Nancy Workman

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Nancy Workman was the first county mayor of Salt Lake County Utah and a member of the Republican Party. She was born December 9, 1940 in Pueblo, Colorado, but grew up in Boise, Idaho where her father was an automobile dealer. She finally settled in the Salt Lake Valley during her senior year of high school.

Workman went to college at the University of Utah and ran a construction business before seeking office as county recorder. After an unsuccessful bid in 1990 she was finally elected in 1994 to a six year term. Later, after the post was approved by the county commission, Workman was elected to the newly created post of County Mayor.

In 2004 Workman became embroiled in a scandal involving the funneling of funds into a local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of America where her daughter was chief financial officer. The accusations centered around placing county employees at the club. The employees were said to be working for the county health department, but were doing bookkeeping tasks for the club. She faced two felony charges of misusing county monies by allegedly placing county employees at the club: one Second Degree Felony and one Third Degree. See: State of Utah v. Nancy B. Workman, case number 041905777.

She was placed on paid administrative leave pending her trial; during her absence she was replaced by the county deputy mayor, Alan Dayton.

Her administration was also plagued by other controversies concerning abuse of county vehicles given to employees and excessive compensation to political appointees.

In September 2004 Workman went on RadioWest, a local public affairs program on radio station KUER-FM. During the interview, Workman walked out, when host Doug Fabrizio pressed her for information about whether the panel which found probable cause to charge her with felony misuse of public funds. Workman suggested that the independent panel was working for Democrat District Attorney David Yocom, and was "not as independent as it appeared." Fabrizio mentioned that county attorney Kay Bryson, a Republican was also working for Yocom. Workman stated that Bryson "signed an oath to Salt Lake County." Fabrizio retorted, "Doesn't seem plausible, mayor, does it? He may have signed an oath, but you really don't respect Kay Bryson's independence or integrity? Forget the technicality for a moment..." Workman responded, "Oh my goodness. Hey, if you're gonna talk like that..." Fabrizio: "Talk like what?" Workman: "See you later, Doug. Thank you very much."

Originally, Workman vowed not to drop out of the 2004 county mayoral race, even when the Utah GOP dropped public support for her. The Republicans replaced her with Ellis Ivory as a write-in candidate. On October 12, 2004, Workman dropped out of the race, citing health problems related to stress claiming disability.

On February 10, 2005 a jury found Workman not guilty of all felony charges.

Nancy was appointed as the President of the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce in the spring of 2006.

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Preceded by: first mayor

Mayor of Salt Lake County 2000 – 2004

Succeeded by: Peter Corroon