SMITHFIELD — First Lt. Earl Simmons presented the City Council on Wednesday with a proposal to participate in a Community Covenant program. The program is set up to help the community show support for military families. The program focuses mostly on families that have a member deployed on active duty, but they are also open to past and inactive military members.

Mayor Darrell Simmons has already signed a Community Covenant with all of the mayors in Cache County to show the county’s support of the military members. “We would like to set up a contact person in each city, and have each city have a Community Covenant signing,” the mayor said. The signing is a community event where residents get together and sign the covenant, which says the city is participating in the program and they support the troops.

Earl Simmons had hoped to set up a contact person within the council. Mayor Simmons decided to wait until a later date due to council members Michael Oliverson and Brent Buttars being excused from Wednesday’s meeting.

Steve Krebs, a representative from Questar Gas Company, presented the council with tips on how to manage natural gas leaks in the event of an earthquake. Krebs suggested that every household have at least a 12-inch wrench to turn off the gas if there was a leak because the valve can be very hard to turn at times. “When you are turning your valve off, a quarter turn is all you need. The valve will not tighten so only give it a quarter turn,” said Krebs.

“If you smell any kind of gas in your home don’t do anything,” Krebs said. “Stand up and walk out. Do not turn anything on or off, just get out.”

Krebs explained to the council that natural gas ignites around 1,000 degrees and 1,200 degrees. “Static electricity is hot enough to ignite natural gas,” he said.

Representatives from Jones Simkins P.C. were present to give the council their yearly audit report. No major issues were found in the report. The mayor signed a letter of engagement for accounting consulting from Jones Simkins P.C. for the next year.

Published in cooperation with the Hard News Cafe. Original story is here.