I'm sure you've seen it before. Two great friends, or maybe relatives get into an argument. It escalates into a full on feud. People start calling each other names, other folks take sides. It gets nasty and personal and stays nasty and personal. The folks involved don't speak to each other, and pretty soon you're dealing with your version of the Hatfields and McCoys. After awhile, no one can even remember what the original fight was about, or if they do, it's so different from what the other remembers as to be impossible to fix.
For the last 10 years, we've had that here in Tooele County, except the "relatives" are Tooele County's two biggest cities! Tooele and Grantsville have been locked in a lawsuit for over a decade regarding the proceeds of the sale of property left here when the Tooele army depot downsized in the early '90s.Tooele's RDA took ownership of the 1700 acre property with the understanding that Tooele would annex the property, provide services to it and designate it an "economic development project area". All this was done, creating the Utah Industrial Depot, or UID. All was well until the RDA sold the property. The RDA invested the 15 million dollars they got and, using the interest they received from re-investing the money, bonded to build a new City Hall, Library, animal control shelter and improve the City golf course. Again, it seemed a great use for the money. Unless you thought the money should be used for something else!
Here's where things get a bit murky. Grantsville filed suit in 2001, claiming breach of contract. They claimed that Tooele was supposed to use the money to create a pool of jobs to help the 1900 people that lost jobs when the base closed. They also claimed that they only built projects within Tooele City, not projects that would help County-wide economic development. Tooele City disagreed, reasoning that since they had annexed the property, installed or improved the infrastructure like roads, water and sewer, and maintained it, they were entitled to the proceeds.
As these things will do, the battle got nasty, drawing other parties in,like Stockton City who wanted a slice of the economic development pie. When the issue finally got to court in 2008, the Judge threw it out, saying Grantsville didn't show any breach. Granstville appealed to the Supreme Court, which tossed 5 of 9 causes, but allowed the others to go back to the 3rd District. Grantsville was determined to proceed.
However, as time went on, the citizens of both cities grew tired of the struggle. Almost 2.5 million dollars had been spent on both sides, and most of the people that had started the whole thing were no longer even in office. Negotiations for a settlement had gone on for years, but neither side would budge, saying the other side was unreasonable. But, what you had now was new public servants that didn't want to have to explain to the voters where the money was going, as none of them were even involved.
Finally, a couple of City Councilmen started talking about how to solve it. They got their Councils and Mayors involved. They ended up having a long meeting in January, (without lawyers!) and hammered out an agreement. Tooele's RDA will use money they receive from property taxes to pay P& I on a 2 million dollar bond that Grantsville will use to build a new library. They will also receive 100k in cash, some of which will be used to satisfy the Stockton claim. For that, Granstville and Stockton release all legal claims against Tooele. Probably the closest thing to a win/win you can have in a stupid lawsuit most of the public doesn't remember that has cost us 2.5 million, and that both cities think they could still win in court!
However, I think it's bigger than that in the long run. As Tooele Mayor Pat Dunlavey said to the Tooele Transcript Bulletin, " The City has changed it's economic development philosophy. It's no longer "let's get the business and hope Grantsville doesn't. We're not competing with each other anymore. The attitude now is "let's get this business somewhere in Tooele Valley and it will benefit us all". What I see is an attitude of teamwork, and understanding that what benefits the cities in this small County will benefit all of us. I also see the "children" of the "Hatfields and McCoys" figuring out how to serve their citizens better than their folks did!
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