'Oh no!' says Workman on car report's delay

The more time passes, the more the conclusion to Salt Lake County's vehicle controversy sloooows dooown.

A citizens review panel — composed of prominent Utahns in business and law assigned to look at the matter and proffer recommendations — had an original completion deadline of July 16 but has pushed the deadline back to early to mid-October.

"Oh no!" County Mayor Nancy Workman said when informed of the action taken in a Thursday panel meeting. "I've got to talk to them."

Panel members do not answer to Workman (nor to anyone — they are autonomous), but Workman said she may try to persuade them to issue some sort of interim report on matters that are relatively pressing, such as a recent report by District Attorney David Yocom regarding irregularities in fleet bid processes.

"There are a couple of things that are hot buttons," Workman said. "I can't just let that sit. They need to address it."

The mayor said she may ask for a partial interim report.

Workman's not the only one: panel members themselves, who are working for free, are anxious to finish the job. But the web of issues — not necessarily illegal, but certainly relevant — goes deeper and broader than what was initially uncovered with the "guzzle-gate" scandal, and requires commensurate careful treatment.

"I'm disappointed, (but) why interview someone when you have no data to test it?" panel member Vern Della-Piana said. "I think (the delay) is prudent."

The county has already taken action in several areas of fleet management, such as giving public works director David Stanley a monthly gas usage report in addition to the ones department heads already receive, to avoid a Craig Sorensen-type situation in which a county employee gets away with stealing gas.

In addition, Stanley said he has instituted a process whereby he personally makes sure bid specifications are relatively wide. Yocom's investigation was sparked by vendors complaining about the county pre-selecting vendors in a garbage truck bid process two years ago.

The panel additionally voted Thursday to close its meetings to the public when it discusses investigation strategy or preliminary findings. Though it maintains that it is not legally bound by the Utah Open Meetings Act, the panel has opted to generally operate under that law's provisions.

This panel isn't the only one that has county leaders on tenterhooks. A panel of county attorneys from Utah, Summit, Davis and Weber counties, called by Yocom to decide whether to charge Workman for her hiring of two county employees to work at the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Valley, is still in the preliminary stage of discussions.

"I'm not a patient person," Workman said, "but I guess I need to be patient."

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