For instance, the twice-weekly lunches served at the center were moved from noon to 1 p.m. so that its members could get in a full morning of skiing and still make it to lunch on time.

"People in the Park City Center stay pretty active," said Judy Maedel, president of the board of the Park City Senior Center.

The center is one of three in Summit County that serve seniors. In recognition of their contributions to the community, the Summit County Council proclaimed September as Summit County Senior Centers Month.

"September is National Senior Center Month and [is] an opportunity to further recognize Summit County Senior Centers as a safe and caring place for our aging population to enjoy themselves," the proclamation read. "The 2010 U.S. Census revealed that eight percent of Summit County residents are 65 or older."

The other centers are the North Summit Senior Center at 150 E. Park Road in Coalville, and the South Summit Senior Center at 34 East 400 South in Kamas. The Park City Senior Center is located at 1361 Woodside Avenue in Park City.

Heather Nalette is the head of the centers as Summit County senior citizens coordinator. The Utah Valley University graduate has served little over a year in her position. She said she was attracted to the job after doing research projects as a student where she had the opportunity to work with both children and seniors. Nalette found that she preferred to interact with seniors.

"I realized I could learn so much from them," she said. As a result, she said, she often leaves her Coalville office in favor of spending time with the seniors in the senior centers. "It's a lot more fun than sitting in front of my computer," she said.

One of those seniors is Mildred Waddell, 89, of Coalville, who walks four blocks to the North Summit Senior Center twice a week to enjoy lunch with other seniors. "It's nice for seniors to get out of their houses," Waddell said. "I like to associate with people and visit people my own age.

Waddell said more than 50 seniors enjoy the $3 lunches served twice a week at noon on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Nalette said that, on average, the three senior centers serve more than 700 lunches each month.

Waddell also takes advantage of another service the senior centers provide: door-to-door transportation that utilizes volunteers to take seniors to doctor appointments within a 60-mile radius. This past week, one of seven volunteer drivers took her to a eye doctor in Heber.

The senior centers also plan monthly educational outings in an effort to increase the seniors' quality of life, Nalette said. In October, a group will visit the Living Planet Aquarium in Draper, and in November a group will travel to Heber for the Western Music & Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

Waddell wasn't able to attend this past weekend's seniors trip. "I would have went to Brigham City this last weekend but I was canning tomatoes for a friend," she said.

The post September is Senior Centers Month appeared first on Park Record.

An internal affairs investigation on Summit County Sheriff candidate Kris Hendricksen obtained by The Park Record outlines a pattern of alleged dereliction of duty by Hendricksen during his time as a sergeant in the Summit County Sheriff's Office.

The file, released in response to a public records request by Summit County Democratic Chair Glenn Wright and provided to The Record, contains several letters of caution and indicates that in one instance, Hendricksen was suspended for 30 days while an investigation was conducted on allegations of insubordination and nonfeasance (defined as the omission of some act that should have been performed).

Hendricksen, who was employed by the Summit County Sheriff's Office from 2005 to 2008, said in response to the files, "You used the right words -- allegations This is made-up crap."

Some of the allegations in 2008, according to the investigation, include:

• Hendricksen was "avoiding his crew, and was spending an inordinate amount of time at Park City Police, not responding to calls as a supervisor [with] responsibility for major incidents."
• He demonstrated an inability to do time sheets correctly, failed to contact others for training, and used inappropriate language in reports.
• He fostered an "unprofessional," "intolerant" and "negative" atmosphere in regards to his crew
• He publicly badmouthed superiors.
• He "failed to ensure that the workplace had a working environment free from unlawful harassment for all employees."

Hendricksen is running for Sheriff against Justin Martinez, and when informed of the internal affairs investigation being made public, Martinez stressed that he or his campaign had nothing to do with its release. "I don't want this to be a mudslinging campaign," Martinez said. He added that he wanted to run his campaign based on his own education and experience.

Incumbent Sheriff Dave Edmunds has publicly endorsed Martinez, and was critical of Hendricksen. "We have candidates at the opposite ends of the spectrum," Edmunds said. "[Hendricksen] resigned under great suspicion His responsibilities were taken away from him. He wasn't up to snuff."

Hendricksen currently works for the Utah Valley University Police Department, and ran against Edmunds for sheriff in 2010.

"I'm not perfect," Hendricksen. "I make mistakes. I have never done anything criminal. I have never done anything immoral."

He continued: "I am still employed as a police officer. I've been teaching at the police academy for 18 years."

