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Show School board, city council tackle future-of Carl Winters building ' by Nan Chalat "i When the Park City Board of Education and the Park City council met last Thursday Mayor Jack Green jokingly suggested the two bodies stick to discussions, of "horses, weather and family." Instead they tackled a number of issues that have been in dispute between them for several years. Although no votes were taken after several new solutions to old issues were presented they parted on a note of general consensus. One of the issues that has been a sore point between the city council and the board of education has been the disposition of the Carl Winters Middle School building on Park Avenue and the adjacent playing field which represents one of the few remaining open spaces in Old Town. "We'd like you to buy it," school superintendent Tony Mitchell told the council. How much? was councilman Al Horrigan's reply. (Two years ago the school district rejected an offer to -trade the property for land owned by ; the city and Deer Valley.) "We think it is valuable property and the school district intends to use it either to offset future capital improvements or as a site for a new school," said Mitchell. "But we would also like to accommodate the city's need " for open space." In response, councilman Jim Doilney asked if there might be a legal way for the city or the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) to buy the property and for the school district to use the purchase money to renovate the building as a school. Doilney suggested if the exchange of funds could be made while circumventing the Uniform School Fund it would save money for all of Park City's taxpayers. Councilmen Tom Shellenberger and Horrigan said they preferred to see the facility renovated as a school. "The more of these buildings we lose, the poorer we all are," Shellenberger said. Although both groups appeared to favor the proposal, there was no discussion of a price for the property, and city attorney Tom Clyde said there were "still some legal questions." One of those questions is whether ' the school district can legally avoid ! paying a percentage of the revenue to the state's Uniform School Fund. Another is whether the purchase of property which will not be returned to the tax rolls is a violation of the RDA's charter. 1 After the meeting Mitchell said, "In the long run I see mostly positive benefits for residents if the RDA is extended. If the RDA can compensate compen-sate the school district for any loss of revenue it experiences as a result of its existence those funds can be used to assist in renovating the school." The council and school board also discussed the possibility of working together to build an indoor recreation recrea-tion facility. Two members of the city council and two school board members currently sit on a committee commit-tee to study the community's need for such a facility. School board member Eugene Lambert reported the committee was discussing the possibility of forming a special improvement district to fund it. The special improvement district would have the same boundaries as the school district, said Lambert. He added that if the recreation complex was located near the high school it could be used by the school during the day and by the community at night. Councilman Bob Wells said he was "strongly opposed" to the formation of a special improvement district that would have its own governing body and its own special interests. Sity manager Arlene Loble supported Wells, saying, "the more general the perspective of the governing body, the more accountable it is." |