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Show r ' Si if "6 stir i'-'i I: LUanrol br i(B(B(DMl so OUU iiA. Vol. 1 10, No. 9 32 Pages, 3 Sections Thursday, April 6, 1989 To balance budget Group advises water rate hike TTTn by HEIDI WEST Record staff writer An ad hoc citizens water review committee has recommended cracking crack-ing down on abusers and raising rates to help the city's ailing water budget. "The water fund has not been self-supporting self-supporting through rate and overage fees for years now," said John Lind, assistant director of Public Works. He showed city council members a chart of deficits Thursday which the annual water budget had accumulated ac-cumulated since 1983. Those debts had been paid through water connection connec-tion and development fees, he said. To make the city water department depart-ment self-supporting, members of the committee decided monthly rates for water, as well as fees for initial in-itial hook-up and fire protection, should increase. Most customers are charged $10 per month for their first 10,000 gallons of city water now, but if the committee's recommendations are adopted, that will rise to $12. The fee for using more than the alloted 10,000 gallons, called "overage," will also increase from $1.15 per 1,000 gallons to $1.37. Council member Kristen Rogers asked committee representative Ruth Gezelius why it had not proposed propos-ed increasingly steep costs for increasing in-creasing overage, since that might have promoted conservation. The subject had come up, but had Chamber to combat employee shortage by SENA TAYLOR Record staff writer Park City ChamberBureau officials of-ficials are beefing up their campaign cam-paign to attract next ski season's employees, on the heels of worker shortages which crippled local business from Christmas through February. Greg Goodwin, economic development develop-ment director for the Chamber, said this year's dismal work force eased in February after the problem was publicized by the media. Goodwin hopes new tactics to draw employees will eliminate the chance of that happening again. "We want to try and mitigate the shortage that we had last year," he said. Such tactics include setting up recruitment booths at ski equipment expos held on college campuses, negotiating with the U.S. immigration immigra-tion service to authorize 100 temporary tem-porary work visas, and publicize employment at job fairs in the Salt Lake Valley. The Chamber also is installing in-stalling a toll-free number for job prospects to call. Goodwin feels the campaign can be focused more clearly on potential employees following a recent survey of local employers and seasonal workers, which has provided the the Chamber with a "profile" of the average worker, the average salary and the location the workers live. "We got a wide range of answers back, and now we are interpreting those answers," said Goodwin. But he said preliminary findings show that wages are higher than anticipated an-ticipated $6.36 per hour for ski area and lodging employees; and average ages are higher 31 to 40 instead in-stead of the expected 25- to 30-year-olds. The survey found that the average schooling per seasonal employee was higher than anticipated, with most having completed high school andor college. "They also had higher aspirations than we thought they would have," said Goodwin, noting workers who had not completed com-pleted their education generally wanted to return to the classroom. Of the jobs in Park City, 85 percent are full-time, and 57 percent of those are seasonal. About 42 percent are permanent, year-round Jobs. The survey found that employees were Informed of work positions through friends, by walk-in requests, re-quests, and through newspaper advertising. Most said they chose to work in this area because of employment employ-ment opportunities and winter recreation activities. "We felt we shouldn't penalize people who have already landscaped land-scaped large lots." -Ruth Gezelius not been favored by committee members, replied Gezelius. "We felt we shouldn't penalize people who have already landscaped large lots," she said. The committee also followed staff recommendations on redistributing fees for connecting new customers to the city's water system. Instead of following a square footage formula, Five escape injury as whirlybird bites powder A helicopter operated by the Utah Powderbird Guides crash-landed in the mountains near ParkWest Wednesday morning after it lost power just after takeoff. There were no injuries, but owners of the helicopter said the craft was likely totalled. The helicopter was lifting off about 10: 15 a.m. from a mid-mountain landing site in Dutch Draw, adjacent to the ParkWest Ski Area, when it "lost the ability to maintain altitude," said Powderbird Guide general manager Rusty Dassing. He said the chopper, a Bell Jet Ranger III, was forced to land in small trees on irregular ground, and rolled onto its side. Dassing said the five people on board the pilot, a guide and three passengers were not injured, but he said the helicopter "was in pretty pret-ty bad shape... They are pretty delicate machines, but an insurance company will have to determine