It cost Park City taxpayers nearly $27,000 to send an official delegation from the municipal government to the Winter Olympics in Italy, a summary provided to The Park Record shows.
Mayor Ryan Dickey, Park City Councilor Tana Toly, and Jodi Emery, who was the acting city manager at the time of the trip and has since returned to a deputy city manager role, traveled to the Games as part of the delegation.
The dollar figure — $26,889.23 — is the total cost of the three. The municipal government said airfare, lodging and meals were the top spending categories.
The delegation participated in an observers program organized by the International Olympic Committee designed for figures involved in the planning of a future Games. The Park City travelers joined others from Utah on fact-finding missions as part of the effort to prepare for the Winter Olympics in 2034.
The Milano Cortina Games were notable as the first Winter Olympics since the the 2034 Games were awarded to Utah, and it being one of only two Winter Olympics prior to 2034.
“We heard from Utah 2034 that it was important for us to be part of that,” Dickey said about the observers program.
Funds for the trips by the three officials came from an earmark in the municipal budget meant for Games preparations.
City Councilors Bill Ciraco and Diego Zegarra attended the Games as well but did not travel as part of the official delegation. They paid for the trips themselves and did not seek reimbursement. Both of them earlier indicated they would self-fund their trips.
Travel to both the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics is a standard practice for a community planning to host a Games. Officials are able to witness, in person, the successes and challenges of staging a Games. They typically learn about transportation systems, security, business trends and the celebration. The observations can then help guide some of the subsequent planning.
Dickey described the trip as an “every-day grind” and said the travelers opted for lodging well outside Cortina d’Ampezzo, one of the Alpine venue communities, to reduce costs.
“This was a work trip. I was happy when it was over,” he said, describing the commute between the lodging and Cortina d’Ampezzo as taking approximately one hour by bus.
The Games in Italy were the second observation opportunity for Park City, following the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The mayor at that time, Nann Worel, traveled to the French capital for research purposes and to be in attendance as the IOC awarded the Games of 2034 to Salt Lake City.
Cortina d’Ampezzo, one of the Winter Olympic venue communities, was of interest to the Park City delegation that traveled to the Games in Italy. It is a famous mountain resort with similarities to Park City.
Credit: Park Record file photo by David Jackson
It seems likely Park City will send officials to the upcoming Games — the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps and the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane, Australia — as well. Travel was also one of the key sources of information as an earlier generation of Park City officials planned for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The Park City area will have a significant role in the Games of 2034 with Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park identified as competition venues. The community is expected to be crucial to the transportation, security and celebration plans. Park City is in the early stages of preparations.
The Park City travelers in the official delegation to Italy spent time in various locations across the Games region, but there seemed to be special interest in the Alpine community of Cortina d’Ampezzo, one of the locations where competitions were held. It is an internationally known mountain resort that in some ways resembles Park City.
During the Games in February, Toly reported learning about transportation and infrastructure with observations in Cortina d’Ampezzo. She said, as an example, “Even with strict vehicle limits in Cortina proper, moving people was hard. Narrow roads. Venues spread out. Long travel times. You could feel the strain on the system.”
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