Tremonton city, health department, meet to resolve relocation issues

By Dave Archer

September 5, 2008 | TREMONTON -- City officials and representatives from the Bear River Health Department met Wednesday to clarify a few issues regarding the transfer of city property along 2000 West to the department.

A disagreement between city officials and the health department arose when some department officials felt Tremonton city hadn't been completely forthright with details about a proposed 345-kV transmission line from Rocky Mountain Power that would run along the road. Lloyd Berentzen, Bear River Health Department Director, told city officials the department would not build their new facility along the road if the power line were placed there, and said he felt city officials knew that before the property was sold last December.

"We do think that there was some knowledge of this prior to the purchase of the property," Berentzen told Tremonton officials. "We feel like we've been left with a compromised issue."

Berentzen pointed to minutes from city planning commission meetings that showed the city had some foreknowledge of Rocky Mountain Power's plan. City officials maintained, however, that the proposed route along 2000 West was never a sure thing until after the sale. In fact, City Manager Rich Woodworth said that on the day the property was sold, Allison Draper, the city attorney at the time, reported that Rocky Mountain Power was working on redirecting the line away from 2000 West.

"We didn't have any specifics on where that line was going to be," Woodworth said. "To be honest, it never once registered on my Richter scale."

Tremonton Mayor Max Weese added, "When we signed the papers with you, we didn't know a power line was coming down that road."

Woodworth later asked Berentzen what the health department's plans concerning the property were. He said the city's ultimate goal was to accommodate the health department as best as they could given the situation.

"If you're not happy, then we're not happy, so how do we go about fixing it?" he said.

Woodworth also said he'd been told the department was looking to sue the city over the matter, which Berentzen denied as being nothing more than rumor.

"We're not out to litigate this," he said. "The board has not discussed that, that's not the way to solve this."

Both sides agreed to wait and see what Rocky Mountain Power is going to do with their transmission line before moving forward with the issue. Berentzen said he hopes to be able to build on the property and continue the department's relationship with Tremonton.

"Our first choice is that property, we think it's a great location," he said. "We don't want a bad relationship, we see it as a long term relationship and need to work some things out."

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