How else could City Councilmen Joel Coleman and Mike Winder, both counted among Monticello's founders, credibly claim that their admitted conflict of interest in voting to get the school a $10 million start-up loan was not improper?

To argue, as Coleman did the other day, that Monticello board members are not paid and do not stand to gain financially from the loan is only relevant to the conflict-of-interest issue if all that matters to them is money.

Evidence that that is not the case is, well, Monticello Academy.

It has taken a lot of devotion and time to get one of Utah's newest charter schools off the ground. Those doing the work, including former board member Winder, current board secretary Coleman and Coleman's wife, who is president of the board, obviously thought the school would be something of value to them.

On paper - or, these days, on its Web site - Monticello is quite the creation. It is described as a high-standards college prep school offering advanced math and Mandarin Chinese as well as the kind of art, music and physical education classes that too often fall under the budget ax in regular public schools.

But Monticello also stands to suck some 675 students away from other schools, possibly leading to a reduction in staff at those schools as well as depriving them of some of the best students and most-likely-to-volunteer parents.

The councilmen disclosed their dual interest before voting, so the vote was legal. And the school, not West Valley City, will be on the hook for all payments and any defaults.

But the councilmen would have performed a better - and more educational - service if they had followed the lead of Mayor Dennis Nordfelt, whose son is also on the Monticello board, and abstained.

Of course, if they had done that, there wouldn't have been enough council members left to vote.

Which suggests that Monticello Academy and West Valley City are just a little too intertwined, and that a few people should pick one body to serve on.