Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman is trying to stay on course with her mayoral duties while an investigation into her hiring of two employees continues.

But soon, she may not be able to do even that.

According to Utah law, any county elected official who is charged with a felony must go on paid administrative leave until the matter comes to a complete conclusion — in the words of the statute, "until a court of competent jurisdiction disposes of the charges."

That would place Workman in the position of being paid her county salary, and running for re-election, but being prevented from carrying out the very duties she hopes to carry out over the next four years.

Mayoral spokesman Ted Phillips on Tuesday declined comment on the possibility and consequences of felony charges, citing the ongoing investigation.

District Attorney David Yocom said he plans to place the evidence obtained in his investigation before an independent panel of his counterparts from Weber, Davis, Summit and Utah counties by the end of this week or early next week. The panel will decide whether to charge Workman and, if so, what to charge her with.

If the panel opts to charge Workman with misuse of public money, the charge would become a felony at $5,000.

The employees in question were paid $10 an hour on a temporary basis, and while the exact number of hours they worked remains unclear, it is almost certain that combined they worked at least 500 hours, putting the dollar amount over the felony threshold.

Workman conceded last week she may not have followed the proper steps when hiring the employees, who worked for her daughter, Aisza, at the South Valley Boys and Girls Club. But, like Salt Lake County Council vice chairman Russell Skousen, she said it was a simple procedural matter she would be happy to correct.

"We probably didn't dot some i's and cross some t's," she said. "We did the right thing; we just didn't follow the correct procedure. . . . These allegations going around about serious wrongdoing" will prove to be unfounded.

Republican Workman and her staff maintain that Democrat Yocom is pursuing the investigation for political reasons and that, while some procedures may not have been followed, he is making more of it than is merited.

Yocom maintains he is simply following up on a whistle-blower complaint that has blossomed into an inquiry into the mayor's actions.

The County Council would be the body to place Workman on leave (and perhaps hire someone to temporarily carry out her duties). Skousen, who maintains the investigation is primarily a political vendetta, said things would be at a sorry pass should the matter go that far.