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Show Page Two - The Springville Herald - July 30, 2003 g dhgg(i3s a mil nmmy EDITORIAL Springville is having a Bond Election on Tuesday, August 5. Will you be one of those who take the time and, effort to go to the polls and cast your ballot? A large amount of people voted in the recent Red Devil Mascot controversy. A small amount voted in the last municipal and national elections. How much do you care about the issue at hand in this special city election? The city is proposing to bond for new city buildings, and or a Recreation Center, and or an Aquatics Center, or none of the above. We have heard citizens say that if we vote for a bond then we will never see the end of it. They will just keep putting more things on it. That is NOT true. You can only bond for the specified project, and bond monies can only be used for buildings and facilities, not for salaries or maintenance. mainte-nance. When the bond is paid off, it is retired, over, finished. ' Also, the cost to each household for the bond will go down as more people move into the community. And that is going to happen whether we like it not not. Even the smallest city along the Wasatch Front is experiencing major growth! There might be other ways to enlarge City Hall and retrofit those buildings that do not now meet the building codes. When the present City Hall was constructed, plans were to add a second story. Maybe that could be done now along with a retrofit for earthquake proofing the facility. The same is true of the present Public Safety building. It needs lots of work and they need major more spaceMThe Police Department is bulging at the seams. We no longer have a couple of patrolmen. Offices and storage have been made in every available spot in the present building even the old holding cell. The city needs now and will need in the future a satellite fire station at the east end by the canyon and in the West Fields. We have now grown enough to realize this need. In the near future we will probably have to consider paid firemen and not a volunteer squad. That takes more space. As for the library, it is very much in need of more space. AH you have to do is sit outside and count the number of patrons who go in and out of that facility all day long. What are we going to do about that problem? If citizens use the library, then it is apparent that the city has to provide the services. Maybe there is another way to meet these NEEDS, and they are NEEDS. Springville does have problems, but so does every city around. Payson and Spanish Fork have a PCA longer than Springville. We are not the only ones asked to conserve water. There is a drought in the state in case you haven't noticed. - - - - If citizens have ideas, they should go to the city and offer their suggestions. Those on the city council are just citizens like you and me trying their best to meet the NEEDS with the growth in the city all the while hoping to keep this a wonderful place to live. .., IPs about rator! Editor: When you consider the current set of problems that plague our city's water situation, situa-tion, not only is it ridiculous but also irresponsible for us, as a city, to consider this proposed bond in the amount of $20,000,000 to upgrade city offices and build a community com-munity rec center and pool. A city's primary responsibility responsi-bility is to first provide the basic needs of its citizens: sewer, WATER, power, roads, law enforcement, etc. Let's take care of these basics first. Last week's editorial in this newspaper stated that the city council is only doing what the citizens of Springville want. I don't buy that. If the citizens are properly informed of the problems as they currently exist, their desires will change from a community rec center to fixing our anemic ane-mic water delivery system. I'm all for recreation but first things first. I also don't buy the rheto pnngutilp HfralJi (USPS 5 13-060) Published Weekly by Art City Publishing Co., Inc. 161 South Main Street Springville, Utah Publisher............... Martin W. Conover Editor ....................... Patricia Conover Periodical Postage Paid in Springville, UT84663 Postmaster send change of address notice to: The Springville Herald, 161 S. Main, SpringviHe, UT 84663 Subscriptions in Advance per year $20 Out of County Subscriptions per year $23 -Per Copy 500 delivered by carrrier, per month $2 Member Utah Press Association ric coming from some of Springville's leaders regarding regard-ing our drug problem and that it can be helped, if not eliminated with this proposed rec center. Lets try to be a little pragmatic. This is not going to fix the drug problem nor is it the genesis of it. As a city, lets get back to basics. We must deal with the problem prob-lem that is currently affecting everyone in this city, WATER! WA-TER! If we're going to borrow $20,000,000 lets put it toward a secondary water system. We can worry about these other, far less critical issues later. Craig Pickering Springville The kindergarten system of preschool education was designed in 1837 by Fried-rich Fried-rich Froebel, a German educator. Most hot springs result from water passing through or near recently formed, hot igneous rock. Editor: We urge all Springville residents to vote "Yes" on the first bond issue on the ballot to build new city' offices because we believe Springville needs a library that can adequately serve our large and growing community. communi-ty. Our library of 9,000 sq. ft. is inadequate for our city's population of 25,000. To serve our current needs, the library should be 30,000 sq. ft., according to national standards. Consider the following facts: 1. In the last five years, circulation has increased in-creased 90. 