Beginning early at 2:30 p.m. the Park City Council will take up a summer’s worth of special event requests all at once. The council is set to discuss details of the Kimball Art Festival, Miners Day, Car Free Sunday, the Bonanza Art Park, and special event parking rates.
City Manager Matt Dias said lumping these events together is a departure from how it’s usually been done, but the council wanted to take a more holistic approach to summer events. He said although the events are different, the broader effects on the community like crowds and traffic warrant a larger discussion.
“What we’ve done in years past is sort of taken events individually," Dias said. "This year, we’re attempting to consolidate them. They’re fundamentally different, they all have their own place in our ecosystem, but we are trying to step back and look at them, all together, comprehensively.”
Thursday’s events discussion is a work session, meaning the council will only provide feedback and direction. Voting on individual events will occur this summer.
Also on the agenda is a review of the proposed city operating budget for FY 2023.
Along with employee raises to the tune of nearly $3 million in an effort to hire and retain talent, the council will discuss hiring a dedicated traffic coordinator position and strengthening traffic mitigation efforts in several city departments.
The council had expressed interest in creating a dedicated traffic division earlier this year, but Dias said the city now recommends bolstering efforts in existing departments instead of creating a new one.
“We’re attempting to provide a wraparound, enhanced level of service from multiple divisions that will be organized by a traffic coordinator," he said. "There’s kind of two ways you can do this and our thought was we need to enhance the service in multiple divisions and keep this a municipal focus, a municipal priority, as opposed to sort of dumping all of that responsibility on one small department with a few individuals.”
According to a staff report, the multi-department traffic plan would cost the city approximately $1 million each year.
Later in the agenda, the council will also consider approving a $30,000 contract to conduct a microtransit study, officially declare June as Pride Month in Park City, and consider granting final approval to the National Ability Center’s new mountain center at Park City Mountain Resort.
Thursday’s meeting will be held at the Park City Council Chambers on Marsac Avenue and streamed online. A link to the full agenda and details on how to participate can be found here.
