Letter to the Weber County Commissioners

This is the text of a letter sent by 63 of the Eden area homeowners involved in the proposed town incorporation by Powder Mountain. It has been edited for length, but contains the pertinent points for consideration by the Weber County Commissioners.

Dear Commissioners,

We appreciate your consideration of this letter in opposition to the incorporation petition for the creation of the town of Powder Mountain. We ask that you give this matter your fullest and most careful attention. There is no need to rush to judgment on this petition. If you consider that it must be done under the law, there is time to do it right.

We would like to begin by pointing out the obvious, that the state law under which this petition is submitted (Section 10-2-125 of the Utah State Code) is monumentally unfair. Residents in this proposed town have no right to vote on the incorporation, although residents in city incorporations do have that right. They have no right to be involved in the petition process, although residents in city annexations have that right. They have no right to be eligible for appointment to the Town Council unless they are on the approved list by the absentee landowner petitioners, although residents in towns and cities have historically had that right and possess it still in every situation but this one. Requirements of law demanded of city incorporations and of town incorporations under base petitions are unfairly waived by this statute for qualifying petitions. This state law offends every notion of fair play, due process, equal protection, the right to self-government, and the right to vote.

Notwithstanding these statutory injustices, in order that the voice of the residents may be heard we submit to you a petition of a majority of the eligible voters in this proposed town rejecting its creation. It cannot be said that perhaps a silent majority favors incorporation. The majority is not silent, and it expressly rejects incorporation.

In all fairness to your county citizens who have no other protectors in this situation, we call upon you as County Commissioners to look to your own consciences and find that this monstrous state law is unconstitutional, and to refuse to follow it by denying this petition. Should the petitioners then press a lawsuit to compel compliance with this unfair statute, we call upon you to direct the County Attorney to challenge the constitutionality of this law in court.

If for any reason you feel you cannot do this, then in such circumstances as these you as County Commissioners have a duty to require the petitioners to meet every last detail of this unfair law. There is no legal presumption that a petition is valid; it must be shown to be valid. You should require strict and absolute compliance with every requirement set forth in the statute.

If these independent verifications are not present, we ask you to reject the petition. No presumption of accuracy in the petition should be indulged. We call upon you to require proof upon each point, and not to accept the petitioners simple assertion that these requirements are met. Again we say that there is no need to rush to judgment on this petition. You can and should deny this petition until every single requirement of the law is shown to be met.

Respectfully,

63 citizens owning property within the boundaries of the proposed Powder Mountain Town

(Attached are the signatures of the 63 citizens)