Kudos to WX City Manager

An article in today's Deseret News (see here) talks about the "quiet zone" that is being established for the trains in the Northern Utah area. The article mentions that the effort to get quiet zones instituted in the commuter rail area was organized by Woods Cross City Manager, Gary Uresk. I know that there were many complaints from citizens about the train horns during my term on the council. Gary knew that there was a need for something to be done and made the effort to see that UTA implemented the needed changes at the street crossings to be able to pursue a quiet zone.This is no small accomplishment. I'm sure Gary had to work many hours with many different entities to accomplish this. The quality of life for many people will improve because of Gary's actions. Kudos to Gary Uresk for taking the initiative to get this implemented.

It only took three months...

I wrote in a previous post (see here) about my fears of Jill Hadley Evans being able to make unbiased decisions when it comes to issues about the Woods Cross City parks. It looks like it only took three months for my fears to apparently come true.

Councilmember Jill Evans has had two items placed on tomorrow's City Council Agenda (see here) that deal with Woods Cross City parks. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with her placing items that deal with the Parks Department on the agenda, however, on at least one of these agenda items, my sources say that her husband Marc has decided not to tell his direct supervisor about his proposal. Common courtesy and common sense say that you should at least let your direct supervisor know what your intentions are. In many companies, doing the equivalent is labeled as insubordination. At the very least, in my four years on the City Council, I learned that you typically wouldn't get things passed if you didn't gauge the interest of the other council members prior to having something put on the agenda. I guess Jill and her husband Marc, have some things to learn still.

I'd like to offer my feelings on the two agenda items.

First item - Discussion on Closing Athletic Field for Organized Youth Team Usage
The parks are paid for by property taxes and sales taxes collected for Woods Cross City. By far the biggest influx to the City's budget comes from sales tax monies. The organized youth teams that use our parks are typically from the South Davis area. That means the parents of these youth quite likely live in Woods Cross and pay property taxes to Woods Cross or at least have purchased things in Woods Cross and have paid sales taxes on those items. The largest percentage of sales tax income to Woods Cross comes from the car dealerships located here. It's not uncommon for a Bountiful, West Bountiful, or North Salt Lake resident to purchase a Chevrolet or Toyota at one of our Woods Cross dealerships. I think it's about time that the parks employees realize who pays for the parks and for their salaries. The parks are paid for by the public and are to be used by the public. Let's not do things to diminish the use of our parks by the public.

Second item - Discussion on Park Fees
Again as I said in regards to the previous item, the parks are paid for by the public and are to be used by the public. To charge a park fee is equal to double taxation. Some people may say that we should charge a fee for those who are not Woods Cross residents. As I mentioned above, the biggest influx of money into the General Fund budget comes from sales tax. I don't see how charging a park use fee helps our Woods Cross residents. The members of the organized youth sports teams come from the South Davis area. Let's not resort to double taxation of our residents.

Public Salaries

I've been frequenting www.utahsright.com for salary information on public officials. I decided to take a look in their forums and found that there are quite a few public employees that are miffed that their salary information is posted on-line with their name. Why do some have such an objection to this?

I feel that if they don't want the public (who they work for) to know their name along with their salary, they should go work somewhere else. I think people who object to this, forget that it is the citizens that provide for their employment. Is it wrong for me to know that MY City Administrator, Gary Uresk, makes $103,551.00 per year? Or that MY Chief of Police, Paul Howard, makes $88,658.00 per year? Or that MY Public Works Director, Scott Anderson, makes $81,934.00 per year? I don't think so.

*Salary information taken from www.utahsright.com.

I appreciate the snowplow drivers!

With all the storms lately, I've been thinking about the snowplow drivers and how under-appreciated they are. How many of us would have been able to make it to our destinations on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day if the snowplow drivers hadn't been out taking care of clearing the roads? Most of the time we take it for granted that the roads will be clear shortly after the storm. Did any of us think about how many people had to be away from their families on Christmas Eve because they were out clearing snow from the roads so that we could be with our families?
Thanks to all the snowplow drivers who gave up their Christmas Eve so that I could make it to my destination safely! I appreciate it!