Summit County Isn’t Being Transparent in Reporting Employee Compensation
– Dalai Lama
Each level of government in the state of Utah is required to report financial data to the state in a timely manner. This includes all revenues, expenditures, as well as employee compensation. This information is then available to the public via the Transparent Utah website. Want to know what little Suzie’s teacher makes? This website tells you and is required to be updated by all levels of government.
Around Park City, the city and school district appear to be up to date and doing a good job. However, Summit County’s employee compensation information hasn’t been updated since the 2011 fiscal year. We reached out to the state and received the following response:
“Summit County has just not submitted its Employee Compensation data for the year 2012 which was due March 31, 2013 and also the year 2013 which was due March 31, 2014. I notified them by email to that effect on April 3, 2014 and they have yet to submit the data.”
We then reached out to Summit County. The response was “I thought I had uploaded the 2012 files, but apparently they either weren’t accepted or there was some sort of error. Regardless, that should be an easy enough fix. The problem is that when you have to reload the file, if they’ve already accepted one, it duplicates everything. And when you’re talking salaries, it appears that every employee is compensated twice as much or that the county paid twice as much for whatever.” The response for 2013 was that they were waiting “to reconcile our trial balance with that of the independent auditors before submitting the file.”
Do we think anything sinister is going on? No. We are confident people are just busy, have limited time, and feel other things have higher priority. The problem is that it’s Utah law to provide this information in a timely fashion. We have sat through many Summit County Council meetings regarding the failure to pay property taxes. In most cases the individual will have an excuse. The response from the county council is always, “did we, the county, have any fault in your ability to pay your taxes?” The answer is usually something like “no, I just didn’t check my mail for the statement”.
If we hold Summit County to this same standard, it appears the 2011 data unexpectedly didn’t get uploaded two years ago. Two years later it’s still not updated. Is that ultimately the State of Utah’s fault? Probably not. With regard to auditors not blessing data, again that timing ultimately falls back on the county. Could we not pay our property taxes and then use the excuse, “well, the accountant we hired is pretty backed up.”? Probably not.
This is important for two reasons. First, the county’s government should be held to the same standard it holds its own citizens to. Second, when someone is trying to make conclusions about the people whose salaries they pay for and are also relying on, recent data is important. This is even more true during an election year.
While we understand things can get busy, Summit County needs to correct this immediately. Otherwise, they should say to all the people who don’t pay their property taxes by December 1, “That’s OK. We understand. This is a busy time of year … just pay it when you can.”
in Schools
Hope Your Kid isn’t Hispanic or Economically Disadvantaged in a Park City School
We’ve pointed out that the new Sage standardized school test by the state of Utah is like any other standardized test. At 35, your kid won’t even remember they they took it and it’s likely the result won’t alter their lives.
However we are struck by the disparity in proficiency between CAUCASIAN and both HISPANIC and ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED students. While we are sure the test has flaws, a 40% difference between Caucasian students and Hispanic students is crazy. 60+% of Caucasian students are proficient while 19% or less of Hispanic kids are proficient.
Perhaps instead of dual immersion, our schools should worry about just immersing Hispanic and low income students in education at all.
Wow.
in Schools
How to see your child’s school Sage results
The State of Utah has posted an interactive system to see how your child’s school did on the SAGE test. We are seeing reports “that the sky is falling”. Please keep in mind that many of the news outlets are reporting that it’s likely “your child isn’t college ready”. Only you really know that.
With that in mind, here are Park City’s results.
in Schools
Park City High School Ranks Between 14th and 19th Best Utah High School in Sage Results
The State of Utah released Sage standardized test results today. Park City High School was ranked:
- 19th best High School in the state in Language. 51.6% of students were proficient.
- 15th best High School in the state in Math. 44.6% of students were proficient.
- 14th best High School in the state in Science. 54.4% of students were proficient.
Zoom Restaurant Inspection
Summit County Health Department inspected Zoom on 9/16/2014. We have created a page on how to read the Inspection Report. We’ll highlight the things that may be of interest. Please read the full report below for a complete and accurate report.
Good Practices:
- Insects, rodents, and animals not present
- Toilet facilities properly constructed, cleaned, supplied.
