Don’t know an HDDR from the HPCA?

Or a CUP from an MPD?

Park City leaders want regular Parkites to understand what officials are talking about during City Council meetings and what staffers are writing about in reports. Numerous bureaucratic acronyms are used in both.

City Hall staffers recently began adding a section to reports submitted to the elected officials that lists the acronyms they used and what they stand for. It is a way to assist people as they follow the business of the municipal government, officials say.

The acronyms sometimes refer to certain types of City Hall permits. They are used in other cases to identify government bodies, laws or not-for-profit organizations.

“Acronyms are great for the people who use them every day,” Mayor Jack Thomas said.

During an interview, the mayor correctly identified one acronym taken from a recent City Hall staff report but was not sure about another one. Thomas was familiar with the acronym IBC, which stands for the International Building Code and was used in a report about a condominium plat. He was not familiar with the acronym IMBA, which is used to refer to the International Mountain Bicycling Association and was included in a report about bicycle racks. The recent report about the condominium plat and the report about bicycle racks each used 12 acronyms.

“Even Council will struggle with some of these acronyms,” the mayor said.

City Hall officials — the mayor, the City Council, staffers and municipal panel members — use acronyms on an everyday basis. It is rare that someone explain an acronym on the spot during a meeting, though.

The reports are distributed to the mayor and City Council prior to each meeting. They are also posted on the City Hall website for the public. They outline a topic, usually in great details, and in many cases offer a recommendation to the elected officials. The reports are many times the basis for much of the discussion at a City Council meeting.

Some of the acronyms are likely familiar to people who do not regularly follow City Hall, such as using PCPD to identify the Park City Police Department. Only insiders would understand others like CMAR, which stands for construction manager at risk.

And HDDR, HPCA, CUP and MPD?

They stand for historic district design review, Historic Park City Alliance, conditional-use permit and master planned development.