2. In the last two years, computer use has increased 104. 3, Shelving: A. Most libraries don't use the top and bottom shelves because it is hard for patrons to reach them. Our library uses all the top and bottom shelves and in some places has added an extra shelf. Along the wall they have items on top of the shelves where they were never meant to be. B. Most libraries keep their shelves only half or more full so there is room for items as circulation fluctuates. fluc-tuates. In our library most City needs more water Editor: There are times that it is important to distinguish between our "wants" and our "needs." with the upcoming vote regarding the special bond election, this is a time to decide between these wants and needs. The growth and the drought have taxed the ability of the city to provide adequate ade-quate water for the needs of the population. I can "exist" without recreation,, but not without water. Bonding to provide an adequate water system seems more justified at this time than bonding for recreation. s 1 Jim Whiting " Springville Springville Police report Springville Police had 281 calls last week with 42 of them for animal problems. They charged two male juveniles with curfew violation viola-tion after they were caught having poured gasoline on the road in the Industrial Park with the intent of lighting light-ing it on fire. Estella Tracy Argyle, 290 W. 300 South 3, Springville, Spring-ville, was cited for assault. Jason Edward Bloom, 95 S. 100 East 2, Springville, was arrested for two outstanding warrants and driving on' a suspended license. Jerry Lee Farrell, 140 W. 100 North, Springville, was arrested for a warrant. A male juvenile was cited for curfew and possession of alcohol by a minor. Scott G. Harris, 360 W. 400 North 24, Springville, was charged with theft of services (power). Kimball Alan Millet, 219 E. 4695 North, Provo, was arrested for intoxication and a warrant. war-rant. Curtis Bean Madsen, 2085 S. State, Springville, was charged with interfering with arrest and obstruction of traffic. Patricia Lyn Spauld-ing, Spauld-ing, 2085 S. State, Springville, Spring-ville, was charged with obstructing justice. Thomas Cody Sean, 4502 W. 9600 South, Payson, was cited for furnishing tobacco to a minor. There were two auto burglaries. Taken were $260 from one vehicle and a JVC CD player from another. The T-Bone was broken into and cash taken and things messed up. thefts included a purse from a home; cell phone from a cycle; purse from a shopping cart at Wal-Mart; license plate; three chairs and umbrella from a home; and cash from a planner left in a cart at Wal-Mart. Two homes were egged; windows were broken in two vehicles and a road grated; a home was toiletpapered and shelves are full and any overflow goes on the floor in the aisles which is a hazard. Non-fiction for Young Adults must be inter-shelved with the Adult non-fiction to save space. And for every Young Adult novel added, one must be discarded. D. Children's CD-Roms, CDs and Audio cassettes are shelved so high that children cannot reach them safely. Circulation Story kits and holiday items are stored in an office. Children's books in Spanish are stored in a hall. E. When the library was built there was no space to house audio books and videos. vid-eos. They have since acquired ac-quired an extensive and heavily used collection of audio books and videos. 4. When the present library was designed and built, there was no space or consideration made for computers. com-puters. Today's libraries use computers extensively for the staff as well as for patrons. Computer use is great enough that the library needs to add more computers. There is no room to do this. 5. Circulation desk: A. Use of two of the three checkout terminals requires CGMMENX Take chance on earthquake Editor: May I speak out as a senior citizen on a fixed income and in behalf of others in the same category. When I came to Springville Spring-ville 50 years ago, I was proud to call Springville my home. It was a choice place to live. It still is, but it's getting so I can't afford to live here. When our population was 7,000, two men ran the city office. As the population increased, two or three more employees were added. Now they say we have four times the 7,000or 28,000. Yet, we have eight times , the number working in the city office. Why can't four times two (eight people) run the city office? If we have four times the population, it stands to reason we should get by on four times the employees. We don't need a bigger buiding. We. are overstaffed and need to dismiss about 20 employees. If we have a city manager government, we don't need a mayor. If we want a mayor, then let himher and the council do the job and get rid Will not vote for city offices Editor: I am a concerned home owner in Springville. Two years ago we built a home in Sunrise Ridge. We landscaped land-scaped extra nice expecting to have a beautiful appearance. appear-ance. I know that water is scarce and we are in a drought. I also believe in supply and demand which Editor: In Springville, the city council is proposing to float a $20 million bond for the construction of new city offices, firepolice offices, library and city waterrecreation park. Before any votes for this enormous bond are cast, I believe a question and answer an-swer period ought to be opened to the public wherein the public (taxpayers) would be able to see the total indebtedness in-debtedness of Springville City. . Questions that may be considered are, first, are these facilities needed right another shot with paint balls. Persons got on the roof of the Brookside School and cut all the water lines leading to air conditioner units. Pm MtfaMs off flm patrons to block the entrance to the library. B. The desk is situated in such a way that staff must have their back to the service counter. C. The check-in counter is situated in such a way that staff must have their backs to the service counter. D. The sorting shelves are in the service area rather than in a place where the public could browse. E. The sorting carts block public traffic areas. F. There is no place to display flyers or booklists. 