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Show "CR PRESORT -174 16-2.f t 123199 Vn7H u'lP ssociAnof '0 W ?00 iltmt, Lt, UI 8-1101 "5C7 Gift of hearing. ..page 14 Neola man arrested . Holiday budgeting. ..page 11 ..nare IS Wrestlera win du ITettes in top five. pge 19 Coloring Express online: www.vernal.com Single Copy 50$ WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1999 Vernal, Utah 84078 107th Year No. 49 20 Pages Chefk Inside 777 vwam wr (SDi)tati ireonewaD odd qpestio by (LflGE By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor Uintah County Education Association claims that the Uintah School Board violated Utah's Open Meeting law when it renewed the contract of Superintendent John Gawrys for two yean. The action was approved by the board at 12:30 a.m. Dec. 1 after the board went into executive session for personnel reasons. The executive execu-tive session went past midnight, after a full regulation school board meeting agenda. The public portion of the meeting was reopened and the renewal of the contract was approved by the board. The contract renewal is not mentioned on the agenda and the action was taken under the "Other business" item on the agenda. "The Uintah School Board has clearly violated the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act by renewing Gawrys' contract with no public notice and no opportunity for public input," states Spencer E. Austin, UCEA's legal council with the law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer. "The Act specifically requires public bodies such as the UCSB to give "not less than 24 hours' public notice of the agenda, date, time and place of each of its meetings," said Austin in a letter to the school board. The Uintah School Board published pub-lished an agenda prior to the meeting, meet-ing, but there is no indication on the agenda of discussing nor renewing of Gawry's contact. "We would like to have some input on the decision," said Jeff Taniguchi, UCEA president. "The public should have had the opportunity opportu-nity to have some input." "Why was it approved at such a late hour with no public present?" asked Gil Limb, board of director ofUEA. Board member John Busch said the superintendent had requested, for personal reasons, an early decision deci-sion from the board concerning the renewal of his contract The board does not have to take action on the Proposal! wiDB dloybDe size of care ceonfter di&oirDirDg ipHnase one By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor The Uintah County Commissioners have $3.3 million to begin the expansion of the Uintah Care Center. Up to a half of a percent sales tax increase is proposed pro-posed to raise the remainder of the 5 j! - taw CfSMi" Christmas tree cutting is open season as light snow and mild weather weath-er makes it easy pickings for a nice tree. superintendent's contract until February. His present contract docs not expire until July 1, 2000. Busch said the renewal of Gawrys' contact was discussed in executive session and any public input concerning his contract would also have to be handled in executive session. Busch said the board has just completed a two-month evaluation of the superintendent's performance. perfor-mance. "People I've talked to have been supportive of him, he is on target with everything we as a board have asked him to do," Busch said. Another school board member polled teachers' and administrators' reaction to Gawrys' performance which was evaluated in the board decision. "I cannot tell you the response from teachers and administrators admin-istrators because that is a personnel issue that should be handled in executive session. "If we have to go back into another anoth-er public meeting to ratify what we have done, we will do it," Busch said. "We weren't trying to hide anything." A year ago Gawry's was given a vote of "no confidence" from the UCEA and "that vote still stands." said Gil Limb. "Moral is low and teachers are being verbally attacked." "We are operating in an atmosphere atmos-phere of fear," said Marsha Foresgrcn, UCEA , r;.JoiU . and teacher at UHS. "The district is becoming the area of last resort for new teachers. We have some fine new teachers, but if they had the option, they would be somewhere else." "When I become president of the UCEA, I w anted to portray a more friendly and trusting relationship to the board. But you cannot develop trust by operating in the middle of the night," said Jeff Taniguchi. "We will initiate litigation unless the UCSB holds, by Dec. 31. 1999, a fully publicized public meeting to discuss the renewal of John Gawrys contract," states a letter to funds. Total cost of the expansion, which will more than double the size of the present facility, is $7.5 million. The county has received $500,000 in a grant and a $2 million, 3 percent per-cent interest loan from the Community Impact Board. A- -y the school board from the UCEA attorney. Members of the UCEA presented a Proclamation the school board last month to join together to approach the Utah Legislature "to gain better funding for the students of Uintah County." The proclamation called for small class sizes, great opportunities for one-on one discussion with educators, educa-tors, textbooks in the classroom, safety in the school and a certificated certificat-ed educator in the classroom. "Even on this time request, the board tabled any action, but yet they hurriedly renewed the superintendent's superin-tendent's contact," said - Marsha Forsgren. Busch said he wanted to make some changes in the declaration before it was approved. "I agree w ith many of the things in the declaration, dec-laration, but it didn't give the district dis-trict credit for what it has accomplished." accom-plished." "We have worked hard to provide textbooks for students. Yes. teachers teach-ers need more money, but if we are to join together, we need to be a part of the formation of the declaration," declara-tion," Busch said. The UCEA represents nearly 95 of all the teachers and adrninistors in the Uintah School District. The vote on the motion by Busch to renew the superintendent's contract, con-tract, during the