Mayor’s Message
March 1, 2023
OUR VOICE – YOUR VOICE
Tremonton is a growing and vibrant community and just like many of you, I love our hometown feel and how family friendly it is and just like you we are always looking for ways to make it better. Recently, the city conducted a survey where we asked people to comment on the benefits Tremonton provides its residents. In the questionnaire, we also asked residents how we as a city can do better.
For example, many residents expressed deep worries over the city’s recent growth and question whether our infrastructure can keep up. Communication between residents and city leaders was also a deep concern.
I understand.
So, over the next several months, I hope to answer these and other questions and concerns here in this newsletter. When you attend our council meetings, I hope you will share your thoughts and ideas on ways we can make our community better for everyone. If you see me around town or in the grocery store, I am more than happy to discuss your concerns and listen to your suggestions.
Following are two areas of concern, growth and water. I know there are others, they will follow in upcoming newsletters.
Growth:
You don’t have to look around very hard to see how our population is changing. For example, annual growth from 2020 to ‘21 was 4.7 percent; from 2021 to ‘22 growth was 5.3 percent and from 2022 to ‘23 we grew 8.1 percent. Average annual growth over those three years was a little over 6 percent.
People are attracted to Tremonton for the reasons previously stated, but they also move here because of a very strong job market. Companies like Northrup Grumman, Proctor and Gamble, Post Consumer Brands, West Liberty Foods, local companies, the school district, government and the list goes on. All these employers are competing in the marketplace for employees creating a strong labor market which is attracting people to Tremonton and other communities in Northern Utah.
Water:
Many people express concern that there will be ample water available to handle this growth. So, in 2017, the city started an ambitious secondary water project. Tremonton has a competitive advantage with other communities when it comes to secondary water. It is literally surrounded by the Bear River Canal system. So, it made sense to use this water to start a secondary water program. The city purchased enough water shares from willing sellers so that existing homes can have secondary water for their outdoor irrigation for lawns and gardens. New developments/developers are required to provide the city with shares (at their expense) equal to the ground that would be irrigated by households in their development. The city requires them to install and pay for all the infrastructure required for their development to connect into our existing secondary water system. The intent of the secondary water project is to extend culinary water to more households by using secondary water for outdoor use. But our goal is also to be good stewards of this natural resource and conserve water.
Another project the city is working on to more fully secure our long-term water supply, is a program called an Aquifer Storage and Recovery system (ASR). The goal of ASR is to retrieve excess water and store that water in an aquifer. More specifically, by making a few modest changes to our existing water system near Deweyville, we will pump the excess water from the springs near the Bear River into the city owned Cedar Ridge well. The storage process will replenish the Cedar Ridge well during the fall, winter and spring. Then during the high demand season, we will pump the water out of the aquifer into the city’s existing water lines, increasing our supply of water.
Although we are a growing community, we are also intentional in how that growth occurs. Growth and water are just two of those concerns, but there are others we need to address.
I am confident that as we work together, we will preserve what we love about our community for generations to come.
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