Emery planners push risk-and-resilience chapter and CERT revival; EMS board warns of $350,000 shortfall

Council members on Nov. 12 discussed strengthening Emery’s general plan with a dedicated risk-and-resilience chapter and reconstituting a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) to support first responders during catastrophes and extended outages.

Planning & zoning asked the council to include a mapping exercise to identify households with special needs (oxygen, prescription medications, power-dependent equipment) and suggested using a questionnaire to collect that information. The proposal would fold emergency response and resilience guidance into the general plan and identify local staging and volunteer roles.

Separately, the council heard that the EMS board’s tentative budget shows about a $350,000 operating shortfall for the coming year after mineral-lease revenues — used by some special service districts — fell from roughly $1.2 million in 2024 to a projected $0 for 2026. A planner described the EMS budget documents as "a mess" with incomplete expense columns and urged a major revamp of the board’s budgeting approach.

Council members discussed potential town contributions to the EMS shortfall and flagged governance concerns; the transcript records that the EMS board has recommended a per-town contribution (Emery’s share reported as $2,500) as part of a countywide approach to stabilizing EMS operations.

Attribution: Planning & zoning comments and EMS-budget figures are drawn from the planning & zoning presentation and council discussion recorded during the meeting.