Gov. Gary Herbert still mulling choices for State Records Committee vacancy

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Gov. Gary Herbert expects to nominate someone to fill the newly created public-member's seat on the State Records Committee by next week.

Nate McDonald, a Herbert public information officer, said the governor is still awaiting recommendations on the people who have applied for the job.

Four people applied for the position, and the records committee offered a "soft recommendation" for seating Marie Cornwall on the committee. Cornwall, according to her résumé, is an emeritus sociology professor at Brigham Young University who lives in Bountiful.

Committee Chairman Lex Hemphill said the board couldn't make a stronger recommendation because it was only going on applications and did not interview any of the candidates.

The other applicants were Sarra McGillis, a corrections specialist with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office; James Weightman, director of internal audits at the Salt Lake County Auditor's Office; and Sheri Bernard, a consultant who had works in health-care information management.

The applicants' information was obtained through a Government Records Access and Management Act request to the committee. Patricia Smith-Mansfield, the governor's representative on the committee, did not include the applications in the board's agenda packet for its June 13 meeting.

"I did not want it to become a public record," Smith-Mansfield said.

The position was created as part of SB94, Sen. Curt Bramble's bill that amended the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). The bill also removed the state auditor's seat on the body that hears GRAMA appeals and replaced it with a second slot for a member of the public.

Bramble said the change was made at the request of State Auditor John Dougall, who wanted to avoid any conflicts of interest if his office were to audit the committee. Dougall — who as a legislator authored HB477, the bill that gutted GRAMA and was repealed after public outcry in 2011 — fired the auditor's representative on the committee, Betsy Ross.

Herbert's previous appointment to the board was Holly Richardson, a conservative blogger and former legislator who supported HB477, as a public member.