Utah County insists on MAG split

PROVO — Utah County commissioners on Tuesday affirmed their resolution to divide from Mountainland Association on Governments, despite a request to reconsider from the association's executive council, which includes all Utah County mayors and officials from Summit and Wasatch counties.

They also said the move is not part of a calculated plan to seek entry into the Wasatch Front Regional Council, which includes Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Tooele counties. While acknowledging Utah County has more in common with those metropolitan counties than it does with more rural Wasatch and Summit counties, which are also part of MAG, the commissioners said that was not a factor in their original decision.

Mayors Jerry Washburn of Orem and Fritz Boyer of Springville urged the commission to take more time to work through the issues and explain its action.

"We're not trying to work against you, we're not working against your authority to make a decision like that, we're not even working against your purposes," said Boyer. "It's the method that's made us uncomfortable, the method of having made that decision without receiving input from those of us affected by it."

Commissioner Larry Ellertson agreed with the mayors that the commission should take more time to examine the issues behind the county's withdrawal, but his motion to rescind that decision died for lack of a second from Commissioner Jerry Grover. Commissioner Steve White was out of town and did not attend the meeting.

Grover said he didn't support the motion because no new information was presented.

"I didn't really hear anything new that would cause me to change my opinion," he said. "If they want a full litany of all the issues, we can do that, but that's not why I voted to opt out of the interlocal agreement. My reason was quite clear: I considered it a conflict to pursue the aging program and at the same time sit on MAG's advisory board strategizing against that (the county's plan)."

The commission is in the process of drafting a petition to take over services for elderly Utah County residents, a function currently performed by MAG.

Boyer, who chairs Mountainland's executive council, said he was disappointed that the commission would not reconsider.

"There probably are some issues that need to be examined, and my feeling is that they haven't been examined in sufficient objective detail to really justify that decision," he said. "It appears to me that the decision was made, and then we're trying to take whatever steps are necessary to justify that decision, instead of the other way around."