Taking the New Year’s plunge for a good cause See B1 TOOELETRANSCRIPT S T C BULLETIN S THURSDAY January 3, 2019 www.TooeleOnline.com Vol. 125 No. 62 $1.00 County, Mitime close sale on UMC County nets $9.2M from FRANCIE AUFDEMORTE/TTB PHOTO The Grantsville City Council voted to appoint Jeff Hutchins to fill Tom Tripp’s vacated seat on tie-breaking vote cast by Mayor Brent Marshall. racetrack’s $18.5M sale TIM GILLIE the county to pay the costs to STAFF WRITER Mitime after the facility was Tooele County no longer sold, or subtract them from the Hutchins selected to replace owns a racetrack. sales price, if Mitime was the The Tooele County buyer. The $9.3 million includ- Commission and Mitime Utah, ed $6 million for operating LLC, closed on the sale of Utah losses, $2.8 for capital assets, Tripp on Grantsville Council Motorsports Campus, formerly $135,000 for the manage- known as Miller Motorsports ment fee, and approximately Park, on Dec. 28. $500,000 in interest expense, STEVE HOWE “The money has been according to Milne. STAFF WRITER exchanged and the deed “We’ve been working on A pool of 11 applicants has been handed over,” said this now for three and one-half vied for the vacant seat on the County Commissioner Shawn years,” Milne said. “It’s nice to Grantsville City Council cre- Milne. have this buttoned up so the ated when City Councilman Tooele County announced incoming new commissioners Tom Tripp was elected to the in September that Mitime was don’t have to deal with it.” Tooele County Commission last the sole offeror in the county’s Mitime is a subsidiary of November. April 2018 request for offers to Geely Holding Company, a After about two hours of purchase UMC. publicly-traded company on interviews and three votes The County Commission the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by the four remaining City approved a sales agreement that is currently ranked 267 on Councilmembers, Grantsville with a $18.5 million price tag the Fortune Global 500 list. City Mayor Brent Marshall cast for UMC in November. The Mitime has been manag- the tie-breaking vote in favor closing date was set for on or ing UMC under an agreement of Jeff Hutchins. The newly before Dec. 31. with Tooele County for the last appointed Hutchins will serve However, of the $18.5 mil- three years. until Dec. 31 and a full-term lion sale for the racetrack, the While operating the track replacement for the seat vacat- county netted $9.2 million for the county, Mitime made ed by Tripp will be elected this after deducting $9.3 million to significant efforts to cut costs November. cover operating losses, man- and broaden the variety of FRANCIE AUFDEMORTE/TTB PHOTO agement fees, personal prop- events the facility hosts. SEE HUTCHINS PAGE A5 ® Council members Krista Sparks and Scott Stice listen to answers during the interviews of candidates erty assets, and interest. In 2018, the track hosted for the open council position. The management agree- ment with Mitime called for SEE UMC PAGE A6 ® Tripp on his way to County Commission STEVE HOWE to commend him for his public service. STAFF WRITER During the city council’s deliberations on After a successful campaign saw him Tripp’s replacement, City Councilman Scott elected to the Tooele County Commission, Stice had effusive praise for Tripp. Grantsville City Councilman Tom Tripp par- “These are huge shoes to fill,” Stice said. ticipated in his final City Council meeting “ … I honestly believe he’s the best city Wednesday night. councilperson Grantsville City’s ever had.” While the majority of the meeting was For City Councilwoman Krista Sparks, spent finding a replacement for his council Tripp was integral in her involvement in FILE PHOTO seat — long-time resident Jeff Hitchens Racers take part in last summer’s Pirelli World Challenge event at Utah was selected — Tripp’s colleagues took time SEE TRIPP PAGE A5 ® Tom Tripp Motorsports Campus. The Tooele County Commission and Mitime Utah, LLC, officially closed on the sale of the facility on Dec. 28. UHP sees dip in DUI arrests over holiday UHP says decline is part of downward trend in DUI’s between 2010 and 2017 STEVE HOWE arrests over the same three-day implementation of the state’s coordination, ability to track STAFF WRITER period. new .05 blood alcohol content moving objects, response to Over the New Year’s holiday, UHP Sgt. Nick Street said law, which is the strictest in emergency driving situations the Utah Highway Patrol made the highway patrol put as the United States. The new law and difficulty steering at .05 29 arrests for drunk driving much effort into this year’s DUI was signed into law in March BAC, which is about three around the state. enforcement efforts as last, 2017, but went into effect on drinks in one hour for a 160- While