Salt Lake County's chief financial officer has resigned in the wake of last week's discovery that he used his county-owned vehicle for two personal trips to Lake Powell last year.

Randy Allen submitted his resignation to county Mayor Nancy Workman on Wednesday, effective at the end of the month. Workman indicated last week that Allen would be given an undisclosed punishment; Allen said he was not pressured to resign.

"It's not something that I want to do, but I agree that something should be done," he said. "I've never had any intention of doing any wrong at any time, (but) I can see this has become something of a sore spot that I can see needs to be taken care of."

Allen, a member of Workman's extended Cabinet, was one of 11 top county employees given the use of a county vehicle 24 hours a day. The policy governing personal use of the vehicles is vague, in one place saying no personal use is permitted while in another that it is according to "discretion."

In one regard, however, the policy is clear: no recreational use is permitted. While other employees have traveled to Moab and other far-flung places on county business, Allen's trips to Lake Powell were purely recreational. He used the county-owned Ford Explorer to tow his boat.

"There's no definition that anyone could come up with that you could use the county vehicle as a boat transporter," said David Marshall, the county's chief administrative officer and Allen's immediate superior.

While Allen readily accepts responsibility for his actions, he said he believed at the time the trips were within the purview of appropriate vehicle use. He declined to go into further detail, but Marshall said Allen told him that he (Allen) had sought guidance from county fleet manager Nick Morgan, who told him it would be fine to go ahead with the trips.

The Deseret Morning News was unable to contact Morgan for comment Wednesday.

Marshall said he sympathized with Allen but added that the use could not be excused.

"If Nick got it wrong I guess that's one issue we need to deal with, (but) even having received that information from the fleet manager you have to follow the policies and procedures," he said.

Marshall and county attorneys have been working on a revamping of vehicle use policy, tightening up definitions of what personal use is and is not permissible.

Specific definitions abound, but basically it comes down to "incidental" personal use being permissible, such as going out for a sandwich during a break in meetings or picking up the dry cleaning on the way home.

Deputy Mayor Alan Dayton said Allen was "very effective and good at what he does" and that he was sorry to see him go.

"It's a very big shame," he said. Nevertheless, "you've got to maintain credibility for that position. That's a position where you're supposed to go out to all the other departments of the county about financial controls."

Dayton noted that, as a merit employee, Allen may apply for other county positions that he qualifies for.

"I think he would be vastly overqualified" for a lower-level financial position that would pay commensurately less, but "he would be sorely missed from the county, and it would be our hope and expectation that he could find a position.

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E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com