Salt Lake City's newly appointed Olympic planner is urging Utahns to use the next 434 days to build their stamina.
"This is a marathon, not a sprint," said Clifford "Rip" Rippetoe, who will move into his City-County Building office Dec. 11. "We have to be ready with our best face on Feb. 8, 2002."
Mayor Rocky Anderson and Chief Administrative Officer Rocky Fluhart have been talking with Rippetoe for about three weeks about the key position. It opened up Nov. 2 when then-Olympic planner Dianne Hesleph was fired. Fluhart gave scant explanation for her dismissal, saying only that "we just decided we needed to make a change."
Rippetoe, 40, is originally from Sayre, Okla., and worked as a stage lighting designer and theater manager before going into the visitors-and-convention business in Las Vegas. In 1995 he moved north to become general manager of the Salt Palace. He then became president of the Visitor Information Services Coalition of Utah, a group of 55 governmental and nonprofit groups that has worked closely with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
"The biggest challenge I see" in preparing Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Games, Rippetoe said, "is dealing with the misconceptions about Salt Lake and about Utah being staid places where you can't have any fun. This area has traditionally been a difficult sell. On the world map, Utah looks smaller than it is, if you know what I mean."
Having lived in Oklahoma, Nevada and Kansas before moving to Utah, "maybe it's easier for me" to appreciate the Salt Lake Valley, he added. "Sometimes you don't know what you have. . . . This valley is just a blast. I have a great time here."
Keeping with his marathon theme, Rippetoe added that local businesses and civic groups must pace themselves during the run-up to the Games. "We have to do everything possible to be prepared. And businesses need to have a wellness program built in, so when the people arrive, we can serve them." If organizations work their staffs too hard just prior to February 2002, "they're going to be tired and not able to put their best effort toward service. Our legacy is going to be customer service. That positive experience is what we have to strive to provide to everyone coming to the Games," he said. "We have that responsibility to our communities. We can't forget that our guests are the people who live right here, as much as the people who come here."
Equally important: "We're Salt Lake. We're not Sydney or Nagano (Japan), and we shouldn't try to be."
Rippetoe traveled to the Summer Olympics two months ago in Sydney, Australia, where he spent some quality time with the Salt Lake mayor. The men helped stage the "We're next" celebration on Sept. 27, marking 500 days to go before the start of the Salt Lake Games.
Rippetoe said his city job pays "about the same" as his Visitor Information Services post did. His new salary will be $81,000 plus an $8,000 signing bonus, plus the possibility of another bonus at the Games' end. Fluhart, who will be Rippetoe's immediate supervisor, said the extra incentives were offered because the city needs someone who won't spend city time playing catch-up.
"We need somebody who's been involved with the Olympics and who knows the community. Someone who did not have that experience would have a learning curve, and we don't have time for that," Fluhart said.
As the city's Olympic planner, Rippetoe will coordinate concerts, neighborhood festivals and celebration sites with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, local and state organizations and corporate sponsors.
Rippetoe's duties, Anderson estimated, will wrap up several weeks after the Olympic and Paralympic Games end in mid-March of 2002. "There will be a lot of cleaning up to do," he said.
Though his new job will last just over a year, Rippetoe said the position was irresistible. "This is a very exciting community. It's an area my wife and I have fallen in love with. So the opportunity to work as part of the team that's going to determine what the rest of the country and perhaps the world thinks of us as a community, as a destination, was something I couldn't pass up."
E-MAIL: durbani@desnews.com