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Show The Park Record Saturday, May 13, 2000 A-2 Court hearing set in lawsuit by Bruce Lewis OF THE RECORD STAFF The eight physicians who face the prospect of losing their jobs at the Park City Family Health and Emergency Center clinic on Bonanza Drive at the end of next month will face attorneys from the University of Utah and its subordinate subordi-nate Health Network (UUHN) in a court hearing Monday in Third District Court at the Summit County Justice Center. The I p.m. hearing will address the dvvtors" request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the University and UUHN. Martha Amundsen, the physicians attorney, filed the motions with the court clerk in Coalville. Both requests seek to compel the University and UUHN to release documents the physicians contend are being withheld from them illegally. illegal-ly. Since the University is a government govern-ment entity, the motions asseit. it must comply with provisions of the Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA). ITie act requires release of public documents docu-ments unless certain requirements are met. One motion request refers to a Pipeline plan dropped for wells Continued from A-1 could be big problems, including shortages. During the last decade. Summit County saw enough development devel-opment to be ranked as the 10th fastest growing county in the nation in the lW So what is the county doing to meet the water needs of the Snyderville Basin's current and future population .' Officials of the county's water district. Mountain Regional Water Special Service District, laid out an extensive plan before the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission on Tuesday. li s a plan that involves tapping little used aquifers in the kamas Valley, establishing a water conservation conser-vation program the likes of which has never been seen in Utah and consolidating equipment, infrastructure infrastruc-ture and wells with the smaller water companies. First. however. Mountain Regional officials explained why they were putting ojijipki then old plan tor a buildinsfattealment plant and a 13-miie fipejine to bring Rockport Reservoir water into the Basin. " The price kept going up." Mountain Regionals General Manager Doug Evans told the Commission. The original price tag. according to Evans, was $20 million, hut costs kept escalating to $4u million. Making matters worse, said Evans, the project had to be build all at once. "The County Commission did not want to have to go looking for new growth to pay for water.' explained Evans. As a result Mountain Regional has worked for the last several months to come up with a new. cheaper plan that will be implemented implement-ed in five phases. Fust, the County Commission wants residents in the Silver Creek area off the bottled water they've been dnnking since their wells went dry. Ev ans said that could happen in a month. Two new wells in the nearby near-by commerce center should be enough to allow residents to drink the water out of their tap sometime this summer, said Evans. Next, Mountain Regional is start developing the upper East Canyon watershed, particularly around the Old Ranch Road area. Mountain Regional also hopes to slurp up some or all of nearly I.OriO-acre feet unused bv the Willow Springs Water Co. By far the largest and most ambitious ambi-tious part of the county 's new plan is to begin tapping into w hat Mountain I letter sent by Amundsen to UUHN on March 14. seeking copies of meeting meet-ing records, financial records and the physicians' own employment records. Under GRAMA, the motion continues. UUHN had 10 days to respond, but did not do so. Then on March 24. UUHN representative John Morns is said to have refused to surrender a copy of an audio tape recording of a meeting between the doctors and UUHN. Morns is said to have refused to give a reason for his refusal even though the physicians' motion states that ll'HN had prev iously i-ously promised them a copy of it. An April 17 appeal to Dr. Bernard Machen. U of U president, was not answered either, the motions asseit. " Plaintiffs believe there is information infor-mation contained in the requested materials that will go to prove many of their claims," reads the request for an injunction against the University and UUHN. "For example, plaintiffs contend that some of the requested materials contain records of promises promis-es from the defendants that their contracts will not be terminated." "Defendants have blatantly ignored the law. and have given plaintiffs no explanation of why they have not provided the materi Regional believes are large, mostly pristine aquifers in the Kamas Valley. Mountain Regionals geologist Todd Jams explained to the Planning Commission that groundwater ground-water in the Basin is stored in small fractured nxrk aquifers like individual individ-ual boxes. Such fractured rock systems make finding water more difficult, allow less water to be stored and takes longer to renew. But in the kamas Valley the water is stored in sand and gravel aquifers much like in the Still Lake alley. It's easier in these aquifers to know how much water is available and for Mother Nature to replenish. The county will start w ith wells in Brown's Cany on and build wells into the Kamas Valley as needed. This allows the pipeline to be extended in phases and lowering costs for the county and Park City. Water from trie Smith and Morehouse Reservoir will be used to replenish the acquifers. Eventually 4.100 -acre-feet, of wuerHiid be flowlneto Basin' residents res-idents from xhe plan,t .Park City could see another 2.5(IO-acre-feet. Mountain Regional has secured financing with Zions Bank that gives short- and intermediate-term money, while allowing the district to pay much up front as the project progresses. Mountain Regional will then hav e up to 20 years to pay back the money. At some point in the futuie --Evans --Evans thinks it could take several years - Mountain Regional will build a small treatment plant to treat Rockport Reservoir water, making another 5.000-acre feet available. The last phase of the plan consists con-sists ot sav ing I .