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Show WASATCH COUNTY COURIER APRIL 11, 2001 a sell éut’ in ‘our short history, we have managed to alienate a fair ‘number of our advertisers. The rea- our editorial page. We haven’t seen any ads from them since, but we have seen a whole slug of JBOA advertising in that other paper. son is that we have a policy of not allowing our Sales | Department to | | Dad (20.01 talk to our Editorial Department. | RSRTCH COUNTY AZ Haven’t seen any ads from him since, owner and the local residents, WD a win- ee tisers, in conjunction with the local press, have used the press to promote their own agendas/projects. Stories _ that might upset an advertiser and result in a loss of revenue are summarily buried. We believe the proper role for a newspaper is to report stories that inform the readership, regardless of the consequences from oe Ca io . SS — 3<7 aS but we have seen a whole slug in that OS WN ea 5 cI Lid Sanat EES IRmee LS other paper. And we still frequently make the drive to eat in his restau- the Vis i rant. It’s a great place to eat and we don’t hold a grudge. | ek advertisers. You can tell a lot about a newspaper by who advertises Ww ‘ in it, and who doesn’t. al d : sl JI LUMI is. win situation. In other papers, adver- A WEAUy, Ue, I guess they know we’ll never advertise with them again.” Oh well. been VERY locally whenever possible. That 72 about memat his “Well : | . 4 | af megane ied targeted at him. We checked with the letter writers, the letters were other developers. However a ber of our staff (while dining restaurant) overheard him say, have ‘because shopping locally is in the best interest of both the business Lato re where specifically we - vocal in asking our readership to shop ve oF 7g were critical of developers (including ~ a cowboy poem) ers. However, Le?Lj Lease series of Letters.to the Editor that of. . our advertisers. Our commitment is -to what we perceive as the best inter- ests of our readers, not our advertis- VILL Lol PADS Td fe i WAS Lo a PO be (a Uh Ie PZ , eaTt /agkg So /, Yt Fide/fUS fede LE YsSLEae oT gd EAMBES LLL {BK of, Le? Jonas SUL.ULELe 7h PLA Leet" If we feel a story is important, we run it, regardless of which advertiser it may upset. Over the years, we’ve upset a developer who thought that a COURIER _ Special interests including those aving a Stick, But OPINION BY DAN STEPHENS ot Knowing Use It tracts, there is language similar to this contract’s, which states, “They involved in proving in a legal or arbi- damages.” If the county gives up its _ tration proceeding the actual loss suf- to withhold liquidated damages 159 days. The 159 days times $400 per day is some $73,600 in “liquidated. damages.” Be serious about deducting from the Soldier Hollow sewer con- - that. amount from the final payment (or performance bond) and my guess is big stick, the liquidated damages, it loses its most potent weapon to force the completion of the project. Giving up this tool shows that the commissioners and their counsel do not i own liberal figures, the date the project should have been complete was November 2, 2000. It’s still not complete, by my reckoning that is some 5 months (as of our publishing date) or he recent decision by the 4 County Commissioners not tractor shows, again, the weakness | of our County Commissioners. They just don’t seem to get it. Here you have a contractor that is WAY beyond a reasonable date to complete the project, and instead of using the _ “big stick” of a $400-a-day charge for that you'll get the contractor’s attention, 2) 2 oe The county appears to think that it is difficult to enforce a liquidated damages charge and if the contract is poorly written, it can-be. However, ‘take my word for it, given the language in this contract there is not a problem enforcing the charge for lig- (the contractor) also recognize the delays, expense and fered by OWNER difficulties | if the Work is not substantially complete on time. Accordingly, instead of requiring any such proof OWNER and CONTRACTOR agree that as liquidated damages for delay (but not as a penalty) CONTRACTOR shall pay OWNER $400 (four hundred dollars) for each calendar day that expires after the time specified in the above paragraph for substantial completion in the above paragraph for substantial completion until the Work is substantially complete.” “liquidated damages” to get the project uidated damages. In my 27 years in completed, they inform him. that “a decision has been made to abandon a the construction business I’ve paid claim for liquidated damages. Just complete the project so final payment can be made.” Yeah guys, tough talk like that will get the contractor off his duff and get the project complete. mostly to UDOT. I’ve always fought it is substantially complete or the con- and sometimes I won some extra. time, but I never won by claiming that _ the owner (the county in this case) tractor may be able to prove that at least part of the reason for the delay had to prove it was actually “dam- Come on guys, even using the county’s the county, or the engineering firm aged.” That is because in most con- < £6 ; , ’ : a8 my « of “liquidated damages,” ° contractor may oe apie to. make a good argument that the work in completing the work is the fault of hired by the county. But the contrac- @ : = ‘ share The . 5 : Sein Ne Be ee3) s é . . ° - ; 4,% me * 5 tor, understand signed the contract, how the construction industry works. It also makes me wonder about the engineers that rep- resent the county. The time to use this “stick” was last November. But better late than never. Further, if the contractor was truly negligent and willfully refused to vigorously complete the contract, then the county i is justifiably - entitled to the $70,000+ in liquidated damages. It is the duty of the commissioners, their counsel and representatives to protect and conserve the public’s money. This case makes. them look like incompetent pushovers, reluctant to enforce a valid contract and in the process protect the interests of the citizens. Fok NY hte eaeox > guest commentators. ‘Tf rhere S Sapiens that fires you up, send it to us.and we i Speak out. Let Wasatch County he the county didn’t suffer any damages and thus cannot withhold “liquidated | Be our Guest Commentator the Courier i is oline fe when clearly waived the right to argue that print it: know how your feel. > ~ Wasatch i Contity Couri ler 210 East Main street, Midway, oe (435 ) 654- 2531 fax or email: editor@wasatchcountycourier.com ~ we ESS accuse the Courier of being More recently we have had some inate the next week we aes a realtors withhold their advertising to large contract for advertising from chastise us for our series on cancer this same propane dealer. Last week in Wasatch County. Again, we see we ran a Letter to the Editor again these same realtors advertising critical of this same propane dealer. heavily in that other paper. Several Guess who cancelled their ad this weeks ago we ran a commentary critweek? We'll probably see the ad in ical of a local propane dealer.— that other paper this week. Look folks, this paper has never been run to promote the agenda. of When the Jordanelle Basin Owners Association ran a full-page color ad with us that, in our opinion, was a little disingenuous, we said so on Oy ove us or hate us, you can’t tartans — Freedom of Speech vs. Printing for Dollars |