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Show an By LVCINDA M. SCHUFT tions cannot be held on Thursdays and that the decision was made for a special election to avoid confusing the voters. It was a decision by the school board that the issue is strictly educational in nature and not political and should therefore be voted on alone. Last week the school district held a meeting to ask Olson for a public retraction of the statements he has made about the district. The district had prepared a list of alleged inconsistencies in Olsons handouts. School people said he was making criminal allegations against elected sun Writer - " Voters will decide FARMINGTON today whether the Davis County School District should be allowed to collect 3 mills on a voted leeway. The issue has stirred a number of people on both sides as the school district is struggling for the second time to pass the measure. There have been accuastions throughout the district thrown back and forth between the opposing sides. The Utah Taxpayers Association has voiced many concerns and has come out against the measure. Jack Olson, spokesman for the group, has been a major concern to the district. He said the district is being underhanded in holding a special election instead of putting the issue on the November ballot. There also has been concern voiced by residents about the cost estimated at $10,000 of holding the special election. The district answered the charges by saying there is no law that says elec officials. Olson did not retract his statements, and he also did not release a list, as requested, of the members of his organization. He said it is a private organization and there was no need to release the information. Olsons main charges have been that the district does not need the money and it is holding the election to confuse voters. He said on his handbills, that the district is not in the financial bind it claims. He also said that holding the election on a Thursday will not serve to separate the political and issues but will rather serve to ensure a low voter turnout. The district also admited it has evidence people are more favorably disposed to vote yes on Thursdays than on Tuesdays. Behind all this there is still the issue. The voted leeway. A voted leeway is a tax increase that will give more funds from property taxes for the school district. If the district receives the voters approval today then it will be able to obtain matching funds from the state for the monies raised through the leeway. The cost to taxpayers will amount to approximately $21 for a $60,000 home. The voted leeway calls for a tax increase. If the measure is passed the Board of Education is authorized to raise the mill levy up to three mills. The level could be adjusted by the board. The district is asking for the leeway for several reasons. Lawrence Welling. Davis County Superintendent Leeway Tday budgeted the federal funds only when they were received, not on what they expected to receive, as Davis has done. said, Weve had two things hit at once. First, over the last few years, federal funds have been decreasing while the same time costs have been going up. Ronald Stephens, administrative assistant to the superintendent of Weber School District, said his district was caught in the same situation a year and a half ago. It also called for a voted Stephens said the governors proposed 2 percent cut will have quite an effect on the districts that dont have the voted leeway. They dont have the surplus in the budget the districts with the leeways have. Welling said the voted leeway will provide protection from the erosion of the districts programs. The district, in order to meet its budget this year, had to cut back and eliminate some programs. A parents committee evaluated some of these cuts, in a report made before the board, will hurt. They included reduction in the number of teachers and an increase in class size, the string program in elementary schools, the charging of athletic fees for participation in senior high sports and the cut in library aide hours. Down the road things may not be any better, said Welling. The voted leeway, he added, would keep things leeway, which was defeated. He explained the situation in Davis and Weber districts. Some districts benefited from the federal 874 funds given to districts impacted by federal installations, he said. It is the loss of these funds thats prompted Weber and Davis districts to seek the funding from another source. Stephens also said many of the other districts in the state already have a leeway in effect. Davis, Weber and Tooele did not need a leeway with the federal impact funds they received, he said. He also added that Weber may be in a better situation than Davis because it at the level of current times. He said the leeway vote would give the board a continuing base to use for planning. It would give them something they could count on in view of the fluctuating federal funds. The leeway is aimed at helping with the building and maintenance portion of the budget with the represent ongoing expenses of the district, he said. That budget covers equipment, main- teachers, heating, lighting, tenance work and supplies. Welling said many factors will play a role in the distribution of the funds if the measure is passed. There are many factors that impinge on the decision, he said. The school board will do the best with what they have, he said, and if the leeway passes theyll make more decisions. Welling said that even if the federal impact aid funds come through as outlined a few weeks ago by Representative Gunn McKay there still will be no effect on the issue. Index Business Classified Economy Res levs Editorial Home 1 Serving 29,000 Families From Roy Through Centerville No. 6 -- 13 10 IB