.com

the Panguitch fair building starting on Friday morning of the 7th and will run all day Saturday. The Sub for Santa organization will have their candy booth at the back of the building. They are hoping that our great candy makers will come through for another year. On the 11th, the American Legion have their annual veterans dinner. It will be at the Cowboy's Smokehouse Cafe and will be for all veterans and their Companions and widows of veterans. The dinner is free and will start at 6:30.

On the 14th and 15th, it will be the annual Christmas Tree Festival, and it will be at the fair building. This is sponsored by Garfield Memorial Hospital, and the trees will be auctioned off. It will be a great place to get a tree all decorated for your home.

Then on the 27th, it will be our annual Thanksgiving dinner. It will be at the Panguitch Senior Citizens Center and will start at about 12:30. We always have plenty of help each year, and we are very thankful for these nice souls. So come one, come all, because you are welcome. If the government is still shut down, maybe

Prescribed Fires:

a few of those families that work for them would like to save a little money, and a whole lot of work, and come. If you are a really big family, please give me a call at 676-2418 and leave a message.

There is a lot going on in November, and December has just as many fun things that will be going on, so stay tuned. Our president seems to have a love affair with dictators. With Putin turning him down, he seems to have found a new one to give away the taxpayers' money to. This one is the one that runs Argentina, and he proposed giving him $20 billion to bail his country out. At the start, that was it, but someone told him he couldn’t do that, so he is now planning to increase the quota for buying tariff-free Argentinian beef. China spent almost $13 million on soybeans last year but stopped after tariffs were implemented, which has led to the administration considering a bailout for farmers.

I imagine there will be a similar effect on the beef business.

It is couch potato time, and the World Series is going on. The Toronto Blue Jays and the LA Dodgers

are going at it, and each has won one game. I don’t think it will run into November, but who knows. The NBA has started up, and it is my favorite. I will have to wait till the middle of November, though, to watch LeBron James play. He has an injury, and this is the first time in twentytwo seasons that he didn’t start in the opening game. College football is going strong, with BYU going undefeated and ranked 11th in the country. In the pro game, there doesn’t seem to be any dominating teams, with many of the players injured.

All of my physical blood work came back showing well. My heart doctor told me three years ago that I had heart failure, with only 30% of my heart working.

With the help of our doctor's pills, my starting an exercise program, and a replacement of my pacemaker, the heart doctor told me that I no longer needed to come back any more. They said that I had graduated and that, with a lot of tests, 65% of my heart is now working, which is normal. So I might make it to 90 after all.

Mack O.

These areas may be closed to the public for several days for public safety. We ask the public to not enter active prescribed burn areas especially during active burn operations. Please watch for warning signs that will be placed along roads near all prescribed fire areas before, during, and after burns.

Prescribed Fires

Cont'd from A1

approximately 4 miles Southwest of Swain’s Creek Village, Kane County.

• 604 acres 1.5 miles Northwest of Mammoth Creek Village, Garfield County.

800 acres 5 miles Northeast of Duck Creek Village, Kane and Garfield Counties.

1,000 acres spread out across Cedar Mountain in Kane, Iron, and Garfield Counties. These areas may be

closed to the public for several days for public safety. We ask the public to not enter active prescribed burn areas especially during active burn operations. Please watch for warning signs that will be placed along roads near all prescribed fire areas before, during, and after burns.

Residents may see and encounter areas of smoke during, and after the prescribed burns. When driving, slow down and turn on your headlights if you encounter smoke on the road. For more detailed information about air quality, go to

AirNow online or download the app.

We will evaluate weather conditions prior to every prescribed burn. If conditions warrant, scheduled prescribed fire activities may be canceled.

Stay informed about the scheduled prescribed fires through the forest website, social media channels, and InciWeb, the interagency incident information system. We will notify county emergency management officials when burning begins.

About the Forest Service:

The USDA Forest

Service has for more than 100 years brought people and communities together to answer the call of conservation. Grounded in world-class science and technology—and rooted in communities—the Forest Service connects people to nature and to each other. The Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, maintains the largest wildland fire and forestry research organizations in the world. The Forest Service also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 900 million forested acres within the U.S., of which over 130 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.

—Dixie National Forest

Utah Unveils Wildlife Action Plan to Protect Endangered Species

by Mark Richardson | Utah News Connection

Iconic Utah wildlife such as the Western toad, American bald eagle and Bonneville cutthroat trout are among more than 250 species listed in the Wildlife Action Plan as priorities for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

UTAH - Utah's wideopen spaces are home to hundreds of different animals, and the state has developed a plan to protect them they want to share. The ten-year update of the Utah Wildlife Action Plan, which forms the backbone of state's conservation effort, is out. The plan lists more than two hundred and fifty species of animals, insects and plants under the protection of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

Paul Thompson, habitat section assistant chief, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said it was a long-term team effort.

"I’ve been working on the 2025 action plan for over three years, and we've had over thirty-five partner agencies and organizations involved in our review and revisions," he explained." And that equates to over one hundred and fifty people who have contributed."

Isobel Lingenfelter, conservation director for the Utah Wildlife Federation, said the results of climate change and people are the biggest danger to Utah animals.

"There's three major threats to wildlife in Utah.

One is prolonged and increasing drought. Another is the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires. And then the last is development," she explained.

Lingenfelter and others involved in conservation programs are concerned about recent cuts in federal spending.

"Everyone is concerned about the impact that the changing landscape at the federal level is creating on funding," she said. "However, the state of Utah already dedicates about $5 million a year to the Utah Wildlife Action Plan."

Retirement: On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Dan for his outstanding service to our cooperative. His steady leadership helped strengthen our reliability, our financial footing, and our commitment to serving members first. We extend our sincere appreciation for his dedication.

Guy Timpson, Garkane Energy Cooperative Board President

Courtesy Garkane Energy Cooperative

After eleven years of dedicated service, Dan McClendon (left), Garkane’s Chief Executive Officer, has announced his retirement effective January 2, 2026. The Board of Directors has announced the appointment of Bryant Shakespear (right) as the new Chief Executive Officer, and he will take over November 1, 2025.

programs like energy efficiency rebate programs, half-price power time-ofuse rates and increased financial stability have resulted in his leadership. He will be remembered not only for his strategic vision, but also for a deep commitment to cooperative values, employees, and members alike, while maintaining a fun, transparent and respectable culture.

Board President Guy Timpson commented, “On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Dan for his outstanding service to our cooperative. His steady leadership helped strengthen our reliability, our financial footing, and our commitment to serving members first. We extend our sincere appreciation for his dedication.”

