Legislature Asks Salt Lake County to Fix Jordan School Board Election Gaff

None by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Lawmakers think they've found a way for Salt Lake County to fix a legislative blunder that would have granted an eight-year term to a Jordan School District board member in the wake of the district's split. Representative Greg Hughes, who serves as the House Education Committee Chair, penned a letter with Senate and House leadership to clarify the intent of his amendment to Senate Bill 71, which created the confusion.

"This was certainly an unintended consequence and one that given that you had two separate government entities working on and preparing for the small school district was really impossible to avoid," Hughes says. "It was really bad luck in how they picked their districts and how that applied to the amendment that the Legislature was passing."

Hughes says his amendment was intended to give continuity after a planned split of the Jordan School District. It allows the existing seven members of the district's board to remain on one of the two districts. However, Salt Lake County had already come up with its own solution. The combined effect means Jordan School District's third precinct board member, Dale Christensen, won't face re-election until 2012, resulting in an eight-year term. The letter from lawmakers asks Salt Lake County to re-address how it intends to conduct the elections for the incumbent Jordan School Board members. Council Vice Chairman Jeff Allen says the oversight was an honest mistake by the Legislature, not an example of bad communication.

"Historically the Legislature and Salt Lake County at times are perceived to not work together, although I think we work better than what's personified often times in the media," Allen says. "But this is an example of when the two bodies can work together and get what's best done for the citizens and  make sure they are equally represented."

Allen says the council is eager to resolve the confusion about the Jordan School Board election. The Salt Lake County Council will consider the issue during a work-session Tuesday, and could vote on a solution at its regularly scheduled meeting at 4 p.m.

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