WEST JORDAN -- A resident's complaint seeking judicial removal of six West Jordan elected and appointed officials has been referred to the county attorney's office by 3rd District Presiding Judge Frank Noel.
In addition, Noel has assigned Judge Leslie A. Lewis, who works in the civil division, to handle the resident's complaint.The administrative action by the presiding judge clears the way for the county attorney's office, which is already conducting an investigation of several present and former West Jordan staff members, to extend its probe to include some City Council members.
Filed by West Jordan resident Terry Trease on Oct. 12, the complaint suggests "city management may have operated outside the law on many occasions" while certain council members "may have failed to respond to or simply ignored" the violations.
Named in the complaint are City Manager Dan Dahlgren, former Assistant City Manager Penny Atkinson and council members Gordon Haight, Brian Pitts, Margaret Grochocki and Jay Bowcutt.
Atkinson resigned her post earlier this month to take another job. Both Bowcutt and Grochocki did not seek re-election and will leave office Jan. 1 when their current terms expire.
The complaint was filed under a section of the Utah Code that provides for judicial removal of public officials for "high crimes and misdemeanors or malfeasance in office."
Unlike most court filings, which are formal documents and are promptly assigned a case number, the process of petitioning for judicial removal provides that complaints be filed directly with the presiding judge of any of Utah's judicial districts.
The presiding judge assesses the issues raised in the complaint and has the option of referring the case to the appropriate authorities for further review and/or investigation. If the case moves forward, it also is given a case number at that point and assigned to a judge.
Trease cites 18 areas of "possible infractions" in his complaint, ranging from awarding construction contracts without getting bids and failure to balance city budgets as required by state law to failure of city management to follow council directives and improper withholding of certain information from the council.
If certain council members were made aware of management misconduct and either ignored it or refused to deal with the problem, the West Jordan man said, the court should determine whether that would constitute malfeasance in office.
City officials have not responded to the complaint at this point.
"As I understand it, the county attorney's office will decide whether to prosecute the action," City Attorney Greg Curtis said Tuesday. "It's not mandatory on their part.
"Until the decision is made on whether to serve individuals with summons, the city isn't taking any position."