how much damage was done." Dassing believes that wind or a sudden downdraft may have contributed con-tributed to the power failure. "It had just taken off, and was probably in the air less than 30 seconds, but it had enough power to support a landing." The Utah Powderbird Guides and a related company provide helicopter transportation to backcountry ski destinations from bases near ParkWest and Snowbird. Dassing said another company helicopter in operation near Snowbird came to the scene of the accident acci-dent within minutes. A passenger who had been dropped off on the top of the mountain just prior to the accident said he heard the crash and immediately skied to the site. "We were standing on top waiting to ski down and we heard a crunch and then we heard nothing. We traversed down to the accident and it was really a mess. We knew we had taken the last ride for the day." Wednesday's mishap follows an accident in early January, when a Powderbird helicopter flew to an avalanche area and was unable to lift off after it landed. The helicopter was called to the scene to rescue possible avalanche victims following a slide on 10-4-20 peak, between Park City Ski Area's Jupiter chairlift and the Guardsman Pass Road. The helicopter had shuttled patrollers and ski dogs to the avalanche site, after witnesses saw ski tracks lead into the slide but not out of it. Rescuers determined that skiers had escaped unharmed, but the helicopter was unable to lift off again. Dassing speculated that something was wrong with the tail gear of the craft. The broken helicopter was later retrieved. Company officials say they will continue their backcountry ski tours until the season ends on April 15. Goodwin said seasonal employees typically do not live in Park City due to the high cost of housing, but survey respondents said the inconvenience in-convenience of commuting "was not really an issue." He said high costs were the main reason for living elsewhere, but many respondents said they simply did not want to live here. Others felt that since their jobs were temporary, it wasn't worth the move. The survey found that about 57 percent of the workers were living in the Park City area, which included outlying areas of Summit County, 21 percent were from Salt Lake City, 17 percent lived in Heber City, and the rest commuted frrfm "other" areas. The workers who took residence in Park City were mostly "happy" with their quarters, said Goodwin, but dissastisfactions included the physical condition of their homes, the cost of rent, the size and location of their homes, and their number of roommates. Most were able to find lodging through friends, newspaper ads and relatives. Employers were polled about their recruitment tactics, and the survey found that business owners spent 33 percent of their efforts recruiting In Park City, 28 percent in Wasatch County, 25 percent in Salt Lake County, and the remainder in other cost will be based on the number of "fixture units,' i.e. faucets, toilets, etc. Although some most notably warehouses with few or no fixture units will come out ahead, new single family homes will not. Instead of the $3,100 it now costs a home builder to hook up to the city's water supply, a developer will have to shell out $4,250 to connect if the committee's list of suggestions is adopted. Commercial establishments, some whose owners have long complained com-plained they are paying too much to get water supplied to their buildings, will neither win nor lose. Although their connection and development costs may be lower than they would be if figured by the square foot, they will be charged a hefty "fire standby fee" which is calculated based on the amount of storage the water system has to add to put out a fire in the building. In the case of a store the size and with the same number of fixture units as in True Value hardware, total connection fees would drop slightly from $13,392 to $13,158. The committee also proposed charging senior citizens the same as other users unless they are paying the low $2 per month rate the city see WATER on A2 areas of the country. Many of the ski areas polled said they used professional profes-sional employment agencies to attract at-tract workers. Employers in the ski industry said they spent one to five days training their employees an amount of time that "employees considered to be very good," said Goodwin. Individuals In-dividuals trained for cooking and housekeeping jobs underwent anywhere from one to three weeks of schooling, at an average cost of $300 to $1,000 per trainee, according to employers. The survey was distributed to 1,600 Park City employees, and 33 percent, or 525 employees, responded. respond-ed. Goodwin said 107 employers received the survey and 18 percent, or 20 employers, responded. Of the out-of-state ski areas that were sent surveys, 18 percent responded. "Statistically, we feel this is relatively accurate," said Goodwin. He also noted that other ski resorts reported having "moderate" difficulties dif-ficulties recruiting employees. "They all said it was a problem, but not critical to the point that they couldn't be in business." Goodwin said the low unemployment rate perhaps the lowest in post-war history in addition to the low pay at ski resort areas, was at fault for the minimal applications for jobs. SB -5F'-- I T,.. -- , .,..4, -f. , Hf 1 -""T-jf- ... - !.!. 