White said with the current set-up, Utah County has no say in the operation of MAG and MAG has no accountability because the management is not elected or appointed by elected officials.

Grover said the county actually competes with MAG for some regional and federal funds and in the area of economic development.

He also said he believes the county could take over some of the programs, providing more efficiency and eliminating redundancy.

"We view them as a competitor. That's the main thing," Grover said.

Grover said other counties already provide all the senior programs that are currently split between the county and MAG.

"This should have been a friendly thing, but when we approached MAG about it (consolidating programs), we were told, 'Heck, no,' " Grover said.

MAG Director Darrell Cook did not return calls to The Deseret Morning News as of press time but in the past has said he felt it would be unfortunate to lose the county voice in critical decisionmaking discussions.

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E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com