Depending on how you read it, a letter from the State Attorney General's Office either vindicates the mayor of Highland over conflict of interest allegations, or simply shifts the investigation to the county.

With the hours until the election rapidly ticking down, the difference in interpretation takes on significant political weight.

Earlier this month, Sheila Page, assistant state attorney general, confirmed that state and county attorneys were probing a series of allegations against the mayor of Highland, brought by Highland Councilwoman Kathryn Schramm and former city employee Jay Haws. Mayor Jay Franson is accused of using his position as mayor to reward American Fork, the city that hired his engineering firm to work on its pressurized irrigation project. Franson claims that Highland benefitted as much, if not more, than American Fork in the transactions.

Page also confirmed at that time that the state had asked county attorneys to take the lead. Late on Wednesday, Page faxed a statement to Franson's office.

"Based on its protocols and screening criteria, the Criminal Screening Committee did not find a basis for this office to investigate this matter," wrote Page. "Likewise, based on our review of applicable facts and the law with regard to the civil issued raised, the CRC will not be taking any civil action in this matter. For your information, the county attorneys of our state are available to handle matters regarding local governments within their jurisdiction, and we do not speak for them. ..."

Reached by phone late Thursday, and asked about the meaning of that last sentence in particular, Page said her letter could be interpreted to mean the county has jurisdiction. She said the state did not communicate with county attorneys before releasing the statement, and it is possible that a county investigation could be ongoing. Page said she wanted to be clear above all that her office does not speak for the county. County attorneys did not return calls for comment, but have previously said they cannot confirm or deny any potential investigation at any time.

Speaking to the Daily Herald on Thursday, Schramm and Haws confirmed that they have been interviewed by county attorneys within the past two weeks and were asked not to speak publicly about particulars of that interview or their allegations.

The mayor said he believes the letter vindicates him as wrongly accused, and has brought the matter to a rapid conclusion.

"My biggest concern is opinion being used as facts," he said. "People can have opinions, but when they turn them into facts which you justify, that is where they cross the line."

Franson said no one from the county or state has asked him for an interview, requested any documents from the city, or asked to interview city employees.

"I am not surprised by the results of this investigation because I knew that I had obeyed the law and was innocent of any wrongdoing," Franson said in a prepared statement. "I am hopeful that this will put an end to this controversy. I am also hopeful that the intent of those who filed this complaint was sincere in their concern for the well-being of Highland and its residents and that this was not just motivated by campaign politics designed to injure my reputation and honor. If those involved had only done a little homework and gotten the facts, I am sure they would have had second thoughts about forwarding this complaint. Or better yet, they could have come and talked to me directly and I could have provided them with satisfactory answers to their questions."

"We did our homework," said Schramm when asked for a response.

"Our concern is not Jay Franson," Haws said. "Our concern is Highland city. That has always been our concern, that the citizens of Highland know what is going on."

Schramm and Haws said they have submitted many city documents to county attorneys at the request of attorneys, and all of those documents are publicly available to any Highland resident who wishes to look into the matter. Franson has maintained that city documents back up his side of the story.

Asked to address the mayor's question about the political motives of the allegations, Schramm and Haws said the issue has become political, but did not start that way. The issue has charged Highland's campaign in recent days, with Election Day less than a week away.

Both Schramm and Haws said they would like to be clear that their concerns about the mayor outdate Tuesday's election. That the matter should come to a head days before the election is coincidence and beyond their control, they said.

Schramm first approached the Daily Herald with what she called concerns about the mayor in the fall of 2008, more than a year before the election. She canceled an interview at that time, saying she needed to gather more supporting documents, and declined to name any specific concerns. Over the next year, she contacted the Herald at least three more times, only to decide she needed more time before making what she said would be serious allegations.

Haws said he became involved after someone mentioned to him more than a year ago that Highland had entered into a contract with American Fork that appeared to pay some expenses for American Fork. A Highland city employee who had retired after more than three decades of work, Haws said he went to the city and got a copy of the contract, which piqued his interest because of its inexplicably unusual terms. He went to American Fork and found copies of contracts showing Franson's involvement and became concerned. Haws said he wrote a draft letter to state attorneys in November 2008, but ultimately decided not to mail it until he could get more documentation of his concerns.

One day in January or February 2009, he passed Schramm while both were driving in their cars, and followed her, pulling her over to ask her questions about why the city was approving contracts for the mayor's firm.

Schramm said when Haws approached her, she had no idea about the mayor's involvement. A check of American Fork records confirmed the involvement of the mayor's company, and Highland records showed no conflict of interest statement on file. (Franson has said it was lost by city staff when the city offices moved to a new building.) Schramm said she had never heard the mayor mention his tie to the contracts in all the city meetings she attended as an elected official, and became alarmed.

Around this time, Haws said he spoke in two or three council meetings, voicing his concerns about the mayor's conflict of interest, but was rebuffed each time. City staff were directed to answer his queries, but the answers were non-answers, Haws said. This increased his suspicions.

Schramm said she would not have voted to approve a special easement through Highland for American Fork had she known about the involvement of the mayor's company. She felt she could not approach the mayor with her concerns because if her allegations were correct, they could be criminal. She and Haws decided to work together, spending months piecing together documents from both American Fork and Highland. They said they wrote many drafts of a letter to state officials before sending their original complaint on June 1. Neither had the election in mind, they said. They expected the state would respond quickly, perhaps even the same week, they said. Months later, when they had not heard anything, they called state officials, telling them Franson had now decided to run for re-election and Highland residents deserved to know whether the state felt the allegations had merit or not. State officials asked Schramm and Haws to submit a second letter asking that the matter be expedited because of the election, and Schramm did so.

After filing the first complaint, Haws said he decided to run for mayor himself, as he has before, but ultimately changed his mind. He then decided to support his neighbor, Lynn Ritchie, who is the mayor's only opponent. Haws confirmed that he has contributed $200 to Ritchie's campaign, and Schramm says she had encouraged Ritchie to run in May, as she had encouraged others, but had not heard anything else about the matter until Ritchie signed up in July. Both Schramm and Haws said their political involvement would have happened whether they had filed complaints against Franson or not, and no campaigns existed on June 1 when they filed their first letter to the state. They said they hope their explanation will quell rumors that they acted only recently and only to influence the election.