OPINION: There's more to The Boilers story than we are being told

Last week it was reported that Washington City is building a new park. Mayor Ken Neilson gave interviews to both St. George News and Fox 13 News stating that a park was under way at the area along I-15 known to locals as the “Boilers.”

Neilson went on to say that the project should be finished sometime in February.

There is an old saying that there are two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is the truth. Taking this at face value, there appears here to be quite a few sides to this story, and while what precisely is being done there is yet to be revealed, one thing is for certain, the story being told is a muddled one. The citizens of Washington City, and Washington County, are likely being misled.

The Boilers, also known as Warms Springs, are a natural hot spring located within Washington City limits which up until a few weeks ago had been fenced off for public safety reasons. The site has historic and sentimental value to citizens as well as intrinsic value as it is a tributary to the Virgin River and is a jurisdictional feature protected under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. It is considered a Waters of the U.S. feature which requires a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to alter or affect, especially with regards to regulation of fill.

To date, no such permit has been sought according to Patricia McQueary of the Corps St. George office.

In 2013, the Washington City public works department did some site work at the springs to create a berm to mitigate water runoff from a development across the street, which reports have said was exacerbating flood damage to homes on the South side of I-15 adjacent to the springs.

No permit was obtained for this work either and sediment from the grading is negatively affecting the spring.

In 2014, a non-profit organization, The Boiling Springs Ecoseum & Desert Preserve, was in preliminary negotiations with the city for a development agreement and a potential joint project at the springs. Meetings are set to commence in the early part of 2015 but in an apparent statement on the matter, a week before Christmas of 2014, the fences were removed and heavy grading equipment as well up to nine public works employees began doing work at the site.

According to Washington City councilman Kres Staheli, it was mentioned to him in passing by City Manager Roger Carter that they were considering taking down the fences and doing a little “clean up.” Staheli is on record saying that no formal vote on the matter was taken.

On December 22nd, a visit to the site to take some photos noted a remarkable amount of work being done in light of being told it was a “clean up.”

Concurrently on the 22nd, Washington City Public Works Director Mike Shaw said he did not know what was happening at the springs, and that all inquiries on the matter should be directed to the mayor.  Read that again. The Public Works Director, a city employee and public servant whose annual gross compensation in 2013 was $126,420, claimed he did not know what public works department employees were doing.

Calls to City Manager Roger Carter have not been returned. A city employee and public servant whose annual gross compensation in 2013 was $160,722, does not return calls to the press to answer questions about what is taking place in the city. At least not a press known for asking hard questions.

But, in an interesting turn of events, the city, or rather the Mayor decided, apparently upon his own volition, to grant a story to St. George News as well as Fox 13 News stating that a plan for a park that has been in the master plan “all along” was under way.

This of course begs some questions, the most glaring being the public works directors either omission of truth or incompetence, but one thing is certain, someone in Washington City knew of the plans for the work being commenced and knew for a fact that it was more than just a clean-up.

On January 9th, Mayor Neilson, when confronted with the question about whether or not it was a clean up versus what he stated in last weeks article and news interviews, that it was a park project underway, stated the new sources had it wrong. He emphatically stated and restated that it was only ever intended to be a clean up and that no further work would be done at anytime in the near future.

On the same day, Washington City Recorder Danice Bulloch stated that the work was being done for drainage purposes. While not necessarily a conflictual statement, as drainage could well fall under the purview of clean up and maintenance, she did seem intent on not knowing anything about the park project.

Drainage being already mitigated by the previous work in 2013, a reasonable question would be if it had not been effective, or if more work was needed to accommodate further projects in the area.

When asked if records of city council minutes detailing when a vote was taken for any of the various contradicting plans, she was kind enough to direct me to filing a Government Rights and Access Management Act (GRAMA) request. These things are public record and anyone can see them, if they are willing to pay for them apparently.

Patricia McQueary of the Corps of Engineers met with the city on January 8th, and on January 9th, went on record to say that a “win, win” situation was in the works with the city. A park was being planned, and that “in kind” work with a local developer who was building a project adjacent to the springs was possibly in the works, offsetting the costs.  It would not be a stretch to think that the drainage work Bulloch referred to had something to do with this. But since the city is reluctant to be forthright about what they are doing, one is left only to speculate.

In an interview with McQueary on January 6th, she stated that the city was out of compliance with federal regulations on not only the current work, but also the drainage mitigating work completed the year before.

She went on to state that it was in fact a jurisdictional feature and jurisdictional preview was not only implied, but required. She noted that some fill was taking place and that fringe wetlands had been damaged.

She said she would contact the city and see if they would work to retroactively permit the work which apparently they are doing. She seemed reluctant to issue any fines.

It is interesting to note the leniency she has granted the city. One would have to wonder if the Corps headquarters would agree with her decision and capitulation but more importantly, would they be equally as lenient were a private citizen or contractor to be found in as egregious of a violation.

While at present, what precisely is the plan is a hodgepodge of discombobulated stories involving diversion of responsibility, abdication of accountability, and avoidance of the hard questioning media, (which is rare in these parts). What can be reasonably ascertained is that the truth is not being told.

Furthermore, it is apparent that Washington City officials are either incompetent in communicating to one another as well as the community, or are engaging in carefully managed plausible deniability, each trying to make sure a chair is available for themselves when the music stops playing. This is to say, they are fully aware, all of them, that they are in violation of city ordinances and policies, public trust, and possibly state and federal laws and don’t want to be the one to lose their job over it.

Also interesting to note, many of them seem fearful of speaking out of turn or upsetting the city manager.

Not a single permit on the city or federal level was obtained for this project and while it is being loosely purported that it was the plan “all along”, the less than forthcoming attitude lends to the possibility that a written plan of any kind even existing is questionable for these elected, appointed, and very well paid city officials who seem to think they are above any semblance of accountably, let alone local, state, and federal laws.

And that there is the rub, is it not? We as citizens are generally sick and tired of government as usual placing personal and conglomerate interests above our own in the supposed name of serving us.

It bears repeating here that if you or I as citizens or private businesses pulled this, we’d be up to our neck in fines and criminal allegations.

Buck up Washington City citizens, you may have some house cleaning to do.

See you out there.