A message from Cedar City Mayor Maile Wilson
By Cedar City Mayor Maile Wilson
It is finally beginning to feel like spring, or at least it has for a few days. With the warmer weather comes the many “Festival City” events and visits from tourists, friends, tournament participants, family, etc. Since we always want to show our best side when guests visit, please take advantage of our annual City Spring Clean-Up by getting your property all tidied up and looking its very best. This is a great opportunity to have our city crews haul away the debris that comes from a long winter as we all start getting our areas ready for another beautiful Cedar City summer. As a city, we are also going to focus on beautification and making sure our city areas are also being maintained so our residents can be proud to call Cedar City home.
As the weather warms up, please keep in mind that we still live in a desert and that water is a precious resource. Here in the Cedar Valley, there are multiple water users. There are agricultural operations that purchase the right to use water and develop their own water delivery systems. There are small unincorporated subdivisions that have their own water systems. There are customers supplied by systems developed by the Central Iron County Water Conservancy District. There are also municipalities, such as Cedar City, that have developed water delivery systems for the benefit of its residents, businesses, industry, and all sorts of users. All of these groups of water users have one thing in common: They all rely on an increasingly limited resource.
One conservation step the city took a number of years ago was to adopt an ordinance related to time-of-day outdoor watering restrictions to help prevent water lost to evaporation during the heat of the day. Between April 1 and October 31, those using Cedar City’s culinary system are prohibited from outdoor watering between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
It is easy to tell if you are using culinary water. One piece of information you may want to consider is you are receiving this notice in your water bill! Irrigation with water from a ditch system would be outside of Cedar City’s culinary system. Lastly, large users such as a school or recreational venue using Cedar City’s secondary irrigation system are not using the culinary system. So, if you are not on the ditch system or secondary irrigation system for your outside watering, you are using Cedar City’s culinary system and the ordinance applies to you.
There are a couple of exceptions to the time of day watering restrictions you may want to be aware of. If you have just planted grass, there is no watering restriction for the first 30 days. If you are present and using short cycles of water to maintain your irrigation system, there is no restriction. If you have a business licensed as a nursery, there is no restriction. Also the city’s water superintendent may issue a permit. If you don’t fall into one of these categories, you are regulated by the city’s watering restrictions.
Cedar City’s Water Department and Code Enforcement will be out enforcing this ordinance in the coming months. If found in violation of the ordinance you can expect to receive one warning. Repeated violations will result in water service being shut off and financial penalties. Please do your part to conserve!
On a related topic, the Cedar City Waterworks ordinance was recently changed. The ordinance now reads: “Water bills are sent out monthly. All water bills shall be paid in full by 5 p.m. on the 23rd of the month. If the 23rd falls on a weekend or legal holiday, payment is due by 5 p.m. the following business day. Late fees will be assessed when payments are not received as specified herein.”
With the 23rd of the month as the specified due date, Cedar City water customers may need to make adjustments to auto-pay accounts to make sure a late fee is not assessed.
The Cedar City Police and Fire Departments participated in an exercise with the Utah National Guard’s 85th Weapons of Mass Destruction — Civil Support Team (CST) on Wednesday, March 21st. The exercise also included Gold Cross Ambulance and the Cedar City Hospital. The 85th CST is a specialized team staffed with 22 personnel whose primary mission is to support local authorities during times of disaster or when dealing with a potential act of terrorism. The team has many unique capabilities, including a complex suite of survey and analysis equipment used for identifying chemical, biological, and radiological material; advanced communications; a mobile incident command center; a mobile analytical laboratory; and its own medical ambulance.
The scenario for Wednesday’s exercise revolved around a potential synthetic opioid production laboratory where the dangerous drug, fentanyl, was being used. Law enforcement, fire, ambulance, and hospital resources were all incorporated into the drill, and the 85th CST was used to assist. The drill was a great opportunity to train our first responders to be better prepared to deal with hazardous situations.
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Caldwell, a Cedar City native, is the commander of the 85th CST. He says he and his team make a concerted effort each year to reach out to some of the more rural communities in addition to working with larger cities. This community outreach establishes vital relationships between first responders and his team while enhancing emergency preparedness. Caldwell’s team also brings awareness to our emergency management personnel regarding new and emerging threats and ways to properly deal with them.
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