Utah Olympics boss Tom Welch, resigning from his corporate position with the Intermountain West's largest supermarket chain, will take over Utah's Olympic movement on a full-time basis beginning Jan. 1, 1990.
Welch, chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Winter Games Organizing Committee, said he told Smiths Food & Drug Monday that he will resign as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the corporation effective Dec. 31."We talked about the needs of the company and the needs of the organizing effort, and we recognized that both were full-time jobs," Welch said.
Smith's management said Welch was offered a choice between the Olympics and the corporation.
"It came down to Tom had a full-time job with Smiths and a full-time job with the Olympics and he can't do both . . . I offered him a choice," said Jeff Smith, chief executive officer.
Smith said Welch asked if a part-time relationship could be established enabling Welch to continue working with Smith's, but that alternative was rejected.
"We don't need part-time people here, we need full-time people here. We're running a major corporation," Smith said.
Welch said he will take the Olympic helm on a volunteer basis until June 1991, when the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to choose a host city for the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Salt Lake City secured the U.S. bid for the Games from the U.S. Olympic Committee in June under Welch's leadership. Utahns approved Salt Lake City's Olympic bid in a Nov. 7 referendum vote by a 57 to 43 percent margin.
Voters approved the Olympics on the basis of the state spending $56 million in sales tax dollars to build Olympic facilities and on the condition no events would be staged in Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood canyons east of the city. Those conditions were spelled out in the referendum ballot.
Welch said complying with the requirements included in the ballot and elsewhere would be a full-time job.
"My responsibilities with the Olympic committee deserve my full efforts for the next 18 months. Based on the strong showing of support we received from the people of this state, I feel compelled to commit all of my efforts and energies to fulfill the promises we made in our referendum campaign,' he said.
As the 1991 IOC decision draws near, Welch said he will re-evaluate his involvement with the state's Olympic movement.
"I think that we've got to assess that and the role that needs to be played as we get closer to it. Hopefully, there will be a role that I can play someplace in the process," he said.
Welch said he will not be paid for his efforts.
"The employment with Smiths over the the past 19 years has been very rewarding both in the challenges of the work itself as well as the compensation I received," he said.
Welch said he will set up shop in the organizing committee's current offices at 420 E. South Temple in the IBM building.
"I have some specific tasks that I want to accomplish," Welch said of his priorities upon assuming the full-time Olympics position.
Establishing a business plan and a relationship with the IOC, which holds Utah's Olympic fate in its hands, and nurturing grass-roots Olympics support in Utah will be among those task, he said.