It’s been almost two years since Tooele County Commissioners Jerry Hurst and Bruce Clegg were elected into office following a surprising coup d'état within the local Republican Party. The two “Cowboy Commissioners” came into power promising to work hard but also to push an ambitious agenda involving capital improvement projects and revamping some county services.

The question is, how are they holding up to those promises?

Commissioners Clegg and Hurst said they’ve gotten some things accomplished and others are still on track, but they expect tough times ahead.

“This year’s tough because of economics and our revenues being down, so we’ve had to tighten our belts so we’re solid financially,” Hurst said. “We’d like to be able to do more, but you just do what you can in some cases.”

Working as full-time commissioners, adding a convention center to Deseret Peak Complex, pushing ahead a shooting range project and improving senior citizen services are all issues the two commissioners campaigned for or have pushed for while in office.

During their campaigns, both Hurst and Clegg ran on the promise of being full-time commissioners.

Now, two years later, Hurst said, “It’s more like time and a half. We’re both there a lot and we have a lot of evening meetings and a lot of Saturdays, so I think we’ve fulfilled that promise.”

He added he usually arrives at his office about 7:30 a.m. One aspect of the job that keeps him working more than 40 hours a week is returning phone calls.

“A lot of times people are like ‘I can’t believe you called me.’ But I always try to call people back, even if they’re mad,” he said laughing.

He said managing county employee issues and problems has taken more of his time than he expected.

Clegg also estimated he spends around 60 hours a week on county business.

“We get here pretty early in the morning to take care of e-mails and work that we have in front of us, and then somebody tries to stay in the office at all times to make sure anyone who has walk-in needs is taken care of,” he said.

He said he usually arrives at the office at about 6:15 a.m.

“I get here early and then try to get the nuts-and-bolts work done,” Clegg said. “Then I try to stay until 6 at night if possible.”

One stop-start project the commissioners have been advancing is a shooting range near Deseret Peak — the brainchild of previous commissioners, though Clegg said he’s committed to seeing the project through. A ceremony to break ground on the shooting range was held in December 2006.

“It was promised to the citizenry before we came in, and since then we’ve been able to find property suitable for such an activity and money has been set aside, so we’re doing our best to make that come to pass,” he said.

Hurst said although plans once included a military museum along with the $1 million shooting range, the museum is no longer a part of the plan. He said the shooting range is now part of a larger 220-acre development on the southwest side of SR-112 that could include an RV park, restaurants, convenience stores and storage sheds. The shooting range will sit on 50 of those acres.

Many of Clegg’s campaign promises centered on helping the county’s senior population.

“When I was elected I promised I would keep the seniors comfortable,” he said. “And we have wiped out the waiting list for Meals on Wheels, so now anybody who qualifies is receiving those. At the senior center in Tooele we’ve bought and contracted to get new serving tray racks, storage racks and walk-in freezers to redo the senior citizens center kitchens,” he said. “And with that we have a walk-in refrigerator that can go down to the Grantsville Senior Center. That’ll double their refrigerator space down there.”

Clegg also promised to spearhead an effort to renovate the rundown Grantsville Senior Citizens Center. That project has gone slowly, but with a transfer of ownership from Grantsville City to the county finalized in October, Clegg hopes to get the renovation moving again.

“We met with the Council of Governments and everybody’s agreed that that should be our highest priority on the [Community Development Block] grant wish list, so we’re moving as fast as we can to get money for the Grantsville Senior Citizens Center,” Clegg said.

During his campaign, Hurst advocated for a convention center to be built at the Deseret Peak Complex. He said such a facility could reduce losses at Deseret Peak Complex, where user fees fall far short of operating costs. In August, commissioners approved the sale of a $2.3 million sales tax revenue bond to pay for the center. Ground was broken in October and Hurst said the project should be complete by June.

“That’s something we needed in this county,” Hurst said. “I think it’s a real good thing. I’ve already had so many people tell me, ‘We need that and we can’t wait to book it for different events.’ It’s getting a lot of positive response, and as we know, Deseret Peak is costing the county money and this is a way to get revenue back in and provide the services to people that we need.”

Two years ago while campaigning, Hurst and Clegg said they would be in favor of scrapping an independent audit of mitigation fees paid to the county by hazardous waste companies if the audit was redundant with a similar state audit. Previous commissioners had supported the audit on the grounds that it was a good business practice to ensure all money was accounted for.

Hurst and Clegg voted along with Commissioner Colleen Johnson to repeal the audit in January.

“We repealed that so we’re not having the double audit,” Clegg said. “Unfortunately, the way our economy is, we’re not getting the waste deposited out there like we have in the past, so our revenues are way down. We had paid for those audits and they weren’t providing any valuable information to us that we didn’t already know. We felt like EnergySolutions and the other companies were being fair. And we have no reason since then to question their integrity.”

Hurst said he’s also tried to push the county’s trails system ahead.

“That was in the works when I got in office, but it’s been something I’ve embraced and we’ve done a lot of work on,” he said, adding there are six different trailheads being worked on right now and several already completed. “It’s good to see those kinds of projects come to fruition.”

Hurst would like to see several county road improvement projects go ahead, including work on the Mormon Trail Road and Meadow Lane. He said the Mormon Trail Road was built for light traffic, but with heavy traffic and gravel companies utilizing the road it’s falling apart.

“Of course we need money for everything and the money’s tight,” he said. “That’s been one of the disappointments is we’ve got these projects and not enough money to go around, but that’s just the way life is.”

Hurst added progress has not gone as fast as he had hoped.

“There’s a lot of red tape and there’s been frustration,” he said.

He said there’s a big learning curve in learning various aspects of the job, including policies and laws.

“We rely on our employees a lot to educate us,” he said. “Nobody knows everything so we just need to rely on our resources, which are our employees. We’ve got a lot of good people helping us get the answers we need.”

In general, Hurst said his top three priorities for the next two years are road improvements — at the top of the list — getting the planned unit development that involves the shooting range done, and generating more revenue at Deseret Peak.

Clegg said he wants to focus his remaining two years on helping seniors and managing the county’s money wisely.

“I think we’re headed to hard times,” he said. “We need to be prepared and ready to take on the challenges that are ahead.”

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com