As we celebrate Dan’s legacy, the Board of Directors announces the appointment of Bryant Shakespear as the new Chief Executive Officer, and he will take over No-

vember 1, 2025, with McClendon staying on until January 2, 2026, to help with a smooth transition. With a strong background in engineering, Bryant brings both expertise and a fresh perspective to the role with over twenty years of experience at the cooperative. Bryant has served the last four years as Garkane’s Chief Operating Officer.

“Bryant brings proven experience, integrity, and a member-focused mindset that will carry our mission forward for years to come. He is the right leader to guide our cooperative into the future,” said Board Chairman Guy Timpson. “We are confident that he will continue our tradition of member-focused service while embracing innovation and new opportunities.”

Bryant shared, “Having lived in the communities served by Garkane and having been familiar with its mission for much of my life, I am truly honored to be named as CEO, and to continue to work alongside our dedicated employees and members. I am com-

mitted to continue building upon the foundation built by those who have come before me and look forward to a bright future for Garkane and the communities we serve.” Shakespear is a graduate of Bryce Valley High School in Tropic, Utah, and is a recipient of a Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees from Utah State University and the Missouri University of Science & Technology. He is a licensed professional engineer and is a graduate of the NRECA Management Internship Program. He is married to MaryAnn, his spouse of twenty-nine years, and has raised a family of four children in Kanab and the wild places of southern Utah and northern Arizona.

As we bid a fond farewell to Dan McClendon and extend our gratitude for eleven years of service, we also look forward with optimism and excitement as Bryant Shakespear leads the co-op into a new chapter of growth, innovation, and service.

—Garkane Energy Cooperative

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Schools and Sports

Wayne County USU Extension Office Announces 2025 Giving Tree Season Has Begun

WAYNE CO. - The Wayne County USU Extension Office and our team of local volunteers are happy to announce the 2025 Giving Tree Season has begun. The Giving Tree is an annual opportunity for the community to help our team to provide Christmas gifts and a bit of joy to local families that need a bit of financial relief this time of year.

Each year, we distribute a Giving Tree application form through our network of volunteers and local outreach resources including the New Horizons Crisis Center, local church organizations, the Wayne School District, and the USU Extension office.

How it works: Applications are distributed and returned to USU Extension by November 10th, where they will be kept confidential. We then create Christmas Tree tags based on the needs and requests on the applications. Our Giving Tree will be on display at Royal's Market starting on November 7th . Our community members then have the chance to teach their families about hope and charity by choosing a tag(or tags) off the tree and shop for others. Unwrapped gifts and their matching tags need to be delivered to the USU Extension Office by December 4th. Our team carefully wraps each gift, and gifts are picked up by a family member before Christmas.

by Nadia Harris | Wayne County USU Extension Office

2024 Wayne County Giving Tree. The USU Extension Office and their team of local volunteers are happy to announce the 2025 Giving Tree Season has begun. The Giving Tree is an annual opportunity for the community to help our team to provide Christmas gifts and a bit of joy to local families that need a bit of financial relief this time of year.

Want to join our team?

We have a variety of ways volunteers can participate in this holiday tradition, including decorating the tree, creating item tags, sorting and wrapping each of the donated gifts. And more to come.

Watch for the application forms in early November and be sure to stop by the tree at Royals Market in November for the chance to shop for our Giving Tree.

The Giving Tree Team and USU Extension are

by Mack Oetting

The Lady Cats have won another state championship in Volleyball. They played the Rich Rebels, and it was a great game. The Bobcats were off a little in the first two sets, but they came alive in the third and fourth sets. The two teams went back and forth in the first set, with the Cats winning, 29 to 27.

In the second set, the Cats got off to a slow start, trailing 9 to 2. They did catch up and lead for a while, but the rally fell short, and they lost the set. This is the first time they have lost a set to a 1A team all season.

The third set was close, but the Cats just kept returning anything that the Rebels could throw at them; they won 25 to 20. The fourth set was really what the Cats are all about, and they really

Professor

played their best, winning 25 to 10. I have said all season long that they might be the best team that we have seen in thirty-five years. No matter how hard the opponents hit their kills, they could bump them all to the setter. I have never seen another team that gets most of their serves over the net. They missed only four in four sets. Most of Rich's team was made up on seniors. We only had one senior and one junior, and all the res were sophomores. The Norrises did a great job of coaching, and Troy might be able to make it to fifty championships after all, what with volleyball and track. I had no idea if the Cats were in the championship game because Pat and I went anyway. It turned out to be one of the best games we had seen. This week, the Bobcats cross country teams will be going at it in the SLC area. The girls are really loaded and could win. The boys are hurting with some of their runners, but they could still pull it off.

Donna Lister Receives the Utah Legacy Leader Award

by Ali Maynard | Southern Utah University

working in conjunction with the Department of Workforce Services to provide a winter coat, hat and gloves to all. For questions, or to volunteer for our team, call 435-836-1312 or givingtree@wayne.utah.gov.

A Bolder Way Forward for Utah Launches '25 Fall Survey

UTAH - In June 2023, A Bolder Way Forward for Utah (BWF) was established as a statewide movement to help more Utah girls and women thrive. National and statewide studies continue to show that women and girls in Utah are not thriving in critical areas. For the 11th consecutive year, WalletHub has ranked Utah last in the nation for women's equity, a stark reminder of the work still to be done.

by A Bolder Way Forward for Utah

During the fall of 2023, researchers from the Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) at Utah State University conducted a statewide study to establish a baseline of public perceptions related to the awareness, understanding, and attitudes around challenges that Utah women and girls face. This was also conducted in the fall of 2024, and data is now being collected for the third year in a row.

The survey focuses on the following areas: education (finance, higher education attainment, and K-12 initiatives); community engagement (political representation, boards and commissions, and civic engagement/advocacy); safety and security (child sexual abuse, domestic violence, poverty and home-

lessness, sexual assault, and sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination); health and well-being (health across the lifespan and home and family); and workplace (childcare/ pre-K programs, entrepreneurship, gender pay gap, leadership development, organizational strategies and workplace culture, STEM fields, and workforce development).

Based on the 2023 survey data, Dr. Susan R. Madsen and UWLP published twenty two-paged research summaries. In 2024, UWLP published six white papers as part of the Utahns' Awareness, Understanding, and Attitudes series, each highlighting specific areas of focus. These resources guide BWF leaders and community partners in setting clear goals and measurable outcomes for the seven-year movement across all twenty-nine counties.

