WEST JORDAN -- County prosecutors are investigating alleged moonlighting activities by three West Jordan employees who reportedly worked for private contractors hired to construct the city's youth soccer complex.
A spokesman for the district attorney's office said Wednesday the probe was undertaken at the request of West Jordan police and city officials.He indicated the investigators will determine "what, if anything, we will do or won't do" about the alleged incidents.
"The city felt like there was a conflict," the spokesman added.
West Jordan Attorney Greg Curtis confirmed there is an active investigation under way but said he cannot comment on the details.
The three employees were reportedly placed on administrative leave without pay last week and ordered to clean out their offices.
Included are Assistant City Engineer Keith W. Ludwig, who was involved in selecting contractors for the soccer complex; City Engineer L. Clarke McFarlane, who supervised Ludwig and was in the chain of command on the soccer field project; and building inspector Dennis Thatcher.
At least two of the men were observed by city workers last week being escorted out of the building by a police detective and a city administrator.
In addition, Thatcher's son is a principal in R&D Masonry -- a masonry company that was awarded nearly $75,000 worth of work on the complex.
McFarlane, contacted at his home in Pleasant Grove Wednesday, said he has obtained an attorney to represent his interests and has been advised "to keep my comments to myself.
"I really don't have anything to hide," he said, "but that's what I've been instructed to do" by legal counsel.
Ludwig, contacted at his home in South Jordan, also declined to comment on the probe.
City officials have already come under fire because much of the work done on $6.1 million complex was done without putting the contracts out for competitive bid, as required by state law on all public projects costing $25,000 or more.
An ad hoc coalition of West Jordan residents has petitioned the Utah Attorney General's Office to investigate the lack of bidding and other alleged improprieties involving the city.
Bob Davis, the city's development services director and both McFarlane's and Ludwig's immediate supervisor, said it would be "inappropriate" for him to discuss the personnel action.
In an interview July 30, City Manager Dan Dahlgren said he became aware of one occasion when a city worker was reportedly moonlighting on the soccer field about 18 months previously.
"I had heard that there was some pay involved, and I sent out the message immediately that (such activity) should not happen again," he said. "To my knowledge, it has not . . . but I'm not sure. I'll check on it."
Davis said during an interview last month, however, that both he and Dahlgren had indicated McFarlane could work for a private company that had been contracted to work on the complex.
"I have never given permission for Clarke to work on any contract," Dahlgren said Thursday.
Last month Davis said, Ludwig was "responsible for selecting contractors for the work. Clarke (McFarlane) excluded himself from the bidding" and issuing of contracts.
City records, however, show that McFarlane did sign the letters awarding the only three competitive bids issued on the project (in 1993 and 1994), which added up to just over $1 million.