From Deseret News archives:

Olsen defended travel

In Oct. 3 meeting, ex-mayor said reimbursements legal

Published: Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006 11:16 p.m. MDT
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Neither position was reimbursed for mileage.

"It is already common knowledge that the mayor, who not only deals with city politics, but county, state and federal politics, travels more than those two positions combined," Olsen said. "The great thing is, I'm doing it for a lot less than the cost. I'm also being accountable to you with these monies by listing the purpose of the reimbursement and the mileage that I've traveled. ... So the reimbursement is legal."

Council members have said the city does have vehicles available for the mayor's use, but Olsen's mileage reimbursement budget amendment was approved.

According to Eagle Mountain accounting clerk Lori Jolley, Olsen always listed on his mileage reimbursements where he traveled, how many miles it took and the purpose for the trip. Since Olsen entered office in January as the elected mayor he has been reimbursed $3,868.35 for travel, Jolley said.

During Olsen's taped remarks, he held up documents as he answered 10 questions, point by point, which he referred to as rumors. One of the records Olsen claimed to hold up was his mileage reimbursement record.

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"To date— here are the records— to date, I have been reimbursed for $3,100 since Jan. 1, 2006, to the present day," Olsen says on the tape. "Here are the records to prove it."

Olsen made these comments two weeks before he resigned.

According to Linda Peterson, community relations director for Eagle Mountain, no city officials, including Olsen's personal assistant, have seen the actual documents Olsen held up. The city has so far received one GRAMA request for the records but has not produced the documents.

"We're just telling people we didn't have those documents, and we're not able to contact (Olsen) now, obviously," said Gina Peterson, Eagle Mountain city recorder.


E-mail: achoate@desnews.com

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