Series 83793

Daggett County (Utah). County Commission Minutes, 1918-

2 microfilm reels

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

See history of the records' creator.

Summary of Records

These minute books record the actions of the Daggett County Commission, the governing body of the county. The commission was authorized to manage all county business and property.

Scope and Content

These minute books record the actions of the county commission, the governing body of the county. The commission was authorized to manage all county business and property. This includes budgeting, equipment purchasing, and auditing; use of county lands; districting for schools, roads, voting, drainage, etc.; taxing, specifically acting as an ex-officio board of equalization; business licensing; arranging for the construction of roads, public buildings, etc.; contracting for services; supervising the conduct and payment of all county personnel; providing for basic health care, public safety, and care of the indigent; canvassing election returns and appointing certain officials; and incorporating municipalities. All these activities are noted in the minutes. The day's entries are prefaced by the date, names of those present, and where and when they met.
Daggett became a county in January 1918, and the first commission meeting was held 16 January. Three commissioners had been elected thepreceding December in anticipation of the formal formation of the county. The county clerk served as the clerk of the board, recording the minutes.
The commission was authorized to manage all county business and county property. This included auditing all claims against the county and payments by the treasurer. Bids received, and bills and wages paid in conjunction with the activities are noted. Claims paid are regularly listed at the end of meetings. The commission levied property taxes for county purposes and could call for bond elections. The members served as a board of equalization for county property assessments, with the ability to refund taxes erroneously collected and abate taxes for indigents. Taxation of transient livestock is mentioned frequently, with county boundary disputes sometimes a factor.
Responsibilities noted in the minutes include supervision of the conduct of all county, district and precinct officials, boards, and agencies. All personnel actions arerecorded, by individual name, for county employees from janitor to sheriff. Such actions include appointments, hourly or salaried wage increases, requests for car allowances or to use county vehicles, requests for funds to attend conferences, and resignations. Requisition and bid proposals are similarly detailed covering everything from a single ten dollar or less clock for the courthouse, to a spare tire for the patrol car, to gravel for major road department construction. Both personnel allotments and departmental purchases form part of audits and annual budgets, although these are just a dollar value per category/department.
The commission created election precincts. Commissioners served as canvassers of elections also appointing election officers, setting the boundaries of voting districts, and assigning polling places. The commission also created road districts, school districts, and sanitary districts and appointed superintendents of such districts. Laying out roads andproviding for their maintenance was a major activity noted in the minutes. In 1925, the commission was given similar authority over airplane landing fields and hangars, and discussion of landing strips appears in the 1940s and again in the 1960s.
The commissioners provide for the destruction of certain wild animals, birds, noxious weeds, and injurious insects. Ridding the county of noxious weeds and rodents is a common topic in the minutes. Eradication of horses, permissible under a 1927 act regarding abandoned horses, is also common in the 1930s and 1940s.
The commission was responsible for public health and safety. A county health officer was initially appointed in 1919. A cemetery was started in 1950. The county became part of the Uintah Basin health district in 1977. Other programs for water, sewer, waste treatment, and landfills were undertaken in the 1970s as well. Discussions of emergency medical treatment provisions are common in the early 1980s. A mosquito abatementdistrict was created in 1992. The commission was also responsible for any litigation involving the county. Construction of the county jail in the early 1920s is noted. Civil defense committees were organized in the 1950s and continued in cooperation with adjacent counties in the 1960s.
The commission also made provision for recreation in the county. Rodeo grounds activities and leases are common in the 1950s and 1960s; county fairs were often held in conjunction with Sweetwater County, Wyoming. In 1961 the commission set up a Daggett County TV department to see about bringing TV to the county, and entries regarding television reception appear regularly thereafter.
The legislature mandated that business licenses be obtained from the county commission for operation in unincorporated county areas; most applications were for liquor licenses. Where the county had a more direct interest, more detailed information is recorded, as in the cases of county leases of property or services, andcooperative agreements made with other governmental agencies or private corporations. Cooperative agreements, particularly with adjacent counties or the U.S. forest service, are frequent by the late 1970s.
A major addition to commission functions was made in 1941 when the commission was empowered to provide for the development and zoning of unincorporated areas of the county and to appoint a planning commission. Entries regarding the zoning of subdivisions begin by the 1960s and become more frequent for both commercial and residential zoning in the 1970s.

Arrangement

Chronological by date of meeting.

Additional Forms

This series is available on microfilm.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Use Restrictions

These records are available for reproduction and use.

Preferred Citation

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

Acquisition Information

These records were acquired from the creating agency through established retention schedules.

Processing Information

The Daggett County Clerk as secretary for the Daggett County Commission should be contacted for other holdings. Filming was begun in 1985. The series was processed by A.C. Cone in May 1995.

Related Material

Ordinances from Daggett County (Utah). County Commission, Series 13141, are the laws enacted by the county commission.

Container List

ReelVolumeDescription
111918, Jan 16-1951, Dec 8
121952, Jan 8-1968, Oct 23
131968, Nov 6-1981, Dec 16
141982, Jan 6-1985, Feb 20
241985, Jan 2-1988, Dec 21
251989, Jan 4-1995, Dec 20