|
It took Councilman George Stewart a few minutes to jot some notes down after Mayor Lewis Billings's state of the city address on Thursday.City comes under fire for iProvo
After he had his thoughts in order, though, it didn't take long to get to brass tacks. "I was attacked, literally," Stewart said of the mayor's comments that the city's iProvo network is suffering only because of critics scaring off potential customers. The network has fallen short of nearly all projections, from revenue to subscribers. Its first service provider went bankrupt and the State Auditor is investigating how much money iProvo's current providers owe the city. It's believed to be in the millions of dollars. On Thursday, Billings compared it to Provo Power, which was the subject of lawsuits and much criticism when it was launched. Now it provides the cheapest power in the state and hasn't seen a rate increase in nearly 20 years. Stewart says it's not an apples-to-apples comparison because the energy and technology sectors are so different. It's also his job to be careful with taxpayer dollars. "This is the largest, most important financial issue facing the city," Stewart said. "How can you have something run a $2 million debt a year and not talk about it?" Outside consultants are putting together reports, due out soon, on how to deal with the system. Stewart also plans to get his own committee together to explore options. And while he was unimpressed with the mayor's iProvo talk Thursday, Stewart wasn't all doom and gloom. "There's no question some great things have happened this year," he said. He cited business expansions such as Zions Bank, University Tower and the Southgate retail center, that Billings has helped shepherd through. He also approves of the arts center. Council Chairwoman Cindy Richards said Billings did a good job with the speech, and also agreed that the city is doing well. One place she would have liked to see a little more emphasis in the speech was on neighborhood development. While Billings singled out individuals on Thursday and cited low crime statistics, there wasn't much talk about Provo's residential zoning problems downtown. The city needs to find private and non-profit partners to help renting families become homeowners, Richards said. "It's just a very strong stabilizing factor that I think Provo needs to keep in the middle of their radar." |