UWLP's 2025 fall survey, now open until mid-November, is being conducted. "The 2025 sur-

vey will allow leaders to see what progress has been made in the past years," said Susan R. Madsen, founder/ director of UWLP and a professor of organizational leadership at Utah State University. "We would like to get as many Utahns as possible to take the survey," says Madsen. "It is critical we have strong samples from all counties in Utah."

We encourage all individuals living in the state, age 18 or older, to participate. The survey will take 10-20 minutes to complete. Dr. Susan Madsen is the primary researcher for this study. If you have questions or concerns, you can contact her at uwlp@usu.edu (USU IRB 15264). You can participate by visiting the links below.

English Survey: https://usu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ d52a11WlepTEAwC

Spanish Survey: https://usu.co1. qualtrics.com/jfe/form/ SV_3UBq3hfj6BThJHw

The survey will be open until mid-November.

CEDAR CITYDonna Lister, a professor at Southern Utah University and a family nurse practitioner (FNP) in Parowan, has been chosen as the 2025 recipient of the Utah Legacy Leader Award. This accolade honors an outstanding leader who has notably impacted the nursing profession in Utah, and Lister has earned this impressive award by paving a better path forward for the nursing students at SUU.

Southern Utah

Donna Lister, a professor at Southern Utah University and a family nurse practitioner (FNP) in Parowan, has been chosen as the 2025 recipient of the Utah Legacy Leader Award.

“SUU Nursing has become so successful largely because of Donna Lister's efforts to build it from the ground up,” Suzie Campbell, department chair of SUU’s nursing program, said. “Her dedication to student learning and preparing students to be excellent professional nurses is evident in every individual encounter she has with students.”

Lister’s positive demeanor and twenty years of experience in the education field invites students to join engaging and insightful lessons. With her steadfast encouragement and contagious curiosity, Lister has inspired countless T-Birds to soar to new heights.

"I am humbled and

gratified to have received the Legacy Leadership Award,” Lister said. “Teaching students who are eager to make a positive difference has been and continues to be a fulfilling career. I cherish the relationships that have developed over the years."

Lister is an example of how the dedicated faculty at SUU not only prepare their medical students for success in their careers, but teach them how to support the community around them. Learn more about SUU’s accredited nursing program and their comprehensive approach to education at their website.

Courtesy USU Extension

Courtesy

University

Returning

Rapids: What makes Returning Rapids especially unique is how far their communication reaches: professional researchers, park managers, conservation groups, local communities, students…the list just keeps going. This got me thinking about how we communicate science within academic institutions. One way forward might be to widen the circle, not only in terms of who our science serves, but also in how we share it.

—Natalie

Tanski, a postdoctoral researcher of geoscience and trip participant

The Returning Rapids Project May 2025 expedition following their hours-long successful portage of Fatt Falls, a waterfall created by sediment loading on the San Juan River, and a major impediment to journeys on this river section

and has re-emerged as lake levels drop due to the Southwest’s prolonged 25-year megadrought. No commercial rafting trips operate this section of river, which has remained largely unexplored due to its inaccessible nature, fluctuating reservoir levels, lack of modern maps,

and, perhaps most notably, an 18-foot waterfall. These boaters weren’t just thrill seekers with a death-by-waterfall wish. They were part of an educational trip organized by the Returning Rapids Project, named for the river features that have re-emerged as Lake Powell has receded. The group, a research branch of the nonprofit Glen Canyon Institute, uses

Wayne Commission:

repeat photography and field surveys to document key sections of the Colorado and San Juan Rivers as they are re-exposed by falling reservoir water levels. Each year, they compile their data in annual field binders, with the hope that their findings will be considered to make better decisions on how to manage the Colorado River, perhaps even to decommission

An EMS update, approval of an MOU with Piute County for cross-jurisdictional emergency response, a $5,000 invoice from the regional food-bank network, work on the Business Park waterline, and approval of three new hires for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office discussed.

Wayne Commission Cont'd from A1

jurisdictional emergency response, allowing either agency to assist the other when needed.

Mike Riddle, the president of the Interfaith Council, invited a commissioner to offer the opening prayer at its Dec. 21 community Christmas program in Torrey; one commissioner will confirm closer to the date. During the same visit, a $5,000 invoice from the regional food-bank network was discussed but not approved, as commissioners questioned dual funding since the county already provides the building and utilities.

Engineer Parker Vercimak of Jones & DeMille reported that Jackson Excavation will begin work on

the Business Park waterline next week. The commission approved a change order for Jackson to also install about 1,700 feet of underground power conduit—an estimated $100,000 addition—citing efficiency while crews and materials are already on site. Commissioners voted to proceed with a dedicated subdivision, naming the project the Wayne County Business Park, with Phase 1 covering four business lots and Phase 2 planned as funding allows. They also approved $15,000 to Jones & DeMille for constructionphase engineering and site oversight.

At Sheriff Gulley’s request, the commission approved three new hires for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office: two full-time deputies—Jordan Thurman of Fremont and Steven Dean of

Bicknell—and one reserve deputy, Nick Ashby, who is already POST-certified. The additions fill recent and upcoming vacancies within the department

The county renewed its annual Utah Counties Indemnity Pool (UCIP) resolution, appointing Dennis Blackburn as the county’s voting representative and Colleen Allen as alternate for the Nov. 21 meeting (held the same week as the UAC conference in Salt Lake City). In other items of business, the commission approved payment of county vouchers, including $209,000 for Ensign Engineering related to the Bicknell Emergency Services Building project.

The Wayne County Commission meets the first and third Monday of every month at the Wayne County Courthouse in Loa.

Flynn officially formed Returning Rapids in 2019 and now plan and guide the trips aimed at facilitating access for scientists, sedimentologists, researchers, journalists, government agencies, and conservationists to study and contribute to the story of the river’s reemergence. Their research shows that Glen Canyon Dam not only stores water, it also traps all of the sediment flowing down the Colorado and San Juan rivers. The deposits now are 40-60 miles long, over 120 feet tall, and have “encased the canyon in wall-to-wall mud,” as the organization’s field binder puts it.

“People were talking about the sediment twenty years ago. It has been ignored as part of managing the river. Do we want to keep doing that?” DeHoff said.

Glen Canyon Dam.

Before encountering the dangerous waterfall, the flotilla bobbed over a riffle known as Ledge Drop. A few decades ago this was a sediment-created waterfall known as Piute Falls, named after the nearby Piute Bay and a Navajo Nation-owned marina. Once reservoir levels began dropping in the early 2000s, the falls, the bay, and the marina all dissolved.

