Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman on Friday rejected a requestfrom two Cedar Hills residents for an investigation into what theresidents complain is a pattern of unethical and illegal behaviorby the mayor and city manager.
In a letter that was neither signed nor dated, the Utah CountyAttorney’s Office said that information provided by Cedar Hillsresidents Paul Sorensen and Ken Severn was insufficient to supporta criminal investigation.
“Each of the matters complained of, if true, would be troubling.However, the matters complained of, if true, are not violations ofcriminal statutes,” Buhman wrote. “Consequently, my office doesn’tnot have authority to conduct an investigation.”
Sorensen and Severn filed a 46-page complaint in 4th DistrictCourt. The court then passed it to the prosecutor’s office. Amongother things, the complaint claims that Mayor Eric Richardson andcity manager Conrad Hildebrandt engaged in a pattern of hidingquestionable and possibly illegal transfers of money within thecity to make it appear that a money-losing municipal golf coursewas profitable.
Some of the complaints involve matters of ethics rather thanillegality.
“Complaints of non-criminal but poor conduct or behavior by acity officer are, in my opinion, best left to the political processfor elected officers and to the administrative discipline processfor appointed and other officers,” Buhman wrote.
Current state law does not provide clear, independent channelsthrough which ethical complaints against municipal officers can bevetted. In Provo last year, ethical complaints against formermunicipal councilman Steve Turley were brought to Mayor JohnCurtis. Curtis complained to the Attorney General’s Office, andthen to members of the Utah Legislature, that the investigativeprocess outlined in state law was inadequate and place him in aconflict of interest.
Curtis ultimately hired former 4th District judge AnthonySchofield to conduct an investigation into Turley’s actions.Schofield found numerous violations of the state’s ethics code.Separately, several criminal charges were brought against Turley bythe county attorney.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, has introduced a bill — Senate Bill180 — to establish clear authority for the investigation of ethicscomplaints against city officials.
“There is currently no independent forum to hear complaintsdirectly from citizens,” Bramble said. “This will fix that.”
S.B. 180 would establish a statewide ethics commission to hearcomplaints such as the one in Cedar Hills and then decide on themerits of a complaint whether further investigation should beundertaken. If in the course of an ethics investigation thecommission finds possible criminal behavior, it would be requiredto refer those matters to the state attorney general or a countyprosecutor.
Under a substitute version of the bill to be introduced in alegislative committee on Tuesday, the commission consist of sevenmembers. Four positions would be fixed by law: one former judge,one former school board member and two lay members of the public.The other three members would be drawn from former city councilmembers, former mayors, former county commissioners or other formerjudges.
S.B. 180 will be heard in the Senate Revenue and Taxationcommittee, which will convene at 8 a.m. Tuesday.