Editor’s note: Often overlooked, the government closest to the people often has the most impact on daily life. Each week, The Underground’s J. Michael Redd makes a new stop on his deep listening tour, training his watchful eye and empathetic ears on a local government meeting.
Every two weeks the Coalville, Utah town council meets and City Hall becomes a temporary theater stage where dreams of the past meet in the present and bump into visions of the future.
On Monday, January 11, 2021 at 6 PM MST, I dialed into the online Coalville City Council meeting and listened as good hearted leaders and city administrators met and along with the everyday details of local governance, there were reports, discussions, questions and answers that are influenced by the unseen forces of the past and future.
The Far Past, Industrial Beginnings: Coalville was founded as a result of a $1,000 reward offered in 1854 by the Utah territorial government for anyone discovering coal within 40 miles of Salt Lake City. In 1858 coal was discovered along Chalk Creek near the present city. Over time railcars of coal left Coalville via a small gauge rail track running through Park City to Salt Lake City.
The Near Past, Rural Small Town: When the local coal industry and its infrastructure moved, Coalville settled in as a rural, small Utah town with just over 1,000 residents.
Today: The small gauge rail tracks from Park City to Coalville are biking trails, and the current leaders of Coalville hear the chorus from constituents speaking about what should be done and their divergent desired outcomes. Some echo the far past and favor development and others favor the current rural small town feel and ethos.
In the Jan 11th meeting Councilmember Don Winters noted his hope that Coalville will retain its current feel “…as a small rural community.” Mayor Trever Johnson asked to be “…added to those who favor the small town feel while honoring the rights of landowners.”
The Future: Competing with the dream of Councilman Winters and Mayor Johnson are developers of land and alternative energy resources who see Coalville as a resort community for outdoor recreation including golfing, boating on Echo Reservoir, snowmobiling in the winter, and ATV trails, or as a locus for alternative energy development and transmission.
While there may be no final curtain in this ongoing play, there is much that other communities in the rural intermountain west can learn from the current cast of good people and leaders doing the best they can to play their parts well.
