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Show I ' 4 ror- I I 1 1 l h Newspaper Ik Hi- tf?J?l Vol. VIII, No. 26 Dr. Brian Schiller Lobbying pays off for city You could almost hear the sigh of relief in Park City last Thursday when the 45th general session of the Utah Legislature came to an end. The city had survived. An attempt by Utah County Republican Paul Rogers to have local option sales tax revenue redistributed 50 percent by population had never made it past first base. A bill by Davis County Republican Ute Knowlton which would have severely undermined the authority of the Redevelopment Agency was revised to the point that it was almost tolerable. Meanwhile, the city had managed to tap a couple of revenue sources which could bring an additional $800,000 to $900,000 into the city coffers. As discussed by the Park City Newspaper last wekk, the big potential revenue increase comes from House Bill 85, the Resort Cities Sale Tax Bill, which will allow Park City and two other Utah towns to increase their sales tax by up to one percent. According Accor-ding to educated estimates, a one-percent one-percent hike could bring the city $800,000 a year. Thanks to some heavy lobbying by Park City officials and support from Rep. Glen Brown and Sen. Glade Sowards, the bill passed the House by a 48-16 margin and the Senate by 16 votes to five. According to Park City Mayor Rossi Hill zone by Kick Brough The Park City Planning Commission will hold a hearing next week on a proposal from a group of Rossi Hill residents who want their street down-zoned. down-zoned. Advocate Mary Wintzer said the proposed change for McHenry Drive rezoning it tor just single-family single-family residences is needed to maintain main-tain a distinctive neighborhood. But a skeptic, attorney Jim Kennicott, said the proposal is not only unconstitutional, uncon-stitutional, but it will encourage large houses that violate both Park City's history and its current planning needs. The request applies to Blocks 59, 60, 61 or that portion of McHenry atop Rossi Hill which travels in a north-south north-south direction. At this writing, the Historic District was scheduled to discuss the proposal on Wednesday. But no news from that meeting is available yet. Wintzer said the city should change the street from Historic Residential r n si n i I U H (TO Vt I J ' ' I i 4 i ; I m I !ti if V' PN, ) s-i k Jack Green, Utah Gov. Scott Matheson has indicated that he plans to sign the bill. Now it is up to the council to decide how much of the one percent increase it wants to take, and what other tax adjustments ad-justments to make at the same time. "I don't know what we're going to do now," Green said Tuesday. "I'd like to see our property tax mill levy reduced a little bit, I'd like to see it reduced a lot, but that's not possible." The other revenue increase comes from Senate Bill 109, which reallocates liquor law enforcement money according accor-ding to a complex formula based on the number of liquor outlets, population, the number of DUI convictions, and the presence of local jail facilities. Green estimates that Park City's revenue from this source could jump from $1,900 a year to about $68,000. i In place of the Paul Rogers plan to redistributed 50 percent of the local option sales tax by population, which would have cost Park City several hundred thousand dollars a year in revenue, the Legislature passed a compromise plan (HB 13) which proves for a gradual redistribution of sales tax revenue by population without penalizing communities like Park City which currently benefit from the point-of-sale distribution arrangement. . viiich anows, duplexes; to a classification that will allow only single-family dwellings. Under the proposal, the recommended lot size for a single house would be equal to two city lots ( 3750 sq. feet). She contended the area is mostly single-family with large parcels. Her own lot is 8000 square feet, she said. "The Alvarezes (Helen and Matt) are on 11,000 feet." Of 13 houses, one is a duplex, and six are on lots of 6,000 feet or over. Wintzer said her group wants to maintain the area, as opposed to the multiplex look in other parts of Old Town. "We look across the canyon and see the horrible mistakes there! We don't want that in our neighborhood." There are twenty different property ownerships in the area, she. said, and half of those support the downzoning. The rezoning proposal also calls for the following: A 20-foot setback for housing. Wintzer Win-tzer said most cars are 13 to 18 feet long. "On a 15 loot setback, you would ViSVlS. "i Jto. W. JjjiXftt vSJti. iji Calendar A15 Classified .... B13 Limelight B6 Sports ThursdayiMarch 17, 1983 Dismissal of principal brim aegry response by David Hampshire After two years of relative tranquility, Park City's middle school has once again become the focus of a battle involving parents, teachers administrators and board members. In, the center of the controversy is Dr. Brian Schiller, popular principal of the Treasure Mountain Middle School, who was informed late last week that his contract with the Park City School District would not be renewed for the 1983-84 school year. The news came in a letter to Schiller from Dr. Richard Goodworth, Park City's superintendent of schools. The contents of the letter quickly became public. "You have been advised of and participated par-ticipated in discussions concerning problems with reference to your performance," per-formance," Goodworth's letter said. "Because of time deadlines, the Park City Board of Education has directed According to City Attorney Tom Clyde, the Park City Redevelopment Agency will feel some impact from the revised version of Ute Knowlton's Neighborhood Redevelopment bill. But he said it will not destroy the effectiveness effec-tiveness of the Agency. The Knowlton bill stipulates that the agency boundaries must be reduced to 590 acres (Park City's now stand at 1,850). Clyde