Hendricksen said part of the reason he is running for office is that there is low morale in the Sheriff's Office because there are certain deputies and officers, like him, who get "railroaded." The leadership of the department prefers to investigate fellow deputies rather than criminals, he said, resulting in the departure of many deputies in the past decade.

Hendricksen said that if he wanted to, he could bring up allegations against Martinez, but that he and the Republican Party want to run a clean campaign. "I'm running on the issues," Hendricksen said.

As for the allegations against him, Hendricksen said, "It's politics."

The post Accusations lobbed at sheriff’s candidate appeared first on Park Record.

The lyric is from the Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you find you get what you need."

Even though the Summit County Council doesn't have to pass a budget until the end of the year, it is budget season in the offices of Summit County. At the end of August, department heads were provided with historical and the current-year expenditure information, and since then have turned in their requests for 2015.

According to County Finance Officer Matt Leavitt, there had been $66 million in requests, and those requests have to be eventually whittled down to about $50 million. He is a member of the Budget Committee, which meets often this month with department heads to discuss requests. "We say no to a lot of things," Leavitt said.

Leavitt said so far, generally there hasn't been a lot of additional personnel requests, but primarily requests new equipment, facilities and infrastructure. He acknowledged, "We're behind on maintaining our assets."

The Budget Committee -- which includes Auditor Blake Frazier, Assistant County Manager Anita Lewis, Director of Personnel Management Brian Bellamy, Treasurer Corrie Forsling, and IT Director Ron Boyer -- uses the County Council's strategic plan as a guide when evaluating requests, Leavitt said.

According to the plan, published on the county's website, the plan includes six strategic issues that help define "what is most important" when determining where resources should be spent.

The issues are a strong fiscal foundation; planning and collaboration; multi-modal transportation; economic vitality and diversity; environmental stewardship; and an engaged and informed citizenry.

On or about Oct. 1, the Budget Committee will forward its recommendations to Jasper. That month, revenue projections are received to help Jasper make his recommendations, and department heads receive a copy of the committee's recommendations.

Jasper said he looks ahead to try to predict revenue streams and expected expenditures, because "we want to be in a position where we don't have to do layoffs again." During the depths of the economic recession, the county had to tighten its belt and cut 10 percent of its personnel, he said.

Now that the economy is better, Jasper said that one of his recommendations to Council will be to invest in an area that was put off during darker economic times. "Focusing on infrastructure will be my recommendation," he said. "We need to invest in infrastructure," such as road projects.

In November or December, two public hearings will be held on opposite ends of the county (Kimball Junction and Coalville) as Jasper gives his recommendations to County Council. County Council members are required by law to adopt the budget on or before Dec. 31. If they wait until the deadline, they'll have to do it without Jasper, who is retiring as county manager on Dec. 17.

The post County budget process begins appeared first on Park Record.

The recent failure of a major hillside in North Salt Lake necessitates further action on the issue from the county's standpoint, said County Emergency Manager Kevin Callahan in a staff report to the County Council.

Even though the Summit County Emergency Management Plan, adopted in January 2014, identified the overall risk of landslides to be low, more recent data by the Utah Geological Survey indicates that Summit County is the top 20 percent of Utah counties for the risk of landslides, Callahan said. For example, Summit County is ranked No. 4 of 29 counties in the amount of high-hazard areas for landslide susceptibility: 80. 1 square miles.

In addition, the Utah Geological Survey ranks Summit County along with Salt Lake and Washington counties as among the highest counties in the state for overall landslide vulnerability based on the county's geology, Callahan said, with the county in the midst of a major development boom with building inspections increasing nearly 200 percent within the last year.

Steve Bowman and Rich Giraud from the Utah Geological Survey will be at the council meeting to discuss recent landslide history in Summit County, and they, along with Callahan, have identified mitigation measures that could reduce the risk of landslides. Among the measures are more detailed geologic hazard studies, an update to the county grading ordinance, the adoption of a geologic hazards ordinance, and an update to the county emergency plan.

In other business, the County Council will:

• appoint two members to fill vacancies on the Summit County Restaurant Tax Advisory Committee;
• appoint three members to fill vacancies on the Summit County Recreation Arts and Parks Advisory Committee.

The meeting will be at the Summit County Courthouse at 60 North Main Street in Coalville, with the work session commencing at 1:50 p.m.

Public input is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The post Landslide mitigation to be considered by County Council appeared first on Park Record.