Using School Thursday, October 2, 1980 Sports 13 14B-15- B 11B Obituaries Centerville Cleorfield Clinton, Eost loyton Farmington, Fruit Heights, Kaysville, Layton, Roy, South Weber, Sunset, Syracuse, West Point Vo I. 12 8B-11- B 4B-7- B Helps Veterans, intends Career By MARILYN KARRAS Staff Writer Keith Gwilliam has no ROY hobbies. His chief concerns in life are career with an extension of a the U.S. Air Force and an interest in fellow veterans. Gwilliam is an American Legion man. His membership means much more to him than a simple fraternal the Legion, Gwilliam has found a way to work to improve his community and his country and the condition of life for millions of affiliation. Through Legionaires from Utah to serve as national vice commanders. The last man to represent Utah in a national post was Dr. Edwin Peterson of Logan, who served 13 years ago. Gwilliam is proud of the Legions accomplishments in the areas of veterans affairs, energy, children and youth, and foreign affairs. e Three Legion lobbyists work with Congress to get legislation passed to help veterans and advise the Foreign Affairs Committee. full-tim- fellow members. Gwilliam is a charter member of the Roy American Legion Post 139 and, since 1964, has held every local office in the post. In 1967-6- 8 he served as vice commander for the state and in 1968-6-9 he was commander for Utah. He served on the national emblem sales committee for eight years. In August, Gwilliam was elected lot on the southwest corner of Fairfield Road and THIS NINE-ACR- E Gentile in Layton is to be the site of a new Smiths Food King and Drug King and an adjacent group of stores. Some Layton business people are Meiretosmufo Upsetf Over Layton Bound on Proposal national vice commander at the Legions national convention in Boston. In the national post, he will help direct Legion activities in 13 western states, including Alaska and Hawaii. Ive found the Legion covers almost anything a person could want, Gwilliam said. We get involved in helping youth and children, getting programs for the veterans, and using our experience to help influence foreign affairs. for-Smith'- - As one of five vice commanders who help direct the activities of 3.7 million men and women involved in the Legion, Gwilliam will do a lot of traveling during the coming year. His home at 2478 W. 6000 S. will be just a stopping-of- f place for Gwilliam and his wife, the former Barbara West, as they visit various posts throughout the West. Barbara has been with me throughout everything Ive been involved with, Gwilliam said. Most of what he has been involved with has been the military. Gwilliam, a native of West Point, joined the Army Air Force in 1943 and served in Europe until 1946 when he was married and went to work at Hill Air Force Base. In 1947 he and his wife moved to Roy where they have lived since. During World War II, Gwilliam worked as a mechanic in England, repairing and modifying bombers. In 1951 during the Korean campaign, he was recalled into the Air Force and this time to again sent to Europe crew chief as served he where France, and engineer. He was involved in ferrying men and equipment through Russian-occupie- d land from Munich, Germany to Vienna, Austria. In October 1952 he was discharged and returned to Hill. From 1954 to 1958 he worked in logistics at the base, in weapons support system projects with the Bomarc unmanned interceptor missile. From 1958 to 1961 he was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with the testing program for Bomarc. Beginning in 1961 he worked with the Mlnuteman missile at Hill until his retirement in 1976. For the past three years, he has been employed by a food distributing company in Ogden. Gwillian is one of a select group of complaining that the city is subsidizing Smiths to the detriment of other businesses by agreeing to issue Smiths an industrial revenue bond which has a lower interest rate. bond request by JDA Properties, the development company which plans to build the shopping center at Fairfield and Gentile. The council indicated then it was denying the revenue bond request because JDA and Smiths had assured it previously during a land rezoning hearing that all necessary financing for the shopping center had already been obtained. Ann Harris, president of Laytons Chamber of Commerce, wondered Tuesday why the council had reversed its decision, maintaining nothing had changed regarding the bond request except that Smiths owner Dee Smith' had allegedly threatened to sue the city if the request was not granted. She admitted the threat of a lawsuit was just hearsay but said it was rather common knowledge that he threatened to sue if he didnt get his way. Mayor Lewis Shields, City Attorney Bruce Barton and Councilmen Lynn Wood and Kent Randall all said they had never heard such a threat, By NANCY LYNN KRZTON Staff Writer A number of Layton LAYTON merchants are upset with the Layton City Councils apparent decision to approve a $2.5 million industrial revenue for Smiths Management Corp., claiming issuance of the bond will give Smiths an unfair advantage over existing retail stores in the area. Smiths wants the bond to finance construction of a supermarket and drug store at a proposed shopping center on the southwest corner of Gentile Street and Fairfield Road. vote two weeks ago, the In a council indicated it would sign the bond resolution when it was officially presented if all financial requirements outlined by state law had been met. tax-exem- pt KEITH GWILLIAM The Legion spends millions of dollars each year on a program for han- dicapped youth, the Special Olympics, initiated by the Mrs. Robert Kennedy. Thousands of high school students each year attend Boys State and Girls State for a crash course in political science sponsored