City Manager's Updates

The year 2020 started off good but now we are experiencing something I have not seen in my 37 years working for the city. The Covid-19 pandemic has begun to hit everyone hard. Businesses have closed. Some closures are from lack of business, some to keep social distancing requirements, and others by state and federal mandate. The City is keeping the doors open to most of their offices, though we have made changes to protect the employees and to adhere to social distancing. The Community Center and Pool have closed and all programs have been canceled or postponed. The Mountain Bike festival, ATV Jamboree, Easter Car show, and Easter Egg Hunt have been postponed or canceled. We canceled the last City Council and Planning Commission meetings, but we are making arrangements to hold the upcoming ones through Google GotoMeeting. All utility services are continuing as usual along with police, fire, and EMT. The Sky Mountain Golf Course is open though they are taking measures to maintain social distancing and customers may have to take turns going into the clubhouse, and only pick-up orders are served from the grill. We encourage all citizens to observe the safety tips provided, the social distancing and stay at home as much as possible. At the same time, local businesses can use your support right now. Many businesses are having to lay employees off. This will be a stressful time for them. Each of us should look out for our neighbors and friends and assist them. The City has a donation fund to help citizens pay utility bills. We encourage you to donate to this fund to assist those who are out of work pay their utility bills. Donations to the local Care and Share, local church funds, or other charities will help others get through the crisis. If we all work together we can help all of our good citizens. We have a great community and I am proud to associate with and serve you.

The Dixie Springs Park is getting some additional amenities. Under construction are a splash pad and pickleball courts. A dog park is also being added. These should be open and available for the summer season. The Splash Pad at the Community Center just got a facelift. You will see it has a completely different look and will be ready to open when the weather warms. The City is also working on a project to move and upgrade the rodeo arena. This will be just southeast of the airport. The City has 40 acres in this location and other amenities will be coming in future years. There will be parking for the trail to Molly's Nipple, playground equipment, restrooms, an arena with bleachers, and a parking area. It will take a little while since some of the work will be done by the city crews. Once the rodeo grounds are moved the plan is to make more improvements to the baseball and softball fields at the 600 North 200 West location. In addition to ballfields, there will be a pump track and skate park.

Work has started on the final section of SR-7. It will continue from where the last phase ended at Sand Hollow Road. It will go around the lake in much the same alignment as the current road, then turn north and connect back to SR-9. There will be an overpass where it meets SR-9, and the City will be constructing 2800 West from the overpass to 600 North. This will be a great addition providing the residents on the north side of SR-9 the opportunity to easily connect to SR-7 to reach the St. George airport, the southern end of St. George or Washington, or to Las Vegas and Southern California. The City is also working on engineering for 700 West going north between 100 North and 600 North. This is a master-planned road and the city has obtained much of the property for this addition.

The City is engineering the 600 North walking path. This path will go from 200 West and proceed along 600 North, west to Grandpa's Pond Park. The trail will follow the road until it reaches Goulds Wash, where it will turn north and go around the golf course providing a beautiful view of the red rocks and Virgin River. The trail will continue west along the sewer line easement to Grandpa's Pond. We have some funds from RAP tax, but we will need to obtain funds from grants and other sources to complete the 5-mile project. The RAP tax has been a great funding source for many cities and civic projects over the past five years. This tax was approved by the voters for 10 years. At the end of the 10-year period, it will again need to go before the voters for approval of an extension. It is a very small tax paid by all who come to our community. I ask that you become familiar with all the projects that have been funded in the city and county through this source and be prepared to vote in favor of an extension when the time comes.