Allegations of improper hiring practices in Salt Lake County have spread from the clerk's office to the recorder's office.

Sources within the county are now contacting the mayor's office regarding County Recorder Gary Ott and his deputies allegedly hiring family and friends who are unqualified for their positions, bypassing the usual certification process with the cooperation of the personnel division.

Chief administrative officer Doug Willmore said he hasn't yet looked into the matter.

"I heard some rumors about that over the last day or two, but the truth is there are things on my desk that I haven't seen," he said. "We've probably got about a dozen of what you might call tips that are credible and that we need to look into."

Personnel director Felix McGowan is not commenting to the media, citing an ongoing investigation into his office, but Ott staunchly denied the allegations.

"We haven't done anything that hasn't gone all the way through HR (human resources) and everything," he said. "I'm a stickler for rules."

Ott did acknowledge that he often hires interns for temporary jobs — such as during Christmas and the summer — who, pursuant to county policy, do not go through the normal process of qualification and certification.

"I can hire anybody for those positions," he said. "I could hire you."

He said family members and friends have been hired as temps, but "if they don't work out they're gone." Some of those have gone on to take normal merit positions, but Ott maintains (as County Clerk Sherrie Swensen has maintained regarding similar staffers in her office) that they were all qualified.

Staffers that sources in the county have particularly pointed to have been two nieces of Ott's chief deputy, who were hired as temporary employees. Ott conceded that they were hired, but said they did not perform as expected and were let go.

"Those were the only ones I was really nervous about," he said.

Ott also conceded that he has contacted McGowan's office from time to time to "see if there's something they can do" to help a candidate get through the qualification process. For example, he called personnel regarding one staffer who tended to freeze up during typing tests and wasn't able to perform the minimum speed required.

"Then she would come down to our office (she was a temp at the time) and do great," he said. "I called up and said, 'Is there something we can do to get around the typing test?' "

The staffer eventually passed the test, eliminating the need for intervention.

The county in general — not just Ott's and Swensen's offices — has a history of hiring family members and friends, finding positions for people who are terminated through a change in administration or dissatisfaction with their current job or whatever. Various county officials — a frequently cited example is District Attorney David Yocom, whose wife and son have worked for Swensen, but he's far from the only one — have relatives working in county government. If they are qualified, no regulation prohibits it.