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Show Bi Hy 2 COUNTY NOVEMBER 1, 2000 COURIER i] Lh ay WASATCH = = = ae Ne eee = ica = fsSoe crn So = Sd oe Sra = = = , = aod ~ een eer receas Stee Senn = ~ oease oe. = : Sa ee | RR , Sasastetntatere orss So cornet pieretenneiecnnoen CPS > ‘ x, ree eae 3 ere ee se = : esas oe Seo - oo eet my an = Sse= s =o Seen Sian — KD Sie 7 ieee ee . ° a : a einen ee Riccar ao = sees sec PEPTIC r ee te I Thank Sponsors a pillar i inae | - Three’ BEE Gs at prone $2,000 |. in — apiece, say $6,000 total. _A poll by Dan | ark City, a man. in-a. trench Jones, say: $20,000. Signs i in the sizes - coat and a. fedora slowly. approached. _ _ and quantities we’ve seen, say $4,000. sn ‘i jee ideale -.:-Leaning against the: opposite side of - Hiring two public-relations firms, say ~ ithe pillar: he dropped his. es ae 3 $8,000. each.. Our. guess, and since - snuffed it out with his shoe.: A a Moulton won't talk itis only aguess,is “Who are the real forces opposing the — roughly $46,000 to date. Who knows Seven-Member . hwhangenccs of... how much more — will pa in the . Government Initiative in Wasatch . - final week? County,” I asked. Look; this kind of money Beet tcome Lighting another. Be talilé aid éokting. ‘ from ‘small ‘individual donations. a deep drag, he answered: ebb ' Someone or some ‘corporation or _ ple who wrested control of the fire depart- © ~». “Follow the money.” Be a : organization’ (or all three) is : Follow the money indeed \Comiider EXTREMELY ‘concerned about the - the facts. The group opposed tothe — ‘outcome of this election. Why? As a change of government lead by Mike ~ ment from our local communities and then hired the two sons of a county commissioner | ~-as the first employees of an enormously expensive and Lacey fulltime fire - department: 93s. voter ask yourself who stands to lose if the initiative passes? Will you as an to have only .- previously claimed average Wasatch County citizen feel received small contributions from a ». ‘such a huge change in your day-to-day handful of individuals. So how do you igs “es that ‘ You Would Spend that Kitid of explain the plethora of lawn signs (in the poll conducted by Dan , | money to fight the change of government? Of course not. | Someone Jones & Associates and the hiring of. not one, but two high profile public | relations firms (Dea Riley Relations from Sait Lake)? When: asked how. much they spending | and where’ the money to death government heaven “ and earth and spend amount of money. necessary are =) the current commissioners any to keep and the is ... ‘status quo in place. Is there some deep coming from, spokesman Mike: : Moulton answerss with an unemotional secret that they want to make sure seven new council members don’t jes UMCOVERS,s25c5 2, “no comment.” Since Moulton refuses to answer ‘any bye The. question. AS, ink are.> they questions we are left to speculate on | pelmad of and iy? 5b ares how much Ora in Wasatch County. So scared that they will move & Associates from Park City and Bremer Public is scared change of has been has been a role reversal. You've got a signifi- cant minority, old-timers who have benefited from the graft and corruption, trying to tell _ everyone else that there’s no mess at all. To their credit an apparent majority of the residents in Heber Valley, old and new alike, Many of the supporters of i. initiative _ will not be fooled again despite the desperate don’t like to talk about the hypocrisy of our measures being taken by those who want the current county officials because they are afraid of being seen in a negative light. But _ initiative dead. We just hope that as vibe go to the polls _. those supporters who have been willing to_ ‘in about a week that they recognize the speak up deserve the greatest thanks of all and they should not be condemned for their important but often unpleasant work that the Moulton, Mike Davis and Dea Riley | three sizes), the three bulk Mailings, SAM. ALLEN. _“ GUEST Pee ~ only leads to greater messes. For too many years the commissioners ~ have been telling people that their mess is Bi opponents to the initiative te*: actually not a mess at all. “Everything is - change the form of county governunder control. and it’s all going to work out in ment have tried to convince voters the end (like Timber Lakes). » Most people | > through push polling and misleading adver|. -tising that passing this initiative will lead to have believed them because. many of the commissioners and_ their supporters have bigger government and higher taxes. been prominent church leaders i in the comThese are the same people who just about munity. _ayear ago raised taxes so high that old ladies Farming communities like Heber Valley were. crying in meetings that they’d have to sell their family homes and leave the valley to | traditionally pride themselves on being able pay their taxes. These are also the same peoto call a spade a spade. But in this case there Marsac. Parking Terrace _ work. 6 As any Eiledict ROWS, the only way to clean manure out of a stall is to get in there _ Initiative sponsors have done for them. They have not done it because they like getting dirty. In fact, many of them have made great _and throw it out. In the process the farmer — personal sacrifices and. have lost friends and | inevitably gets dirty. But does this make the _ family in the process. farmer any less honorable? Absolutely. not. In a small community like ours oe - ~ Everybody recognizes the necessity of the keeping the peace is often valued. above all - work even though few want to do it. else, their courage and fortitude is especially Cleaning up our county government i isnot — th admirable. We deeply respect sho the w work much different than cleaning out a stall. The their — ers will they've done.and hope vot ' mistakes and abuses of our county govern- SO | ment need to be brought out into the light of | day So voters can see them for what they real| ly are. Covering them up or ignoring them spent so far. Lt appreciation by voting Yes for a change in the