OCR Text |
Show 4 Engen Mountain SU position still future Southern Utah State College, contrary to widespread feelings of both local proponents and opponents, is not yet in a position to make a decision on the proposed Engen Mountain ski development. SUSC President Orville Carnahan made this statement to the college's Institutional College in its regular meeting Friday. SUSC, like the Bureau of Land Management and Utah State University, owns . land in the proposed resort area. All three would need to sell or trade their properties before the resort could be begun. Carnahan said there was a feeling among a significant group of people that the college should be leading the way to either establish or not establish the development. develop-ment. Letters to the editor in local media, and calls and letters directly to the college, have requested the college to take action on the proposal, he said. "The fact is that we have never been approached ap-proached with any formal presentation from the Engen Mountain people," Carnahan said. "The college has heard nothing and has nothing in writing." Institutional Council Chairman Frank Petty said one appointment had been made with resort developer Georg Har-tlmaier, Har-tlmaier, but Hartlmaier failed to keep the appointment. ap-pointment. The president still offered the resort planners an "open door." "As soon as we are approached," Carnahan said, "we will be prepared to put together the college position. We will not take a position until we have some of the facts." Carnahan did remind the council that it would have the power to approve ap-prove or disapprove the eventual college decision, and "because it involves a real estate transaction," tran-saction," the Utah Board of Regents would also need to approve the deal. The president also noted a previous Institutional In-stitutional Council opinion seeming to1 discourage outright sale of the property. "The bottom line is that the college is not willing to eliminate research projects," Carnahan said, adding that the council had preliminarily supported the notion of trading for property "as valuable and as accessible ac-cessible as the present property." Carnahan added, "I'm concerned that people think we are not doing our job (in deciding on the college property), but we haven't had a job to do." In other matters, the council decided to bestow honorary degrees to upcoming commencement com-mencement speaker Peter McDonald, posthumously to William 11. Palmer, and to Cedar City resident Lanell Lunt. It also voted rank advancements to full professor to: Dr. Merrel Jones, computer sciences; Dr. Larry Olsen, business; Fred Adams, theater arts; and Gary Giles, accounting. The preliminary fiscal year 1982 budget was presented to the council. The Utah Legislature appropriated $7.6 million to SUSC for the upcoming year, up nearly 9 percent from this year's budget. Some individual budget amounts for 1982 and increases over this year include: salaries, $4.2 million, up 6 percent; benefits, $1.2 million, up 6.4 percent; travel, current expenses and capital outlay, 1.2 million, up 9.2 percent; fuel and power, $600,000, up 19 percent. Wages, an expense-affecting expense-affecting mostly part-time, part-time, on-campus student employees, will remain at $316,000, unchanged from this year. The freeze in wage expense could result in the elimination of some jobs in the coming year, the council was told. In another item of business, the council approved the selecting of Mark Wright, a St. George accountant, as the school's new financial controller. |