Kanab City honors life-saving actions of Officer Trevan Harris; adopts formal city flag

The Kanab City Council chambers were full on the evening of October 14, with some poignant items on the agenda.

Following the opening procedures, including a public comment period which went unused by the public, the agenda began in earnest with a pair of employee recognition presentations. The first presentation was dedicated to Officer Trevan Harris. Officer Harris was the first officer on scene to an accident on September 11, 2025, and by providing emergency aid in the form of a tourniquet, saved a person’s life. Said City Manager Kyler Ludwig, “We’re grateful for Officer Harris’ service, for his training and for his willingness to bring that expertise.” KCPD Chief Tom Cram added, “This happened in the middle of the night. Not a lot of people around, that’s why Officer Harris was the first on scene. Two people lost their lives, and there would have been a third if he hadn’t taken action.”

Left to right:

• Officer Harris shaking the chief of police’s hand after being presented honors for life-saving action in the line of duty.

• The prototype for Kanab’s city flag, accepted by the city council. Photos by Ty Gant.

The second recognition was for Mike Waters, with the Public Works Department of the City, who won a Utah state meter engineering competition two years consecutive, and was invited to a national training and competition in New Orleans where he placed fifth. “He has a great skillset, he’s a great employee and we wanted to recognize him.”

The following item on the agenda was a presentation from the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Law Enforcement, on the securing of aquatic species. The DNR representative confirmed the success of the decontamination tank as a pilot program of source, using the ‘dip tank’ model as a study - with 100 percent mortality for the sorts of species of which they are trying to prevent the spread, other states are following suit. The DNR representative commented on staffing issues limiting the amount of time inspection sites can be open, and mentioned increased pay and other benefits hopefully increasing hiring rates: “I say this a little in joking, but I’ll say it: if they have a heartbeat, they can stand up, they can scribble and they can read, I’ll hire them. We need them.”

The following agenda item updated the general ordinances regarding business licenses, “the purpose of this amendment is to update the regulations of special events to allow for-profit events in city limits.” The ordinance change would clarify and update city insurance information, and “the time, place and manner of the events.” The meeting packet went into depth on the lengthy changes, described by Ludwig as “where we had two paragraphs of ordinance, now we have eighty pages of ordinance,” such as new permitting policies, details and specific uses of specific recreational sites. Owing to the substantial nature of the item and the time needed to parse it all, the item was postponed to future meetings.

The following item on the agenda was regarding police and public offenses, specifically the parameters for boarding dogs and requirements for residential areas. Per Land Use Administrator Janae Chatterley, “On the land use ordinances, there’s just a few changes to the land use chart, so [dog boarding] would show as a permitted use in these particular zones.”

Following a brief zone change on a private property from Single Family to Multi Family, the council considered the medical service and patient transports within Kanab City per the Kane County RFP process prompted by change in state legislature. The council’s support would allow city operatives - ambulances and 911 EMS - to transport patients to the Kane County Hospital. The motion passed unanimously.

The council then considered adopting a city flag, officially designated per recent changes in state legislature. The design was a white ‘K’ on a red field, in a block font inspired by the design on classic basketball uniforms - with a demonstration from 1926 - similar to the display on K-Hill. The council confirmed there could be other designated city flags for other events. The motion passed unanimously.

The following item on the agenda formalizes the special meeting for the Hidden Canyon PID set for Oct 21, after which the council proceeded to a discussion on the Capital Improvement Plan for the Kanab Municipal Airport. Ludwig confirmed the improved refillable fuel tanks are proceeding on schedule for 2025, with pavement starting this year and concluding a final phase next year.

Ludwig then presented some major projects by city department heads, available to the public, such as improving the resident experience with the city - through best practices through public interaction, quality of life calls for services and simplifying utility payments - and promoting public safety and well-being - such as by ensuring fully equipped police and fire services, community education programs for fire safety and crime prevention.

At this stage, the meeting went into closed session, with the City Manager specifying “For the public’s information, this is purely a discussion session, no decisions are being made.”