indicated that this reduction reduc-tion could be accomplished without destroying the increment financing base of the district. "It's a major reduction in land area, but I don't see it as a significant reduction reduc-tion in assessed valuation," he said. The Knowlton bill also stipulates that, for projects not already funded, the agency may only use the tax increment in-crement from a 100-acre district. "That will make it tough for us in the future," he conceded. The bill also redefines blight, but Clyde said that should have little impact im-pact on Park City. The bill includes one other significant provision: that all of these new restrictions may be waived, if there is agreement between all the taxing entities affected. It also stipulates that redevelopment money may not be used to construct public facilities. Clyde indicated that there had been some discussions about building an auditoriumconvention change askec have a car sticking three feet out into a road." The problem would be especially bad in the winter, she said, when McHenry is reduced to a one-lane one-lane road. The roof height would be lowered from 28 to 25 feet. "That's a protection for everyone," she said. The nearby American Flag subdivision will hold some of its houses down to that height, she added. A prohibition on nightly rental and timeshare would be placed on the area. Speculators will attack the proposal, she said, "But when maximizing their properties will devalue our property, I don't know why a few people should make a killing and I mean a killing of our neighborhood at the expense of everyone else." Jim Kennicott is one person who doesn't like the proposal. Requiring single houses on large lots, he said, "is an invitation to further destruction of the area by large mass. The neighborhood neigh-borhood is already overbuilt." Kennicott Ken-nicott represents two clients who own Bl Tube Times . . . . B9 Viewpoint A2 r me to give you notice that your contract con-tract with Park City School District will not be renewed ..." Goodworth goes on to say that the board is willing to continue to evaluate Schiller's performance and, depending on the outcome, to reconsider its action. ac-tion. Schiller's dismissal comes two years, almost to the day, after the resignation of his predecessor, Dr. Otis Falls, during a period of considerable staff unrest at the school. The year before Falls' resignation, the school had been the center of a debate over the dismissal of two untenured teachers. (For more background, please turn to Teri Gomes' column on page A3 ) . When news of the dismissal spread, parents of middle-school-age children quickly came to the support of Schiller, who has developed a reputation as an innovative and dedicated ad center, in conjunction with the school district, using Redevelopment money. "That's no longer possible, so I think we've lost some opportunities there." He was asked whether the Knowlton legislation may help pave the way for a resolution of the disputes with the school district and fire district. "We're negotiating a settlement right now with the school district," he said. "I think it will probably pretty much solve our redevelopment problems with the fire district and allow us to get things resolved with the school district too." Green gives much of the credit for the favorable legislation to the efforts of Park City's corps of lobbyists which included, at one time or another, himself, him-self, all five members of the council, the city manager, the chief of police, the chief building official and the executive director of the Park City ChamberBureau. Green estimated that he and coun-cilwoman coun-cilwoman Helen Alvarez spent three or four days a week at the Legislature during the session. "We took a bunch of amateurs and, by the time the session was over, they were all professional lobbyists," he said. He was asked whether the Resort Cities Sales Tax Bill would have passed without those efforts. "Oh, hell no," he said. 10,500 feet of property in the area. The large masses do not fit with the historic mine-shack look of Park City, or with the city's recommended guidelines for smaller houses in Old Town, he said. "In addition, Bill Ligety has figures that show small houses sell better," he said. "The number of people affected by this change is so small that it constitutes con-stitutes spot-zoning. That is the only kind of zoning that is clearly and undeniably un-deniably unconstitutional." He also objected to the roof limitation. "You're going to have trouble building a house downhill with that height," he added. The city planning staff has not made a recommendation. But Planner Bill Ligety said the residents aren't "asking for something way out of bounds." He also said a 3,750-foot lot size was still rather small. The Wednesday hearing with Planning Plan-ning Commission begins at 7:30 in the Marsac School Building. PageBS fft lTA-T Mush puppies on the move. - -- ? ,.. v in school ministrator. One of those parents, Steve Holcomb, organized an impromptu impromp-tu meeting of parents Sunday evening at Prospector Square. "I just got a room and contacted personally about 25 people who I thought were ready to die over this," Holcomb told the Park City Newspaper. The meeting got some added publicity when a camera crew from Salt Lake's Channel 5 showed up. Although the parents asked the crew to leave, the story did make Channel 5's 10 o'clock news Sunday. Park City's local media have been flooded with letters and fihone calls. The issue has generated more mail at the Park City Newspaper than any other issue since the 1981 city bond election. A petition expressing support for Schiller quickly attracted about 450 signatures (it is printed on page B5 of this issue). . The board has agreed to place the issue on the agenda at its next meeting, scheduled for next Tuesday atSp.m. "We fully intend to have more people at that meeting than voted in the last school board election," Holcomb