form of Wasatch County Government on November 7th. - Who: Gains The Most? ie - HEIDI H. FRANCO. OTRION peut Uo SOT NU a CBB PA Se ee Ses * 5 es 3z ‘any tint rites have sueskons about: how ‘a ‘professional county manager would:.affect us. What's: hades” Let compare that idea to our.own | oA veschool district. Our school:distriet’s operat- “| ssing- budget:is ‘also: 17-<million: dollars: :this »ayear, Our. schoal istrict emp! Joys over.500 people, full and parttime... vet; when | the council-manager. form of government; and over 1 ,000 counties have a professional manager. _ education and experience? Should it be any ‘different for our county government? Wasatch County doesn’t have all the Does Wasatch Eaunt a professional #28 ‘knowledge’and: éxpérience' in: ‘the world, management? Our county’s budget will be «.:? unique pro blems 17 million dollars this year. It grew an amaz-_. ‘neither doesit have oo ing 1.2 million dollars from 1998 to 1999. ...... baneke sete) a.aeaiana ‘manager. This year it will increase another halfa mil-.. - Qualified, professional. managers underlion dollars. more. These figures show the ©. stand how other areas of the United States increasing growth of revenues and size of * government in Wasatch County already! Would you like professional management for that much money? Our county employs 135 people full-time with 20 seasonal work- e ‘is financing the Opposition, but a_ 5 muckraking journalist, like myself “can’t resist the temptation to pro- ver the last: Sout ere there* duce _ a vintage piece , of analysis amazing ~ ~ based. upon some very, strong Ci amotnt of opposition against. .: cumstantial evidence. S “the initiative to change the form or First of all, who’s got the at to | | : county government. - = lose if the. initiative passes? is. ceriF ; 5 : _Dan Jones and Associates i in cake tainly not the commissioners. In “} _ pure monetary | terms, what they =p -}* _push- -poll i in.1. Wasatch County, to try. have received from. the county is a_ pittance compared to what.others* vvand., change, Public. opinion. rp: the initiative... : _-have received. At least according to -}.:.: » Fwo. public. Maer pews oe eas -my rough calculations. >>. = Pilon and: Associates and Bremmer When Dan Matthews was Sonny -}.Publications; have-been retained to attorney his income form the county was in the hundreds of thou1: help: fight the ‘initiative. Both have . © -.- done mass mailings. in Wasatch. sands of dollars‘in 1997 alone. But even So, his: compensation i is nothCounty using the Park City Chamber of oe S bulk mail- ti ing when compared to what others . Superintendent left a few years ago, our the difference between.a commissioner and © * school board" ‘advertised widely for a new a manager? Should.we want an. “outsider”t ooo Our ‘own’ school board ‘wanted and | help? Should there be an elected or appoint- + rieeded“to' ‘hire: ‘the best they: could “find, ed manager? In fact, the commission GOUN- -“» 5: whether that person:came 'from:our county cil .and: manager form: of. government. is : sor net.isr’t that best:for our schools?-What | quite’ common. Back in1924;'the first man- . about all of the neweachers hired?:Are all _ ager was ‘hired j in the US. ‘Today, over 15 from our county? Don’t we need a qualified administrator and, teachers, with. specific million people ‘in‘our country live under a SAM ALLEN < OPINION.» © "are solving’ the ; same ‘problems * we have. A © qualified manager would know more legal qd — options that have been tried elsewhere. A _ professional manager will also have training - -and- organizational skills to. help .county ers. Would a business that size roo some ‘employees. Much study has been done to — professional administration? measure performance of. local governProfessional, public managers are. . ments. A professional manager could comtrained in many areas before receiving their pare Wasatch County employees with other educational degrees. They study. public - communities to see how productive and effi-finance, resource allocation, economic — cient they are. development, technology, intergovernmenWhy shouldn’t we want national aoe tal relations, strategic planning, public poliapse education and experience to help us? _cy, and human resource management. Most Ifthe new county government passes let the belong to a professional organization, the | new county commissioners find out all the ~ International City/County Managers local input and expert advice they can Association (www.icma.org.). Professional before making the decisions that affect us ne | public managers can attend yearly conferences, receive monthly publications and furThere is also a Code of Ethics that pro_ ther training to stay up with issues, laws, fessional managers should follow. It states at _and problems going on nationally. Would we the ICMA website that public managers want that kind of emener available to our MANAGER NEEDED county? Some would say that we don’t aeed" ‘out. CONTINUED ON AQ has been an have received. ing permit. © In 1997* ‘Commissioner Ren There Hise also been numerous _ Provost signed a contract negotiatsigns placed up around the commued by Matthewsi in an questionable nity and full page ads run in newsmeeting that committed the county papers opposing the proposed to building a $9.7 million water change in the form of lies gov-. _ treatment plant for the polluted ernment. water coming from UPCM’ S Who’s paying for all this? Ontario Mine Tunnel. — I doubt that Mike Davis, Michael 3 Moulton most or Dea Riley-the three prominent initiative-have opponents the to the personal resources to wage such a war. And » we doubt that the opposition has collected enough $10 to $20 donations to cover their costs. PR and polling firms do not come cheap. We may never ea for sure who _ The contract also stated that the county would indemnify UPCM against the environmental liability concerning the quality of water coming from the mine tunnel. Considering the fact that. the EPA is always tightening environmental regulations and that the GAINS CONTINUED ON A8 ee mg |