After months of review, the Honeyville City Council has established updated fees for city ser­vices, like dog licensing, inspections, and more. According to discussions among the council, over the past several years, the fee schedule had been neglected with no centralized document to keep note of all city fees. This made it difficult for residents to check costs and for the city council to make revisions if they were needed. As such, the council decided to consoli­date all fee updates at once with this new fee schedule (see box). The council agreed that the updates were necessary, passing the resolution...

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Limited availability prevented Heritage Auto’s annual Reindeer Games event from featuring reindeer this year, and guests were treated instead to a Christmas donkey, highland steer and duck. The event was one of several holiday-themed happenings last week. See stories and photos beginning on page 4.

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Celebration of Trees second annual event was held at the Historic Box Elder County Building on Monday, Dec. 1. The doors were open to the public for refreshments and to give the public a chance to vote on their favorite Christmas Tree. Each department hosted their own decorated tree, all of which will be available to view through Christmas, al- though the voting period has ended. Pictured are the Box Elder County Commissioners Tree (far left), the Utah State Extension Office tree (center) and the Box Elder Tourism tree. Each department picks their own theme and decor to showcase their...

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An item in the proposed budget of Utah Gover­nor Spencer Cox would see Mantua Reservoir trans­formed into a state park through a million allo­cation of funds collected from fees at existing state parks. Other than a request for the legislature to autho­rize the funds, there are few details. When asked for comment about the proposal, Brigham City Mayor DJ Bott replied “Brigham City currently has no com­ment,” and Mantua Mayor Terry Nelson has yet to re­spond to an email sent to his government address seeking comment. Information provided from the state was hardly more useful. Utah State Parks pub­lic...

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The Brigham City Council re­viewed a request Thursday to form a Public Infrastructure District (PID) for the Avian Shores development that would issue bonds for required roads and utilities and repay them through a tax paid only by future property owners inside the project area. The land for Avian Shores was placed into a planned district last month, establishing the zoning and master layout for the massive proj­ect. Thursday’s discussion focused in­stead on how regional roads and util­ities would be financed through the proposed district. Bond counsel Aaron Wade, a pub­lic finance attorney with Gilmore and Bell in Salt Lake...

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The Box Elder County Com­mission adopted a 2026 budget last week that keeps their own salaries level while raising pay for most other county elected officials. Box Elder County Auditor Shirlene Larsen opened the required salary hearing by outlining the proposed 2026 compensation levels and em­phasized that commissioners had declined a raise. Their sala­ries will remain at ,314.16 for 2026, the same level they have held since 2024. Other elected officials, how­ever, will see 3.4% increases next year. County Attorney Stephen Hadfield will earn 9,606, Jus­tice Court Judge Dustin Ericson is listed at 2,637 and Sheriff Kevin Potter at 9,306,...

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A wave of concern over the removal of long-standing lilac bushes at the Brigham City Cem­etery began on social media this week, then carried into Thursday’s council meeting where residents re­peated those concerns directly to city leaders. During public comment, Brigham City resident Lane Henderson, who lives next to the cemetery, raised the first of several concerns about the work underway there. “I’ve got some concerns about the removal of the lilac bushes,” Henderson said. He told the coun­Unusually cil that both his parents are interred along the western edge and that their headstone is now fully exposed and only...

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Box Elder County com­missioners approved a trio of cybersecurity measures Wednesday, several months after a ransomware attack locked county computers, disrupted services and re­quired outside help to re­store operations. The first action was adoption of a new data-pri­vacy ordinance, described by IT Director and Data Pri­vacy Officer Keith Keller as the county’s framework for complying with the Government Data Priva­cy Act. Keller said the ordi­nance “builds our data pri­vacy framework” and “lays it all out for us,” adding that counties are required to have the new standards in place by the end of the month. The measure passed unanimously. Commissioners...

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A citizen group, hoping to bring awareness to gun violence and school shootings got per­mission to place flags on the Box Elder County Courthouse lawn. Each flag represents a single school shooting event since 2020. Each event claimed multiple lives.

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Brigham City will add a youth soccer program to its recreation programming this spring after the city council voted Thursday to include soc­cer fees in the municipal recre­ation fee schedule. The approv­al came during a discussion where council members also questioned how existing field- use rates affect local leagues and competitive teams. Recreation Director Chris Horsley presented the propos­al and said staff see soccer as another way to support local families. “Our division is excited to launch a soccer program…it’s another opportunity to posi­tively impact the social, emo­tional, mental, and physical health of residents and kids in our community,” Horsley...

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