The panel - made up of prosecutors from four neighboring county attorney offices, two of which are headed by Republicans and two by Democrats - has no deadline to make a decision. It apparently has met four times to discuss the case.

Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson, a Republican and panel spokesman, had said on Wednesday that there would not be an announcement Thursday.

Salt Lake District Attorney David Yocom, a Democrat, launched an investigation into Republican Workman's hiring practices after he says a whistle-blower complained that the mayor was using taxpayer money to fund a position at the nonprofit South Valley Boys and Girls Club in Murray.

The two successive employees in the $10-an-hour job were paid out of Salt Lake Valley Health Department administration funds, but did accounting work for the club, where Workman's daughter, Aisza Wilde, is the chief financial officer.

Workman says it was a paperwork mistake, not a criminal one, and that she was just trying to "help the kids" at the club.

Yocom passed the investigation and decision about possible charges to the ad-hoc, bipartisan panel after Workman and fellow Republicans alleged that he was politically motivated in launching the probe.

- Thomas Burr