From the county's vehicle fleet services to its overtime pay policies, everywhere the new mayor asks for scrutiny, he finds trouble. The latest county operation to come up with a negative review is the $40 million Parks and Recreation Division.

According to a review done by a University of Utah professor and his students, the sprawling division may own some of the county's crown jewel buildings, but its recreation offerings are a "bureaucratic mess" plagued by poor communication, high turnover and programs that are geared to generating revenue rather than meeting the needs of county residents.

Generating revenue is important. It helps reduce the amount of taxpayer subsidy contributed by folks who may never take advantage of what the county has to offer.

But fee revenue might be even higher, and the number of people who don't use them fewer, if those programs were better designed and publicized.

People who frequent the county's recreation centers may see individual flyers for recreation programs and leagues. But outside that core it can be rare for people who might be interested in anything from golf lessons to basketball leagues to know when, where and how much.

The U. study praised frontline and middle managers for their dedication, but said the bureaucratic structure and removed nature of upper management made it difficult for information to get where it belongs and for needed improvements to be made.

Evaluators also knocked the division for being competitive rather than collaborative with other recreation providers and for a noticeable lack of effort to get staff members trained and certified in their areas of interest.

The division's director, Glen Lu, criticized the report as unscientific, based as it was on focus groups and a series of "secret shopper" visits by students helping with the study. And, just like the recreation programs, the U. study was operated by fallible human beings who probably could have done a better job, given infinite time and resources.

But, if Corroon isn't already worn out by all the other problems facing him, he now has cause to shake up the structure, if not the leadership, of the Parks and Recreation Division, and make its programs a showcase to match their many shiny buildings.