Huntsman hirings, firings and deals detailed in reports

"There is no clear mission or strategy communicated by current management," that team reported, recommending that four of the seven agency heads be replaced, including executive director David Harmer. Only the heads of housing, history and libraries should be kept, the team said.

Much of the report restated problems known in state government for years:

• The state needs at least $6 billion in critical road construction/replacement.

• Workloads in adult probation and parole (and many other state social service agencies) are too heavy, with agents not being able to spend adequate time supervising clients.

• Pay scales for dozens, if not hundreds, of specific state worker jobs fall well below that in the public sector and/or below pay scales of government workers, both in county and city positions in Utah and for state workers in surrounding states.

In addition to separate teams looking at specific departments, Huntsman also formed an "efficiency" team, which looked at state government as a whole. That eight-member team included former House leaders Kevin Garn and Marty Stephens as well as former gubernatorial chief-of-staff Bud Scruggs (a Deseret Morning News board member) and former gubernatorial aide LaVar Webb (who co-writes a column for the newspaper).

That team made a number of recommendations and highlighted several problems, including that the state's information technology activities are confusing and expensive. The team found 1,000 IT employees spread throughout state government.

"While we do not pretend to understand the complexities of state IT practices, we refuse to believe that a ratio of 1 IT support staff for every 21 state employees can be justified. This ratio is even worse than it appears, since most application development is outsourced (to private firms) and thus not reflected in state headcount," the team wrote. "There is no IT policy direction in state government."

In some cases, Huntsman found old wounds that remain open.

When Huntsman's financial institution transition team asked for comment on then-Financial Institutions Commissioner Ed Leary, the Utah League of Credit Unions — long in a pitched battle with local banks — took the chance to criticize Leary, saying he and his agency "failed to support legislation beneficial" to Utah credit unions and their members. "New leadership is critical," wrote credit union association president Scott Simpson.

The Utah Bankers Association "conveys our strong recommendation that you retain (Leary) as a member of your cabinet," wrote UBA president Howard Headlee.

The Utah Consumer Lending Association said Leary should not only be kept but given a raise. Huntsman kept Leary.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com