The Grantsville City Council held a special meeting with a closed door session on Jan. 19 to discuss personnel.
After the hour-long meeting, which Grantsville City Mayor Brent Marshall did not attend, the City Council issued a three sentence statement.
“Due to matters that have come to our attention, we as a City Council, are taking appropriate action,” the statement said. “The City Council takes this matter seriously, and values our employees and citizens. We will not comment publicly on personnel issues.”
An article in the Jan. 18 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune included allegations of misconduct against Marshall by former employees, residents and other elected officials. The article alleges Marshall handcuffed a former Grantsville zoning and planning administrator using zip ties as a joke, and pushed a former city recorder into a chair after she attempted to leave while he yelled at her over a dispute related to a contract negotiation.
The question is: What can a city council in the state of Utah do about a mayor facing allegations of misconduct? The powers are fairly limited, looking at the state’s municipal code.
A city council in Utah can’t force a mayor to resign or impeach them, though other states allow it. The state of Missouri, for example, allows the impeachment of mayors and since 2013, at least two mayors have been subjected to impeachment, according to media reports.
City councils in Utah can remove any power, duty or function of the mayor under Title 10, Chapter 3b, Section 104 — which include remitting fines or forfeitures or release a person in violation of a municipal ordinance. But the state municipal code prohibits a city council from removing a mayor’s legislative or judicial powers, position as chair of the council or removing the mayor from any ex officio position they may hold.
Any power removed from the mayor would require the affirmative vote of the mayor and the majority of all other council members or all council members beside the mayor.
The city council can also conduct an investigation into the actions of an employee or official working for the city.
Marshall said he had no comment on the allegations of misconduct or the Salt Lake Tribune story when contacted by the Transcript Bulletin.