Club Executive Director Bob Dunn said Wilde, who was the chief financial officer and development director, will be doing other, yet-to-be-determined duties for the Murray-based operation.

"We couldn't have her in that position," Dunn said. "I wanted the focus to be on the club, and things were more focused on her."

Workman, who is on paid leave and facing two felony charges, stands accused of skirting the law by tapping Health Department money to hire two successive bookkeepers for the club after Wilde approached her about funding problems. Workman admits to a paperwork mistake but says she is innocent of criminal wrongdoing.

Dunn called Wilde an excellent employee but said it was difficult to have her fund-raising for the club with the scandal hanging overhead.

"I was trying to take her out of the spotlight," Dunn said. "It was best for her and the club."

Club fund-raising has slipped this year, with grants expiring and donations dwindling, but Dunn said he is not sure how much of that is related to the county scandal. He blames the decline primarily on donors giving to election-year political campaigns instead. Dunn also notes that donations are down nationwide.

Wilde could not be reached Thursday for comment.

She testified this week that when a club accountant asked for a pay raise, she asked her "mommy for advice" and Workman offered to "loan" an employee to the club. Prosecutors allege that Workman misled her staff about the position and misused restricted health money to provide her daughter with assistance.

Workman's attorneys counter that the mayor's staffers never brought complaints about the position to her and that it was her chief administrative officer, David Marshall, who decided to pay the position's salary out of the Health Department.

tburr@sltrib.com