6. At busy times patrons have complained that there is no place to turn around in the library. The children's programs overflow into the adult area, and whenever programs are held, the fire code suggestion for maximum maxi-mum occupancy is exceeded. 7. According to library standards, the Springville Library collection is smaller than it should be for our size population. There is no room to increase the collection to meet these standards. As Springville continues to grow, the library will need to add more to its collection. There is absolutely no room to do this! of the city manager. For many years I sat through every city council meeting, reporting to the newspapers on the coming and goings of this city. In may opinion, the new bond request is the most ill-conceived ill-conceived scenario that Springville City has ever had. So the buildings are old. So the swimming pool will soon be outdated. If this is the rational thinking of the council and city manager, what do they think the buildings build-ings and rec center will be like in 30 years? They will all be old and outdated by the time the bond is retired-if retired-if it ever is. Since the council has left the wording of the bond open-ended, saying they can add to or whatever they deem necessary, we will be paying on that bond forever. It's foolhardy to raze our buildings because they are not in "seismic compliance." They were when they were built. What's more, there is not a building or house in this city that is in "seismic code." The present uniform Springville City is not prepared pre-pared to do. They are over built for the supply of water they can produce, yet they continue to take $8,500 from the new home owner to build in Springville. If I had known about the lack of water, plus the low water pressure, I would not now? How are the architect fees going to be controlled? At a meeting this month, a person representing one architectural company only wanted $750,000 to draw up complete plans. He didn't even include plans for the library proposed to be funded at over $2 million. How many times will the council authorize punching another hole in the ground seeking to find sufficient water for the growth of the city? (Several hundred thousand thou-sand dollars invested in wells that are woefully inadequate.) Why is the council artfully artful-ly dodging the valid suggestion sugges-tion to provide a secondary water system for the city? Especially when they require new development to have secondary water systems installed and ready to use. Why doesn't the council 8. There is limited parking park-ing at the present building. 9. Interest rates are at an all-time all-time low. 10. Construction costs are low right now and will only go up. . ., . i For most of us individually, individual-ly, the yearly cost incurred by the bond for the city offices will be less than the price of a month's Internet Or cable access, yet together we can create a legacy for our children and grandchildren that will show our community's com-munity's commitment to literacy, education and lifelong life-long learning. ; : Please join us in voting "Yes" in support of i the library, listed on the ballot as the "public safety, library, city hall and municipal court center." S Alison E. Craig ! Marshall R. Craig David and Martha Sargent Christine E. Swisher Max & Kolene Knight , Cary & Paula Hylton , Gideon & Karen Burton, Scott & Luann Hawker , Pat Garcia ; Kevin & Katy Skinner John S. & Sue Harris Lance & Jacqui Larsen Christine & Stephen Tolman Craig & Kerstine Hart ; PAGE building code was passed in the year 2000, and it's likely to be changed again and again as the years go by. If and when an earthquake comes, we all take our chances chan-ces together. We have ever so many more employees, yet the quality of city services has decreased dramatically. And our utility bills keep going up, up, up. u, Whatever happened to the city's spring and fait cleanup when we could get our trash hauled away? It cost me $20 to take a few empty cardboard card-board boxes to the disposal unit. And the "water cops" make me feel like I'm in Nazi Germany. Open your eyes! We don't need another bond. We don't want another bond. We don't need another tax. We don't want another tax. We don't need another debt. We don't want another debt. A "yes" vote is a vote for more BONDAGE, more TAXES and more DEBT. A "yes" vote is a vote for FOREVER TAXES. Vote NO on August 5. Oneita Sumsion Springville have built in this town. Springville City is up for a bond election for new city offices in August and they expect us to vote in favor of them. At this point I wiD vote against all new : city offices until they serve therj-residents therj-residents better. j Bruce Peck j Springville ' call in one of the most expe; rienced water managers in the state to counsel with him on an easy way to have a secondary water system? He lives in the city. ! i t Are they aware that the "water park" will likely have an evaporation rate each day that would provide the needs of an average house and family? ,' Is the city council aware that in this city of trees, fifty year old trees will die around churches, etc. because of watering restrictions imposed on watering lawns? Finally, why doesn't the city get it's financial problems prob-lems zeroed out before obligating obli-gating the taxpayers to support sup-port a bond floating contest. Leo J. Lee Springville |