by the Legion. Gwilliam counsels boys at the conference each summer. It was a proposal from a Legion 4-- 0 A formal resolution to approve the industrial revenue bond will be considered at tonights council meeting. Many Layton businessmen say they resent the councils seeming reversal on the bond issuance question, because member in Utah that eventually several months ago it voted 2 to turn became the nations first energy down a $10 million industrial revenue legislation, Gwilliam said. 3-- . however, and Smith corporation For Business District Agency to Seek Federal Funds ROY The Roy Redevelopment Agency will seek federal funding to help finance improvements to the citys business district, Roy City Manager Richard Kirkwood said Wednesday. There is a possibility the city could qualify for funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Kirkwood said. He recently attended a HUD workshop in Orem where small cities grants were discussed by HUD representatives from Denver. The grant would be used to stimulate economic conditions in Roy, Kirkwood said. He said plans for the loan application Kirkwood also said the redevelopare still very tentative. The citys redevelopment will be a ment agency is still negotiating with multi-phas- e process, according to Kirk- wood, combining efforts of the city, the agency, federal funds, an organization of local business owners and managers, and private investors. Larry Smith and Company Ltd. of Palo Alto on a contract for a market analysis of the Roy area. Three are still some areas that are uncertain in the proposal, Kirkwood said. He said a contract should be ready for presentation to the agency Tuesday. Kirkwood said the California company has assigned C. Everett Steichen to work with Roy on the study. He said Steichen was largely responsible for the redevelopment of Tooele Citys business district. Tooeles mayor recommends him There are some restrictions on a small cities loan, Kirkwood said. But it doesnt seem so restrictive that we couldnt have a good chance. He said the deadline for applying for a HUD grant would be Nov. 15. We should have some more concrete information by the next City Council very highly, meeting Tuesday, Kirkwood said. 1 Kirkwood said. s counsel Tom Welch said the rumor was entirely incorrect. Most merchants are upset because the city is, in effect, subsidizing Smiths Food King so it can obtain a lower rate of interest, noted Robert Hales, president of the Fort Lane Merchants Association. Im not opposed at all to Dee Smiths coming into the area. The only thing Im opposed to is subsidizing a competitor of ours by allowing them to receive a substantially better in- one turned down by the council. He said the granting of bonds to and other retail stores had influenced his vote on Smiths request, and noted that Smiths would still have to pay a higher interest than for its industrial anyone in town revenue bond because interest rates have gotten so high. I think it was the general feeling of most of us that some of those wed given bonds to sold the same products as terest rate. Smiths and that it would have been a Welch told the council two weeks ago biased, prejudiced decision not to grant that private financing of the store Smiths request, said Councilman construction would cost Smiths 15 Randall, who also voted no on JDAs percent in interest, compared with 10 request and yes on Smiths. Another dispute has arisen over percent interest on an industrial revenue bond. He said his company had Smiths plans to build its stores before not intended to seek a revenue bond, but JDA constructs its adjacent store had been forced to by soaring interest space. Welch said JDA is unable to rates. proceed with its part of the project I urge the council to adopt a policy because of a depressed financial of not giving bonds to any retail store in market, but he indicated in a telephone interview that building a shopping competition with existing merchants, Hales said, noting that the council had center in stages is quite common. trapped itself into granting Smith's City Planner Scott Carter maintained request by earlier approving revenue that the conceptual plan of the proposed bond requests from and shopping center presented by JDA and Smiths last year did not spell out the LaBelles, both retail operations. Mrs. Harris, indicating she feels the fact that it would be built in phases, cbuncil has opened a Pandoras box however. and cant really stop now, said inIf they were anticipating phases, dustrial revenue bonds were created to they should have said so, Carter Continued on page 2A bring industry to town, not to finance retail development. I cant go out and borrow that kind of money, she charged, referring to the low interest rate obtained by Smiths. Councilman Wood, one of two council members who voted against the JDA bond request and for Smith's bond, said there was nothing to stop other retail businesses from applying for revenue bonds, however. The city doesnt determine that they (other businesses) can't get it, he said, adding that any applicant would have to be financially sound, of course, and that the number of applications would have to be within reason. Wood said it would be unfair to single out one person in the city and deny his request for a revenue bond, pointing out that JDAs petition had been the only Reviewing The News CLEARFIELD Enthusiasm and interest in the students mark the efforts of one junior high school teacher who recently has been honored by the Utah Foreign Language Association. David Miller, who teaches French at North Davis Junior High School, has experienced success as reflected by students, the principal and associates. A Lakeside Review reporter took a camera and sat in his classroom. Her report appears on page 8B. r |