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Show i IWfirpwTTnnnnnrt Page A2 Thursday, April 10. iqst.n . Glorified billboard?: Communication is the key to solving kiosk controversy feiosfe: a small light structure with one or more open sides, esp. as a newsstand or a telephone booth. Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary What is a kiosk? Or, more importantly, should a kiosk be staffed? That is the central question involving the city council's recently voiced ire about the visitors information kiosk at the entrance to town. The council is irked about the kiosk, because it is not what members expected to see. Councilman Tom Shellenberger and others view it as no more than a "glorified billboard," and say it is not an adequate first impression of Park City for the visitor. A look at the history behind the kiosk can shed some light on its evolution. About a year ago, Bill McComb and John Miiller went to the city council, saying visitors should have a better greeting station than the Top Stop on Highway 224. A visitors information center should be built, they said, so visitors can stop and get face-to-face information about the town, its lodges and attractions. But that idea escalated into a proposal to build a fullblown full-blown office structure to house the ChamberBureau staff. That idea was abandoned, and Councilman Jim Doilney joined with McComb to convince the ChamberBureau board to use for the visitors center a log cabin that needed to be moved from a project at which McComb had been employed. The council was asked for $37,000 as an emergency appropriation ap-propriation in early October 1985 to add a deceleration lane to Highway 224 (so travelers could safely turn off the highway) and a parking lot for the information center. The state required the highway work to be completed com-pleted by Oct. 15, officials said, so if the council wanted the kiosk in by ski season, action was needed now. The council complied. After the lane and parking lot were built, the trouble began. Jim Doilney, who had been acting as the city council's liaison with the ChamberBureau on the information center, left town in late October for an extended vacation. vaca-tion. During his absence, the issue blew up. The ChamberBureau executive board balked at the purchase pur-chase of the building, and the controversial issue was referred to the full board, which defeated it by a narrow margin The board did not want a staffed center and Editorial opted instead for a three-sided, open-air billboard type of display. Both McComb and Doilney say the defeat of the issue was influenced by politics. McComb was among four candidates that emerged from the primary during the hotly contested 1985 municipal election. But whether that is true or not, one fact is indisputablePark in-disputablePark City still does not have a functioning visitors information center. Doilney said the log cabin could have been moved on site and have been ready to go by Thanksgiving. But the simple, three-sided kiosk still is not ready, and the ski season officially ends Sunday. Now, the council is considering taking the matter into its own hands. Council members are considering either earmarking $30,000 of the city's grant to the ChamberBureau and requiring it be spent to build a staffed information center. Or the council may just withhold that much of the grant and add it to the city's Capital Improvement Budget to build a visitors information informa-tion center as Shellenberger suggested recently. The council may have the right to feel betrayed, but it must be noted council members relied on a hazy verbalization ver-balization of a plan. Members saw the log cabin, but no assurances had been given that the ChamberBureau would buy the building and staff it. No firm plans were drawn. No contract was signed. In short, the council did something as a body that its members would likely never do individually hand over money without getting the specifics in writing. Buyer's remorse? Certainly. But that often occurs when one does not specify and get guarantees of what one is purchasing. Communication appears to be the key to this issue. Doilney, who was acting as a liaison for the city council, was not in Park City to represent the city during this crucial vote. Perhaps the council should have designated another member to act in his stead. And perhaps the council, in the future, should deal with the ChamberBureau on a more businesslike basis to assure that it gets what it believes it is paying for. That way, when everything is understood, no one can get mad. ameaaBiaaoniM cm IFdDD0 ttDne ERiB(B(iDnoail Do you plan to take a vacation away from town after the ski season ends? . i Barbara Rapp Yes, I'm leaving like everyone else in town. I'm going to Chicago to see my family, then to Mammoth for a wedding. 7 " 1 U V. .-" v..-.-..'" Joan Ceccarelli No, I'm not leaving now like everyone else. But at the end of May, I'm going to Hawaii. ft f 'f II - Rachael Rutley I'm going to California for two weeks to see my brother and sister, then it's back to Ocean City, Md., for the rest of the summer. if J vj i h f A'- "u Laura Ilambrick I'm going to go down to Zion's Park in Southern Utah. I hear the flowers are beautiful there this time of year. : it 3 M Bryce Miller I'll leave if I win the lottery. 3 - ' T iiiij-wrti Sally Green I'm going to go to Hawaii in a few weeks. The Park Record (USPS 0037-8370) is published weekly by the News Record Publishing Co., Inc. Second-class postage in Park City, UT 84060 POSTMASTER: Send zddress changes to The Park Record, 1070 Bonanza Dr., Suite 202 P.O. Box 3688, Park City, UT 84060 Entered as second-class matter, May 25, 1977, at the post office in Park City, UT 84060, under the Act of March 3, 1897. Published every Thursday. News tips The Park Record welcomes news tips, day or night. 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