A joint council meeting with Summit County, Park City and Wasatch County will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 30 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Sheldon Richins Building at 1885 Ute Boulevard at Kimball Junction.

The meeting will include opportunities to give public input on key transportation choices and improvements for the Snyderville Basin area.

Summit County, in conjunction with Park City and Vail Resorts, has embarked on a long-range transportation plan for the Snyderville Basin. The plan will support and coordinate local and regional transportation decisions using the vision established in the Snyderville Basin General Plan, according to Summit County Public Information Officer Julie Booth.

"This is the first time you have ever seen a partnership like this," said Summit County Manager Bob Jasper.

Jasper said the purpose of the meeting is different from the ongoing Mountain Accord meetings, with the latter focused on regional transportation challenges and solutions throughout the Salt Lake Valley and the Wasatch Back. This transportation meeting will be concerned with alleviating transportation problems in the local Snyderville Basin, he said.

At the meeting, Booth said, the project team will present the plan's progress to date and encourage feedback on potential transportation needs.

In August, a Short Term Needs Identification was prepared for Summit County about the Snyderville Basin by by the Salt Lake City-based transportation consultants Fehr & Peers. It was the first phase of a transportation study that will eventually be used to update the Snyderville Basin Long-Range Transportation Plan..

In the second meeting, the Park City Area Project for Deeper Understanding will host a panel discussion and public conversation about the proposed Tesoro oil pipeline on Thursday, Sept. 25.

"The purpose of the evening will be primarily educational as well as respectful listening and dialogue," said Rev. Charles Robinson, rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and chair of the Park City Area Project for Deeper Understanding, in an email to participants. "It will be an opportunity to provide accurate information, correct misunderstandings, educate the public concerning the pros and cons of having an oil pipeline in our county."

The panel is scheduled to include Summit County Manager Bob Jasper, among others, including a water district representative, an environmental consultant, a pipeline engineer, and the possibility of a representative of Tesoro Refining & Marketing. People in the audience will be encouraged to ask questions.

Tesoro has historically trucked unrefined waxy crude oil from sites in the Uinta Basin to the Salt Lake City refinery. The company is proposing to build a 135-mile-long, heated pipeline, called the Uinta Express Pipeline, to transport about 60,000 barrels of waxy crude per day. It is slated to enter Summit County near Woodland, travel west through Francis, and then turn northward through the Kamas Valley, although alternative alignments are being explored, according to Tesoro.

The meeting will be at St. Luke's, located on 4595 North Silver Springs Drive in the Snyderville area of the greater Park City metropolitan area. The church is located about two miles south of I-80 off of State Route 224 behind the blue-roofed 7-11 store.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. and be over by 9 p.m.

The post Two meetings to discuss Summit County’s future appeared first on Park Record.

"I don't believe there is proof of any criminal activity by Ms. McMullin," Brickey wrote in a letter to Lieutenant Jason Bradley of the Heber City Police Department, who conducted an investigation into the validity of Hague's claims. The Heber City Police Department took over the investigation because of a potential conflict of interest between McMullin and the Summit County Sheriff's Office, which is overseen by McMullin as a council member.

"It was completely expected," McMullin said after she received the news. "I didn't do a damn thing wrong. I thought I would be 1,000-percent exonerated."

Hague could not be reached for comment.

McMullin has been the owner of Hugo Coffee inside the Park City Visitor Information Center at Kimball Junction since the beginning of the year, taking over the Silver Bean Coffee shop location after the latter decided not to renew its lease with the Park City Chamber/Bureau.

Hague brought up his charges at the Summit County Council's meeting on Aug. 20 and filed a complaint on Aug. 25. He alleged that because of her position, McMullin was allowed to pay less than fair market value for the space and that other special privileges were extended to her.

In an email to County Council on Aug. 26, he accused them of "circulating the wagons to protect Claudia McMullin despite her questionable use of Summit County property for her Hugo Coffee shop without paying the county any rent." He added: "What do you think of her duplicity? When will you protect the public trust by stopping McMullin? Is her comradery (sic) that important that you are willing to destroy the public trust? Think about it."

In his investigation, Bradley found that there are no restrictions on a councilmember's business relationship with a third party -- the Chamber -- which does business with the County.

Hague's allegation that McMullin was receiving free or discounted rent in exchange for favorable influence on the Council decisions pertaining to the Chamber was shown to be unfounded, Brickey said. "During the course of the investigation no information has been discovered that any type of preferential treatment has been extended to [the Chamber] by Ms. McMullin. In fact, what was confirmed was that Ms. McMullin is paying the same monthly rent that prior tenant paid."

Brickey wrote, "Once again, this claim of criminal misconduct is without merit as there is no evidence to indicate any improper conduct by Ms. McMullin."

"I feel vindicated," McMullin said. "I'm a small businesswoman trying to make a buck."

The post Councilwoman cleared of misconduct appeared first on Park Record.

Ashley Page, 31, has been charged with four felony and two misdemeanor counts, including two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, and one count of driving under the influence.

According to court documents, Summit County Sheriff's Deputy Josh Bowers responded to a vehicle crash on State Route 32 in front of the High Star Ranch after several callers had reported that they had seen Page driving erratically and committing multiple traffic violations.

Bowers stated in the court documents that he made contact with Page and noticed that she had red, watery eyes which were glazed over, that her speech was slurred, that she had the odor of alcohol on her breath, and that she had difficulty answering basic questions.

Upon further investigation, Bowers learned that she had been involved in an earlier crash on Gines Lane in the Francis area, the deputy said in court documents. Page admitted that she had been arguing with her husband at a family party in Oakley, and that she had been drinking vodka at the party and that she left the party following the argument with her husband.

Bowers noticed an open bottle of vodka on the floor of the passenger compartment of the minivan, according to court documents. The bottle was within arm's reach of the driver's seat and was about three-fourths full.

Contact was made with the defendant's husband, and he confirmed that he had been involved in a verbal argument with his wife at the Oakley party, according to court documents. He said that during the argument, Page started to hit him. The husband had a small scratch near his left eye that he said was caused by Page.

The Park Record does not generally name of the victims of domestic violence.

The husband went on to say that things got to the point where he decided it was best that he leave the party, court documents say. He took their daughter into his pick-up and left. Page followed them in the minivan and rammed it into the back of his truck at a high rate of speed while he and his daughter were inside it and while it was still moving. The husband pulled over and stopped on the side of the road, where Page again hit his vehicle from behind, according to court documents.

A search warrant was obtained for the defendant's blood, and according to testing performed by the Bureau of Forensic Toxicolocgy, Page's blood alcohol content was 0.17 grams per 100 milliliters of blood.

She was arrested and booked into the Summit County Jail.

The case was filed on Sept. 3.

The post Kamas woman charged with numerous violations appeared first on Park Record.

"We're not particularly optimistic," said Chris Carter.

The woman, 38-year-old Arlyn Yusi, was crossing State Route 224 at Sun Peak Drive near Park City at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, said Carter.

Yusi was hit by a pickup truck that was turning left from Sun Peak Drive onto State Route 224, said Sgt. Todd Royce of the Utah Highway Patrol. Carter said the UHP is still investigating the cause of the accident.

Carter, along with his wife Sarah Carter, had employed Yusi, a native of the Philippines, for a decade as their nanny for their nine-year-old twins.

Yusi is married and has three young children back in the Philippines, Carter said.

"This destroyed all of their lives," said Sarah in an email to The Park Record.

Carter said Yusi was returning home from church and was wearing a bright pink T-shirt.

Yusi briefly regained consciousness, Royce said, before being transported to Salt Lake City's University Hospital. Since reaching the hospital, Carter said, she has not regained consciousness.

"It's very hard to deal with," said Carter.

The family's primary residence is in Tokyo, where Carter is an investment banker, and the family along with Yusi was scheduled to fly back to Japan Friday, Sept. 12. That trip has been suspended indefinitely.

The family, which has a home in the Quarry Mountain Ranch development, spends about three weeks a year in Park City. They had been on vacation.

In December 2011, 25-year-old Gabriela Caballero-Lopez was killed when she was struck by two cars while crossing State Road 224 near Canyons Resort, according to past reporting from The Park Record. Caballero-Lopez was a seasonal worker at Canyons from Paraguay.

The post Woman struck on S.R. 224 in coma appeared first on Park Record.

Between the Tuesday and Friday following Labor Day, the county's five building inspectors performed no fewer than 532 building inspections, said Trussell, who has kept track of how many his team has performed each week since he started.

"This is a record for Summit County," Trussell said. "It's kind of mind-boggling."

"This is unheard of, even for a five-day work week," said Julie Booth, county public information officer.

The spike in the number of building inspections means that the recession-era construction slowdown of building might be completely over, said Community Development Director Pat Putt.

"We're coming out of the recession and we're on the cusp of a big building construction [boom]." Putt said.