Temperatures:
- Ground meat / Walk-in 36º
- Eggs/ Reach-in 39º
- Salmon / Drawer 37.6º
Observations and Corrective Actions:
- Store ground meats below whole cuts
- Bar dishwasher needs sanitizer
- Drawer temp on line above 41º
in Schools
A Park City School Board member says we are wrong about PC CAPS Building Discussion
We received a comment from a Park City School District Board member on our story School Board Postpones Decision on Professional Studies Building Indefinitely Without Any Discussion?. We had said that we didn’t feel there was discussion regarding the PC CAPS building because the meeting seemed to move from a letter stating that the vote on the building should be postponed; to a motion stating this; to a discussion about capital budgets, building and committees; to a vote on postponing the building.
The school board member took issue with our opinion. She stated that “this post is simply wrong”. She then points to a portion of time after the motion and says “Simple math – that was a 26 minute discussion on this decision”. We are the first to admit we could get something wrong, so we reviewed the video again.
The board member is correct, there is a 26 minute discussion. However, we stand by our opinion. In reviewing the “discussion” it seems to generally be about a Master Planning Committee. I don’t think we heard the words “Professional Studies Building” or “PC CAPS Building” once in this discussion. How is the “thing” that the motion and vote are about not the focus of the discussion?
From the public’s view there was vote for the Professional Studies Building that easily passed in May. We then heard there was going to be another vote to reaffirm the original vote. We then see in the meeting that a letter is read by the Superintendent saying she thinks we should wait on the building until priorities are decided by a committee. We then see a motion being made to do this. We then see a discussion about budgets and the cost of Treasure Mountain. Finally a vote is taken on delaying the building and the motion passes.
What did we expect to see? Perhaps someone explaining why they originally thought we needed the building immediately but now it was OK to hold off. Maybe comments on over crowding and how this building could be used for other things to reduce crowding so they need to go ahead. Perhaps comments on the public outcry against moving so fast, so they agree the board needs to wait. Basically, where was the discussion on why the building should or should not be delayed given its checkered past? It all seemed absent.
In our opinion, there was a leap from “we have to have this building” to “let’s delay this indefinitely” with no explanation to the public. That leaves us wondering if the discussion never happened, whether the Superintendent’s speech was so amazing that it left everyone both immediately agreeing and speechless, or whether the discussion happened somewhere else.
We are left looking at an immaculate conception. All of a sudden out of nowhere comes a baby. It’s here, so we all wonder where it came from. Call us politically perverted, but we want to see the sex.
This is of course our opinion. We are sure other opinions vary. We would recommend watching the video below and forming your own conclusion. You may want to see the superintendent read her letter at about 00:27:30. Then you may want to watch from about 1:28:30 where the motion is made to 1:54:00 where the vote on the building occurs. Do you feel you received an adequate explanation of why the board members who previously voted 4-1 on this are now willing to put it on hold? Do you believe this was the only discussion that took place that convinced four people to change their minds? Perhaps you do and you think we have it completely wrong. Perhaps you are right.
We, however, stand by our original opinion. It just seems strange.
Note: The School Board’s video does not see to work on some mobile phones. It you don’t see a video above, you can try the original link:
Park City Chinese And Thai Restaurant Inspection
Someone asked if we had a restaurant inspection for Park City Chinese and Thai. It looks like we do. Here you go…
Summit County Health Department inspected Park City Chinese and Thai on 9/16/2014. We have created a page on how to read the Inspection Report. We’ll highlight the things that may be of interest. Please read the full report below for a complete and accurate report.
Good Practices:
- Physical facilities installed
Temperatures:
- Beef /reach-in 37º
- Eggs/ walk-in 34º
- Shrimp / cold-table 41º
Observations and Corrective Actions:
- Dishwasher temp below 120º
- Sanitizer level below 50 ppm
- Need to date mark food
- Store raw products below veggies
When Basin Recreation Screws Up… People Notice
Anger is overflowing in parts of Jeremy Ranch. A field that many neighbors use to play soccer with their kids, let their kids run loose, and from all accounts, a good use of open space, has been converted into a small dog run. Residents are voicing concern, such as “It is a dog park and I cannot understand why they took the field away to do it! We used that field all the time. I wish they would have asked the neighborhood for input. Bummer! And I own a dog!” Another said, “I emailed a person at Basin Rec. I really feel they should have asked for neighborhood input prior to doing this. We play kickball and soccer on the field.”
