Conflict of interest in Eagle Mountain?

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Accusations that Eagle Mountain City Councilman David Blackburn violated the city's conflict of interest ordinance have sparked an internal investigation — and another controversy.

The allegations are being levied by fellow Councilman David Lifferth who claims Blackburn accepted gifts or favors from the city's former engineering consultant, Epic Engineering, and voted on issues related to the company without disclosing the potential conflicts.

According to city code, city officials and employees are required to publicly disclose any gifts they receive that are worth more than $50 and abstain from voting on issues that involve the companies from which the gifts were received.

Blackburn has acknowledge he went on a half-day pheasant-hunting trip that was sponsored by the company. He also bought beef from one of the company's owners and hunted elk on the owner's land. He estimated the pheasant hunting trip cost about $40, and he said the hunting trip wasn't worth any money, as he didn't kill any elk.

"I have not done anything wrong," Blackburn said. "My vote has never been bought or purchased, nor have I acted in an inappropriate manner."

The investigation became public at Tuesday's City Council meeting when Lifferth reacted strongly to the City Council's vote 4-1 naming Blackburn the city's mayor pro tem and the person who will be in charge of meetings when Mayor Don Richardson is unable to attend.

"Everyone on the council is aware of the facts," Lifferth said Wednesday. "The facts are not in dispute. Even Councilman Blackburn admitted that the facts are true. And I could not believe that the other members of the council could, in good faith, vote for someone who admits to breaking the law. ... To me, it's just absurd that any day, a City Council member could be removed from office, and we just put them in as mayor pro-tem."

While the ethics ordinance does provide for removal of a council member for violating its provisions, it is unclear how that would be accomplished. At this point, Richardson said he doesn't have any plans to replace Blackburn, but he said final decisions won't be made until the investigation is complete.

"We'll see," Richardson said. "Right now, anybody can make an accusation, but we're seeing if we can back up what's being said there. Anytime someone asks for us to look into something, we'll look into it. This is something we're looking into."