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The Salt Lake County Council is considering moving forward with an investigation into whether Recorder Gary Ott resides in his district, a requirement for holding the office that handles real-estate documents.

The debate will happen at a committee meeting Tuesday. It stems from growing concerns over Ott's well-being and indications that he spends much of his time away from his Salt Lake City home.

"We'll be discussing with our legal counsel what our options are as far as determining his residency," Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton said.

Ott likely has an unspecified mental illness, according to his secretary and longtime friend Karmen Sanone, and he has largely been absent from his office.

In his last appearance before the council — last October — Ott failed to answer basic questions lobbed by a council that has grown increasingly concerned about his well-being. Yet the office continues to perform its duties, largely at the direction of Chief Deputy Recorder Julie Dole.

Ott has also failed to make home equity loan payments and is at risk of losing his house, and Salt Lake City has shut off his water for lack of payment. Dole said he rarely comes to the office, but said delegating duties to employees was always Ott's managerial style, not an indication that he is suffering from any life-altering illness.

Ott has not responded to requests for comment nor commented publicly since County Mayor Ben McAdams called for him to resign on June 7. His secretary, Sanone, speaks on his behalf.

While Ott owns a house in Salt Lake City, it appears he rarely visits it.

A Tribune reporter found a mailbox bursting with mail and a notice on his front door showing his water had been shut off. A real-estate legal firm filed a notice of default indicating Ott hadn't made a payment on his $50,000 home equity loan since July 2016 and would lose his home if he didn't pay what he owed within three months.

There are indications the recorder is spending much of his time in Weber County, where deputies were called in September to check on Ott's well-being. He was at Sanone's Weber County home. Then last month , a grocery store employee called police to say a confused elderly man was wandering around the store. North Ogden police found Ott walking nearby outside. Officers dropped him off at Sanone's house, where they said he lived, according to the report.

While the council may call for an investigation into where Ott resides, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said proving residency can be a difficult task.

Gill said just as a student can live in a university town while the state determines his or her residence is in another state, an elected official may technically "reside" in their district while spending much of their time elsewhere.

"Residency is obviously the physical presence of somebody," Gill said. "But it's not just determined by the physical presence, it's where they intend to reside."

Software showdown • The council had scheduled a budget hearing for Tuesday night that is unrelated to Ott's health. Instead, it will focus on a piece of software the recorder's office has begun rolling out.

The software, known as Darwin, is already live, and that's a concern for the departments that rely on information from the recorder's office to assess and collect taxes.

McAdams wrote Dole on Wednesday night giving her a day to respond to concerns that the software was launched before the bugs were worked out. He told her she had a day to stop operating the new software until it was thoroughly tested and ready.

"Your unilateral decision to 'go live' with your DARWIN software before sufficient independent parallel testing ... has caused dysfunction and disarray throughout the County," McAdams wrote.

Dole quickly responded, denying there were issues with the software that had been long in development and telling him he was too late.

"Your requests have come after the point of no return and are no longer an option," she wrote. "Any attempt to honor your late requests would greatly harm the real estate industry in the County and our Statutory obligation to make this information available to them."

Instead, she said in a Thursday response to McAdams, someone in the mayor's administration was sabotaging the program.

"Any impact on the other tax offices will be the responsibility of those in your administration who are choosing not to receive and transmit the information we have provided," Dole wrote.

Council members have slated a 6 p.m. Tuesday hearing and possible action to reduce the office's budget and have made clear Darwin is a target. Newton said the council is unable to cut Ott's salary until the budget season later this year.

"This is obviously in regards to the Darwin," she said.

Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson