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Utah’s Health City...Growing, Caring, Sharing
www.smithfieldcity.org
CITY COUNCIL MESSAGE
As members of the city council we
constantly receive calls about various
issues and concerns throughout the city.
The city council, mayor and staff appreciate
the willingness of residents to voice their
concern and offer suggestions to help make
the city a nicer place to reside.
Over the last year the main calls we
have received involve barking dogs and
cemetery maintenance.
The police department, the fire
department and the city staff have teamed
up to offer a dog and cat license clinic on
Saturday, March 7th from 10:00 A.M. to
12:00 P.M. at the fire station. Dogs and cats
can be licensed and a local veterinarian will
be there as well to offer rabies vaccinations
if your dog(s) needs one.
The city council authorized the city
staff to not charge late fees on dog and
cat license renewals until after the license
clinic. After the clinic the late fee will be
assessed in the future. If you cannot attend
the license clinic your pet can be registered
at the city office Monday through Friday
from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Citations will
be issued after March 7th if your dog or cat
is not properly licensed and the minimum
fine is $120 which is the equivalent to six
years of license renewals.
When a person moves to town and
brings their dogs and cats with them they
need to be licensed in the city within 30
days of moving in. Even if a person just
licensed their pet in another municipality
for the year, the city requires the dog to be
licensed within the city.
There are always questions about dog
kennel permits. Do you know if you need a
dog kennel permit? A dog kennel permit is
needed by any household that has more than
two (2) dogs at the location. This includes
all dogs older than four months. The city
staff constantly gets told, “My dogs live in
the house and I shouldn’t need a license.”
City code states a household must have a
dog kennel permit if there are more than
two (2) dogs whether they reside inside or
outside does not matter. Another question
that is posed on occasion is, “Do I need a
kennel permit if I have two dogs and a son
or daughter moves home and brings a dog?”
Yes, a permit is required because there are
three or more dogs at the household.
Vol. 51 No. 2
The cemetery is a place full of emotion
that brings back memories of lost loved
ones and those that passed away too young.
The cemetery is a place to go and honor our
family and friends. Sadly, the decorations at
the cemetery are getting out of control and
the city staff, council and mayor received
more calls in the last year than the last
several years combined. The city has one
of if not the best maintained cemeteries in
Utah but decorations can and do destroy the
feel and ambience of the cemetery grounds.
The city council has asked the city staff
to be very careful and respectful of items
placed in the cemetery.
Items are not allowed to be placed off
of the headstone base. This allows for easier
mowing and trimming. The city staff hears
all the time that it will only take one extra
minute to trim around the items not placed
on the headstone base. There are over
5,200 occupied grave plots in the cemetery.
If 1,800 of those headstones have items off
of the base and they all require one extra
minute to maintain them that translates into
30 man hours. The city does not have the
staff or ability to have 30 extra man hours of
trimming because of this issue.
Families will spend hundreds of
dollars on silk flowers, trinkets, and other
decorations and they get stolen. We cannot
fathom why a person would steal off of
someone’s grave but sadly it happens all
the time and Smithfield is not the only place
this occurs. The city cannot and will not
reimburse a family for items removed from
a grave spot. Please do not place expensive
items on a grave spot which are very likely
to be taken.
Memorial Day is not too far away and
the cemetery will be transformed into an
area of green grass and beautiful flowers. The issues for the city come a week later
when the mums have died as well as other
flowers and decorations have fallen over
or have been blown around because of
wind, or are broken. The city staff is very
conscientious of wanting to be respectful
to families and their decorations but at
the same time removes items that become
clutter. Lawn mowing and watering must
start again a week after Memorial Day and
the grounds must be cleaned off at that time.
The city has been fortunate to have
March 2015
some help in the past of some of the local
faith based groups in cleaning off the
grounds and inevitably some items are
always removed that upset family members.
We appreciate the help of cleaning off
over 5,200 grave plots and are sorry when
personal items are removed. Please make
sure you have picked up items you consider
valuable or you don’t want thrown away
no later than a week after Memorial Day. If they remain after that point we cannot
guarantee they won’t be removed and
discarded.
Some of the rules to keep in mind
regarding decorations:
• Grave decorations, funeral designs,
flowers or other items placed during
interment shall be removed within
seven (7) days following the interment.
Items left beyond seven (7) days will be
removed by city personnel.
• All items placed on graves during the
Memorial Day observance will be
removed on the Monday following
Memorial Day. • A maximum of two (2) items may be
placed on graves by family members
as part of routine decorations. All items
must be placed on the headstone, marker
or base.
• All items that become unsightly in the
opinion of the cemetery sexton will be
removed.
• The city is not responsible for the loss or
removal of items from the cemetery.
