HIGHLAND -- Highland's mayor told residents on Thursday that his Constitutional rights have been violated by complaints against him to the state, and the complaints should not be discussed as part of the mayoral campaign.

And for what may be the first time, Mayor Jay Franson also spoke publicly about what have repeatedly been called secret meetings held by council members. Those meetings are held with two council members to avoid a quorum, which, under most circumstances, would require the meeting to be public.

State and county attorneys are probing a series of allegations against Franson, brought by Highland Councilwoman Kathryn Schramm and former city employee Jay Haws. 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 as, if not more than, American Fork in the transactions.

On Thursday evening, the city hosted a packed mayoral debate. Residents filled the council chamber and even the overflow was standing-room-only for the three-hour event.

During the debate, both Franson and his sole opponent, Lynn Ritchie, were asked about the allegations. Ritchie all but dismissed the complaints.

"Conflict of interest is not as important as declaring it," Ritchie told the audience. "We may all have conflicts of interest."

"I find it very interesting that the claim against me was taken to state officials in June," Franson said. "I found out about it in September from a newspaper reporter. My Constitutional rights have been denied because I was not notified. I have never had anyone in an official capacity talk to me about that. ... I can answer every one of those questions if only I am given an opportunity to do so."

Ritchie added that Franson says his declaration of a conflict of interest was lost by city staff. "We ought to look at that and tighten that process if that is so. The mayor may be totally innocent, but it is a bad choice of judgement." He noted that he believes the mayor should have at a minimum kept a personal copy of the declaration.

"I am personally innocent of anything claimed against me," Franson then said. "Until I can answer, it is completely inappropriate to make it a campaign issue."

He repeated that his Constitutional rights have been violated, and said he is reviewing possible legal actions with attorneys.

"I'm probably going to pursue those," he said.

Reached on Friday, Franson told the Daily Herald that he believes his rights have been violated by both Schramm and Haws, in addition to the state Attorney General's Office.

"I am having consultations with an attorney," he said. "Obviously, no decision has been made, but the Fifth Amendment says you have the right to be notified of what charges are against you, and you have a right to defend yourself, and none of those things have happened."

Neither state nor county officials have filed charges against the mayor, though state officials have confirmed to the Daily Herald that they are investigating the complaints and have asked county attorneys to take the lead on the investigation.

Franson also took an opportunity on Thursday to speak about what many residents, and several candidates on Thursday, have called secret meetings.

"We have got to stop the secret meetings on Tuesdays between two council members and an administrator," said Ritchie during the mayoral debate.

"I'm concerned about these secret meeting being held on Tuesday night," said council candidate Tom Butler, speaking earlier in the evening. "To me, all council meetings should be open to the public."

"I would like to address those secret meetings," Franson said, late Thursday evening.

For the first two years of his mayoral term, the only contact between council members was at publicly advertised meetings or by e-mail, he said. He felt there should be more interaction, but knew that gatherings of more than two council members must be advertised to the public.

"I said, let's rotate with different people and let's meet for an hour and talk about future things," Franson told the audience. He noted that those meetings, which the public is not notified about despite repeated requests from the public, some council members, and the Daily Herald, are held an hour before regularly scheduled council meetings. "Those who guessed there is something secret are conspiracy theorists. We are planning to look to the future. We never have more than two council members at a time. It is an attempt to get the council involved in looking at the future. ... It just happens that that is a convenient time to do that."