midnight meeting Dec. I, was Stacy Stewart, Busch and Wendy Mathis in favor and Tod Tesar and Michael McKee opposed. School board president Mike McKee said the board will hold a special school board meeting Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. at the District Office to review the Superintendent's contract con-tract "It think a better way is to do things up front, but I don't know the intentions of the rest of the board," McKee said. McKee said the superintendent's contact will be on the agenda and there will be time for patron input, but the board would like to keep the meet to one hour. County's population is getting older Additionally, the Showalter family has donated $800,000 to the improvement of the care center. The county has retained Sahara Inc, a Salt Lake consulting firm, to prepare pre-pare a needs assessment, architectural architec-tural program and final budget for the proposed facility. Ken Shulsen. consultant, said that by the year 2000 the number of people in Uintah County over 65 will be 6.3 percent By the year 2020 those over the age of 65 will increase to 7.7 to 8 percent "The county's population is getting get-ting older," he said. On Dec. 2 there were 52 resident sat the Uintah Care Center and there has been a w aiting list of 15 to 20 people for the past 15 years. Currently there is a waiting list of 29 people. Based of population growth, Shulsen recommended building a 102 bed facility which would provide pro-vide for area through the year 2010. A 135 bed facility is recommended to meet the need through the year 2020. The consulting firm recommended recommend-ed building on to the present facility. facili-ty. To replace die existing building, it would cost the county about $5 million. The building is in good shape, but there needs to be so me improvements to the roof. The expansion would require 6 to eight acres of additional property. " .) u - O I) ; -. nxi O 1 - i 'J u pc? a Snow finally hit downtown Vernal tree was donated by Eddie Mock Fire fighters reach Four firefighters from the Uintah County Vernal City Fire Department have completed all requirements and testing for Utah State Fire Certification as The county is presently negotiating the purchase of the property needed for the care center expansion. Cost of operating a Care Center that will be more the double it present pre-sent size, under phase I of the proposal pro-posal would be about 40 percent more for employees. It would require the hire of 30 employees at the center which would put the total staff at 110. Commissioners promised a open forum on the Care Center expansion "in the not too distant future." Before the count)' can increase the sales tax by up, to one-half a percent per-cent it has to be approved by a vote of county resident The increase is project to generation about $1.5 million a year. The increase would be 50 cents tax on a $ 100 purchase. "With sale tax, the people that come out here from other areas and spend money will help pay for the care center expansion." said Commissioner Cloyd Harrison. The Uintah Care Center is one of the few county -owned care centers in the State of Utah. Construction of the facility w ill be design build rather than design, bid, build, said Keith Sorenson. Sahara. This method of building w ill expedite expe-dite the project, is less costly and allows local contractors to work on the project, Sorenson said. Show and put a frostly coat on the community Christmas Tree. This year the of Maeser. It came out of Mock's front yard. Firefighter 1. They are Lynn Runolrson, Ron Gardner, Anrico ( Rick) DelRa yand Jeff Melancon Lynn Runolfson has also completed complet-ed all requirements and testing for Utah State Fire Certification as Instructor 1 . Each firefighter must pass a written writ-ten test and a skills test of 15 core subjects that include fire hehakr, HazMaU firstaid. rescue, sahage, personal safety, and fire ground tools, and procedures. Members are tested upon knowledge, knowl-edge, doing the job safely, and within with-in a time limit. Aimed! robbery susspeCwS arrested! As a result of a joint investigation, two males were arrested and will be charged with the Nov. 21 armed robbery of the Gotta Stop store in Ft. Duchesne. The armed robbery was initially investigated by the Uintah County SherifFs Office assisted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Utah Highway Patrol. Last Thursday members of the Uintah Basin Narcotics Strike Force were working a case in Duchesne and Uintah counties which developed devel-oped information on the identity of the suspects who committed the armed robbery. Law enforcement officers interviewed the suspects, and they reportedly confessed to the crime. One of the suspects will be charged federally and the other w ill be charged by the state of Utah. It was determined that $1,600 and three cartons of cigarettes were goals The training usually approximately approximate-ly 140 hours of class room and skills training. The training has been done at various sites through in-house training and off site training train-ing with the Utah Fire & Rescue Academy at Orem, Utah. This brings the total of 22 certified certi-fied firefighters on the department of 25 members. Two of the newest members have completed their HaMat testing and have taken the written test. With die skill testing in the spring of 2000. They are Da id Turner and David Merkley allegedly stolen in the armed robbery. rob-bery. Through the interviews, detectives detec-tives and BIA investigators identified identi-fied the suspect who allegedly injured the store clerk. Arrested for the offense were Phillip T. Garcia. 30, of Ft Duchesne who will be charged federally fed-erally and William Sanchez, 19, of Whiterocks, who will be charged in state court. The robbery w as reported at about 10 p.m. Nov. 20 when the store clerk notified the County Sheriffs Department that two suspects wearing wear-ing dark clothing entered the store brandishing handguns and demanding demand-ing all the money. The clerk was taken into a back room the store and beaten by the suspects. The suspects fled the scene on the scene on foot. Copy! |