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Show The Newspaper Thursday, October 1, 1981 Page A7 ft 13 & y-j 7 Newspaper Q 4 A Bob Wells City has Afier four years on the City Council, Bob Wells said the city has done a better job of handling development than in the early days of its boom. The city has the mechanism now to handle growth and to ensure a water supply for the coming years. Wells is seeking a second term on the Park City Council. The candidate, who cited his private experience in accounting, resort management, man-agement, and real estate as qualifications, also commented com-mented on the following issues: Priority in the city budget, he said, should be given to basic services and special areas, like the new highway. He criticized the present Historic District Commission Commis-sion for working under guidelines that are too nebulous. nebu-lous. Wells said recent union reports of harassment in the city shops were a further effort to stir discord between labor and management. One of the most crucial areas is the city's ability to respond to input from the public. A great deal of thought, he said, has to go into the actions the city takes. Another major aspect to be considered is growth. The town has now developed basic regulatory devices that require developments to pay for themselves. "Our building build-ing and impact, fees are the highest in Utah," he said. &l attacks city's mismanagement Park City is an example of management by crisis. City statutes are confusing and contradictory. Money is being be-ing wasted during road repair projects. And city managers have not learned how to handle labor relations. rela-tions. Those are the contentions of Bruce Barcal, a candidate for City Council. Barcal's government experience includes in-cludes 5!4 years working at the city hall in Riverside, Illinois, where he advanced from administrative assistant assis-tant to city manager. Barcal said he was shocked shock-ed by what he found in city codes after just a minimal amount of research. To begin with, the city needs work to recodify their ordinances. The roles and duties of the city manager, mayor and council are dangerously ill-defined, he said. "Roles need to be clarified," Barcal added. "I've checked other cities like Bountiful and Sandy. We have one of the most ambiguous ordinances in the state." The city code is inconsistent inconsis-tent with itself, and with state statutes. "Using it, we will consistently end up in court battles." Another problem Barcal pinpointed was the city's handling of the Park Avenue construction project. The city was wrong to offer a $15,000 incentive for the contractor to finish on time. Specifications could be written writ-ten to impose a construction deadline, Barcal said in a Letter to the Editor, instead of offering unnecessary cash incentives. The project also cost the city money by changing plans in mid-stream. "It was approved for three inches of asphalt," said Barcal. "Now somebody decided it needed four inches." But the extra inch will have to be put on next spring. (Project manager man-ager Norm Dahle had recommended re-commended the project not be started so late this year, according to Barcal.) Next spring, he claims, it will cost the city $10-15,000 just to prepare the road to have the one-inch overlay of asphalt. "I had these figures verified by the Department of Transportation," he said. The new layer will also require street workers to raise manhole covers on the street, and hydrants must be adjusted. "Go down to Park Avenue now, and you see the hydrants buried behind weeds or dirt," he said. On top of everything else, the petrol compound that makes up the asphalt may leap in price. It jumped from III I m II handle on growth "and among the highest in the country." Three years ago, he said, the city was doing a fairly weak job of controlling the development; in the time since, it has improved. And it needs to continue, because the development devel-opment will not go away. "We have mostly private land in the area," he said, "and we are close to a major airport." The area is so popular, it is unrealistic to think there will be a drastic change in growth soon. Another way to oversee expansion, said Wells, is through the water development develop-ment fee structure, which was set up by the city two months ago. These fees can be used for water acquisition and development. The city has enough water for the foreseeable future, he asserted, and care is being taken to regulate its use. "We are in the process of building a telemetering system sys-tem which would chart the flow of water," he said. Along with such new monitoring, moni-toring, "we hoped to make people think of their overuse of water." Projects need funding But water is only one fundamental need Wells is concerned with. In allocating the budget money, he said, "We've got to be sure we can stand on our own two feet to provide basic services." After Af-ter that, the money must go to an important series of projects to benefit the communityprojects com-munityprojects like the $162 a ton last fall to $200 a ton this spring. The city must be money-cautious, money-cautious, he said, because even if it is glutted with revenues now from construction construc-tion impact fees, "the dollars won't be there in the future. "We have to be very careful to budget," he said. "We should start doing long-term budget projections based on assessed valuations." valua-tions." Barcal forecasts that Park City will become a bedroom community. "In that kind of neighborhood, you don't plan on windfalls in revenue." And it does no good to annex to bring in additional revenue, reve-nue, because new land also means new responsibility," he pointed out. Park City faces an immense im-mense challenge, but Barcal said it was enough trouble now with simple maintenance. main-tenance. "There are trash cans on Main, which I've never seen on a landmark street before," he charged. "Some nice decorative cans wouldn't cost that much more." The city could keep the street clean by washing it down about every two weeks, but instead, he said, they use an ineffective street sweeper. sweep-er. And the high-priced supervisors, super-visors, he said, don't keep the operations running smoothly. "The buck starts and stops with them." The city suffers bad publicity, because of mixups like the recent confusion over movie filming crews on Main Street. But clearly one of the biggest snafus, Barcal indicated, indi-cated, was the city's actions during the strike. Management Manage-ment was not able to handle the bargaining with the workers. "Someone can be a competent administrator but not do well in the negotiation realm," he said. In addition, the city's