Highland still reeling from negative campaign

HIGHLAND — Did an irrigation project cost Highland Mayor Jay Franson his bid for re-election?

In a city that is still reeling from the latest election, it depends who you ask.

Supporters of Franson say, without a doubt, conflict-of-interest allegations on the project — made public a month before the election — cost the one-term mayor his position.

Opponents of Franson, though, say the one-term mayor dug his own grave by holding secret meetings and accruing some $14 million in bond debt.

Whatever the reason, 68 percent of Highland voters cast ballots on Nov. 3 for Franson's challenger, Mayor-elect Lynn Ritchie, after an election season that included some of the most negative campaigning this north Utah County city has ever seen.

In June, Highland Councilwoman Kathryn Schramm and former city employee Jay Haws filed complaints with the Utah Attorney General's Office, accusing Franson of using his elected position to reward neighboring American Fork for hiring his engineering firm to work on a pressurized irrigation project.

The Attorney General's Office cleared Franson of the allegations less than a week before the election, but the case has been passed on to the Utah County Attorney's Office, the complainants said. Officials in the county attorney's office confirmed that the complaint has been received but said they could not comment on ongoing investigations.

Schramn and Haws had been looking into the issue since August 2007, when Haws saw an agreement between the two cities that committed Highland to allowing pipes for American Fork's irrigation project.

Franson's company, Franson Civil Engineers, orchestrated the project.

"Everything seems to be so shady," said Haws, who quit that same month over unrelated circumstances. "This did not benefit Highland. Why is Highland doing this?"

Although Franson does not have a vote on the City Council, he never disclosed his involvement in the project when it came to a vote in January 2008 and was unanimously approved.

"I certainly would have done things differently had I known what I now know," Schramm said.

In a statement in October, Franson said he obeyed the law and acted in the best interest of Highland. The Deseret News left several messages for the mayor requesting comment, but the calls were not returned.