(XXl-acre feet for east side of the county even though it may not be needed for y ears. Evans, w ho is also the mayor ot Oakley. told the Planning Commission that convincing East Side residents that the Basin is not stealing their water could be tough. He hopes that this last phase will soothe east side worries. Mountain Regionals plan has two more elements that could be firsts in Utah. Evans explained that the county will implement an aggressive conservation conser-vation plan. The county is looking at building a network of weather stations sta-tions across the Basin to determine lawn-watering needs. Fines could be leveled against homeowners that overuse water. Conversely; homeowners home-owners with xeriscape or low water usage yards would see reduced rates. ! PfP als plaintiffs have requested," the . motion continues. As of yesterday morning, UUHN" spokesman Steve Mersereau was unaware of the Monday hearing. As such, he said he was unprepared to comment on it. Yesterday, Fred Esplin, University spokesman, was aware of the scheduled hearing, but did not comment on it specifically. He did promise to provide a copy of a 50-plus-page transcript he said was the record of a meeting with the physicians, adding that it had been released earlier to radio station KPCAY and the Salt Lake Tribune. It did not arrive at The Park Record as of deadline, how ever. In related legal matters, the Third District Court hearing on the physicians' attempt to have non- compete clauses in their contracts declared invalid was pushed off to June 6, after University attorneys requested an extension. No date has been set for the court to address the full complaint. Mersereau said that UUHN expects to release information next week about the six physicians hired to staff the Park City facility after the current physicians' contract expires at the end of June. Ev ans calls the conservation program pro-gram the equivalent of tapping into a "'virtual aquifer" that could pro vide somewhere between 5tX) to 1.000-acre feet. The nest element would require concurrency testing for a new development. devel-opment. In other w ords, developers would have to prove not only that the water available before they build, but that the water supplies w ill remain stable over time. If developers can't prove water levels will remain steady over time, they could be forced to bring in more water or reduce the size of the development. On Monday, the County Commission will consider a temporary emergency ordinance that will establish a concurrency standard. "We're going from the dry paper w ater to wet water to the really real-ly wet water." said Evans of the new testing. While the County Commission is a steadfast supporter. Mountain Regional s grand pian has its skeptics. skep-tics. Last month. Summit Water D,sPsica,h,ng lef" ter 4oiiTie ' vTHy Commission accusing Mountjvin Rfginal of following fol-lowing a similar track that led to the district's current water shortages. Summit Water's attorney, John Anderson, wrote that he is worried about Mountain Regionals plan because his client is often asked to step in a "rescue water companies whose water demands have outstripped out-stripped their water supply." Anderson also accused the County Commission of giving preferential pref-erential treatment to Mountain Regional over other Basin water companies. He then asked for a wealth of information much of it under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act. Summit Water is currently proposing pro-posing to build a 15-mile long pipeline from East Canyon Reservoir to the Snyderville Basin. A coalition of conservation groups, property owners and the Morgan County Council recently Filed a lawsuit against the state, accusing officials of giving the pipeline an easy hand during the approval process. For their part. County Commissioners have dismissed Anderson's accusations. Commissioner Schitferli told The Park Record that the county is not trying to make things difficult for Summit Water. Nor is the Commission playing favorites with Mountain Regional, but simply trying try-ing to solve the Basins wealth of water problems. Community mourns Singer I LI r ) hi n Linda Singer in her favorite She outlasted five school superintendents, super-intendents, helped get two new elementary ele-mentary schools off the ground, became one of the first women in l'tah to brave the all-boy Rotary Club network and went on to become the first woman president of a Rotary Chapter in l'tah. In light of those and many other accomplishments, school district and business leaders throughout Park City agree Linda Singer made an indelible imprint on the community commu-nity and will be greatly missed. She died Wednesday after a year-and-a-half long battle with cancer. Her last days were spent at her Park Meadows home surrounded by family and friends. In keeping with her indomitable spirit. Singer insisted that her remaining time be spent celebrating celebrat-ing and reaffirming her relationships relation-ships w ith her family, her many colleagues col-leagues and her long time partner. Dean Berrett Singer and Berrett were married last weekend, and she took his name. The chronically irreverent Park City Rotary Club bestowed the couple with 65 toasters and a video Park City considering a Continued from A-1 support. prui-aptoM(i Man vmy arva being taxed. "You check out and there it is," Olch said. City Councilman Fred Jones, though, was a holdout. He cautioned that the lodging industry would face ramifications. "It doesn't come without consequences conse-quences if you talk about repeat business." Jones said. He also said the city must review other budget topics, such as programs pro-grams