Without Returning Rapids’ documentation and use of historic photos, a river runner today would not know they were paddling over what used to be a sizable and impassible waterfall. And without memories and photos from the days before Glen Canyon Dam was constructed, they also wouldn’t know how radically the reservoir changed this portion of the river and its canyon.

The San Juan River, according to Returning Rapids’ 2025 field binder, has been pushed out of its historic channel by the reservoir caused sediment deposition. This has resulted in the river falling over cliff bands and these waterfall features acting like secondary dams.

Mike DeHoff and Meg

As long as Lake Powell’s surface levels continue to fluctuate wildly, the San Juan and Colorado rivers will continue to be pushed out of their historic channels, more waterfalls can be expected, and more massive sediment slumping events will continue, which pose a safety threat for recreationists and can affect water quality.

The May trip was unique, in that rather than collecting data, it was designed to share Returning Rapids’ seven years of research and photography with people who care about the Glen Canyon region. Seven outside participants were chosen from over eighty applicants for a spot on one of the boats. They included scientists, professional rafting guides, outdoor educators, representatives of the Glen Canyon Institute, American Rivers, and The National Audubon Society, and a freelance journalist (that would be me). Participants were selected for the ripple effect they might have of bringing Returning Rapids’ knowledge into their communities, policies, and educational institutions.

“What makes Returning Rapids especially unique is how far their communication reaches: professional researchers, park managers, conservation groups, local communities, students…the list

just keeps going,” said Natalie Tanski, a postdoctoral researcher of geoscience and trip participant. “This got me thinking about how we communicate science within academic institutions. One way forward might be to widen the circle, not only in terms of who our science serves, but also in how we share it.”

After two hours of floating downriver, a rumbling in the distance permeated the quiet, still water, warning boaters of the approaching Fatt Falls. Glassy water slid over the edge and crashed back into the sky as the skiffs and packrafts were beached before the 18foot waterfall, formed by impounded sediment and shifting reservoir levels. Fatt Falls is not runnable, meaning boaters have to portage the boats and all of their weighty gear must somehow be moved from the top of the falls to the other side.

Flynn and DeHoff have experimented with various methods since first running this section in 2022, including carrying the heavy, cumbersome boats down a talus slope. This time they kept the boats in the water, tied them on belay and used inflatable roller tubes to ease the empty metal skiffs down the falls. Meanwhile, participants passed their gear down the falls in a fire-line, a process that took several hours.

“Who could have known that putting in a dam would make mud riffles, cause the San Juan to change channels, and make waterfalls? There’s a lot more unknowns to discover,” said Anna Penner, a participant on the trip and the Development Coordinator at Glen Canyon Institute. When Lake Powell was at full pool, from 1980 to 1983, the reservoir inundated 60 miles of the San Juan River and extended all the way to Clay Hills, drowning native plant life, displacing animals, and piling up

Water Conditions: Yes, we can all collectively say ‘we needed this’ as we think about the recent storms and our water supply. The recent storms are a great start to the water year, but we have a long road ahead.

Water Conditions

Cont'd from A1

a powerful first step for the water year.

—Candice Hasenyager, director at the Utah Division of Water Resources ing fall and winter precipitation (such as snow) and the subsequent spring runoff, within a single reporting period.

“Yes, we can all collectively say ‘we needed this’ as we think about the recent storms and our water supply,” Candice Hasenyager, director at the Utah Division of Water Resources, said. “The recent storms are a great start to the water year, but we have a long road ahead.”

The Water Year is a twelve-month cycle used by hydrologists to track water resources running from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. This timing is scientifically chosen because it captures the entire process, includ-

One of the most immediate and critical benefits of this early moisture is the saturation of our soils. Our soil moisture levels are 10% higher than in a typical year. In dry years, the ground acts like a sponge, absorbing much of the snowmelt before it can run off into reservoirs. Because our soils are now well-saturated, they are primed for a more efficient spring runoff.

In Utah, about 95% of our water supply comes from snowpack. Reservoir storage helps us pre-

serve that water for use in dry summer months and drought years. To encourage water conservation among Utahns, the Department of Natural Resources continues to promote initiatives such as the Agricultural Water Optimization Program for farmers and SlowtheFlow.org for residents. These programs aim to educate and incentivize water-saving practices, ensuring Utahns become more drought-resilient and prepare for future conditions. Many indoor water-saving tips are available on the Slow the Flow website.

—Utah Division of Water Resources

Beth Henshaw

Mike DeHoff

Returning Rapids May 2025 expedition crew members paddling next to a wall of built up sediment, and, in the background, boats lodged in the shallow, sandy water.

Returning Rapids Cont'd from A1

Returning Rapids Cont'd on B3

Returning

Rapids: Our generation is not preventing the dam. Our work is to speak out about the changes happening and show the story of recovery. The magic and spirit of Glen Canyon is still alive. That’s worth fighting for.

—Anna

Penner, a participant on the trip and the Development Coordinator at Glen Canyon Institute

sediment along the river corridor. When the reservoir receded, the resulting mudflats were colonized by non-native plants.

While traveling downstream from Fatt Falls, DeHoff and Flynn pointed out the abundant invasive species along the banks of the San Juan, including tamarisk, Russian olive, and Russian thistle, which rooted in the disturbed ecosystem in Lake Powell’s absence. In areas where the San Juan River has continued to flow for several years without being re-inundated by the reservoir, native species like coyote willow and cottonwood returned without any human intervention and are starting to out-compete invasive species. Coyote willow’s roots are better adjusted to a fluctuating river, periodic flooding, and an unstable streambank compared to tamarisk, which tend to die off when their root systems are disturbed.

“Traveling through a reborn river corridor— transformed from reservoir back to a thriving riparian ecosystem, was nothing short of profound,” said Abby Burk, Senior Manager of Audubon Rockies’ Western Rivers Program and a trip participant. “To see native willow, cottonwood and to encounter beaver activity, all signaling ecological renewal, was a humbling reminder of the resilience of riverscapes when given the chance to heal.” During the trip, Burk identified 39 bird species along the San Juan arm and on Lake Powell.

“I felt so much hope seeing the river returning and getting to float those river miles. When I’m writing grants and talking about the future of Glen Canyon, this trip is the foundation of my knowledge,” Penner said.

After 30 river miles, paddlers encountered Stick Riffle, named by the Returning Rapids crew members after a stand of coyote willow that reestablished itself during the historically low water year of 2023, when Lake Powell was 23% of full pool. DeHoff shared stories of seeing a huge grove of standing coyote willows, two miles long and ten feet tall. When the snow melted in summer 2023 and the lake rose

back to 37% of full pool, the rising water killed the coyote willow. This May, the tops of the submerged willows poked out of the water, creating a wave and obstacle for paddlers to traverse.

