Friday, April 29, 2005

Utah Policymaker: South Davis Recreation Center Board

I've discovered a blog whose contributers are elected officials in Utah. I will provide a permanent link to it on my sidebar. Utah Policymaker

One post of interest is as follows.

"I feel that we as City Council Members from the participating cities of this district have been misled. We were led to believe from the beginning that our input on the design of the building was not only wanted but, welcomed. Now that the bonding has been approved by the voters, it seems the Board (which is made up of the Mayor's of the cities, Commissioner Dan McConkie as well as two other members) doesn't want anymore input on the what the facility is to look like and include.

In a Davis County Clipper article from Sept. 28th 2004 about the Recreation District Meeting, Tom Hardy was quoted as saying "we selected VCBO to do the study and to do the preliminary design and master plan." He goes on to say "The Board had two choices. Do you want to scrap everything you've done or get going as quickly as possible?" This seems a bit extreme. I don't think a majority of the citizens want to scrap everything. However, I do believe that a majority of the people who voted in favor of the bonding want to change the current "preliminary design" slightly. I have a commitment from Mayor Larrabee to get together with some residents of our city to discuss the preliminary designs. His biggest caveat is he wants them to have a sincere interest in the facility. If I'm helping to pay for a facility (through my property taxes) isn't that sincere interest?

Posted by Thad Van Ry # 10/12/2004 02:56:13 PM"
I can tell you, one of the "two other members" is Darrel Twede, who, along with Dannie McConkie used to be one of my neighbors. I have much respect for Daryl, and he was right to accept the invitation to serve, but the process by which he was selected was flawed. No process was in place to qualify the candidates for the Board. And, the fact that the Board does not have the benefit of a diverse membership bodes ill for the project.

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