S.L. County scandals have many root causes

The obvious question regarding the various controversies that have plagued Salt Lake County government for almost a year now is this: How can one such place have so many problems, and seemingly all at once?

Mayor Peter Corroon points out that many of the county's crises can be found in other governments and private companies of similar size. (At more than $750 million, the county's budget is the second-largest in the state, second only to the state itself.)

In addition, many observers say the problems are long-standing but are just coming out now because Corroon has brought in so many new staffers and officials who aren't part of the county's long-established system of people and habits.

"These (the scandals) are instances where things have been in place for a long time," County Auditor Sean Thomas said.

A three-member county commission is an efficient way to get things done in government, particularly in a small county that can't afford to pay and house a full-time mayor and council staff. But when a county grows as large as Salt Lake County has — far larger than any other in the state — people say more checks and balances are needed, starting with separation of executive and legislative functions.

In contrast to many of his colleagues, County Councilman Randy Horiuchi, who was a longtime county commissioner, staunchly maintains that changing the form of government was cosmetic window dressing.

"It's the quality of people who are making the decisions that counts," he has said repeatedly.

Weber County Commissioner Camille Cain agrees with Horiuchi — to a point. Yes, "it really boils down to the person in the office," but Cain nonetheless favors changing the three-commissioner form of her county government at least to a five-member commission to spread authority out more.

"In my county, I'd like to see it studied again," she said.

But changing the form is only a first step. Salt Lake County's commission form of government changed to a mayor/council form four years ago, but then-incoming Mayor Nancy Workman hired many of the same people who had been working in county government for years. That made things run more smoothly but perhaps didn't spark the reformation many residents had been hoping for when they voted to change the form of government. In many ways, things went along much as before.

"We're not putting the blame on the Workman administration," said Corroon, who did almost a wholesale replacement of Workman's top officials, and many lower-level ones as well, when he arrived four months ago. "Frankly, some of these problems predate the Workman administration."