The City Hall candidates addressed the Park City Chamber/Bureau on Tuesday, touting a range of ideas to spur business as they continued to stress their economic ideas as Election Day approached.
Speaking at The Yarrow, the candidates gathered in what was the last scheduled group appearance after a series of events dating to the summer. None of them made bold statements, and much of what was discussed on Tuesday was rehashed material from other campaign events.
Mayoral challenger Brad Olch continued his toughened-up campaign against the incumbent mayor, Dana Williams, questioning City Hall’s decisions during the recession.
Olch, who served three terms as mayor immediately preceding Williams, charged that City Hall’s work force has increased by 25 percent since he left office in early 2002. Meanwhile, Olch said the local government should reconsider construction projects. Instead, he said, City Hall should build up its budget reserves until the economy starts humming again.
Williams, though, countered that the Olch strategy is not the smartest for City Hall. The incumbent said, as an example, firms seeking to build municipal projects have been submitting bids that have been lower than anticipated, a result of an area-wide drop in private-sector construction. The mayor also said City Hall’s finances are in good shape, evidenced by strong bond ratings.
The candidates fielded a series of questions about spurring the economy, but the six people on the ballot on Tuesday did not seem to grossly disagree with the others. They spoke about festivals and the prospects of some sort of skiing connection between the mountain resorts, at least the second time they have discussed a so-called interconnect during the campaign season.
In talking about an interconnect, Williams mentioned that Talisker, which is involved at different levels with Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons, is “amenable” to talks about a link. Olch spoke about the success of an interconnect in France and that there is a good opportunity for a link locally. The City Council candidates also touched on the interconnect idea, with the four of them not greatly differing from each other as they spoke about the idea.
Some of the other highlights of the Chamber/Bureau event included:
City Council candidate Mark Blue saying college-extension courses could be offered in Park City as a way to attract more visitors.
City Council candidate Alex Butwinski saying work force housing should be put within the developments that are required to build the housing.
City Council candidate Cindy Matsumoto saying the upcoming ski season, when much of City Hall’s revenues are generated, will influence the city’s capital projects plans.
City Council candidate John Stafsholt saying putting entertainment kiosks on Main Street could provide information about special events.
The six candidates, meanwhile, agreed that City Hall should continue to provide financial assistance to not-for-profit groups through grants, a long-running program of the local government.
Each of them also said they prefer the way the Park City government is set up, which puts much of the power with the City Council and the city manager instead of the mayor.