the city offers. "1 think we need to (take) a very hard look at our whole operation." Billings planner takes county post Continued from A-1 progressive than Billings. "It seemed to be a better opportunity professionally profes-sionally to work in a county where planning is a top priority. It would be great to woik m that kind of atmosphere." atmos-phere." As the director of planning for Babysitting Continued from A-1 ' It's a great incentive for kids to go to all four weeks." said Sladyk. This summer's class still has space available, though class size is OPEN JUST ONE DAY EACH YEAR FOR BRUNCH MOTHER'S DAY SUNDAY, MAY Um nivfiiuonsf 5 4 0 Main Street 649-3536 for reservations H setting - surrounded by children. greeting card, their w ay of show ing their admiration and affection for their former president. According to Rotarian Tom Clyde. "The strongest image of Linda I have from Rotary is the way she conducted the meetings. That's a pretty unruly group for the most part, and Linda had a way of standing up in front of the room and giving us that calm, in-charge look. Suddenly we were all first-graders first-graders in the presence of the principal, prin-cipal, aad the room got quiet." Singer arrived in Park City in 1977, with ambitions to ski as much as possible. But a strong public service-oriented upbringing prevailed pre-vailed and she soon sought out a job as a special education teacher for the school district. Fellow Park City School District Administrator Martha Crook, then a third-grade teacher, remembers working with Singer in the Marsac Building, before any of the districts current elementary schools were built. "She helped me as a mentor and became a close personal friend." When Parley's Park Elementary was built. Singer and Crook moved Jones said, adding, "We've got to be very careful on the operations side." The lodging community is VJ jm tn , wt.ifQ SUM" resort communities. While its true there are others with higher taxes, we don't need to meet those higher taxes," Old Town innkeeper Hugh Daniels, a former City Councilor, said in an interview. "It can drive people away It s hard on the economy. econo-my. 1 think it's the wrong w ay to balance bal-ance the budget." Also at Thursday's meeting upper Park Avenue continued to pressure the City Council for money for improvements to the street. Chris Brand of the Upper Park Avenue Property Owners both Billings and Yellowstone County. Jensen said he reports directly to the city manager. His current cur-rent job is heavily weighted, about 75 percent, toward dealing with the city, which, he said, puts the county at a disadvantage. One of his priorities in Summit County, he said, will be "making class opportunity for kids limited and spots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. It will meet from Monday io Thursday, July 10 through 13, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Treasure Mountain Middle School. A $30 course fee covers STARTERS CHOICE OF ONE Mixed seasonal fruits and berries Riverhorse salad Banana squash soup ENTREES CHOICE OF ONE NORWEGIAN SALMON with a spinach tart and roasted red new potatoes DUNGENESS CRAB AND ASPARAGUS OMELETTE , with rosemary home fries HERB CRUSTED ROAST PORK LOIN with onion confit and Riverhorse mashed potatoes SHRIMP PASTA WITH PESTO CREAM over sotilli with fine cut vegetables GRILLED BREAST OF CHICKEN with penne tossed in a tomato, basil and garlic sauce CHARBROILED HI.ET MIGNON with sauteed spinach and Riverhorse mashed potatoes FOR DESSERT FAMOUS RIVERHORSE DESSERT SAMPLER ADULTS I24.M CHILDREN S-U JIMS 14 UNDER - FREE) t-S" in and worked with a succession of principals. In .13 however, she was tapped to fill in as acting principal prin-cipal and found her niche. "She w as very supportive of staff. She was consistent, caring and fair and the kids were everything to her," said Crook. Later, w hen the school district dis-trict built a second new elementary school. Singer was asked to get it off on the right foot. According to former school board member Greg Schirf. she did an excellent job at McPolin and w as especially instrumental instru-mental in pushing proactive programs pro-grams for the district's growing number of Latino students. Singer reluctantly went on skk leave last year. However, students and faculty members helped to celebrate cel-ebrate her 50th birthday with a hot air balloon ride last May. The community is invited to join in a tribute to Linda Singer this Sunday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at the Eccles Center. A! her request, memorial contributions may be made to The Park City-Unit City-Unit of. the American Cancer Society, the Park City Education Foundation or Hospice. lodging tax Association said the neighborhood wants the city to improve the street in 2001 and wants trie citv to ensure ithcrdiiadu of 2001." Brand said. Ian Dowie, another upper Park Avenue resident, showed a video comparing the shape of his street to that of the streets where City Councilors and top city staffers live. "Personally. I think this is the worst maintained (and) appearing road in Park City. It's tough to find one in worse shape." Dowie said. The city's budget discussions continue con-tinue next week. The City Council is scheduled to debate capital-improvement capital-improvement projects, grants and hold a hearing about the budget sure that all of the county's various interests, are being looked after." He mentioned agriculture, in particular. partic-ular. Jensen had just notified his department that he would be leaving and he admitted that "some developers devel-opers will not be unhappy to see me go. Some w ant no planning at all." books and instructional materials. Registration forms are available avail-able at the Park Citv School District Office. 271X1 Kearns Blvd.. as well as at the schools. Fot further fur-ther information, contact Judv Tukuafu at M5-5WX1. ext. 141 Featuring MARY BETH at the piano |