At the Dec. 17th meeting of the Joint Transit Advisory Board, Park City Mayor Andy Beerman said the city and Summit County should move ahead together to plan for transit.
But he also protested that the city has been the object of some unfair comments from County Council members.
During some brief comments at the session, Mayor Beerman talked about a Highway 224 study, financed by the Mountain Accord.
He said the study was a collaboration between the city and county, headed up by County Transportation Manager Caroline Rodriguez, and it was unfair that county officials said they were surprised when Park City chose Bonanza Park as a terminus for a possible Bus Rapid Transit service
“And very deliberately, Caroline, we gave you and the county lead on that project, knowing that you oversaw both districts and we just oversaw part of it. And the fact that Park City said, “This is where we think the terminus oughta go” did not turn the county into a victim or have you uninformed. We were all operating off our best guesses at that point. And I think there’s been some loose comments made that make it sound like we ambushed the county with it. That was a collaborative process. We need to continue to focus on collaborative processes. And I think that’s where your hearing frustration from us is some of the stuff that’s coming back, like we did this to the county or it was something that was (Carson) Well, it was designated by the city as the terminus. (Beerman) As a collaborative process, just like you designated the Kimball. (Carson) Again, I don’t think we need to get into where we were. (Beerman) No, I think we do.”
Beerman did not specifically name the county officials who made the comments.
“But Caroline was the lead on this project. The county oversaw the project. So you not a victim in this. Park City didn’t do anything to you. (Clyde) I don’t know that we’re saying we’re a victim, we’re just. (Beerman) But council members have gone on the radio and have made comments recently that said, “Park City’s ambushed us with it. We didn’t know about it.” I mean, those are strong comments for people that are trying to collaborate and determine things going forward. (Clyde) Apparently I must have missed an important day on radio. (Beerman) What we can say is there are a lot of questions we still need to answer. And we need to have good communication. And so I, I think at this point—I’m just suggesting we move past the past and say, “We made some assumptions.”
Park City Mayor Andy Beerman