4, 4 . 4 -ty . Jit. 7 V " F ' . v LJr J.. .Jirir i 1 - . .." Look out for April showers. Mclntire to by RON GEORG Record staff writer The Park City Board of Education has vowed to act swiftly in filling the void left by superintendent Ron Mclntire's resignation. Board members said they had not decided whether or not to renew the superintendent's contract, but they organized quickly once he made the decision for them. In an executive session immediately after the March 28 board meeting, when the superintendent offered his resignation, resigna-tion, the board decided to have the position filled by Mclntire's June 30 departure. "The timing on this was excellent," ex-cellent," said board member Greg Schirf. "Superintendents all over the country are facing contract renewals this time of year, so the availability of people makes this the perfect time." Commission by SENA TAYLOR Record staff writer The Summit County Commission has blocked efforts to hold a mountain moun-tain man rendezvous on Labor Day weekend near Snyderville, citing safety factors associated with handling handl-ing the anticipated 30,000-pcrson crowd. The event will now tentatively be held at Ft. Buenaventura near Ogden. Organizers had requested a large public assemblies permit for the event, after deciding against participating par-ticipating in the annual Ft. Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous in Wyoming. Although they were denied a similar request by the county coun-ty commission last year, organizer Rod Larkin said he has worked since H ., .. .1 . te-... i r-v 4 ' , As of press time this snowman's head has already fallen : off, and winter is starting to lock like a thing of the past. VVe apologize if our facetious weather story of April Fool's had anything to do with this week's meteorological abominations. ; - be replaced Schirf seemed to be one of the superintendent's strongest backers. Immediately after Mclntire announced an-nounced his resignation, Schirf publicly noted his satisfaction with the superintendent's performance. "I was sincere in my appreciation of the superintendent at the meeting. I can reference my experience with him as nothing but positive," said Schirf. Board member Val Chin said the resignation seems to be for the best. "If a situation like this can be win-win, win-win, this is it," said Chin. "Mclntire "Mcln-tire still has the best interest of the district at heart." Nonetheless, Chin says Mclntire has worked and cooperated with the board in its current "Focus" effort. "Ron has done an excellent job in helping the district plan its future," said Chin. "There were several points on the 'Focus' effort where we could have said no, but we found the superintendent very supportive of axes mountain that time to satisfy safety concerns for fire, health and police protection. "We have worked on this for two years and have had nothing but hard times in the fight to get this thing through the commission," said Larkin. "It's really unfortunate that it wasn't approved because it's a great family event. It's very calm and quiet, and a lot of tourists and families would have come up for the weekend." Events involved with a rendezvous include black powder rifle shooting, Indian dancing, goods-trading, and food cook-offs. Commission chairman Jim Soter differed with Larkin's description of the event, saying "We just don't feel we have the police protection to han--ile that size of a gathering in that location. With it being Labor Day " Wim ' - - - - iir t 'toy.' ' V v , ' V -M. .-..! by July our ideas we didn't have to say no. The question at this point becomes, 'would the community allow the man to be successful?'" In fact, Chin said the new superintendent will have to be someone so-meone who shares at least some of Mclntire's philosophies. "I like Ron's idea of site-based management," manage-ment," said Chin. "We don't want an old-guard, heavy bureaucracy leader. We need someone who will come in and support the board's new goals, not someone who will come in and change things." The board is not going to hire a head-hunter to search for a replacement. replace-ment. They will enlist the help of the State School Boards Association, which will offer inexpensive aid in selecting a superintendent. While the cost of the search hasn't been decided on, it will be no where near the $28,000 it cost to find Mclntire, Mcln-tire, according to board members. See related story, A8 man meet weekend, and only having 11 deputies to cover the entire county, it would be impossible to do anything with crowd control. Also, nobody knows what the fire danger would be . there, and it's a bad location." ' Soter added that adjacent property proper-ty owners had sent letters to the commission opposing the rendezvous, rendez-vous, which was proposed to be located on private land north of Snyderville and Interstate 80. He and commissioner Sheldon Richins each voted against the proposal pro-posal at a March 29 meeting. Commissioner Com-missioner Frank Richards, who see MAN on A2 |