Two of Utah’s U.S. congressional delegation will be on the panel of this week’s Park City Council Roundtable.
KPCW has details about the meeting and how the public can participate.
Senator Mitt Romney and Congressman Ben McAdams will join Park City Mayor Andy Beerman and Council Member Max Doilney for the virtual meeting Friday morning at 9A.M.
Park City Council has used the Coffee With Council and Business Roundtable meetings during the pandemic to provide an organized method for the public to ask questions and hear direct updates about the effects of COVID-19 in Park City.
Council Member Max Doilney hopes to hear details about the Paycheck Protection Program.
“Who knows, hopefully that conversation covers a whole variety of topics. Hopefully it flows but I’ve certainly been working on a couple of questions that I want to ask. I own a couple of businesses in town. I participated in that paycheck protection program which has been a big topic of conversation and continues to change the rules. Will that continue to change? Interestingly enough, Ben McAdams, he's in the House of Representatives and he was part of passing a bill that would make things a lot easier for those of us with that loan. That bill is now stuck in the Senate and they’re amending it.”
Doilney says the legislation is happening right now and he, along with others who are depending on the PPP should tune in and submit questions.
“If they don’t get it done, frankly by Wednesday, that would be an interesting conversation to have with Mitt. They're literally right in the middle of making those decisions, so that's right now.”
The PPP was designed to help employers keep connected to their employees during the COVID-19 business shut-downs. Some businesses did not receive payments in time and even now, businesses remain uncertain about future recovery. Many employees who are now on unemployment are making more than they earned in their jobs. The legislation passed by the house last week would give small businesses more flexibility to use the funds for nonpayroll expenses and it would extend the time frame for the program.
Park City Mayor Andy Beerman says the Friday roundtable meeting has evolved since the onset of COVID-19 restrictions in March. He hopes both businesses and residents tune in and ask questions.
“But I think this is going to be an open discussion on the federal response to federal aid packages in the perspective from our federal delegation. And I hope there's a lot of back and forth. They’ve got some good information to share with us. It isn't often we can go directly to the source and speak to our delegation.”
Beerman says he hopes to keep the conversation pertinent to COVID-19 related impacts.
“I’ve been told by both that they’re willing to answer any questions but certainly as the facilitator I'll make sure that questions are civil and pertinent. But I would expect the main topic here is COVID and aid packages and I hope that's what we focus on. I would prefer not to delve into politics. That's not the point of this, but if there are other relevant issues, they would like to hear from Senator Romney or Representative McAdams yeah, we’ll try to weave those in.”
The virtual roundtable meeting starts at 9 A.M. Friday and is scheduled until 10:15. They would like to receive questions in advance which will be answered in the order of when they came in. Send questions to andy@parkcity.org or to linda.jager@parkcity.org.
Linksto the Park City roundtable, with guests Mitt Romney and Ben McAdams, can be found on KPCW.org.
