Lost in (political) space may be an apt description of the Hansen Planetarium. It is a condition that can be best resolved through privatization.
The time has come to cut the planetarium loose from the county and tether it to private enterprise.Discussions of operating the planetarium privately are not new. They have continued on and off for more than a decade. Recently, the debate has been fueled by allegations of management misconduct leveled by Salt Lake County Attorney Doug Short.
Last August, Short seized a computer and changed the locks on the acting manager's door, supposedly in response to complaints by unnamed employees. A district judge said he was out of line and transferred the investigation to District Attorney Neal Gunnarson's office.
The DA found no criminal wrongdoing, but the incident placed the planetarium in the middle of a political struggle between Short and the Salt Lake County Commission.
The planetarium should not be used as a political football. It should be brought under private auspices to keep that from happening and to make its operations more financially efficient.
That opinion has been validated on several fronts. An independent audit prior to last August's investigation recommended privatizing the planetarium because of financial inefficiencies. Its board of directors has endorsed that recommendation.
County officials apparently concur and recently approved publication of a request for management proposals from private contractors.
It seems inevitable that the Hansen Planetarium's orbit will be altered from a public to a private sphere. Besides the timing of that event, there are several other key issues for county consideration.
First is the importance of continuing the planetarium's outstanding educational programs, includ- ing outreach to schools. The county should continue to provide tax support for those efforts without retaining control.
Changes in narrow and complex state laws must be made to enable the planetarium to be expanded or rebuilt without planetarium ownership having to be deeded back to the county.
Also, the commission must ensure that planetarium employees are fairly taken care of during and after the public-to-private transition.
Fortunately, Salt Lake County is not a novice in the privatization game. It successfully moved the Convention and Visitors Bureau to private enterprise in 1981, mental health services to Valley Mental Health in 1987 and the Salt Palace to a private operator in 1990.
Now please add the Hansen Planetarium to that privatized portfolio.