“If you’ve never seen a river die into a reservoir, get ready. It can be emotional,” DeHoff warned participants. Forward progress slowed as the boats frequently became impounded on shallow sand. The river’s flowing current became harder to decipher as it gradually disappeared into Lake Powell, once advertised as the “Jewel of the Colorado.”

Instead of a shimmering emerald lake, however, soupy, shallow water, filled with silt and debris, stretched from sandstone wall to sandstone wall. The metal skiffs scraped bottom and became hopelessly stuck, but the crew warned that there was a “no getting out of boats” rule on this section of the trip.

“We’ve seen people sink into quicksand up to their chests here,” DeHoff said, much to the frustration of the skiff boaters, who were rocking side to side in an attempt to be free from the sludge. In the shallow river corridor, passengers were able to safely step out and push the boats back into the current. Without a current or stable floor, the boats were entrenched in the mud for half an hour before it was deep enough to turn motors on.

Mixed feelings abound when a river turns into a reservoir. On one hand, it marks the line where a free-flowing river is confined, on the other there is also beauty—and life—in the way the reservoir’s blue water reflects the stone walls and clouddappled sky. Plus, it makes for a good aquatic playground, for motorized and non-motorized recreationists alike.

“From my observations, stagnant, reservoir water equals death,” Flynn said, clearly sad to leave the river behind. “Flowing water equals more life. I want to see the San Juan and Colorado River flow freely again.”

For river runners, this transition zone was also frustrating, because they no longer got to row in a quiet, trancelike flow-state, but would now be forced to crank up the growling diesel motors to get the group to Halls Crossing, 70 miles away. Packrafts were rolled

up and paddlers became mere passengers.

The exposed river miles with revitalized habitat and renewed animal presence revealed what might happen to the San Juan River if Lake Powell was drained to “Fill Mead First,” the Glen Canyon Institute’s proposal to address critically low water in both Lake Powell and Lake Mead. That would entail either decommissioning Glen Canyon Dam or leaving it intact but turning it into a “run-of-the-river” facility that releases the same amount of water that flows into the reservoir and slowly drawing down the lake. The idea is growing in popularity among conservationists, but remains unpopular among the millions of Lake Powell recreation users.

In the end, nature and a drying climate may make the question moot, said Nicole Milavetz, a participant and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance organizer. “Recreation on Lake Powell has already peaked,” she said. “Most boat ramps don’t exist anymore. Hite, Piute Farms, and North Wash are all unusable. I don’t see a future for recreation with a low lake.”

The seven Colorado River Basin states have until mid-November to come up with a plan for managing the river and its dams and sharing the diminishing amount of water it delivers to some 40 million users.

The 2025 water year, which ended on Sept. 30, was the 6th driest on record since 1964 for the Colorado River Basin, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the lowest storage value observed on July 15 in the last 30 years. The USBR’s August “probable minimum” forecast indicated that the reservoir could drop below the minimum power pool by the end of 2026. That would force dam managers to either dramatically curtail downstream releases to keep the water level stable, or use the river outlets at the bottom of the dam, which were not designed for longterm use and which could fail.

“We are in a defining

moment for the Colorado River. With chronically low Lake Powell levels, rising sediment, and growing pressure from climate-driven water stress, the need to act has never been clearer,” Burk said. Participants are carrying their experience, observations, and newfound knowledge from this river to reservoir trip back to their careers and communities.

On Nov. 13, Burk, Tanski, and I, along with members of Returning Rapids, will present as keynote speakers at the Rivers of Change Symposium in Moab, Utah. This conference is open to the public and will be the first of its kind, reckoning with the impacts of the Glen Canyon Dam, co-hosted by

Returning Rapids, Glen Canyon Institute, and the University of Utah.

“Our generation is not preventing the dam. Our work is to speak out about the changes happening and show the story of recovery,” Penner said. “The magic and spirit of Glen Canyon is still alive. That’s worth fighting for.”

This article was originally published on cornerpost.org on October 23, 2025.

Beth Henshaw

High water mark (white line) on the San Juan River with eroding sediment, May 2025.

Mike DeHoff

Photo of the Returning Rapids expedition group at the take-out at Halls Crossing, May 2025.

Beth Henshaw

The San Juan River flows through what used to be under Lake Powell. The green plants on the banks show where Lake Powell was at full pool, May 2025.

Returning Rapids Cont'd from B2

Utah Lawmakers and Plaintiffs Accuse Each Other of Gerrymandering with Dueling Redistricting Experts

Unanswered legal questions abound as Utah’s court-ordered redistricting process gets muddied by Utah Republican Party’s map referendum and indirect initiative, which plaintiffs argue shouldn’t have the power to trump Proposition 4 by

UTAH - The legal battle over Utah’s redistricting process and what congressional boundaries should be used for the 2026 election is reaching a new fever pitch—with more complexity and uncertainty than ever.

As a Nov. 10 deadline looms for 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson to pick a new congressional map, a flurry of court filings have flooded her court docket. On Thursday and Friday, Oct. 23 and 24, she scheduled two days of evidentiary hearings.

In the filings, legislative attorneys and plaintiffs in the state’s ongoing court-ordered redistricting process argue over their preferred maps, their dueling redistricting experts, and what statistical tools should—and shouldn’t— be used to determine partisan slants or gerrymandering. Both sides are calling each other’s maps partisan gerrymanders.

Meanwhile, uncharted legal waters are becoming increasingly murky as the Utah Republican Party mounts an effort to both block the map the GOPcontrolled Utah Legislature advanced earlier this month (which the party also encouraged Republicans to support as the least damaging option)— and pursue what’s called an “indirect initiative” to overturn the state’s independent redistricting law.

If successful, that indirect initiative could force lawmakers to take an up or down vote on repealing Proposition 4, the 2018 voter-approved law that requires an independent redistricting process, which the courts recently deemed is now the law after determining the 2021 Utah Legislature acted unconstitutionally when it undid it to draw the map adopted that year.

Legal fight over indirect initiative

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs are urging Gibson not to pick the Legislature’s chosen 2025 map, known as map C, pointing to expert analysis alleging it “favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats to an extreme degree.” Meanwhile, plaintiffs are also asking the judge to block the GOP’s indirect initiative, arguing that even if they succeed in gathering the required 70,374 signatures by Nov. 14, an indirect initiative doesn’t have the power to unravel what more than half a million voters supported and en-

acted in 2018.

