Strawberry Fee Confusion

[WET1]

The UWC Forest employee who oversees the contract called me back this afternoon and we had a very pleasant exchange of information.  The UWC Forest contract involves approximately 135 campgrounds and day use areas within UWC.  The full contract is available through FOIA, but is not available through normal Internet search engines.  I don’t have the time or desire to request it through the FOIA channels.  But if you want to pursue that, please do.

The rate (fee) system is all spelled out in that document.  And according to the UWC Employee I talked to, the additional launch fee being charged campers has been on the books since 2018.  The contract also sets cost limits that the contractor can spend on maintenance or replacement/repair of equipment or facilities.  The limits are set very low which is why you will not see any major infrastructure upgrades from the contractor.

This next paragraph is just my opinion based on my own contract negotiation experience as a DoD civil servant.  The double speak for this contract says the contractor can make as much money as they can squeeze out of the customer.  The terms of the contract were negotiated between the contractor and the USDA/USFS.  Anybody here remember the $640 C-5 toilet seat and a $435 hammer purchase during the Reagan administration?  Government contract negotiators have never been known for thier economic expertise.

You can choose to take an active participation in this ludicrous situation by contacting the UWC Forest main office in South Jordan and your Federal Congressional lackeys and voice your opinion, or you can continue to urinate & moan about it on social media.  I’ve already told the UWC that I am less than pleased with the current fee system and plan to write Rep Moore and Sen Romney (gag) and Lee about my feelings on this issue.

I may have absolutely no impact on the issue, but I will have done what I can to try to change it.  What say you?  Are you willing to at least try?

The contact at the UWC in South Jordan is Renee Flanagan (RHWL Staff Officer) at 801‐999‐2157.  If you get her voice mail, leave a request for her to call you back and she will.

  Thanks for the information Bob. I have called and left messages with the forest service in both Heber and the South Jordan offices. However, as I'm still working full time it's pretty darn difficult to get calls done during their hours. Really do appreciate your efforts to get some additional info.
   I think it's criminal that they are trying to just gouge campers for an additional fee to launch a boat when they don't for day use. The fish cleaning station at the Soldier creek side has had 2/3 of it boarded up for 3 years now and they refuse to replace the grinders. The courtesy docks are all taped off with crime scene tape and were left high and dry as the lake level dropped. 
   Regarding your information that there is a budgetary limit for repairs/upgrades it's even more onerous than that as the Forest Service pays for all repairs, not the contracted vendor and therefore every repair has to be approved by the forest service. Just another example of how this contract is so upside down. the vendor is getting a basically guaranteed profit margin with no capital risk.

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The UWC Forest employee who oversees the contract called me back this afternoon and we had a very pleasant exchange of information.  The UWC Forest contract involves approximately 135 campgrounds and day use areas within UWC.  The full contract is available through FOIA, but is not available through normal Internet search engines.  I don’t have the time or desire to request it through the FOIA channels.  But if you want to pursue that, please do.

The rate (fee) system is all spelled out in that document.  And according to the UWC Employee I talked to, the additional launch fee being charged campers has been on the books since 2018.  The contract also sets cost limits that the contractor can spend on maintenance or replacement/repair of equipment or facilities.  The limits are set very low which is why you will not see any major infrastructure upgrades from the contractor.

This next paragraph is just my opinion based on my own contract negotiation experience as a DoD civil servant.  The double speak for this contract says the contractor can make as much money as they can squeeze out of the customer.  The terms of the contract were negotiated between the contractor and the USDA/USFS.  Anybody here remember the $640 C-5 toilet seat and a $435 hammer purchase during the Reagan administration?  Government contract negotiators have never been known for thier economic expertise.

You can choose to take an active participation in this ludicrous situation by contacting the UWC Forest main office in South Jordan and your Federal Congressional lackeys and voice your opinion, or you can continue to urinate & moan about it on social media.  I’ve already told the UWC that I am less than pleased with the current fee system and plan to write Rep Moore and Sen Romney (gag) and Lee about my feelings on this issue.

I may have absolutely no impact on the issue, but I will have done what I can to try to change it.  What say you?  Are you willing to at least try?

The contact at the UWC in South Jordan is Renee Flanagan (RHWL Staff Officer) at 801‐999‐2157.  If you get her voice mail, leave a request for her to call you back and she will.

These comments were moderated above - man this sucks - see them for reference

  It's actually much more about maintaining our freedoms, access to our public lands. Our tax dollars paid for all the infrastructure to be built. Why should it then be given to a private company that invested nothing to make profit. Many of us actually believe in our freedoms enough enough to risk shedding blood for them. I'd call that a 1st world problem as well.

Mod note - we appreciate anyone who served