The Juab County Commission has eliminated the job of county administrator after a state investigation revealed that the man who formerly held the position might have had a conflict in some county-awarded engineering contracts.
Randy Freston, who served for 18 years as county engineer and the past five years as county administrator, was let go three weeks ago when two of three commissioners voted to eliminate the job. Commission Chairman Gordon Young and Commissioner Joseph Bernini voted to do away with the position. Commissioner Ike Lunt was not present but later said he would have abstained.Young said the action came two weeks after Freston was placed on administrative leave while state investigators checked into allegations that several county engineering contracts were awarded to Uintah Engineering Inc., a firm in which Freston is a partner. State officials also investigated allegations that Freston double billed the county for some services.
Young said Wednesday that Freston's firm has done work on several county projects and the county has received complaints about the contracts for months. However, it wasn't until the complaints went to the state that commissioners realized the extent of the possible conflicts. He said the investigation revealed problems in how the county administrator position is structured.
"The investigation did bring up in our minds some real deficiencies in what this position created," Young said. "If we do create an administrative position again, it will have to be under an entirely different structure."
Commissioners not only eliminated the administrator position, they placed a moratorium on projects that use the services of Freston's firm. Freston will remain as director of the municipal building authority overseeing construction of the new $2 million Juab County Public Safety Building. The facility is scheduled to open in about one week on the south side of Nephi.
Juab County Attorney David Leavitt said an audit of the building authority found that Freston's firm was overpaid $9,200 on one contract. However, Leavitt said the overpayment appears to be a billing mixup, and there's no evidence that it was intentional. He said Freston has agreed to repay the money, and the county will file a civil complaint if he doesn't.
Leavitt also said records pertaining to the building authority and payments made to Freston's firm are missing from the county vault. As a result, he turned the matter over to the attorney general's office for investigation.
Palmer DePaulis, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, would neither confirm nor deny any investigation of Freston or the building authority. However, he said if such an investigation is under way, it would not focus on county policies, but on whether or not state law was violated.
Some have criticized the commission's decision to eliminate Freston's position, including Juab County Sheriff David Carter.
"I want to make it very, very clear that not one allegation against Randy Freston can be proved. In fact, every allegation is unfounded," Carter said. "There is no evidence of any criminal intent in any of the actions of Randy Freston."