Mt. Pleasant will apply for grant for veteran's memorial
By Suzanne Dean
1-18-06
Lloyd Call - Messenger Photo
After metal plaques containing veterans names wore out, the city removed them. Now it is seeking funds to build a granite or marble memorial replacing the roofed structure. Doughboy statue will remain in place.

MT. PLEASANT—The Mt. Pleasant City Council has decided to apply for a $500,000 grant from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to upgrade its veterans memorial, create a veterans memorial visitors center in the recreation center lobby, and make improvements along State Street from 100 North to 100 South.
The council voted to apply for the grant at its meeting Dec. 11, 2005. Councilman Monte Bona will prepare the application. Bona said this is the last year, and thus the last round of applications, for this particular UDOT program.
Mt. Pleasant has had a veterans memorial on the lawn of its recreation center, located on the west side of State Street just north of Main Street, for many years. But the metal plaques containing veterans’ names became corroded and were vandalized. A while ago, the city removed them, leaving the stone placard to which the plaques had been attached.
Mayor Chesley Christensen appointed Ron Richmond, a nationally known artist who lives in Mt. Pleasant, to design a new monument. He has proposed a design that would be rendered in granite or marble and contain names of local veterans who served in all wars from the Blackhawk War to the war on terror. The estimated cost of Richmond’s design is $50,000. The city anticipates raising most of that amount privately, according to City Recorder Sally East.
The council agreed to request $100,000 from UDOT, with some possibly going for the memorial itself but most going to remodel the recreation center lobby and install veteran-related historical artifacts.
The remaining $400,000 the city plans to request would go to install streetlights, planters and benches, similar to those on the town’s historic Main Street, along State Street in front of the memorial.
The city council also discussed dropping its energy use tax rate as part of a voluntary effort by Utah municipalities to head off legislative interference with their energy use taxing authority.
Most municipalities, including Mt. Pleasant, impose a 5 or 6 percent tax on electricity and natural gas consumed within their boundaries. Mt. Pleasant brings in about $8,000 per year from the tax on electricity and $5,000 from the tax on natural gas. The taxes are added to utility bills.
Since natural gas rates have soared, some legislators believe cities are reaping a windfall from the tax and have threatened to either cut the maximum allowable rate or abolish the tax, Christensen said.
The mayor said some urban cities may be getting windfalls, but Mt. Pleasant and other rural cities aren’t. Currently, 55 percent of the fiscal year has elapsed, and Mt. Pleasant has only collected 45 percent of the energy use tax revenue projected in its budget, he said.
Christensen said if the legislature alters energy use tax, it could hurt many cities. But the Utah League of Cities and Towns believes if cities voluntarily cut the tax to account for the additional natural gas revenue, the Legislature may leave the tax alone.
The mayor suggested that Mt. Pleasant cut its tax on electricity and natural gas by 0.5 percent. Such a cut could cost the city about $6,000, he said. Another alternative would be to cut the tax on natural gas only and not change the tax on electricity. The council took Christensen’s proposal under advisement.
In another discussion, Coleen Oltrogge, a new council member, said she was concerned about youth having enough to do in the summer and asked about the possibility of Mt. Pleasant building a swimming pool.
Christensen said Mt. Pleasant once had a pool, but it became decrepit and had to be shut down. Typically, he said, swimming pools are not self-supporting and require significant subsidization from the city.
Oltrogge asked about the possibility of cooperating with other entities, including Fairview. Christensen said there had been some discussions of a joint venture involving Wasatch Academy, the North Sanpete School District and a third party.
He suggested the pool might be a project Oltregge could work on as a councilwoman.