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Show Naples to be part of recreation plan Pam Beyers, Vernal City recreation director, and Jack Seitz, Vernal City councilman, appeared before the Naples City Council Wednesday night to ask Naples to participate in the talks that will soon begin to coordinate recreation programs in Uintah County. Ms. Beyers explained the facilities throughout the valley are now saturated. Programs are full and there is demand for more. The question is, what to do? A couple of months ago talks began, originated by the Uintah School District, to include the new high school in future recreation plans for the county. coun-ty. It was felt that since the high school will need facilities, it would be unwise to build them without considering community activities as well. If the county residents would participate in some way to help build and maintain facilities at the new high school, everyone would benefit. At that time Naples City was approached ap-proached to participate in a committee commit-tee to study the situation and make recommendations. Naples refused, saying they did not see how such a program pro-gram could help Naples. The committee commit-tee went ahead without Naples and supplied three possible recommendations recommenda-tions at a joint meeting of the Uintah County Commission and Vernal City Council on June 8. Those recommendations recommen-dations were to leave the situation status quo, which would leave Vernal City bearing the brunt of the programs, pro-grams, to provide county-wide recreation recrea-tion under the direction of the Uintah County Commission, or to create a County Recreation Taxing District. The taxing district is the option now getting the most attention, and this is what the discussion with Naples City Council centered around. There have been claims that such a district would not raise taxes, since the entities now levying taxes for recreation would no longer need to. The district would simply pick up taxes dropped by the other entities. However, some people are bound to pay more taxes for recreation than they now are. For instance, in-stance, Vernal City residents are now paying for recreation to the city, as well as to Uintah County. Those residents would not see taxes raise. However, Naples City does not have any tax of that nature, although residents do pay county taxes. Those residents would probably pay higher taxes if such a district is established, even though Naples would continue to levy no tax. However, Naples residents are now using Vernal City recreation programs without paying taxes to Vernal City. A recreation district is created on a county-wide basis by the county commission com-mission or by a petition containing 10 percent of the registered voters in the county. Once the district is created, the taxing process must be accepted by voters. This is done in a general election. The district could not tax w-ithout voter approval. Dr. Seitz explained to the Naples Council that no decisions have been made to do anything. They are just now in the planning sl;iges, arid the recreation district has not yet been ap proved as the most acceptable alternative alter-native by either the Vernal City Council, Coun-cil, nor the Uintah County Commission. Commis-sion. Those two entities are to meet July Ju-ly 13 to discuss the situation further and decide if and how they want to proceed. pro-ceed. Dr. Seitz said they want Naples to be a part of the entire process, and that is why he and Ms. Beyers were approaching them. The Naples City Council expressed concerns about the creation of such a district. One of the major problems that must be addressed is a definition of "recreation" and just exactly what will be included in the taxing district. Will the county fairgrounds with rodeos and horse racing be included, or will it simply be programs now existing ex-isting under Vernal City's recreation programs? Dr. Seitz said these are questions that have not yet been addressed, and will be part of the talks which will commence shortly. Rolene Smith, Naples City coun-cilwoman, coun-cilwoman, said, while she supports such a district, there will need to be rules and regulations drawn up in a legal manner by which the district will be operated in order to avoid problems at a later time. This could also contain the district within certain boundaries as to what it will and will not become involved in. Mrs. Smith said some of the advantages of such a district would be to involve the greatest number of people in programs they desire to be involved in and it would also keep conflicting con-flicting programs to a minimum. A major problem, which has not been addressed specifically as yet, is who will comprise the board to govern the recreation district? The three cities in Uintah County, Ballard, Naples, and Vernal will all he represented, and there will also be members elected. The suggestion has been made that each entity choose a member anyway they like, either by appointment or election, and that two independent members be elected on a county-wide basis. This process would allow for input from the cities, and the general public as well. Mayor Kay expressed reluctance to the idea unless there can be a surefire way to distribute the money equitably. Mrs. Smith suggested that the committee com-mittee and board be made up of people peo-ple other than council members from any of the entities involved. She said there have been times when things have gone wrong just because of the friction between the people involved. She said she would like to see this proceed pro-ceed without that kind of problem. The Naples City Council agreed to send representatives to the next committee com-mittee meeting and be a part of the planning process. Norman Merrell. who is Naples park committee chairman, chair-man, has been appointed to the committee com-mittee and another person will be appointed ap-pointed later. The committee will meet following the next Vernal City-Uintah County meeting on July if both governing bodies of those entities also decide they want to see the planning stages proceed. Decisions of any nature will not he forthcoming in the near future. r |
