MAG seeks to address county's concerns

Kamas — The Mountainland Association of Governments executive council at its Thursday meeting formally addressed several concerns that Utah County cited in its decision to opt out of the association on Feb. 8.

The county sent a letter officially requesting withdrawal from the multi-county organization on Feb. 14, and Commissioners Jerry Grover and Steve White issued a press release on Wednesday citing displeasure with several administrative practices of the association.

MAG executive council chairman Fritz Boyer, who is mayor of Springville, said that despite any attacks from commissioners, the council must decide how to move forward and address unresolved issues.

"The milk has already been spilt," Boyer said. "It doesn't do any good to go through what could have been done; there are questions that still need to be resolved."

Those questions include how, or if, Utah County will participate in transportation planning and other association committees, and what aging services the county will continue to receive from MAG.

Several committee members expressed strong feelings about the allegations brought by the county, specifically those of financial misconduct.

MAG executive director Darrell Cook became emotional as he responded to allegations that he "cooked the books."

"I would invite the county to bring forth specific allegations, because this is my character that's on the line," Cook said.

Cook addressed several Utah County concerns mentioned in news reports, including the purported high overhead of MAG, as well as the lack of accountability and oversight.

"MAG is you people," Cook said, referring to the mayors and county commissioners from Utah, Wasatch and Summit counties that comprise the executive board. "You have 42 votes; it's you folks that make the decisions. Everything that we do comes from that authority."

Cook pointed out that the association bylaws allow a super majority of board members to remove the executive director if they desire.

Council members agreed that there has been no discussion of a desire to remove Cook, but that it was possible several members of the council were unaware that removal was a viable option.

At the end of a lengthy discussion, the council resolved to direct the council steering committee to draft a letter to respond to Utah County's withdrawal request but not make any firm decisions until emotions had cooled and the issues could be examined thoroughly.

"There's no intent to do anything except what they've said in their letter," Boyer said. "What I'm recommending is an interim response. We just need to move forward."

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E-mail: mdecker@desnews.com