The Zion Times

By: Sachet A. Carter | The Zion Times
Iron County Commission adjourned just moments after convening today after Commissioner Paul Cozzens pointed out that the meeting agenda had not been properly posted on the State of Utah’s Public Notice Website.

According to County Clerk Jon Whittaker, the issue was caused by a typo. While posting the agenda, he accidentally omitted a zero from the year, causing the meeting to be listed as taking place on July 13, 226, rather than July 13, 2026.

“I posted it July 13, 226, so slightly before Constantine was emperor,” Whittaker joked.

Because the meeting had not been legally noticed, the commission was unable to conduct business and voted to adjourn. All agenda items were postponed for two weeks.

According to Whitaker, Deputy County Attorney Sam Woodall advised the commission during today’s meeting that it could technically proceed because Utah law contains a provision addressing technological errors in public notice postings.

“I think it’s important for you to know our county attorney felt we could move forward, but Commissioner Cozzens believed we shouldn’t,” Whittaker said. “He felt he could defend that position. I made a genuine effort. It was a typographical error. It happens.”

Cozzens argued the agenda included three action items and a discussion on expanding the commission from three members to five, and that the meeting should be postponed so the public would have an opportunity to attend and comment. 

“We have three action items, and we’ve got a topic discussion about going from a three to a five-member commission, which is a pretty huge discussion,” Cozzens said. “I think, I mean for the people that didn’t get the notice of the agenda, they won’t have an opportunity to speak to the item we’re discussing. I think it’s a problem. I think we need to either talk about all these things again in a future meeting or cancel this meeting.”

Whittaker noted during the meeting that the agenda had been posted in four places: physically at the courthouse, on the county’s website, by email and on the Utah Public Notice Website. However, because the meeting was posted under the year 226, it did not appear under the current calendar year on the state’s public notice website.

The cancellation delayed a scheduled presentation by Five County Association of Governments Director Darin Bushman, who was traveling from St. George. This presentation was expected to include county mayors and local school board members, requiring county officials to quickly notify attendees who were already traveling to Parowan that it had been postponed.

Several other significant items were also delayed, including a discussion on expanding the Iron County Commission from three members to five, consideration of an amendment to the Iron Springs Inland Port Project Area and Legacy Racing’s request for approval to use county roads for an off-road event scheduled for Aug. 28-30. The postponement leaves Legacy Racing without a decision on its request until the commission meets again in two weeks.

A review by The Zion Times of the Utah Public Notice Website indicates this is not the first time similar posting errors have occurred. Since 2024, four Iron County Commission agendas have contained date-entry errors. Two involved incorrect end dates and did not affect the meetings because the agendas remained discoverable under the correct meeting date. The other two also involved the meeting’s start year being entered as 226 instead of 2026, causing the notices to be posted under the wrong calendar year and preventing the commission from legally conducting business.

During the call with Whittaker, The Zion Times also asked about reports that a 2023 Truth in Taxation hearing for the proposed new county jail had to be rescheduled after it was scheduled at the same time as an Iron County School District public hearing on a bond proposal. Whittaker confirmed the meeting was rescheduled, explaining the scheduling conflict was not discovered until after both meetings had been set.

Under Utah’s Truth in Taxation requirements, public hearings must be held after 6 p.m. and may not be scheduled at the same time as another taxing entity’s public hearing serving the same taxpayers. Whittaker acknowledged the county failed to catch the conflict before the meetings were scheduled.

“There was that school board meeting that we didn’t catch, and so we had to reschedule on that one,” Whittaker said. 

Today’s commission meeting has now been rescheduled for two weeks, when the commission is expected to reconsider the postponed agenda after the meeting has been properly noticed.