The response posted from Basin Rec was “I can provide you a little back ground as to why we put the park in there. Through our community surveys and needs and wants assessments off leash dog areas were an item that we were lacking according to both reports. And with the county starting to put more emphasis on having dogs leashed in public areas we felt the need to provide areas where the community could legally have their dogs off leash. So our goal is to provide an off leash area in every community park to accommodate park users that bring and like dogs and park users that want to avoid dogs but still use our services. We understand that it is a change from what you have had up there but hopefully the community is able to embrace it. Please let me know if you have any other questions.” –Brian Hanton, CPRP, CYSA Recreation and Park Manager
Basically … we have orders to put in small dog parks and we did it there. We hope you’re OK with it but if not…oh well.
It highlights an issue we’ve never considered before with Basin Rec and open space. We always thought of open space as these wide open swaths of land. However, what if the open space they are buying are smaller parcels and then convert them into whatever they want? Perhaps they buy a couple of lots next to your house and build a trailhead with parking. The county needs more trailheads with parking and they hope you are OK with it. If not, sorry. What if they buy land behind your house and convert it to a dog park. There’s nothing like being woken and going to bed with the sounds of dogs.
Basin Rec has done many good things for our community. Many of us use their trails, parking lots, and facilities every day. However, this highlights the other side of the coin. At what point do they start doing things that aggravate the population. Perhaps it’s not enough for them to tell us they are going to spend $15 million of the upcoming bond on “open space”. Now we have to question what that really means too. The devil’s unfortunately in the details.
While open space always sounds good, it appears that sometimes reality doesn’t meet expectations.
As always, we don’t want to tell you how to vote on the upcoming recreation bond; however, its becoming apparent that we can’t put blind trust even in some of the things that have worked out well for us in the last decade. You may end up wishing the $25 million dollar Basin Rec bond wasn’t passed when the “open space” ends up right next to you and you have little warning and even less say … or you may love what they do with the money. Unfortunately it appears both outcomes must at least now be considered.
Just Try to Complete The Sage Test Yourself… We Dare You
We are excitedly awaiting the SAGE testing results that are due to be released next week. SAGE is a new state of Utah standardized test where our all students did so poorly that they are considering changing the grading system. It sounds like most school districts as a whole got a D or F and when the results are released to the public it’s expected that parents are going to go ballistic.
As much as we like to pile on to criticism of …well anything… we had some extra time so we went out and tried the SAGE sample tests in math. You see, we were pretty good in math back in the day. AP math classes throughout high school. Quizzed out of basic college math. A’s in every college calculus class taken. Minor in Computer Information Systems.
The state offers sample tests in the various areas quizzed on the test.We started with 12th grade math to see how “awesome” we were going to do and how easy the test was. UHHH… we had to work our way down to 6th grade math to really feel confident in most of our answers. What’s an imaginary number again?
Now, it’s true that the concepts should be MUCH fresher to our current students than those of use who graduated in the previous millennium. However, before you go all Adrian Petersen on your kid (or school district), you may want to give the test a go yourself.
You can take a sample test here. Good Luck.
Shoyu Sushi Restaurant Inspection
Summit County Health Department inspected Shoyu Sushi on 9/14/2014. We have created a page on how to read the Inspection Report. We’ll highlight the things that may be of interest. Please read the full report below for a complete and accurate report.
Good Practices:
- Variance obtained for specialized processing practices
- Utensils properly stored
Temperatures:
- Shrimp / Display 29º
- Crab/ display 35º
- Tuna / display 58º
- Salmon / reach-in 36º
Observations and Corrective Actions:
- No sanitizer bucket
- Item in ice machine
- Tuna in cold hold display over 41º
- Employee food needs designated area out of food prep area
- Remove child play equipment in back
- Use gloves during food prep
Parkrag
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