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Show : WASATCH COUNTY COURIER _ September 14, 1999 COURIER EDITORIAL An Open Letter to Constitution recognizes this fact. If the county. But when we tried to get Derek TE | Mt I Pullan, the county attorney, to give us ) press isn’t allowed to question the validity of public policy decisions the — a definitive answer, we got no answer. public is left in the dark. If reaction to On August 31st, we dropped off a letthe formation of this paper is any inditer at Mr. Pullan’s office asking for cation, the public has a pent up desire some clarification. Specifically, we to know what their public officials are wanted to know whether the county commissioners got to decide up to. whether the county would pick up their own defense bills. If they do, it seems like an obvious conflict of interest. We also wanted to know whether the county’s liability insurance was going to pick up the tab or whether the taxpayers were After giving Mr. Pullan several days to our short quarter page of ques- tions we called to see if he had any— other AI -answers. We were asked by his secretary to make an appointment, which we did for the Se oo Uae he Lo i Lalu county. fine news organizations The Tee have in a right now your letter you the UPDES stated permit.” Ok, let’s see. JSSD is required to operate the plant to a level that meets UPCMC’s discharge permit but is not the “operator” because UPCMC must that the “article intimidated that the agreement United Park City Mines Company signed with JSSD a year ago somehow transfers our legal and financial obligation to clean the water that. continue as the “operator” to remain in compliance with its discharge permit. So flows from our Ontario No. 2 mine to instead JSSD is an “independent conresidents in the es area. This is ~ tractor.” You don’t operate the plant, not true.” but you are the operator. You do operate the plant, but you are an “independent At the risk of boring our readership to contractor.” Say what? Transfer of legal tears let me detail the agreement. First, obligation? Legal semantics to the conin discussions with officials at the Utah trary, it looks to me that JSSD is the Division of Water Quality I was told operator of the plant. that as a term of your Utah Pollutant Discharge Permit (UPDES) you are What about financial obligations? In required to be the operator of the treatSection VI, paragraph E. Indemnificament process and can not transfer liabiltion, it states, “Any fines, fees or penality for said operation. However, the conties assessed against UPCMC under the tract with JSSD uses the following terUPDES permit as a result of noncompliminology, “JSSD shall. operate the ance with the effluent limitations or Clarification Plant, as defined hereafter, other requirements as an independent contractor for tors -UPCMC and UPCMC shall continue as | peweuttee under the UPDES permit the of the UPDES per-. mit which are a result of JSSD's oS OPEN LETTER continued on page 2 eee Opinion by Keith Baker, Contributing Writer spin-doctors were out Could be they just want the Games to _ hurry up and get out of town so they can try to put their lives back together. Could be they hate the Olympics, but think they can’t do anything about it. _That’s a good reason to stay home. Mitt in force after the public meeting in Heber with Mitt Romney several weeks ago. Attendance was poor, only about 50 people once SLOC staff and their hanger-ons (Sen. Beverly Evans, a County Commissioner or two, the County Olympic Planing Officer, etc.) were subtracted. An article in The Deseret News said the . small crowd attending (their word) showed the “Mittfest” that “troubled Olympic times are mellowing... [only last] year folks around here still had themselves riled up enough to come out in numbers.” statement. - Note the innuendo in this It wasn’t SLOC’s - perfidy, bribery, illegal acts, wasting money, destruction of the environment, giveaways to its buddies, bloated budgets, and generally stupid planning that gets folks riled up. No, folks here in Wasatch Co. just rile themselves up for no reason, ~~ and now they’ve finally learned to . believe. How about ~ this, Mitt? Could be that people didn’t come: to your song-anddance because they knew that’s what they’d be getting. They have learned that SLOC is going to do what it wants to do, no matter how it damages the local community and regardless of what the local community wants. Could be that folks around’ here being SLOC think time are resigned to stuck with the Olympics and with doing things their way, and they there is no point wasting their coming to anymore meetings. SLOC answer: Not to worry, more people than Swiss Days. Solider Hollow’s future. _ Second:reason. Instead of building a sec- it’s no ond Olympic Village for the cross coun- - “'That’s two days in the middle-of summer try athletes in Wasatch Co., SLOC when -the traffic ties up every road recently changed the plan and is now between Park City and Provo, cars park going to put them in hotels. That will in yards, in fields, on the street, in the didn’t even serve refreshments, and last fill:up just about all the hotel space in year they had pop and cookies. ‘street, and on every piece of unfenced Heber Valley. It makes no difference to pavement