Salt Lake County taxpayers may be excused for scratching their heads and staring in disbelief this week at the mess brewing in the County Government Center.

First, a commissioner calls armed guards to remove County Attorney Doug Short from the microphone at a public meeting. Then the attorney threatens to sue two of the three commissioners personally for violating the state constitution. After the meeting, the attorney gets the treasurer and auditor to agree not to put into action the wishes of the commission.Is this Salt Lake County or the Italian parliament?

The attorney has since retreated on his threat to sue commissioners Randy Horiuchi and Brent Overson, but only because the treasurer and auditor won't issue the check. A lawsuit may yet be coming, however. Short has promised an investigation into all county appropriations in recent years and to sue if he finds something amiss.

Surely, this wasn't what anyone had in mind when they persuaded lawmakers to divide the old county attorney position into two: A district attorney, who was to prosecute crimes, and a county attorney, who was to advise the county.

At the time, it seemed like such a logical change. The old county attorney often ran into himself coming and going. Several years ago, after three youths were trampled to death at a rock concert in a county facility, the county attorney was in the awkward position of both prosecuting the crime and defending the county, which could have been found liable.

Frankly, the decision to split those duties still makes sense. But the way Short and the commission got to this point does not.

At issue was $75,000 the commissioners wanted to give to the new city of Taylorsville-Bennion as a gift to help it get started. Taxpayers out there, after all, had contributed greatly to the county's municipal services budget through the years. Some say they had given more than their share, and now they are faced with starting a city of 50,000 from scratch.

View Comments

Short, relying on a 1985 Utah Supreme Court decision and a memo from the days of former County Attorney David Yocom, believes counties in these cases can't simply give money away without receiving something in return.

Amid all the arguing and posturing, there's reason to wonder why county officials can't disagree without becoming so disagreeable. How could they let such a relatively minor matter degenerate into such an ugly crisis?

Shouldn't the commission and the attorney work together from the start to resolve these questions? Short said he was trying to find a solution that would have satisfied his concerns and allowed the county to help the new city. Why couldn't the commission wait for that solution?

The answer, unfortunately, may be that neither side has enough confidence in the other to rely on cooperation. If so, this could be just the start of the county's troubles.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.