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Show F f I J ft NSL officials Question city councilman 's action taken a backhoe and destroyed a storm drain system, broken a storm box and encroached on the canyon." can-yon." Councilman Byron Berven said he feels the number one priority now is to determine what it will take to stabilize the canyon. "The sides of the canyon have been denuded, and if we have a big storm there will be a serious problem. Berven, who is an engineer, said he does not know what it will cost to restore the canyon, "but there will be a cost," he said, "He should not have destroyed the flood channel. City ordinances have been broken," said Berven. "Different things have gone on there we were unaware of until we toured the canyon," said City Administrator Ad-ministrator Collin Wood. He ex plained that the yard of a church built on the rim of the canyon four years ago, had included a drainage plan to avoid erosion. "He (Clark) pulled sections of that out and excavated. In the process pro-cess he pushed solid into the canyon." ca-nyon." Wood explained the damage has occurred over a period of several weeks. Clark's motives for the excava- i i tion are susp2ct by some city officials. offi-cials. None o f the damage occurred until the city council failed to act on a request from Clark to move a retention pond injbe canyon. Moving Mov-ing the pond would have allowed the counc ilman's brother, Tim. Clark, to b'uild a home on the lot on the north siide of Clark's home. SEE QUESTION PG. A-4 NORTH SALT LAKE-The actions ac-tions of one city councilman have raised a question of whether or not he is guilty of "malfeasance" in office, of-fice, a charge, which if proven, would end his political career in the city. The question revolves around Councilman Nathan Clark's excavation ex-cavation in the canyon behind his home, excavation which some question ques-tion may have been done to force the city to move a retention pond to facilitate the building of a new home for Clark's brother. The excavation ex-cavation has altered the canyon to the degree that it could cost the city an estimated $20,000 to restore the area. The appropriateness of Clark's actions was raised at a recent city council meeting when City Coun-cilwoman Coun-cilwoman Shanna Schaefermeyer stated she could not condone wrongful actions by an elected official. offi-cial. She said that what had been done on the Clark property was "not within the parameters of the law, and I think we (elected offi- r cials) should be doing this (upholding the law) more than anyone else. This thing is going to cost the city down the line. ' ' Schaefermeyer is concerned that the excavation violates the city's foothill ordinance and was done with no site plan being filed, a violation of another city ordinance. A recent tour of the Clark property proper-ty at 1 25 Coventry Lane, by members of the council and other city officials, raised major concerns. con-cerns. Mayor Jake Simmons said he had seen the property before the council tour. "I was concerned with what had taken place, and I decided we needed to get the full council involved," in-volved," said Mayor Simmons. The tour was planned to survey the excavation that had been "red-tagged" "red-tagged" by Public Works Director Rod Wood. Red-tagging a project stops work immediately until the city is satisfied that serious problems prob-lems and violations of city ordinances or-dinances can be addressed. According to Schaefermeyer, the inspection showed that, "He had ' - " - & ' . x " " y - : ' v ' - , . - - - w- - - - s. ? . 4 , f ; ,. r. , '( , v- : - I . " - 4 v V1 r - ' . . .-, . , . a ' & & jT.., . . , - v li: " - " w -vr -v- -f. I '-" x,--W -- t I . 1 itt im i mill i iT - ' ' This excavation that has taken place in the backyard canyon of a home located at 1 25 Coventry Lane in North Salt Lake has become a subject of controversy for city officials. The unauthorized excavation was done by a city councilman, and has destroyed a storm drain system. The city council is meeting this week to decide what action must be taken to rectify the problem. City questions councilman's actions with respect to taking any action in the canyon; however, since that time Nathan Clark has proceeded with his excavation which has now created an urgent need for action in the canyon. Since the project was red-tagged, Clark has been asked to hire a geologist to study how to stabilize the canyon. This is not the first time Nathan Clark has been involved in questionable ques-tionable excavation activities in North Salt Lake. He met with Campbell in July 1990 to review, "unauthorized grading and filling" on lot 1 West of Valley View subdivision, sub-division, another project in which he was involved. The engineer pointed out that the grading that had taken place, "not only seriously violated the foothill ordinances, but places in jeopardy homes below." Studies ordered on that project have not yet been completed according accor-ding to the city administrator. Wood said the city has had to settle several claims from residents whose property was flooded after the Valley View subdivision was built. An individual charged with "malfeasance," defined as a misconduct or wrongdoing that is illegal il-legal or contrary to official obligations, obliga-tions, "is guilty of a class A misdemeanor, and shall be removed from office, and is not eligible for any municipal office thereafter." (Utah Municipal Code 10-3-826.) - The city council has planned meetings to discuss the problem they face at this time. "We realize he's a council member, but we need to treat him the same way we treat others," said Mayor Simmons. Councilman Clark was not available for comment at press time. CONT. FROM PGA1 The council agreed to study the request, but raised questions as to whether or not taxpayers' money should be spent to move a retention pond that did not appear to be malfunctioning or in need of repair at the time. The council also questioned ques-tioned whether or not a home could actually be built on the Tim Clark ( lot. The lot lies in the middle of the 100-year flood channel. The council advised city engineer Fred Campbell to investigate the need to move the retention pond and the possibility of building a home on the lot owned by Tim Clark. The investigation raised several questions about the proposed home. One of those questions addressed the location of the retention pond if it was moved. Tim Clark's written reply, dated Aug. 15, 1990 read, "The detention basin will not be on my property, but rather on lot 31 (Nathan Clark's lot)... Nathan Clark will give the city an easement for the detention deten-tion basin... Nathan told me there are plans to pipe the entire basin." Having received the evaluation from the engineer, the city council once again delayed its decision. The engineer did not report an urgency |