it may seem like a lot but there was still a significant Dec. 30. pound man. of DUI arrests in a three-day drop in arrests. He said it’s part Recommendations from Of the 46 arrests, 11 were span, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1, of a downward trend in DUI the National Highway Traffic made overnight on New Year’s FILE PHOTO it’s actually a decrease from arrests, which declined about Safety Administration were Eve and none fell below the The Utah Highway Patrol made 29 drunk-driving arrests statewide over the same period last year, 50 percent statewide between one reason Utah first consid- old .08 threshold, according to the New Year’s holiday, 17 fewer arrests than were made over the same according to UHP. Last New 2010 and 2017. ered a .05 law. The agency time period a year ago. Year’s, there were 46 DUI The drop coincides with the found there is already reduced SEE ARRESTS PAGE A6 ® INSIDE BULLETIN BOARD B5 CLASSIFIEDS B8 Training to deal Tooele boys go Cowboys beat HOMETOWN B1 with the factors 3-1 in tourney Tigers in OT OBITUARIES A8 of violence See A10 See A10 SPORTS A10 See A3 A2 TOOELE TRANSCRIPT BULLETIN THURSDAY January 3, 2019 County repeals Erda rezones that faced possible referendum TIM GILLIE Tyson Rogers, Erda, said STAFF WRITER county residents wanted the Rezone requests for three chance to vote on repealing the properties in Erda approved by ordinances. the Tooele County Commission “The people have signed in October have been repealed. their signatures in protest The County Commission against these planning, zon- repealed county ordinance ing, rezoning, and things like 2018-10, 2018-11 and 2018- that,” he said. “And you’re now 12 during a 1 p.m. meeting on repealing the ordinances that Dec. 27 at the Tooele County were put in place that we were Building. putting signatures toward, so The repealed ordinances again you’re not listening to the rezoned three parcels of prop- people. All we were wanting erty in Erda at the request of was to put it on the ballot so we Joe White. All three ordinances have a fair chance to say that were the subject of referendum we don’t want this right now.” petitions seeking a vote by the The repeal of the ordinances public on the rezone requests. was not a land use decision, White requested the repeal so laws pertaining to land of the ordinances. use don’t apply, according to At the time of the repeal, Tooele County Attorney Scott Tooele County Clerk Marilyn Broadhead. Gillette was in the process of “As to the rezone ques- validating the signatures on the tions, this is an unsettled area petition to see if they reached of law,” Broadhead said. “My the threshold required to put legal position is based upon the ordinances on a ballot. trying to reconcile various stat- No public hearing was held utes, case law and legal prin- before the County Commission ciples. It is my opinion that the voted on the repeal. However, three zoning ordinances could during the public comment be repealed based upon the period at the end of the meet- request of the applicant and FRANCIE AUFDEMORTE/TTB PHOTO ing, several members of the that it did not require the same Rezone requests for three Erda properties, including this one located off Droubay Road, were repealed by the Tooele County Commission during a Dec. public raised concern over the process as the original rezone 27 meeting. The requests were originally approved in October. legality of repealing the ordi- process.” nances while they were subject Broadhead said he consulted “By granting the repeal, it’s until they received an option parcels would have allowed an from rural residential with five- to a referenda and without fol- with attorneys in private prac- as if the referendum passed from the Lieutenant Governor’s average of three homes to an acre lots to rural residential lowing the usual process for a tice that specialize in land use and the zoning reverted to its Office of Elections Wednesday. acre on the two parcels. The with one-acre lots. That land rezone request. law who agreed that the county prior status,” Broadhead said. “The Lt. Governor’s Office actual density could have var- will now revert back to the Michael Buss, Erda, told the followed the correct process to “I think some people believed told us that we could stop ied from 6,000-square-foot lots five-acre lot designation. County Commissioners that repeal the ordinances. that if the referendum passed, counting signatures because near state Route 36 and at least Supporters of the refer- they had violated state land use “Reasonable minds may then the property would be with the ordinances repealed one-half acre lots on the east endum petitions assert that code by not providing adjacent differ, but I believe that the permanently zoned as is.