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Show [i] | Dallystierals WEDNESDAY,APRIL 19, 2006 = METRO EDITOR| Joe Pyrah - 344-2586 - jpyrah@heraldextra.com Eagle Mtn.planning director res Provo seeks easier Caleb Warnock Another Eagle Mountain department funding head has resigned, and a newcity manager has beenhired. Adam Lenhard,planning director, an- nounced his resignation during the public commentperiod of Tuesday's City | rocess Council meeting, saying he was taking | anotherjob. | Lenhardis the second department head to resign since Mayor Brian Olsen fired city manager Chris Hillman on March22. Public works director Mark Heidi Toth A D Sovine announced on April 1] that he was taking early retirement. opportunity to flourish. I simply could not pass up the opportunity to bring his industry and expertise to Eagle Moun- press, our relationship with the media, our communication andtrain our council.” Wrenwas not invited to speak during only until the endofthe fiscal year, but Wren, who was thecity’s first engineerand has been hired to be both public worksdirector andchiefofstaff, the meeting but did release a statement. “L have dedicated muchof my professional life to the city of Eagle Moun- “will infuse the staff with a historical perspective no otherindividual can of- tain,” he said. “The city has manytalented staff members and I look forward Olsen announced on Tuesdaythat he hadhired Michael Wrento replace both Sovine and Hillman. fer,”-Olsen said. “I chose Mike not just for his expertise. He has a long track record of achieving lofty goals and he understands therole ofall team members and will make sure each has the tain.” The position is temporary. lasting to working with them to implement the mayor'svision.” Olsen also announced he has hired Royce Van Tassell as a part-time “pub- Olsen asked the City Council to make the position permanentin the upcoming budget Gordon Burt, whohad been appoint- > ed as thecity’s acting chiefofstaff af- ter Hillman was fired,will returnto his position ascity treasurer, Olsen said. } Caleb Warnock can be reached at 443. 3263 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com. lic relations man whowill handle the Don'tputall your eggs in one basket Or do, saysthe Provo Municipal Council,if it'll cut down on the bureaucracy and makefunding city projects easier and moreprof- itable. That's the basic idea behind an investment fund the council membersdiscussed Tuesday. Thefund, which will go to vote at the May 2 meeting, will allow city funds to invest their excess reservesinto a citywide poolto be loaned to pay for capital purchases. The moneywill be repaid at the currentinter- est rate, which should result in higheroverall returns,said Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Parker. It also nixes the issuance costs the city incurs when borrowing from a bank. “It just allowsus to pool those dollars and have moreto use at different times for one project or another,” Parkersaid. The city already has funds loaning moneyto other funds, so the investmentfundisn’t creating a new process,it’s just streamlining the procedure, he said. The improved efficiencyis a major reasonState Auditor Auston Johnson has boughtinto the plan, which wouldbe thefirst of its kind in a municipality in Utah. “The reasonI'm supporting it is to me, it lands someclarity to what's going on and sometransparency into what government operations are,” he said. The proposal comes with anumberof guidelines,said FinanceDirector John Borget, including requiring every loan to have a repaymentschedule, keeping the maximum term for a loan tofive years, charging interest based on a compari- ~ son of three different financial institutions, giving the council approval on how the money can be spent and implementing an administrative investment committee to look at applications and send proposals to the council. Council members who spoke all expressed support for the eo sat 2 MARIO RUIZ /Daily Herald Children duck and cover during an earthquakedrill at Art City Elementaryin Springville on Tuesday. The schoolplayed earthquake sounds overthe loudspeaker andchildren and adults evacuatedto the schools fields. Springville elementary holds quake drill plan, although not without reservations. Councilwoman Cindy Richards wanted to know why the council couldn't be involved in the committee; as proposed the committee would be comprised of Mayor Lewis Billings, Anna Chang-Yen | BudgetOfficer Dave Croff, | swered that. | Parker and Borget. Council Chairman George Stewart an- D ementary Schoolin Springville “We cameupwith this as a groupas a waythe council would have normal review on any budgetary matter,” he said. | “Onceit comes, we can take as The budget, however,is an ad- more prepared. “I don't knowif we're ever really prepared,”Pearcesaid. “We'vetried to think ofall the contingencies.” Studentslined up behindsigns on Tuesday