The Summit County Council was hard at work during their Wednesday session. Among other things, they approved a contract extension for their County Manager, appointed citizen members to the Snyderville Transit Board; and kept an eye on bills before the Utah Legislature.
Council Member Glenn Wright told KPCW that County Manager Tom Fisher led a staff that did an awesome job coping with Covid and other challenges during 2020.
Under the new three-year extension for Fisher, his base salary was increased to $175,000.
“But I want to put that in context. He actually received most of that last year. And then when we hit the Covid crisis and our economy crashed, tax income crashed, Tom voluntarily gave up his raise last year. So it’s a pretty microscopic raise over what he would have had last year. (Leslie) It sounds like that was restored and then basically just put into his retirement account? (Wright) Yep.
The contract also provides that Fisher can be paid for his un-used vacation days, up to two weeks.
The Council also named two people to the Snyderville Basin Transit Board, out of a well-qualified group of eight candidates. The appointees were Kim Carson, who retired just weeks ago as a Council Member, and Joe Spink. Wright said that Spink is a civil engineer who has helped design transit systems around the country.
Turning to the Legislature—HB 115 is another bill on city annexations across county lines, appearing after a bill aiding Hideout’s annexation slipped under the county’s radar last year. Wright said they’re keeping an eye on it.
“We think we’re making some good progress. We’ll all just have to monitor it right up to the last vote on the House or Senate floor—if we remember what happened last year.”
He said the county has two excellent land-use attorneys, Dave Thomas and Jami Brackin, working on the issue.
Meanwhile, the county is worried that HB 82 will quash their ability to regulate accessory dwellings. Council Members wondered this week if they can get any help from the Legislature.
“A good portion of the Legislature comes from the development industry and the homebuilding industry. So that’s what we’re dealing with in the Legislature. But they do listen to voices of the public if the public gets loud enough. So that’s about where we have to go on that.”
Finally, a proposed bill will allow counties, in the fourth-to-sixth-class, to use a portion of their Transient Tax monies not just for tourism promotion, but to mitigate the impacts of tourism.
Summit is left out of that, as a third-class county. Wright said that before the county takes a position on the bill, he has to consult with the business interests in Park City.
“I think we need to talk to the Chamber about that, cause I know other Class Three counties would like to be involved in that. And I would hate, if it’s not really that important anymore for Summit County to be an obstacle for the other Class Three counties. I think there are three other Class Three counties. One of em spoke up vocally on the UAC meeting, a Commissioner from Box Elder County who’s also the President of UAC this year. I would certainly like to help them if we can, but we need to have some discussions with the Chamber about that before we could do anything. We’re all in partnership.”
