Mayor Nann Worel entered the fray between Park City Mountain owner Vail Resorts and the union that represents the ski patrollers at the resort, using the microphone afforded her as Park City’s top elected official in a timely call this week for a resolution to the strike.Speaking on behalf of the Park City Council as the walkout, and skier frustrations, wore on, Worel “urgently” called on Vail Resorts “to take immediate action to conclude negotiations and end the uncertainty.” “Park City Mountain is a cornerstone of Park City’s community well-being, and it is Vail Resorts’ responsibility as an essential employer to resolve this conflict without further delay,” she said.Vail Resorts and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association reached an agreement a day after the mayor’s statement. It’s of course unlikely the decision to insert the leadership of the municipal government into the dispute was a determining factor as Vail Resorts and the union negotiated an end to the strike, the involvement of Park City officials is nonetheless an intriguing sidebar in another flare-up involving the world’s largest ski resort company’s local operations.The Colorado-based firm arrived in Park City more than a decade ago with a long-term lease and operations agreement for what was then Canyons Resort. It later bought Park City Mountain in a deal that ended a bitter lawsuit centered on the control of the acreage that made up most of that resort’s terrain. The firm merged the two ski mountains to create a resort that stretches from Main Street to Murdock Peak.There has been a streak of mistrust of Vail Resorts in a swath of the Park City community ever since its entrance during the lawsuit. Critics have for years attempted to pin some of the community’s problems on Vail Resorts’ ownership of Park City Mountain and the firm’s operations there. Complaints have been ongoing about traffic increases, overcrowding on the slopes and affordability. During one overly heated round of criticism, the price of hot dogs at Park City Mountain became a rallying cry. A Vail Resorts effort to secure a trademark for the term “Park City” as it applies to a mountain resort also strained its relationships in the community.Through the years of the lawsuit, and then in the time since Vail Resorts’ acquisition of Park City Mountain, the mayor of Park City — whoever the incumbent was at any given time — has been a community figure that Parkites seek out with grievances regarding Park City Mountain and its owner. Worel’s statement was only the latest bid by a mayor of Park City to calm a situation, if not assist in reaching an agreement. The influence any of the mayors held, though, is unclear with there being limited levers of direct power available in cases like the ones involving City Hall, Park City Mountain and Vail Resorts.The work of a previous mayor stands out in chronicling the history of the relationship between City Hall, Park City Mountain and Vail Resorts. Jack Thomas served one term, ascending to the mayor’s office from the Park City Planning Commission and bringing an architect’s precision thinking to the post. He spent four years as the mayor and left office in early 2018 after choosing not to seek a second term. The Thomas administration began amid the continuing Park City Mountain litigation and continued through the settlement and then the merger of the two resorts.The statement by Worel regarding the strike, and her choice of phrases like “confusion and disruption” and calling for “immediate action to conclude negotiations and end the uncertainty” were some of the strongest public comments by a mayor about Vail Resorts since the Thomas administration. Thomas attempted to ensure that the municipal government did not take sides in the Park City Mountain lawsuit, but also guarded against the possibility of the dispute rippling through the local tourism industry. There were moments in the case when it appeared Park City Mountain may not open for a ski season. And, startlingly, there was a question about whether many of the lifts at the resort would be dismantled and removed from the disputed land as a result of the case. Park City Mountain season passes were sold with a caveat saying there would be refunds if the resort closed for all or part of a winter.The community by then was exasperated with the situation. In the summer of 2014, with preparations starting for the next ski season in the shadow of the litigation, Thomas drafted a letter to the top executives at Vail Resorts and then-Park City Mountain owner Powdr Corp. The two-page letter expressed disappointment in the efforts to resolve the case. Thomas offered City Hall funding for a mediator, requested the consideration of an immediate suspension of the litigation, and sought a commitment to the uninterrupted operations of the next ski season.“Otherwise, the city feels strongly that continued inaction will irreparably harm your continued market success, the economic well-being of our community and residents, and the special sense of place that we all have worked so hard to build at Park City Mountain Resort,” the mayor wrote in the June 18, 2014, letter.He also wrote that it was “hard to delineate a single employee, visitor, resident or business owner who will not be affected by your decisions” and that “only together can we best position the resorts and the town to proactively and, in a united manner, engage our future.”The post Analysis: Park City mayors entered frays with Vail Resorts before, but what influence do they really have? appeared first on Park Record.