afternoon. During a for each grade on the lawn be- real 7.2 magnitude earthquake, the building would have shaken, andhalf of it would likely have hind the school. Dorrie Fisher called role ofher fifth-grade class after everyonehadevacuated the collapsed. Butin this mock earth- long as we need to study it.” classroom. sible for approving the apande Dayton also questioned what know what to do, ee becauseif didn't we m dothis, students wereafflicted only with the signs hanging aroundtheir someof them would go running out the doors,I think,” Fisher “shock,” “broken arm”or other ailments. Pearce said the goal was to evacuate moststudents, arrange running out powermight have goneout, so principal David Rowe activated the phonetree from his cell phone tolet parents know about the keep parentsin the loop. Community emergencyresponse team members manned an information table where parents treatmentforthe injured and the doors,| think.” 2 Dorrie Fisher Art City could find out if their children Elementary During the real thing, the | | MARIO RUIZ/Daily Heraid Shoni Winkel stands with herfirst-grade class after an earthquakedrill get responded;that, he said, is | at Art City Elementary in Springville on Tuesday. School officials hope disaster. the criticism most likely tocome | thedrill will help prepare students for an actual earthquake. Librarian Angel Pearce said she feels like the schoolis at least See PROVO, D3 M4 The kids need to “The kids need to know what necks reading “severe asthma,” tures, not the rest of the process, he said. Councilwoman Cynthia A e drill, the sound came over the intercom, and the 16 “injured” to do, becauseif we didn’t dothis, ministrative matter; the council as legislative body is respon- would happen should the city not be able to make a payment on ne of the loans. “Defaulting to ourselves,” Bor- ALL A rumbling sound echoed throughthehalls of Art City El- said. See EARTHQUAKE, D3 some of them would go teacher Lack of funds causes playhouse closure County objects to WoodlandHills annexation goby HERALD If an organizationthe likes of SCERA struggles to get sae moneyto survive, how can small playhouses be expected to? For nearly twoyears the Alpine 2 . Falling Curtain Final play: “The Foreigner” Tickets: adults $10.50, 11 & a $8 50 cre Bere Playhouse fought to survive, but ulTickets: 1-800-838-3006 or timately a lack of funds has forced www.alpineplayhouse.com its closure. The playhouse, with 97 Dates: April 28-June 3 seats,sold out 70-80 percent ofits : showingsbut it was never enough. “Weneverreally had that much of A problem withattendance,” said the summer of 2004.It took about Executive Director R Brown. eight months to secure just have to get outside supstatus and grants canoftentakea year to for and receive. Brown admits he and others may “Wehaven't been aetoget it have been somewhat naive when fast enough to help us,” they launched the playhouse in Tateaay ther ad oatoat mostly to production costs and DAILY HERALD $13,000 and $4,000 respectively. “Weonlya a couple of actors,” he said. The only way for the arts to A proposed annexationtothe city of Woodland Hills has drawn a formal objection from the Utah County Commission because of concerns thatit doesn’t comply royalties, which cost as much as survive, Robertssaid,is either through a'tax, such as the one Orem just passed, or through a hugecontribution, such as XanGo just made to While he said he’s disappointed ii n the playhouse’sfailure, Roberts said hellooks to a quote for support. ‘Don't cry because it’s over,” he _said, “smile because it ed.” The playhouse ran 19 showsin its brief life, including “James and the Giant Peach” and “The Foreigner,” Which will be the final show. with state law. The proposal, knownas the WrightSmith-Evans annexation, would add 46.9 acres on the city’s northwest side.It also would create a “peninsula”ofcity land in an unincorporated area, however, and that might not pass muster. State law cdlannexations that form islands or If those were aulowed, Commissioner Larry Ellertson said, it could be hard to tell wherea city ends and county jurisdiction ins. “It has to do with ease of servicing,” he said. “The conceptis one of segregating it from adjacent landin a jurisdiction.” The county noted their objectionin let_ter to the Utah County Boundary Commission that was approved Tuesday. The city of Woodland Hills hasscheduled a public hearing on the annexation at 6 p.m. April 25 in Salem Elementary School, 140 _ W.100 South in Salem. Ellertson stressed that the county isn't to the annexation. “We'rejust saying, ‘Maybe you could look at it another way,’ ” he said.“If it can » changed so it can avoid creating that, whichtechnically is against the law,thenit could go forward.” In other business, commissioners okayed joining with the Mountainland Association of Governmentsto study the transportation needs ofsenior citizens in Utah County. mit] |