Attorney OK'd Rocky's Torino trip

Before allowing non-city employees to be reimbursed for expenses incurred on a trip to Torino, Italy, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's administration sought and received a green light from the city attorney.

City Attorney Ed Rutan, appointed by Anderson, has been out of town since questions regarding public expenditures for the Torino trip arose last week. In a statement Thursday, he said he gave Anderson's administration the OK to pay meal and room expenses for non-city employees, including Anderson's girlfriend and other friends.

State law allows for volunteers to be reimbursed for their expenses when doing work for a government agency, Rutan said. The state law reads, "Volunteer means any person who donates service without pay or other compensation except expenses actually and reasonably incurred as approved by the supervising agency."

Rutan noted that "Deputy Mayor Rocky Fluhart consulted the city attorney's office on a variety of legal issues related to the delivery of the message to Torino. With respect to reimbursement of the expenses for the non-city employee members of the team, we advised that it was legally permissible to do so."

Salt Lake County Republican Chairman James Evans, who has written a letter to District Attorney David Yocom asking that Anderson be investigated for possible misuse of public funds, maintains the legal advice doesn't matter.

"We have to keep in mind that the city attorney works for the mayor, so I would rather wait for an opinion from the district attorney," he said.

Even though the trip was funded by donations, Evans argues those donations still qualify as "public monies" and, he notes, the city has specific rules governing the spending of donated money.

According to city policy, such donations are to be put in special funds, separate from tax-dollar accounts but still accountable to some of the same spending rules as other public funds. Evans maintains Anderson broke those spending rules when he unilaterally decided who could go on the trip.

"When the monies become public funds, you can't just unilaterally say, 'I'm going to take these people,' " Evans said.

While not delving into the issue of how people were chosen and who went, city attorneys did conclude the mission to deliver an Olympic message to Torino was a "valid public purpose," Rutan said, noting that other cities traditionally have delivered messages to the following Winter Games host.

Rutan said he was not asked to release the statement but wanted to offer it to help clarify the public dialogue surrounding the Torino trip.