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Show Lawrence accuses Wilson of juggling attorney's budget By JUDY JENSEN Editor FARMINGTONOf the four departments that spent more money than the "policies and procedures of the county permits," Commissioner Commis-sioner William (Dub) Lawrence had a "problem" with only one at last Wednesday's Davis County Commission Com-mission meeting. "I'd like to identify my concern," con-cern," said Lawrence as he addressed ad-dressed county attorney Mel Wilson. He then began to explain what he felt were the questionable practices of the attorney that created a 1989 budget overrun in his department Lawrence claimed that although $4,100 of the $14,200 shortfall could be accounted for in increased insurance costs, the remainder seemed to be a manipulation of the budget which in the end provided the attorney with an employee he had assured the commission he had sufficient funds to hire without a budget increase. "I had concerns when we approved ap-proved the 1990 budget that we were approving not only a 14 percent per-cent budget increase, but that we were completely covering the new employee's salary with the approval of the overage. Mr. Wilson has accomplished ac-complished his objective, with your help in getting the budget approved," approv-ed," said Lawrence referring to Commissioners William Peters and Gayle Stevenson. "His approach has been to free himself up to operate his private practice." "I think it is unfair of you to 3 criticize Mr. Wilson and what he's going to do. Stick to this item or I'm going to move you out of order," said Peters. Wilson responded to the charges by saying "I'm not here to respond to more political rhetoric. In the budget hearing in 1988 I indicated a need for additional attorney time for the increase in our case load due to claims against the county. We never know when we are going to have a serious crime which would totally blow that budget apart," he said-Wilson said-Wilson added that he also asked for at that time, matching funds of $5,600 for a grant application from the state. In 1989, assuming that amount had been budgeted, he asked ask-ed for a new attorney to replace a retiring employee. "I delayed hiring hir-ing the new attorney for two and one-half months, thinking I could use the money saved and the grant money to pay the new attorney's wages. In review I found the $5,600 was never budgeted which left me with a shortfall in my budget," explained ex-plained Wilson. The attorney added that he resented the implication that he had hired a new attorney to lighten his work load. "I'd be happy to match you hour for hour," he said to Lawrence. "We provide an exceptional excep-tional service for the number of hours we've been budgeted. I have nothing but praise for Mr. Hess," he said, referring to Gerald Hess, assistant county attorney. "We've saved the county $900,000 through our efforts ' he said. "Of those departments that have CONTINUED ON PG.2 F Lawrence accuses Wilson CONTINUED FROM PG. 1 overages, I'm fully convinced and very pleased with their efforts to properly handle their budgets," said Lawrence. Tm very comfortable with every budget but the attorney's office. I move approval of everything every-thing with the exception of the attorney's at-torney's office," said Lawrence. The motion died for lack of a second. se-cond. "I'm very comfortable with every department," said Peters. Stevenson agreed and made a motion mo-tion to approve all of the 1990 budget increases. Peters seconded the motion, and a vote was taken with Peters and Stevenson voting in favor and Lawrence abstaining. |