Uintah County Commission approves USU Extension funding, AI policy and multiple ordinances; holds Deep Creek road-vacation hearing

The Uintah County Commission on Jan. 28 in Vernal approved a series of routine agreements and ordinances — including a $219,100 annual cooperative agreement with Utah State University Extension — adopted a county policy on acceptable use of artificial intelligence, and held a public hearing on a proposed road vacation in Deep Creek Ranches.

The commission’s actions came after routine business including approval of minutes and presentation of warrants. County staff presented the items ahead of brief discussion and votes.

The most consequential items approved were:

- A cooperative agreement amendment with Utah State University (USU) Extension, for $219,100, to support Extension programming in Uintah County. Cheyenne Reed, the county director for USU Extension, summarized 2024 outreach that included agriculture workshops, a Passport summer program for youth, Master Gardener training and health and nutrition programming, and asked commissioners to approve the annual amendment. A motion to approve the agreement carried.

- County policy 830, an Acceptable Use of Artificial Intelligence policy prepared by the county IT department, was approved. Kristen Clark of the IT department presented the policy as discussed in the work session and said the policy requires, among other items, an annual IT-led training for county employees on AI best practices. Commissioners voiced support for the policy and approved it.

- Several land-use ordinances were adopted after prior work-session review. Deanna Nyberg of Community Development presented: an updated airport overlay zone ordinance to align county language with state requirements; a transportation map codification (listed by ordinance number in the meeting); and housekeeping amendments to the county land use code (fixes to subsection references and standardized notice language to match state…