“A mere 4% of voters (70,374) cannot convert an unconstitutional legislative repeal of Proposition 4 into a constitutional one through a vehicle—the indirect initiative—with no constitutional genesis,” plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote. “To conclude otherwise would be to allow the Legislature (to) enact by a statute a mechanism to violate the People’s constitutional rights.”

The Legislature’s attorneys, on the other hand, argue that both of the alternative maps plaintiffs have submitted to the court are partisan gerrymanders.

“At best, (the plaintiffs’) plans are not as fair as the 2025 (map) and, at worst, their plans are themselves purposeful partisan gerrymanders,” legislative attorneys wrote, adding that the evidentiary hearing scheduled for Thursday and Friday, “will confirm why the 2025 (map) is lawful and Plaintiffs’ proposals are extreme partisan outliers.”

Plaintiffs have also filed another complaint asking Gibson to block a companion law legislators passed alongside their 2025 maps that requires three specific tests to determine whether a congressional map unduly favors or disfavors a political party.

Plaintiffs allege those tests were “cherry picked” to “infect” Proposition 4 with methods that will favor majority parties in states like Utah that have a dominant majority party. Legislative attorneys, however, argue the tests have merit, and were the result of legislators’ “good-faith effort” to clarify “vague” terms in Proposition 4 and exercise their discretion to determine which tests would be best to use.

What could happen next?

Each outstanding legal question could have major implications for Utah’s court-ordered redistricting process.

If Gibson picks the Legislature’s map C, but the Utah GOP’s application for the citizen referendum on the map is successful, that could leave the state in limbo with a big question mark over which map would govern the 2026 elections, since the courts have already voided the 2021 map as the result of an unconstitutional process.

To successfully put the map referendum on the ballot, the party must gather more than 140,000 valid signatures (or 8% of the number of active vot-

Katie McKellar | Utah News Dispatch

ers statewide and in 15 of the 29 Senate districts) in 30 days, but no later than Nov. 15. Clerks will have 21 days to verify signatures, but voters will also be allowed up to 30 days to remove their signatures.

If the referendum application qualifies for the ballot, the lieutenant governor would block the map from being used in the 2026 election, until voters could weigh in.

However, the party’s signature gathering window wouldn’t end until after Nov. 10, which Utah’s top election officials have said is the latest possible deadline to give county clerks time to set their precincts ahead of the 2026 elections.

If Gibson picks one of the plaintiffs maps? Republican lawmakers have already indicated they’ll fight the decision tooth and nail, arguing there’s nothing in the Utah Constitution that allows a judge to pick a map over one drawn by lawmakers. The plaintiffs, however, argue redistricting cases in other states set a strong legal precedent for a judge to pick remedial maps when legislators fail to follow the law.

There’s also legal uncertainty around the indirect initiative.

If the Republican Party’s effort succeeds, that could push the Utah Legislature to repeal Proposition 4 and its independent redistricting commission—but likely not until lawmakers’ 2026 general session begins in January, well past the Nov. 10 deadline to set a 2026 map.

And it remains to be seen whether the judge agrees with plaintiffs that an indirect initiative can’t trump a voter-approved ballot initiative.

Dueling redistricting expert reports

In addition to sorting through these legal questions, Gibson must also wade through hundreds of pages of dueling analyses from redistricting experts retained by both the Legislature and the plaintiffs.

Their slate of experts are at odds over which maps are fair and which statistical methods are best suited for a politically “lopsided” state like Utah with only four congressional districts.

For the Legislature, three experts have filed declarations: Michael Barber, political science professor at Brigham Young University and director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy; Sean Trende, senior elections analyst for Real Clear Politics; and Jonathan Katz, professor of social sciences and statistics at the California Institute of Technology.

The plaintiffs have retained the following experts: Chris Warshaw, a professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University;

Jowei Chen, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Kassra Oskooii, an associate political science and international relations professor at the University of Delaware.

Pointing to Chen’s expert analysis, which compared map C with 10,000 computer-simulated maps, plaintiffs wrote it showed that “over 99.9% of simulations create one Democratic-leaning district including northern Salt Lake County, and three Republican-majority districts—reflective of Utah’s political geography and makeup.”

“By contrast, Map C cracks Salt Lake County’s Democratic voters in half creating four safe Republican districts, a result almost never observed among neutral simulations programmed to follow Prop 4’s neutral criteria,” they wrote. “Map C is thus an extreme outlier and exhibits a ‘statistically significant degree of electoral bias in favor of the Republican Party.’”

The plaintiffs also argued Chen’s report showed Trende’s methods to assess map C’s partisan intent was “deeply flawed” and was

“infected with partisan bias from start to finish.”

Trende, in his declaration, defended his methods while arguing that Proposition 4 “clearly, in my view, forces the legislature to adopt partisan bias as one of its standards, as it is the only standard that truly measures symmetry.”

“Plaintiffs suggest that I have cherry-picked the standards that Utah could meet in order to enable a Republican gerrymander,” Trende wrote. “To be clear, this is false. I employed partisan bias because I believe Prop. 4 mandates its use.”

Trende also disputed claims that he drew maps with the “purpose and intent of favoring Republicans and disfavoring Democrats,” calling them “untrue.” He said the final maps considered by lawmakers were based on maps drawn by computers. “Not only were they not drawn with partisan intent; they were drawn by machines deprived of any partisan information.”

Additionally, Trende wrote that map C creates “two districts that are more Democratic than a very competitive district from the prior decade which

is inconsistent with any claim of a ‘free-rein’ Republican gerrymander.”

“In short,” Trende wrote, “Plaintiffs seek to replace a map with two competitive districts with one engineered to contain one safely Democratic district.”

In contrast, Chen’s analysis said map C’s “creation of four Republican-favoring districts clearly goes well beyond any ‘natural’ level of electoral bias caused by Utah’s political geography or the political composition of the state’s voters because Map C is such an extreme statistical outlier in terms of its partisan characteristics when compared to the 10,000 computer-simulated plans.”

“It creates more Republican-favoring districts than 99.94% of the simulated plans,” Chen wrote. “This extreme, additional level of partisan bias in Map C did not follow from Utah’s political geography and can be directly attributed to the map-drawer’s efforts to favor the Republican Party.”

This article was originally published on utahnewsdispatch.comon October 20, 2025.

SkyWatcher Leo T Comet Lemmon 2025 Explained:

Key Facts and Visibility Guide from Astonomy News and Sky Tonight

by Leonard Thomas

SPACE - Comet Lemmon showed up in January and suddenly became the candidate for the best comet of 2025.

There are likely no other comets reaching that brightness this year.

