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Recent revelations about hefty bonuses for Sandy City leaders, as well as questionable hiring practices in the city of Herriman provide a reminder of how important it is for the public to keep a close eye on government at every level.
Most disturbing about the Sandy situation is the way the Mayor and his administrators fought to keep the city's pay records secret. They didn't want their constituents to know that the City Administrator pocketed more than $50,000 in bonus pay over a five-year period. It took a judge's order to force Sandy to release the records. Only then, did the public also learn that even Mayor Tom Dolan receives an annual bonus of $1,000 - something rather out of the ordinary for an elected official.
In Herriman, another recent report revealed that 30 percent of the workforce in Herriman is related to someone else who works for the city. Utah law, of course, prohibits nepotism.
It's also curious, as the public learned that Herriman's long-time mayor, for which he is paid $24,000 annually, is also the City Manager with a salary of almost $90,000 a year. It seems a blatant conflict of interest.
All of this causes KSL to wonder what might be going on in other municipalities. It reinforces the importance of keeping close tabs on those who are on the public payroll.
