Series 24190

BIG WATER (UTAH) [119]

COUNCIL MINUTES, 1984-[ongoing]

A separate agency history is available.

DESCRIPTION: The Big Water town council consists of a mayor and four council members who exercise the community's legislative and executive powers (see Utah Code, Unannotated, 1991, 10-3-101). The council is responsible for all aspects of community management, such as appointing city officials and setting their salaries, levying taxes, establishing a budget, maintaining public services and utilities, and regulating activity within the city. Big Water council minutes summarize the discussions at council meetings. They indicate the date each meeting was held and identify council members present. The minutes are presented in a format that readily identifies resolutions or ordinances passed and actions taken by the council. Numerous supporting documents are also included.

The Big Water council has been highly involved in land issues. The National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management border the town on either side, and the BLM owns much of the land in Big Water city limits. From the beginning the Big Water council has emphasized the need to obtain title to all land within and adjacent to corporate limits, and the minutes document the council's efforts to accomplish this. The creation of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument has strengthened federal control and forced the council to coordinate with other state and federal agencies involved in Monument management.

Big Water council minutes document the appointment of various town officers and commissions. They document the council's efforts to build an attractive community. The council has deliberated over zoning laws and many individual land use situations. The council has sponsored community clean up efforts, and provided public utilities as well as police and fire protection.

Big Water's first mayor, Alex Joseph, was a polygamist and Libertarian and his pervasive influence in municipal government factionalized the community. The Big Water town council has also had a long-standing strained relationship with Kane County. In addition to interaction with the federal government, these stories underlie the proceedings of council meetings and the attached documents.

Documents filed with the Big Water council minutes are so numerous that, especially after 1990, the minutes get lost in the volume of other documents. These additional documents include correspondence, various financial reports, bank statements, employment applications, oaths of office, copies of ordinances and resolutions, maps, agreements, public notices, sheriff's reports, mayor's reports, deeds, time sheets, and second copies of previous minutes. The minutes (April 2001) include a marked-up copy of the general plan, and a second copy of previously passed ordinances, (summer months 2000). Other publications or important documents include a copy of the "Lake Powell Gateway Community Act," which passed the Senate in 1995 (September 1995); a draft of "Policies and Procedures Manual for the Town of Big Water (October 1996); a Utah state publication called, "Twenty-first Century Communities Initiative: Positioning Rural Utah for the 21st Century" (August 1998); and a draft of the "U.S. 89 Corridor Plan," which is a detailed plan for the development of Big Water roads as prepared by Big Water, UDOT (Utah Department of Transportation), BLM (Bureau of Land Management), SITLA (School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration), and other agencies (October 2000).

ARRANGEMENT: Big Water council meeting minutes are arranged chronologically by meeting date. Relevant additional documents have been filed after the minutes for each meeting.

RELATED RECORDS: The Big Water town council has worked closely with the PLANNING COMMISSION. MINUTES for that commission are series 24188. Big Water ORDINANCES, the legislative actions of the town council, are series 24189. Big Water RESOLUTIONS, the administrative actions of the town council, are series 24187. A copy of the Big Water GENERAL PLAN, adopted in 1996, is series 24186.

PROCESSING NOTE: Big Water council minutes were microfilmed by Utah State Archives in July 2002 as part of the Millennial Project, and were processed by Rosemary Cundiff in May 2003.

PREFERRED CITATION: Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

CONTAINER LIST

Reel	Description
1	1984, Jan - 1988, Dec (book one)
2	1989, Jan - 1994, Dec (book two)
2	1995, Jan - 1998, Dec (book three)
2	1999, Jan - Apr (book four)
3	1999, Apr - 2000, Jun (book four, cont.)
3	2000, Jul - Dec (book five)
4	2001, Jan-Dec (book six)
4	2002, Jan - (book seven)