Don’t lose precious time—the best period to see Comet Lemmon from the Northern Hemisphere started in mid-October and will last until around November 2. During this period, C/2025 A6 will be near Earth and can become visible to the naked eye under dark, moonless skies away from city lights. Peak brightness is expected around Halloween, October 31 - November 1. In photos, Comet Lemmon looks like a bright green streak with a long tail.

To your eyes, expect

a fuzzy, faint “star.” With binoculars, you’ll see a hazy dot with a brighter core and a short tail pointing away from the Sun.

Another reason not to wait and start comet hunting now is that this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event.

C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) returns only about once every 1,000 years, so no one alive today will see it again.

If you can’t spot it with the naked eye, get out the binoculars.

The best time to see the comet, according to NASA, is ninety minutes after sunset.

If you're in Escalante or Boulder or Torrey, you may not need binoculars, but it will accentuate your experience. According to my

sources, and this sometimes changes, look at the end of the tail of the Big Dipper for a green streak and a fuzzy head. This should be almost following the curve of the tail itself, not as far as Arcturus. Opimal viewing may last into Novcember, but who knows? I'm going to the desert to have a look. So look up, look around, and get lost in the solar system.

Leonard Thomas has a Bachelor of Science degree in Comprehensive Broadcasting and worked as a park ranger as a star guide at Capitol Reef National Park. He is a resident of Torrey, Utah, and is the creator of the podcast SkyWatcher Leo T, which is available to listen to on Spotify.

Courtesy SkyWatcher Leo T

Comet Lemmon's (C/2025 A6) track.

MUNICIPAL GENERAL ELECTION CANCELATION NOTICE

LYMAN TOWN, LYMAN, UTAH

The Municipal General Election will be cancelled on November 4, 2025 in accordance with Utah State Code 20A-1-206.

Positions to be filled:

Mayor: 4-Year term Burke Torgerson

Council Member: 4-Year term Incumbent, Melanie Grundy

Council Member: 4 Year term Incumbent, Kent Jackson

Terms will begin January 01, 2026

Posted October 01,2025

Lyman Post Office

Posted October 23 & 30, 2025

Insider Newspaper

Dortha Chappell Lyman Town Clerk

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on OCTOBER 23 & 30, 2025

NOTICE TO WATER USERS

The applications below were filed with the Division of Water Rights in Wayne County. These are informal proceedings per Rule 655-6-2. Protests concerning an application must be legibly written or typed, contain the name and mailing address of the protesting party, STATE THE APPLICATION NUMBER PROTESTED, CITE REASONS FOR THE PROTEST, and REQUEST A HEARING, if desired. Also, A $15 FEE MUST BE INCLUDED FOR EACH APPLICATION PROTESTED. Protests must be filed with the Division of Water Rights on or before Nov. 19, 2025 either electronically using the Division`s on-line Protest of Application form, by hand delivery to a Division office, or by mail at PO Box 146300, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6300. Please visit waterrights.utah.gov or call (801)538-7240 for additional information.

KANE COUNTY

CHANGE APPLICATION(S)

61-3587 (a53706): DKS Revocable Trust propose(s) using 0.0065 cfs OR 0.5 ac-ft. from groundwater (8.9 miles south of Hatch) for DOMESTIC; IRRIGATION.

WAYNE COUNTY

CHANGE APPLICATION(S)

95-4081 (a53679): Rulon Sheldon and Karen G. Ellett Living Trust propose(s) using 0.015 cfs OR 3.098 ac-ft. from groundwater (2.5 miles south of Bicknell) for DOMESTIC; IRRIGATION; STOCKWATERING. Teresa Wilhelmsen, P.E.

State Engineer

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on OCTOBER 23 & 30, 2025

PUBLIC NOTICE

TOWN OF CANNONVILLE

A planning committee meeting will be held in the Town Hall, November 19, 2025, at 5 p.m. to review current updates to the Town of Cannonville Zoning Ordinance and recent building permits and submittals. Public is welcome.

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on OCTOBER 30 and NOVEMBER 6 & 13, 2025

PUBLIC NOTICE

TOWN OF CANNONVILLE

A public meeting will be held in the Town Hall, November 19, 2025, at 6 p.m. to review the Town of Cannonville Water Conservation Plan. It will then be adopted by resolution. Public is welcome.

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on OCTOBER 30 and NOVEMBER 6 & 13, 2025

FIRST PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) TORREY

TOWN

Notice is hereby given that Torrey Town will hold a public hearing on November 13, 2025, at 75 E 100 N, Torrey, Utah 84775, 6:00 PM. Torrey is eligible to apply to the Utah Department of Workforce Services for funding under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Small Cities Program, a federally funded program administered by the State of Utah, Housing and Community Development Division (HCD). Torrey is eligible to apply for CDBG funding provided Torrey meets the applicable program requirements.

The purpose of the public hearing is to provide citizens with pertinent information about the Community Development Block Grant program and to allow for discussion of possible applications. This public hearing will cover eligible activities, program requirements and expected funding allocations in the region. The CDBG Program can fund a broad range of activities, including. but not limited to: construction of public works and facilities, e.g., water and sewer lines fire stations, acquisition of real property, and provision of public services such as food banks or homeless shelters. In the event that Torrey chooses to apply for CDBG funding, a second public hearing will be held at a later time to discuss the project. Further information can be obtained by contacting Mayor Mickey Wright at (801)599-6037.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodations (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) during this hearing should notify Mayor Wright at 75 E 100 N, Torrey, Utah at least three days prior to the hearing. Individuals with speech and/or hearing impairments may call Relay Utah by dialing 711. Spanish Relay Utah: 1-888-346-3162.

Published on the State of Utah’s Public Notice Website - October 21, 2025

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on OCTOBER 30, 2025

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

WAYNE COUNTY

Notice is hereby given to the public of Wayne County by the Wayne County Commissioners that a public hearing will be held Tuesday, November 17, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Wayne County Courthouse 18 S. Main, Loa for public comments regarding the 2026 GENERAL FUND BUDGET.

Felicia Snow Wayne County Clerk-Auditor

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on OCTOBER 30 and NOVEMBER 6 & 13, 2025

C lassified a ds

Public Works Director

Panguitch City

Panguitch City is accepting applications for a Public Works Director. This full-time position oversees city utilities, streets, water, sewer, and maintenance operations. Wage range is $28–$36 per hour, depending on experience and qualifications.

Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on November 10, 2025, at the Panguitch City Office 25 S. 200 E. or emailed to mat.panguitchcity@gmail.com.

A full job description is available at www.panguitch.com.

