Provo City councilman and local developer Steve Turley is the center of a Utah County attorney’s investigation stemming from complaints of several local residents.
In a joint letter addressed to the Utah attorney general, the Provo City Council and Mayor John Curtis requested the investigation under the Utah Officers’ Employees’ Ethics Act along with other applicable statutes.
“We request that the Civil Review Committee or your office conduct a review regarding these allegations,” the council said in the letter. “For the benefit of Mr. Turley, the Council and the public, we hope the review will establish the facts, put to rest public speculation and allow appropriate action, if any, to be taken as a result.”
Most recently, the county attorney’s office requested the records and minutes from a meeting held on Oct. 13, 2009. The meeting dealt with Turley’s plans to grade land at the mouth of Slate Canyon for a sports park. Turley said he was voluntarily absent from this meeting in an effort to prevent allegations of a conflict of interest. The Provo Municipal Council held a special meeting late last month and agreed to grant the request to turn over the information.
Helen Anderson, community relations and public information officer for Provo City, said the city has complied with all requests for information regarding the investigation.
“The county attorney has all the information we have to give them and we are just waiting for their response,” Anderson said. “We don’t know officially when they will make their decision. We’re looking forward to a decision from the Utah County attorney’s office and we hope it is soon.”
Turley said the investigation has been going on for more than a year already. Since no charges have been filed, he feels this is indicative of his innocence in the matter.
“I reached out to the attorney general to clear the air on this,” Turley said. “I have cooperated 100 percent with the attorney general and I have cooperated 100 percent with the county. I have made myself available to them.”
Friends of Slate Canyon is a group organized last year to prevent any developer from misusing the area. Diane Christensen, a steering committee member, said the city later determined that 1.5 million tons of gravel was intended to be removed over five years.
“We will all be better educated when the decision is made,” Christensen said. “The city needs some closure on the issue.”
Curtis agrees. The mayor said he looked into other options the city could employ to address the allegations about Turley, but the lack of subpoena power and the unique nature of the situation raised questions about authoritative responsibility for investigation.
Last November, 23 Provo citizens submitted a conflict of interest complaint against Turley requiring Curtis to investigate. To address concerns of bias, insufficient resources and lack of precedence, Curtis asked the Utah County attorney’s office to investigate it on his behalf. There has been no estimated time for completion of the investigation. Curtis said he is ready to take any needed action and to move beyond this issue.
“We hope the Utah State Legislature will address the limitations of the law in this area in the future,” Curtis said in a blog post. “At the same time, it is important to remember that a fundamental principle of our free country is that all are innocent until proven guilty.”
Curtis also said despite his research, he has not been able to find a previous situation where an elected city, county or state official has ever been removed from office in the state of Utah. The uncommon circumstance that the city now finds itself in has brought both praise and criticism from city residents.
“I don’t know all of the details about the situation,” said Provo resident Spencer Oldson. “The mayor seems to be taking the situation very seriously and I’m just glad that I don’t have to be in the middle of it.”