The city council and staff understand
families mourn in different ways but when
a grave is decorated to the point it detracts
from the grounds and the area around it,
the city will have to become involved in
resolving the issue. Please be conscientious
of the graves surrounding your loved ones
as well and honor family and friends in a
way that shows respect but does not detract
from other areas of the grounds. The right
to bury a family member or loved one is
purchased from the city but the city retains
ownership of the plot and is responsible for
care of the grounds.
I hope that knowing these items will be
of benefit in future planning. We all want
Smithfield to remain a beautiful, friendly
place to live.
-Brent Buttars, City Council
LIBRARY
HAPPENINGS
LIBRARY HOURS
Monday – Thursday 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Friday 2:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Contact the library at: 563-3555
Or visit us on the web at:
www.smithfieldcity.org/library.main.html
LIBRARY ENTRANCE & PARKING
You may have noticed that the old library
entrance by the highway is no longer in use.
The new & permanent entrance, into the
Smithfield Library, is now on the west side of
the building. We also have a new book drop
located on the building to the north of this
entrance and new parking for our patrons.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
The library is now operating in the new
addition while construction on the old
Carnegie library is being completed. We
expect this renovation to be completed by
April and are excited to have this year long
project to be completed.
CHILDREN’S AREA WISH LIST
We have a wish list for the Smithfield Public
Library children’s area. We want this newly
renovated space to be very kid friendly and
to engage young minds with words and with
play. We have limited funds and so we’ve
created this Amazon list of items that would
really enhance this part of the library. If you’d
like to donate an item we thank you!
http://tinyurl.com/wishlist-library.
to attend and we will have something
meaningful for everyone to do.
The Summit DUP camp will meet at 1:30
Even babies that come with parents will be
given wristbands that will later count toward P.M., March 16, at the Smithfield Senior
our final grant total, so everyone can help Citizen Center. The lesson will be given
by Ruth Swaner. All members and anyone
serve our community.
interested in joining are invited.
Additional registration forms are available at
City Hall and can be accessed online at the
city website.
RABIES CLINIC
Mark your calendars for March 7th
from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The City is
hosting a rabies clinic for your pet. Rabies
shots will be available on a first come, first
serve basis. The cost will be $20. You can
also license your pet on that day and have
the late fees waived. If you wish to license
your pet and it is already current with a rabies
vaccination, please bring proof with you.
Licensing is $12 for spayed/neutered dogs
and $22 for unaltered dogs. Cats may also
be licensed that day. The cost for cats is $6
for spayed/neutered and $11 for unaltered.
The late fee will be enforced after the
above date, so please take advantage of this
opportunity. License your pets to help keep
them safe.
TREE COMMITTEE 2015
It’s time to prune your fruit trees! Once again,
the Smithfield City Tree Committee is holding
its annual free workshop on proper fruit tree
pruning. Ben Harris, Board Certified Master
Arborist, will be our instructor again this year. The workshop will be held Saturday, March 21,
9 AM at the Cieslak residence, 444 East Center,
COMCAST CARES
Smithfield. Please dress warmly, as we will be
Volunteering Pays!! Come help Smithfield outside. Any questions can be directed to Geoff
City earn money for our new Library.
Miller at [email protected] or 435-5639177.
Comcast is sponsoring a day of service
on Saturday April 25. The city will be
awarded grant money for every volunteer
that participates!! Last year they awarded
$160,000 in Utah alone. One city earned
$18,000 on their day of service. Let’s beat
that record!!! The money we are awarded
from the April 25th service day will go to our
new Library.
A registration form is included with this
newsletter. All volunteers will receive a
free breakfast, lunch and t-shirt. You need
to sign up now so they can order your shirts.
Sign your whole family and neighborhood
up today. You do not have to stay the entire
time, any amount of service will count,
Come anytime from 7am to 1pm to the
Smithfield City Rec center to be counted
as a volunteer. All ages are encouraged
DUP
KINDERGARTEN
REGISTRATION
Kindergarten registration for the 2015 - 16
school year will be held on Wednesday,
March 11th from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. and
Thursday, March 12th from 12 p.m. - 6:30
p.m. To register your child, please bring
his/her official birth certificate, proof of
immunizations and proof of residency. If
you have any questions, you may contact
Birch Creek Elementary at 435-792-7692,
Summit Elementary at 435-563-6269 or
Sunrise Elementary at 435-563-3866. We
look forward to seeing you there!
EAGLE SCOUT
SERVICE PROJECT
MACK PARK FENCE
In our January Newsletter we mentioned
that several young men helped build the
new fence at Mack Park. They completed
sections of the fence as part of their Eagle
Scout Service Project. The young men who
organized work groups and built sections
of the fence include the following: Jeffery
Berryhill, Trevon Barnard, Issac Archibald,
Porter Sessions, Stone Sessions, Jefferson
Lambert, Christian Clark, Chandler Taylor
and Aiden Meek. On behalf of Smithfield
City, I thank you all for your unselfish
service.
-Jeff Barnes, Council Member
Members of Troop 347 who helped
build the section they are sitting on.