records were so bad that workers who were legally off work were fired. The firing was illegal by the standards of Utah Code. State law says that any proposition which creates a liability against the city must be carried out in open minutes, according to Barcal. Bar-cal. "Certainly the firing created a liability for Park City," he argued. Yet the firing was done in executive session. "They should have called an open meeting, made the motion there, and then taken the heat from the people," he said. Barcal also contends that City Manager Arlene Loble's pay package offered to the workers was not adequate. new state highway, a city bike path, and the acquisition acquisi-tion of land parcels. One oft-discussed project is low-income housing. Wells said it is hard for a city to maintain that housing unless it uses some sort of subsidy. He suggested three primary ways this is done: (1) The low-income project received federal funding assistance as-sistance from departments like HUD and FHA. "Those kind are going away now," he said. "Utah never achieved many of those anyway. And now those federal allotments are being cut in half." (2) Requiring a developer to give a certain percentage of his project to low-income housing. "This is at a testing stage right now, with projects pro-jects like Deer Valley and Park City Village." (3) Wells favors a method which doesn't ask for a percentage of a development, develop-ment, but has a builder contribute an equivalent amount of money to a city pot. "A city can be a landlord," he said. "It can directly control, hire a manager, and can properly maintain the area." Worker gripes exaggerated In discussing the recent city strike, Wells discounted allegations by Clark Puffer of the Utah Public Employees Employ-ees Association, who claimed the reinstated employees em-ployees have been harassed and humiliated. Puffer also 1 V Bruce As proof, he contended that when workers walked out, Loble had to hire replacements replace-ments at higher wages than what she offered the striking employees. He also said allegations of worker harassment, by employees em-ployees and Dr. Clark Puffer of UPEA, are believable. "Five or six workers individually indivi-dually told me the same thing that Arlene Loble told said they are being paid less than replacement workers who were hired during the strike. "I think this is Puffer's attempt to further agitate the situation," said Wells. "Partial truths have been purposefully exaggerated," Wells countered stories of worker gripes by pointing out that not a single grievance griev-ance has been filed since the return to work. If new workers are being paid more, he said, it is because they are filling the duties of their job categories more than the old workers did. The city had agreed a year ago with UPEA, he said, that job classifications would be drawn up. "A survey of silimar areas was conducted in good faith," said Wells. But the strike erupted when the workers decided the survey results were not fair. Historic guidelines nebulous Wells criticized the work done so far by the Historic District Commission. "I voted for it, though I wasn't particularly in favor of it," he said. "Any historical guidelines should be specific enough for everyone to understand. But the preliminary prelim-inary guidelines I've seen are very nebulous statements." state-ments." There is a danger, he added, of all the power falling to people who are non-elected and are not responsive to the will of the public. IT)' ' t ' ' Barcal them on the first day back to work that they wouldn't be there if she'd had her way," said Barcal. "And Dr. Puffer has a very credible record around the state." Barcal has no plans to oust Loble. "Termination is not the solution, whether it's the city firing workers, or the city firing the city manager." t . , .'.V ' 'iV. i 1 Bob A look back Wells is a native of Mississippi who has lived in Park City for the past 11 years. Before arriving here, he worked for the New Orleans firm of Arthur Anderson Associates as a Certified Public Accountant. His nine years in that job, he said, enables him to look on financial conditions in the city with expertise. Wells worked for the Park City Resort from 1971 to the middle of 1975 in property management. And from 1975 to early 1980, he had a partnership with the Moana Company. "My background in resort management and tourism helps me to understand under-stand the basic economy of the city," he said. He was in the real estate development division of the the Baha'i Faith Uniting the world . . . One heart at a time. A short presentation and informal discussion on the Baha'i Faith will begin at 7:00 p.m. Friday, October 2, 1981. For more information call 6497587. w I Wells Deer Valley Resort from August 1980 to March 1981. And since March, he has been a partner with developer develop-er Merele Huseth. His realty experience, he said, has helped him in working on the city's impact fees and water service fees. Does Wells face a conflict-of-interest as a developer on the City Council? "I don't think the conflict there is a different than any other conflict of interest; people just react more strongly," Wells said. "Someone who derives income from the activity of the city represents repre-sents that city better, as long as he is aboveboard and reveals any conflicts of interest. Kowledge of development devel-opment brings a needed "xpertise to the council." - r . ' . '- " " . J ""V " i -.. .. . jit V' !' 7 i 1 ' . j BRUCE DECKER I ' " As 1 I Park City Performances invites you to the gala reopening of the Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main Street on Saturday, October 10, 1981: champagne reception, 7 pm; performance, 8 pm. Join us for an evening of music dance and entertainment with: Hal Linden, PerformerTelevision A ctor Tauna Hunter, Principal, Ballet West Glade Peterson, Director Utah Opera Company Joe Muscolino's Little Big Band Park City Performers The Cast of My Fair Lady Tickets: $15, Park City Performances members $25, non-members Phone 649-9371 for reservations China Bridge Tues. thru Fri. 11:30 a,m. - 3.00p.mj f SPECIAL Chicken Chow Mein, nU fork Fried Rice $2.95 To my friends and supporters: VOTE AGAINST all Incumbents seeking election GREEN, WELLS, MARTINEZ, COLEMAN. I believe their past performance in office proves them unfit for public office. See my letter to the Editor for particulars. VOTE LARREMORE FOR MAYOR. I have personally met with Bruce Barcal and Bruce Decker. I know them personally and support their views on city government. I support them for City Councilmen. Mary Lehmer Park City Attorney Jan. 68 July 70 Park City Councilman 1972-76 1 I: For City Council A name you can Restaurant n mm Mm trust mm |