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Show PAGE 6 THE ZEPHYRMARCH 1992 "administrative ineptness," Jones stated, "There's Decrying what he called the commission's too much time that I've put in cm this board to try to work with anything other than file best available person. I don't have time to covcer anyone else that isn t the best that the county had the opportunity to hire a professional, "Yet we're placing a Jones complete political appointment" "For you 2 to arbitrarily take a process that all of us have worked hard to ensure was fair, and to act as dictators in the county, you can't keep doing it" added Shellenberger. "You just can't get away with that The people in this town are not that stupid. But Knutson stood by his position. "1 think Robbie has a good feel for the direction that the we would like the county to go," county commissioners have in our desires and directions that he stated. Those qualifications of being local of being known, we know we have a known not as quantity, and also, she has other qualifications that are But the I qualifications of being known to the county recognize that strong as Bob Bailey's, commissioners, known to the political environment, known to business people she's been just knows what's happening in our town, the extremely involved in the Chamber of Commerce-sh- e the of desires the and county commission." changes that we're going through, to formally hire Swasey, with Knutson 1 voted At their meeting February 24, commissioners and Torres voting yes, and Cunningham opposed. That decision led to the immediate resignation of Travel Council member Ber Knight "The action of the Commission in deliberately avoiding the hiring of file best qualified person .is irresponsible, and my continued servie cm the Board would give the appearance that I condone that action," Hid Knight in a letter to the commissioners. "The Commission has, in effect given a vote of 'no confidence' to the Travel Council Board. I am returning the favor." Members of the public also expressed outrage at the commission decision. "If you think you are getting the support of the community with these kinds of decisions, you are mistaken," said Jane Dillon. "To emasculate file Travel Coundl," added restaurant owner Dick Rose, "by these arbitrary and capricious decisions that you guys have made in a dictatorial way, and not listen to the community, and also not poll the business people in the community, is unbelievable." Judith Morris said business owners were stunned by the commission decision to bypass the most qualified applicants. She added that other groups in town would be less willing to enter into agreements with a commission that ignored advice. And she raised the specter of the commission having a "secret agenda, so far unarticulated. Various partidpants in the meeting had their own views of why the commissioners chose Swasey, but most agreed she would allow the commission to use transient room tax for purposes other than tourist promotion, from pay raises for themselves to more money for file Him Commission and Chamber of Commerce. Meeting partidpants also began discussing efforts to remove the Knutson-Tone-s county of size the to the commission, county possibly through petitions majority by expanding change the form of county government and go to a larger, district format with up to 7 members. That theme was sounded by at least cme speaker at the commission meeting. "My recommendation is you guys voluntarily dedde to enlarge the County Commission to at least 5 members," said Norm Shrewsbury. "I'll go further if you don't try to address the problem some way, there are other ways we can do it, whether by referendum or not." m case you missed it... a summary of the month's news 2-- by Ken Davey The Travel Council - In file face of unanimous opposition from the entire Grand County Travel Council and strong statements of opposition from an overflow crowd of local residents, the Grand County Commission voted February 24 to hire Moab Him Commission President Robbie Swasey as new Travel Coundl director. That decision led to a third of the Travel Council board members resigning, and the loss of the council's central staff. Current Travel Council director Judith Morris announced last year she would be leaving to join her husband, who was offered a transfer within the National Parks system from Canyonlands to Crater Lake in Oregon. Morris and board members agreed she should stay through file end of March, and spend one month working with the new director, who was scheduled to be hired by the end of february. The board went to the County Commission with an elaborate plan on choosing Morris' successor, including a screening tit all applications and resumes by the entire board, and the establishment of a special committee to interview and grade the final choices.. The Travel Council began advertising for the position in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Colorado during January. But reports began circulating the last week of the month that commissioners had already decided they wanted to hire Robbie Swasey. And Knutson confirmed that fact at a news conference January 29. Swasey was the 1991 president of the Moab Chamber of Commerce, and the current president of the Moab Him Commission. Both positions are volunteer. Board members say they had heard the rumors before that, but the admission by Knutson led to a confrontation at the February 3 commission meeting, a meeting Knutson missed for work reasons. Commissioner Sam Cunningham said at that time she was unaware of any plans to hire Hospital expansion Swasey. Manuel Torres told board members that he and Knutson had discussed hiring Swasey, but that since the Travel Council had begun file advertising for file position, that was as far as he Allen Memorial Hospital administrator Kim Hardman chose Kent Dalton as project manager had gone in considering the proposal. He also said television news reports had distorted for the dollar emergency room expansion and general hospital renovation. Knutson's comments, though he acknowledged he had not seen the reports. Last year, the Hospital Board obtained a loan from the Community Impact Board for the Travel Council members pressed Torres on whether or not they could assure applicants that , construction, and put the project out to bid. the full hiring procedure would be followed, and he assured them it would be. But according to Hardman, bids received were well in excess of board estimates. Over the next 2 weeks, the Travel Council followed through on its plans, and the special "We had 8 to 10 bid options. The lowest bid however, was $165,000 over what we had committee interviewed 8 candidates, including 3 from Moab, one of which was Swasey. ; estimated it should have been," said Hardman. The committee decided that there were 2 strong applicants; Bob Bailey and Linda Carlson. In response, the board agreed to allow Hardman to choose a project manager instead, who Knutson participated in the committee's deliberations. would be paid a salary tn nrganfao th wnrk 1p pypanduoiy Dalton is Commissioner David Knutson's cousin. Hardman said that he chow Tihm fryauw Bailey, who holds a bachelors degree in business administration, was the executive director the Utah Ski Association from 1986 to 1991. He also served on the board of trustees of the of of the Moab contractors, he offered to do the job for the least money, and Hardman added he was state's Winter Olympics bid committee and the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau. ; not aware at the time he made the choice that Dalton was related to Knutson. Carlson is a professional in marketing who coordinated promotion for the Snowbird ski and Commissioner Manuel Torres, a bricklayer, has announced he plans to pursue work on the summer resort. with Hardman on who to hire as project. He participated in the Hospital Board That committee report was given by Ber Knight to the Travel Council as a whole at their Hardman said file he and board had whether or not Torres' project manager. meeting February 2. participation in choosing who could be his future boss was a moral and ethical problem. Knutson and Torres attended the meeting, and Knutson, after the report by Knight, told the "Is there a conflict of interest? It just so happens we did go to Lyle Anderson, the county council he and Tores had again discussed it and were planning to hire Swasey. attorney as well as the special service district attorney, to ask that very question. I had heard there wasn't a problem, but I said to Lyle, 'maybe we better have something in That led to the immediate resignations from the council of chairman Bob Jones, and member writing.' And it is stipulated that as long as it's up front, and he gives a fair bid, then no, it is not" Tom Shellenberger. : : half-milli- on . r . , riminn main street broiler 606 south main 259-590- 8 featuring: MOABS BEST.. ESPRESSO SHAKES & MALTS BURGERS |