Panguitch City is an Equal Opportunity Employer

We are looking for friendly, hardworking professionals who enjoy the hospitality industry and interaction with guests.

POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

Front Desk Agents

Laundry Services

Housekeepers Maintenance

Bellmen

Positions to start April 1st through October 31st

At Capitol Reef Resort we promote from within. Please stop by in person to complete an application.

We are located at 2600 E SR 24, Torrey, UT 84775 435-425-3761

Position Announcements

POSITIONS AVAILABLE: Garfield County School District is hiring for the following positions. For the application process and description of each, please see the district website www.garfk12.org

• Para-Professionals at Bryce Valley Elementary School

• Registered Behavior Technician at Bryce Valley High School

• Esports Coach at Bryce Valley High School

• Substitute/Activity Bus Drivers

• Substitutes for Teachers, Custodians, and Food Service Workers

SALARY: Please see 2025-2026 Garfield County School Districts Classified, District Office, and Certified Salary Schedules on the district website.

QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants must be fingerprinted and satisfactorily pass an employment background check.

Garfield County School District is an equal opportunity employer. Garfield County School District reserves the right to accept or reject any or all applications.

Draftsman/ Egineering Tech Panguitch

SC Broadband has an opening in Panguitch for a Draftsman/Engineering Tech

SC Broadband is looking to add to our great team. This position’s responsibility will be both drafting and helping engineers by staking out construction projects, verifying construction details, and other types of field work.

The successful candidate must be computer savvy with an eye for detail and be able to do some light physical work in the field. Experience in ESRI recommended but not required. Experience in Microsoft Office, including strong Excel skills.

Competitive compensation and excellent benefits. Submit resumes to:

South Central Communications

PO Box 555 Escalante, UT 84726

Attn: HR or email to HR@socen.com

MEETINGS

TROPIC AA MEETING

Wednesday at 6 PM. Tropic Heritage Center. All meetings are closed discussion.

Escalante AA Meeting Tues. & Fri. at 6pm Call 435-676-3653

The only requirement is the desire to stop drinking.

ISO

We Buy 8,000 Cars a Week. Sell your old, busted or junk car with no hoops, haggles or headaches. Sell your car to Peddle. Easy three step process. Instant offer. Free pickup. Fast payment. Call 1-855-542-0335

sudoku

Answers for this week

Southwest Behavioral Health Center is hiring two Prevention Specialist positions

Full Time for Panguitch Area

Part Time for Bryce Valley Area

Prevention Specialist/Coalition Coordinator for Panguitch

**Change in announcement **

*No degree required, however, must be working towards a degree in some way, a class now and then qualifies.

*And experiences in related tasks

*Full time (40 hours weekly) Full Benefits Package- including medical, dental etc) Utah Retirement

*Location: Panguitch, must be a Panguitch area resident (Hatch, Spry and in between)

*Works with the local adult and youth coalitions and Hope Squad, implementing strategies that reduce and eliminate drug use, promote positive lifestyles, reduce factors in the community that lead to risk of use and other social behaviors.

*Host monthly coalition meetings: Set agenda, meeting minutes, ordering supplies, develop flyers and handouts, manage budgets, set up activities and community events and booths, grant and data reports, possible grant writing. Conduct and read data, research reports for development of action plans.

*Develop and present educational presentations and programs in the community related to alcohol, drugs, mental health and other related prevention topics.

*Attend required yearly training out of town, and possibly out of state.

*Attend monthly meetings out of town.

Prevention Specialist/Youth Coalition Coordinator for Bryce Valley **Change in announcement **

*No degree required, however, must be working towards a degree in some way, a class now and then qualifies.

*And experiences in related tasks

*Part Time (19 hours weekly)

*Location: Bryce Valley area, must be a resident of Bryce Canyon City, Tropic, Cannonville, Henrieville and in between.

*Working with the other part time Bryce Valley Prevention Coordinator, primarily leading the youth coalition, and assisting with the adult prevention coalition implementing strategies that reduce and eliminate drug use, promote positive lifestyles, reduce factors in the community that lead to risk of use and other social behaviors.

*Host monthly coalition meetings and activities. Other duties might include ordering supplies, developing flyers, handouts, managing budgets, setting up activities and community events and booths, grant and data reports, possible grant writing. Conduct and read data, research reports for development of action plans.

*Develop and present educational presentations and programs in the community related to alcohol, drugs, mental health and other related prevention topics.

*Attend required yearly training out of town, and possibly out of state.

*Attend monthly meetings out of town.

For both positions, follow the link to see the announcement for more details and to apply. https://sbhc.e3applicants.com/careers/

Contact Melissa Veater, 435-690-0911, if you have any questions. If you think you would be great for the job, apply!

For Victims of Domestic Violence, Rape, and Sexual Assault

Canyon Creek Services

Emergency Safehouse 435-865-7443 Mobile Team 435-233-5732

New Horizons Crisis Center

145 East 100 North, Richfield Office Hours

8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Shelter is open 24 hrs, 7 days a week Phone Number 435-896-9294

Counseling Services

Central Utah Counseling Richfield Office

255 S Main Street, Richfield Office Hours 435-896-8236

24 Hour Emergency Service 877-469-2822

Southwest Behavioral Health Center

601 E Center Street, Panguitch 435-676-8176

24 Hour Emergency Service 800-574-6763

Wayne Community Health Center

128 South 300 West Bicknell, 84715 435-425-3744

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 988

Senior Center Site Manager

POSITION TITLE: Senior Center Site Manager

GENERAL PURPOSE: This position is 8-10 hours a week performing duties and responsibilities as directed by the commission. This includes but is not limited to day-to-day oversight of the senior nutrition program, organization, fiscal accountability, contract compliance, human resource management and center administration. Provides direction and supervision to the staff of the senior center and acts as a liaison between the commission and the elected Senior Center Board.

SKILL SETS: Strong office experience & organization, competent in Google drive, Google docs, & Gmail, competent working with a computer & able to learn Capstone, team person, skilled at activity management, and passionate about helping the seniors.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Maintain a positive working relationship with the center board, and patrons. Manages the nutrition program including supervising personnel, filling in as a driver if needed. Completes and submits required reports, performs required banking, maintains sanitation requirements, performs home delivered meals assessments and manages cost control. Maintains files and reporting systems for the contracted services and provides the Area Agency with required reports by the required dates. Completes and files all fiscal records and bills to local senior board monthly. Participates in planning, coordinating and organizes activities and services with the President, local Advisory Council/Board and the Area Agency on Aging. Other duties as assigned.

Felicia Snow Wayne County Clerk/Auditor