and dirt for miles around. The Mittfests are a classic example of the hotel owners who pays them during Swiss Day’s with snow on the ground is what Tom Wolff described in “Mauthe Games, but it makes a big difference _ a prescription for gridlock. Swiss Days in mauing the Flack-catchers” ——- send to the rest of the businesses in Heber snow is going to be a monumental mess. some guys in pressed shirts with impresValley, such as. they are. The big sive job titles out to pretend to hear the _spenders— the audience— won't be SLOC’s plan seems to be to turn the public’s problems, then go home and do | able to stay in Heber Valley because the rodeo grounds into a giant parking lot what you intended to do all the time. jocks took all the rooms. Everyday after and ship everybody to Solider Hollow by This is supposed to make us feel good— the competition, the big spenders will go bus, on a shuttle fleet of several hundred that some overpaid big shot condeback to Park City or to Salt Lake— busses imported from Omaha. scended to dirty his hands with the ordi-. back where they are staying— to shop, nary folks for an hour. eat, drink, buy souvenirs, and party. People of Midway! Look at a map. That’s where they will spend their: There is only one road between Solider I suspect that a lot of folks around here money, not in Heber Valley. “Hollow and the’ rodeo grounds in hate the Olympics, and with good reaHeber— Midway’s Main Street. Do you son. There are too many reasons to-hate The big spenders will roll right through think Mitt plans to let you drive on your the Olympics to list them in one col-. Wasatch Co. in their buses and live it Main Street when he needs it for his umn. There will be more to come, but up elsewhere. They will eat, drink, sleep flotilla of polluting, fume spewing buses? let’s get started. and be merry in Park City or Salt Lake. Hang on to those survivalist supplies They will spend money like there is no First, SLOC gave Earl Holding, the sec- ~~ tomorrow in Park City and Salt Lake, | that you won’t need for Y2K. You’re ond richest person in Utah and a memnot in Wasatch Co. going to need them for the Olympics, ber of the SLOC Board, $18,000,000 to when you won't be able to get out of turn Snowbasin into a destination Not only has Wasatch Co. no future town for half a month. resort, and that assures Snowbasin’s after the Olympics, it won’t have any- ~ post-Games economic future. Then SLOC gave the State $40,000,000 for-a trust fund to keep the bobsled, thing except traffic pee Games. during the | SLOC ~~ gave Wasatch Co. $400,000 to assist with Olympic preparations. Now the — County’s Olympic Planning Officer wants luge, and skating rinks going after the Somebody at Mittfest asked how Heber Valley, pop. 11,000 was going to cope Games. SLOC took care of Davis Co., with 22,000 visitors a day for 17 straight that’s your money, not SLOC’s—mainly to — Salt Lake Co., and Utah County. SLOC days in the middle of winter. When it boost his entertainment budget. didn’t give Wasatch Co. diddly-squat for snows. This question got the usual one Water Treatment Plant obligated to Plant so that tunnel “does limitations of Who Wants the Olympics? | SLOC | 3 Apparently some county officials yearn for the good old days when the public was kept ignorant of county dealings, and they were free to do as they pleased without public scrutiny. So please Mr. Pullan, let the public know how the county plans to handle the legal fees and liabilities in this case. If not with the Courier at least with one of the going to get stuck with the bill. review | the agreement JSSD is operate the Clarification. the entire flow from the not exceed the effluent seat may not have obeyed the laws of the Agreement. In the the County to kick in another $200,000— think it’s worth it? Zw Do you Cees If this is the case, we don’t think it is fair for the taxpayers of the county to pay for the defense of individuals who District (JSSD) requires that UPCMC be operator for the discharge of water from the Ontario Drain Tunnel.” Later in Aas The following week we tried aeei to ~ get a hold of Mr. Pullan without suc- — cess. He would neither return our calls nor step out of his office when we came to visit him. We know we aren’t the most welcomed reporters in the valley. -- Few in county offices are glad to see us. But we do play a legitimate role in the formation of public policy. The US which - Last week you submitted a Letter to the Editor of The Wasatch Wave. In your letter you accused the Courier of “erroneous reporting” regarding articles in which we detailed the terms of United Park City Mines Company (UPCMC) and the Jordanelle Special Service sunt to us that he wouldn’t be able to see us until late next week. By SS whether the county will pick up the | defense bills for those county officials who were recently sued as individuals, not county employees, by 80 property owners in Canyon Meadows. If the ~ county does pay for their defense bills, it is our understanding that the county also assumes the liability for those individuals if they are found guilty. ans: Hank Rothwell ttt cancelled the appointment later that same day and had his secretary explain set For the last two weeks we’ve been trying without success to determine ial A Right to Know |