What's more, Putt expects the break-neck pace to keep up throughout the rest of September and October. "We're coming out from the dark side of the Moon in terms of construction."

Just last week, Putt said he visited the Promontory development, and saw 53 new homes under construction.

That development, added to the workload associated with the Wyndham Vacation Resort hotel at Canyons resort and the Newpark Terrace -- a 60-unit townhouse project on top of the parking garage at Newpark -- means that the building inspectors have had their hands full and days jam-packed.

Also on tap for the future is the pending Silver Creek Village, located on 240 acres at the southeast quadrant of I-80 and U.S. 40, which will consist of 960 market-priced units, 330 affordable housing units, and 50,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.

"The workload is going crazy," Trussell said. "We're scattered all over the county."

The number of building inspections in August doubled the number done the previous August, Putt said. "We've gone through the doorway to a busy time," he said.

The record-breaking week stands in stark contrast to the darkest days of the recession. In 2009, according to reporting by The Park Record, the number of building inspections in Summit County declined for nine straight months, leading to the layoff of two building inspectors.

Now, with five inspectors on the payroll, the building department is beefed-up and stronger.

"I couldn't be more proud of our inspectors." Putt said. "One has a baby on the way, one has a bad back, and another has a bad Achilles It's humbling for me to work with these guys."

The post Building inspections way up appeared first on Park Record.

The Summit County Manager will travel to the Austrian city to celebrate Christmas with his family, and that trip will also celebrate his retirement.

So Summit County is moving quickly to ensure that a new county manager be hired before Jasper leaves town.

"We didn't want to draw it out," said Summit County Councilwoman Kim Carson. "Bob does have a timeline to leave, by mid-December, and we'd like to have have him [train the new hire]."

"Mr. Jasper has been kind enough to stay with Summit County while this process takes shape, allowing us flexibility to get the right person for the job," said Director of Personnel Management Brian Bellamy.

Bellamy's first responsibility, tasked by County Council, was to hire a recruiter to fill Jasper's position. In July, less than a month after Jasper announced his impending retirement, Jasper signed a contract with executive recruiting firm Prothman Company, based in Issaquah, Washington.

Bellamy said Prothman was selected because they specialize in executive recruitment services for cities and counties in western states. In addition, Bellamy believed they understood the qualities required to govern this unique county of urban and rural areas.

"We chose this particular executive recruiter because of their knowledge of local governments and placement, but also because they seek out the most qualified individual with the best fit for the organization," Bellamy said.

And, of course, "We would prefer sooner rather than later," Bellamy said.

Prothman is being paid $21,500 plus expenses, Bellamy said.

According to its website, Prothman has previously selected county managers from across the West, including San Juan County, Washington, Lane County, Oregon, and Los Alamos County, New Mexico.

Once hired, the recruiter has been busy investigating candidates with years of experience managing Western counties. Bellamy estimated that Prothman has sent out more than 700 letters to potential candidates who might be looking to move, as well as advertising in scores of publications.

"They cast a fairly large net," Bellamy said.

Bellamy said he has fielded calls from about 15 people inquiring about the position, and forwarded them all of them to Prothman. Nearly every call began with the same question. "They ask if there are any in-house candidates with an inside track," Bellamy said. The response is "No, this is a wide-open field."

On Sept. 21, Prothman will begin reviewing the candidates who have submitted applications. They will pare down the candidates to semi-finalists, and the number could range from as little as six to as many as 15 -- or more.

Those names will be forwarded to a county selection committee, whose job will be to send a minimum of three names to County Council after interviews scheduled for Oct. 9 and Oct. 10.

The selection committee comprises a who's who of Summit County, including Diane Foster, Park City Manager; Bob Wheaton, resort president and general manager of Deer Valley; Michael Washington, vice president of investments of Wells Fargo; Park City Chamber/Bureau CEO Bill Malone; Leslie Thatcher, KCPW news director; Kamas Mayor Lew Marchant; Trever Johnson, Coalville mayor; and Nancy Garrison, Park City School Board.

On Oct. 14, Bellamy said, the names of the finalists will be sent to County Council in a closed session, and on Oct. 27, the finalists will be on hand to be interviewed by County Council.

"The goal is a decision on the 29th," Bellamy said.

In general, most candidates for the position will have to give at least 30 days of notice to whomever they are employed with, Bellamy said, so along with time spent negotiating salary and benefits, the new county manger will ideally be in Summit County at the beginning of December.

That way, Jasper can make his flight.

The post County manager search on track appeared first on Park Record.