The three men who represent the Park City area in the state Legislature are scheduled to field questions from constituents at a town hall meeting in the Snyderville Basin on Feb. 28.
The event is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Sheldon Richins Building at Kimball Junction.
Expected to attend are Republican Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, Republican Rep. Mel Brown and Rep. Joel Briscoe, a Democrat.
“We want to get all of the legislators together so if people have to ask questions about what’s going on in the legislative session, they can ask and make their voices heard before some of these important votes are cast,” Summit County Republican Party Chairman Henry Glasheen said.
People in Summit County are concerned about a bill that might force the development of a movie studio at Quinn’s Junction. The legislation is Senate Bill 231, which was introduced by Sen. Mark Madsen, a Republican from Utah County.
“We want to give the legislators an opportunity to come up and talk about why they are voting in a certain way on certain of those bills,” Glasheen said. “There really is a whole range of things that get people motivated at this point The people who have responded to me have all come back with different things that are important to them.”
Summit County Democratic Party Chairman Glenn Wright said people in the Park City area are upset that Madsen would sponsor legislation that could allow a developer to ignore local planning ordinances.
Wright said he hopes constituents grill the lawmakers about S.B. 231 at the town hall meeting.
“The Legislature likes to poke their nose in local affairs,” Wright said. “I think it’s ironic that a very conservative Legislature that talks about state rights constantly, and is constantly complaining about the federal government imposing its will on the states, is more than willing to interfere in city and county affairs.”
Balancing the state budget will be one of the most important challenges lawmakers take on this year, he said.
“How are we going to fund schools and how are we going to fund the rest of the state budget over the next year?” Wright said. “Over the last couple of years we have steadily de-funded education. Are we finally going to try to take that back in the right direction?”
“We’re not going to find out typically until the last minute where the budget is going, but at least next week’s town meeting is going to be a lot closer to the end of the Legislature.”