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- Weber County is investigating alleged use of misinformation in a campaign to halt a challenge to a Clinton housing project.
- The allegation is also the focus of a civil lawsuit filed by the Clinton man helping spearhead the challenge to the 341-unit proposal.
- At the root of the investigation and lawsuit is a petition campaign targeting the housing project.
OGDEN — The Weber County Sheriff's Office is conducting an investigation into alleged use of misinformation by the firm hired by a developer to seek out people willing to withdraw their names from a petition calling his Clinton project into question.
Though Clinton is in neighboring Davis County, Lt. Sean Endsley said Weber County officials received a request to handle the probe because Davis County officials "felt it was a conflict of interest for them to investigate." Those involved in the citizen-led petition drive in Clinton targeting a 341-unit housing development collected signatures from voters who supported the cause, and Davis County officials handled initial verification of the signatures.
The investigation focuses on Gather Utah, hired by developer Mike Hatch to seek out petition signatories after the initial drive was complete, and allegations the firm, when visiting Clinton homes, "may have misrepresented who they were, misrepresented some of the information," Endsley said. "It does have potential criminal implications, specifically what — I don't want to go into at this point."
Hatch didn't respond to a query seeking comment, and a Gather Utah representative couldn't immediately be reached for comment. But those involved in the initial petition drive have charged that Gather Utah representatives used deceit and misinformation in their subsequent efforts to try to convince signatories to remove their names from the petition. Per state law, once a petition drive is complete, a period follows during which signatories can remove their names from petitions.
In the case of the Clinton project — which has drawn fire from supporters of the petition drive chiefly because of the quantity of townhomes proposed, 266 of the 341 units — Gather Utah may have made a difference. The petitioners initially mustered more than 3,800 signatures, but the final figure after the Gather Utah campaign fell to 3,519 signatures, and city officials determined the number fell short of the threshold required to succeed. Critics of Hatch's project worry about overdevelopment and the ability of the area's roads to handle the new people drawn by the proposed homes, while Hatch has defended his plans as providing much-needed housing.
The petitions had called for a question on the November 2025 ballot asking voters whether the key August 2023 Clinton City Council zoning decision paving the way for the 341-unit housing development should stand. Had the issue made it on the ballot, a vote against the zoning decision would have stalled the project, spread across 34.9 acres of undeveloped land.
After it was determined that the petition drive fell short, Adam Larsen, who helped spearhead the effort, filed suit in late January in 2nd District Court in Farmington against the Clinton city and Davis County clerks. He's asking that 37 disputed petition signatures be counted, which, if allowed, would be enough to put the zoning question on the ballot.
In the lawsuit, Larsen charges that some of the Gather Utah reps going door to door to get petition signatories to remove their names misrepresented themselves as being affiliated with the state of Utah or the city. Others incorrectly told residents the city "had changed the development plans, or the residents were merely signing to support new plans instead of removing their names from the original petition," the lawsuit says. Some allegedly misstated the development plans, indicating a smaller number of townhomes were proposed.
The suit says it has declarations from signatories who now maintain that they were misled into withdrawing their names from the petitions. The case still winds its way through court, but Clinton city and Davis County officials filed a response on Friday, denying most of the charges in the suit. Clinton officials ask that the case be dismissed.
Larsen said he didn't seek the criminal investigation now underway by Weber County officials. Clinton City Manager Trevor Cahoon wouldn't say much since the issue is in court. He said a complaint was filed with Clinton police and that city officials subsequently asked Weber County officials to investigate due to restrictions spelled out in the Political Activities of Public Entities Act.
Endsley, the Weber County Sheriff's Office representative, said he hopes the probe is completed "in the next few weeks." Then, it would be up to prosecutors, whether in Davis County or Weber County, to decide whether to file charges.