said. Blair Feulner, general manager of KPCW, said Wednesday the station planned to broadcast the discussion live. Gary Avise, president of the Park City Board of Education, said Schiller's performance has been discussed in a number of animated executive sessions over the past several weeks. Although he would not reveal the substance of those meetings, he acknowledged that the board as a whole had no complaints over Schiller's handling of the curriculum or his rapport with the middle school staff. "There are some areas of his job performance that are excellent," he said. "He is, in some areas, the best administrator in the district. But we must evaluate him on his whole performance. per-formance. There are other areas that are not as visible. "There is a relationship between the administrators that, if it's not harmonious, har-monious, could affect the education of all the students." Although Avise could not recall the dates of all the executive sessions in which Schiller's performance was discussed, he did remember one particularly par-ticularly lively session that took place Jan. 4. From other sources, the Park City Newspaper has learned that, at the Jan. 4 meeting, Goodworth gave the board a written evaluation that included in-cluded the recommendation that Schiller be placed on remediation (probation) for the remainder of the school year. While Goodworth gave Schiller credit for his innovative leadership, he also criticized him for failing to follow district policy. He gave a couple of examples: Schiller was late in completing his evaluations of middle school teachers. He had failed to follow the instructions instruc-tions from the Board of Education that the fifth and sixth grades be kept separate from the seventh and eighth grades. Goodworth's evaluation also said that he was being led to believe that "Dr. Schiller has, either directly or indirectly, in-directly, encouraged his staff to ignore district policy," specifically as it related to the recently-established grievance procedure. "I am led to believe from meetings with the (teachers') association leadership that Dr. Schiller has also attempted to divide his staff from the association and has caused turmoil within the ranks of the staff within the Park City School District ..." "Furthermore, it should bi pointed out that he has indicated to certain members of the public that the con 4 "r--asi Two Sections, 28 Pages district dition is now one of a choice between him or the Superintendent. Such cannot can-not De positive in establishing a working relationship. The evaluation goes on to say that Schiller does not seem committed to "the routine handling of matters which have to be considered very critical and important. "For example, last summer we supported sup-ported his trip to England, yet at the conclusion of that time he did not return immediately. He spent additional ad-ditional time out of the district, when he should have been on the job assuring that his school was readv to go." Goodworth also asserts that Schiller has established "a rather close personal per-sonal relationship with one of the board members ... I would encourage him to review that social relationship to assure that it is always kept on a purely social level." In a memo dated Jan. 24, Schiller addressed the concerns brought out in Goodworth's evaluation. To some of the charges, such as missing the deadline on the teacher evaluations, Schiller admits he was at fault. To others, such as his "personal relationship" with a board member, he admits nothing. "My relationship with friends is my business and only my business," he shot back. In response to Goodworth's charge that he had failed to separate the older and younger students, Schiller argues that the 5th and 6th graders are in the 7th and 8th-grade wing for "facility-dependent-classes (such as art and science) only." He dismisses as hearsay Good-worth's Good-worth's allegation that he is trying to circumvent the district's grievance procedures. And he scoffs at Good-worth's Good-worth's contention that he has joined the turmoil among the middle school staff "I believe I can say there is no turmoil tur-moil within or among the Treasure Mountain Middle School staff. We are quite together." Schiller tries to poke fun at the implication im-plication that he is a source of unrest among the staff. "No, it is not true that on October 8-11 8-11 I was in Poland advising Lech Walesa on strategies for Solidarity. As a matter of fact, I was involved as consultant con-sultant at a special beverage tasting test at Lake Powell." He concludes by saying that it was his intention to work cooperatively with the superintendent and the board. "If the board, in its wisdom, chooses not to renew my contract, 1 request that I be given all necessary due process, that I be notified early so that I have the opportunity to apply elsewhere, and that I be given in writing all reasons for my nonrenewal." non-renewal." On March 10, the board complied with that request. Schiller was given his walking papers along with a performance per-formance plan which, according to Avise, spelled out the reasons for the board's decision. "I think we have gone the extra mile to provide guidelines for Dr. Schiller,'' Avise said. He indicated that the board actually made the decision two days earlier, on March 8. At 4 p.m. that day, before the meeting began, an evaluation of Schiller by 19 of the 21 faculty members mem-bers of the Treasure Mountain Middle School was delivered to the district offices. of-fices. In that evaluation, Schiller was given high marks for, among other things, providing creative leadership, having a rapport with the faculty, maintaining a creative school en-.Tonment, en-.Tonment, and encouraging innovation in-novation by the staff. Avise said the evaluation never reached the board. "That's the first time I've ever seen it or even heard about it," he told the Park City Newspaper Tuesday. gs |