It’s onward and upward for the merging of special service districts in Uintah County. The Uintah Special Service District 1 Board of Directors met on Wednesday evening and appointed Cheryl Meier as the District’s Executive Director. As of January 1st, the Impact Mitigation, Uintah Recreation, and Transportation Districts combined in name and operation as Uintah Special Service District 1. “This process has been in discussion among the Uintah County Commission for about 1.5 years,” explains Meier. “I moved my office to the Recreation Center in efforts to help with the transition and Kris Abegglen and myself have worked to line up all the pieces to be able to move forward with the new district along with the board of directors. This has not been an easy undertaking but we have been able to work through the bumps in the road to make this work. We find little kinks every day that we need to navigate but as a team we have been very successful.” Kris Abegglen has been serving as the Interim Recreation District Director since 2020 and announced his retirement on January 11th, effective February 15th. The Board met Thursday and continued to work out the finer details of merging three districts into one. “There have been many positives moving forward with this and that’s what we want to focus on,” shares Meier. “Change is hard but change is good. Mineral lease money (which is how the Districts are funded) is doing good right now. With that I hope to continue to meet the needs of transportation projects, higher education (scholarships) and program support with USU\UBTECH air quality and recreation but still be budget minded to rebuild and repair what we need.” Meier says the focus is also on striking the balance to save for a rainy day and lead the staff and public into the future. “We can see light at the end of the tunnel,” she continues, “and I believe the community will be able to see the positive change that has occurred. The new logo says it all…..Building our Community Together. Be part of the process, be part of the solution, be part of something good!”
