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Show PAGE 16 SER EE THE ZEPHYR/SPECIAL ELECTION ISSUE..FEBRUARY 1993 when I got mad about them not taking care of the elderly at the nursing home, there wasn’t anybody down there at night. But because of that letter, they put an aide on at night. I had to go to a board meeting and I got called a lot of names, but the end result was there was an aide there at night from then on. And | don’t have any problem with that, I think I did a good job there. I could have done it better, without getting so angry, but it made me angry. My letter said it’s easy to make money when you are not providing services, and I got carried away there. With the hospital, it’s not back on the county yet. We still have the taxing for 1993, which will carry us through 1994. Unlike the county, we’re not on a tax anticipation kind of way with the hospital, the money we get one year will pay for the next year. We're going through a long range plan now where we're arguing about what form of health care does the community want and can afford. And hopefully over the summer we'll be doing a lot more involvement with the community to get feedback. Obviously, there are people like Delbert [Oliver, another at large candidate], and it’s too bad he’s not here, that we need it at no matter what cost, we need to be able to do all these kinds of things. But if you are going to do that, you are going to increase taxes, not maintain them, and people voted down a maintenance tax. I just ask, how can you ask people to increase taxes, which is what would happen if Delbert— I don’t want to stress that, but he said in the past, to expand health care here would cost a lot of money in certain technical fields. I think we could go in a lot of different directions and provide more health care for the community for our dollars than we are now, and _ that’s where I come from. We can expand services in the community and reduce dependency on the hospital, we're a health care district. John: You mean health maintenance, rather than putting the fire out when somebody’s sick? Peter: But it takes a lot to get to that step. It takes a huge shift in your focus, to become more involved in your community. Home health now has 3 or 4 employees, whereas 2 years ago it had 1 and a half. John: Home health care is important to us, I agree with Peter on that. One of the things that I feel is that a lot of people didn’t turn down the hospital tax because they thought it was a new tax, I think it was another area of protest. They didn’t trust what was happening, they were sending a message. I don’t think it would get turned down again if a new council got in, did some hearings on it, and studied it. Presented to the public again, I believe it would pass. Peter: We’re probably going to come back in November when the municipal elections are on the ballot. We would like to take the summer to begin that dialogue, because we do have a long range plan. Zephyr: We've seen the impacts of tourism. What can a county council do to deal with the impacts? And what are your feelings on planning and zoning? Peter: Tourism has a big impact, it’s not the biggest. The biggest part of the income of the county is annuities and retirement. Tourism is second. With those impacts, I think the county council can have a big impact. I think the way you can do that is to work with the BLM and the state. First of all, to get the [state and federal] lands traded, so that they are all under one regulation at Slickrock. The fact that there are state lands there and along the River corridor really holds back the ability of the BLM to deal with the impacts. Hopefully, the county council will pursue that. There are problems with that. When the federal government gets land, we lose state PILT monies, which could amount to a fair amount of money over the longterm. Hopefully, that will be dealt with also, by increasing the federal PILT payments. Our payments are based on permanent population, not on tourist population, which is probably half again as much as people living here. John: If we're talking about environmental impacts, the Blue Ribbon Committee was as close to a solution to those problems as anybody has come up with. In fact, I complained about the condition of the River Corridor 2 years about the same time the Blue Ribbon Committee was formed, and I was as responsible as anyone else who complained. That was before I lived here. If we're talking about impacts within the community, the city has raised taxes to mitigate the burden that the local property owner has to carry. But the impact has also helped the local property owners to some degree. We're already addressing the tourist impact on the environment with committees like the Blue Ribbon Committee, and I don’t know that we can do much more than try to attract enough of a service industry to support the tourists when they come. That would increase the tax base we have to deal with those inside the city. Peter: Planning and zoning has been an area that has long been neglected by the county. There are a lot of things on the planning and zoning books that aren’t even being pursued. You need to have enforcement of the ordinances that you do have. I would certainly be in support of working with the city to develop cohesive planning and zoning between the city and county, so that you have some continuity. I personally would like to see Highway 191 be the commercial area, rather than get too off the corridor and stuck out in these little places. The past commissions zoned a lot of areas commercial that should not have happened, areas along the River Corridor, areas past the equestrian center. John: I agree with the concept of Highway 191 being the commercial corridor. I also agree that we need a serious master plan that includes an overlay with all the different zones, and what I would like to see on the River Corridor is a combined effort between the different uses. I would like to see the upper part of the corridor, from Highway 191 up, used by river users, and I would like to see the lower part concentrating on camping and people who want to use the area for biking. That would separate the uses. That would be one way of alleviating some of the impact. I don’t think it’s a good idea to have another commercial area started in Professor Valley or sae 2 south 1st west (801) 259-6666 COLORADO Restaurant & Bar OUTSTANDING SOUTHWESTERN CUISINE AND MOAB'S MUSIC SPOT Castle Valley, or up on Sand Flats Road. That would be damaging to the area, damaging to businesses, and damaging to the overall feel of the community. Zephyr: What can the council do about the shortage of affordable housing? John: We can make it known that we are looking for a developer who is responsible and can present a feasible housing development, or two or three. There is money to be made in lowincome housing. Peter: Yes, there is a lot of federal support out there. There is the CROWN program the city is looking at now, and_ they are working through the housing authority for 8 units this year, maybe. And they are looking at a 100 unit Planned Unit Development. Zephyr: What can the county council do about improving education? Peter: With state PILT monies, the county has given 52 percent of those over to the school district, and I would continue that. I have been involved in the schools for 4 or 5 years, through Tina Brown and through the Arts Council, and being in the schools maybe once or more a month, and I can say they have made some progress. At Red Rock Elementary, there are probably 20, 25 in a classroom, which is much better than Salt Lake City. We have probably the fewest amount of dollars per student, but we go a lot farther with the dollars. We have a great superintendent of schools now, he is doing a wonderful job. I can see certainly see supporting him a lot more at the county level. I’ve talked with the College of Eastern Utah, I would like to talk to Continuing Education [Utah State Extension] and see what it would take to stop the squabbling between the 2 schools, sit down with the board of regents and see how we can improve our post-high school education: Look what Cal Black did for San Juan County. He did an awful lot for the schools down there as a county commissioner. John: T agree, and add that one of the ways of supporting the school board when they need help at the state level, and go with them with support. It would be moral support, showing community continuity. Zephyr: In one sentence, what is your top priority over the next 2 years? John: I would like to see a master plan and budget policy manual developed to get a handle on the county. Peter: That’s a good answer. The biggest need in the county is probably communications, and that would help, having a fiscal plan and accountability on a monthly basis, and have a planning process for future growth, but underlining that is communications between constituents and the government. aes J = Uf Po Bi 4 22—-— fii bY N aS G27 dh : y l —_ iL , [Pere Wis a 4 f Ws a vy : Wf Mie i‘i f (i, 2 A ff (| iif iz vA Yr ‘ as4, hey a ff yv PTE) ifs ohWM oy (j iy \“ ae) (Ne pr \N\ ee i) i 4 H Wi (apil nih \ ) HY yp Us pes RAL LM | ——- CEB Lp | \\ /, NX 36 5S. 100 saaliedWest * 259-4302 YY) > Ss — Sas ‘a |