The timeline They knew the rule, followed it, then the disclosures stopped. Tap to openClose
They followed the rule
- June 2, 2021. Martines, on a $500 recreation-funding request: he “would like to recuse himself,” the minutes record, because a person from the requesting group works for BODEC.
- February 2, 2022. Martines, on a landfill bid: he “works for Bodec who may have bid on this project”; he “abstained.” BODEC was not among the three bids read.
- August 3, 2022. Ridge Road sewer. Martines “works for BODEC and disclosed that he waived his voting because BODEC submitted a bid.” He seconds the award to another firm. Jensen disclosed his sons at Jones & DeMille, one of whom “would have direct supervision over this project,” and “will not vote.”
They signed the rule, and wrote down their conflicts
- February 2024. Both sign sworn, notarized annual forms. Each restates the rule: an officer “must disclose his or her interest or involvement in such an entity immediately prior to any discussion in an open and public meeting.” Martines lists BODEC as such an entity; Jensen lists none, and lists his sons among disclosures the form says “are not required to be made by law.”
- May 8, 2024. Martines posts on his public Facebook page: “Big things are coming to BODEC!” We did not ask him what it referred to.
- January 27, 2025. Both check “I have the following conflict of interest to report”: Jensen, his sons at Jones & DeMille; Martines, “BODEC, Inc.”
Then, in the minutes, the disclosures stopped
- September 18, 2024. Jensen moves to ratify Jones & DeMille’s airport fire suppression assignment; Martines seconds. The minutes record no disclosure.
- February 19, 2025. Three weeks after writing that two of his sons work for the firm, Jensen explains a state road contract with Jones & DeMille and seconds its ratification. The minutes record no disclosure.
- June 2025. Bids advertised in Jensen’s name.
- July 2, 2025. Jensen explains another Jones & DeMille contract, which the commission approves. The minutes record no disclosure.
- July 10, 2025. Award notices to Rhino Pumps and ISCO Industries, in Jensen’s name.
- July 16, 2025. Martines moves $80,000 “for work done by Jones and DeMille for the Airport Fire Suppression project”; Jensen seconds. The minutes record no disclosure.
- July 23, 2025. Award notice to BODEC ($1,337,090), in Jensen’s name. No vote found on any of the three awards.
- August 2025 - June 2026. The county pays BODEC $1,232,537.82.
- October 1, 2025. Jensen explains a third Jones & DeMille contract, which the commission ratifies. No disclosure is recorded.
- December 17, 2025. Martines seconds $700,000 more for the airport fund, most of it, the minutes say, for the north taxilane, and moves the 2026 budget. The minutes record no disclosure.
- January 21, 2026. Jensen explains and seconds the ratification of another Jones & DeMille agreement. The minutes record no disclosure.
- January 2026. Martines lists BODEC as his employer and answers “N/A” to “any other matter or interest” that may be a conflict; Jensen answers “None.”
- March 18, 2026. The commission approves a list of state-funded rural business grants, chosen by a review board, that includes “Jones and DeMille Engineering $25,000”; Martines moves, Jensen seconds. The minutes record no disclosure.
- April 15, 2026. Jensen explains three proposals, one from Jones & DeMille, for flood-mitigation engineering that “are paid directly by the NRCS,” a federal agency, and says “Lincoln Irvine, Justin Needles and himself will need to review and decide.” The commission authorizes “Commissioner Jensen, Engineer Lincoln Irvine and Emergency Management Director, Justin Needles to evaluate and choose the best option for Carbon County”; Jensen seconds. The minutes record no disclosure.
In 2021 and 2022, the minutes of the Carbon County Commission record Commissioner Tony Martines citing BODEC, Inc., the company he works for, as he recused himself, abstained or waived his vote on three county decisions. In 2022 they record Commissioner Larry Jensen disclosing that two of his sons work for Jones & DeMille Engineering, and declining to vote on that firm’s contract. This example is precisely how conflicts are supposed to be handled.
In February 2024 both men signed sworn county forms that restate Utah’s disclosure rule.
On May 8, 2024, Martines posted on his public Facebook page: “Big things are coming to BODEC!” The post shared another item that is no longer available, and we did not ask him what it referred to.
In January 2025 both wrote these same ties down on a county form, checking the box “I have the following conflict of interest to report.” Jensen wrote: “I have 2 sons that work for Jones & Demille Engineering in the Vernal and Roosevelt Offices.” Martines wrote: “BODEC, Inc.”
About these two forms Where the January 2025 form came from Tap to openClose
On January 27, 2025, both men wrote the ties down again, on the form shown at the top of this article. Its instructions, under the county logo, read: “This Conflict of Interest Form should indicate whether the nominator(s) has an economic interest in, or acts as an officer or a director of, any outside entity whose financial interests would reasonably appear to be affected by the addition of the nominated condition to the newborn screening panel.” They end: “Individuals with a conflict of interest should refrain from nominating a condition for screening.” Those instructions were written for people nominating a condition for newborn screening, not for county officers. Their text closely follows wording published by the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children, on the website of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, where the committee took nominations of heritable disorders for newborn screening; its “Nominate a Condition” page, as archived in January 2009, describes the statement in nearly the same words, down to the missing space in “nominator(s)’other”. Jensen, Martines and Commissioner Jared Haddock each signed it. It is not sworn or notarized, and it does not mention Utah’s disclosure rule, or any Utah law. In a search of the county website’s files on October 28, 2026, the files posted under Jensen’s and Martines’s names were their 2024 forms; we did not find their 2025 forms there.
Carbon County “Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form,” signed by all three commissioners, Jan. 27, 2025“This Conflict of Interest Form should indicate whether the nominator(s) has an economic interest in, or acts as an officer or a director of, any outside entity whose financial interests would reasonably appear to be affected by the addition of the nominated condition to the newborn screening panel.”
Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children, “Nominate a Condition” page, HRSA website, as archived January 2009“The Conflict of Interest statement should indicate whether the nominator(s) has an economic interest in, or acts as an officer or a director of any outside entity whose financial interests would reasonably appear to be affected by the addition of the nominated condition to the newborn screening panel.”
That summer the county bid out a fire suppression system for its regional airport, designed by Jones & DeMille. BODEC won the construction contract with the lowest of nine bids. The three contracts came to $1,631,235.29, and all three notices of award were issued in the name of one commissioner: Jensen. We found no vote to award any of them in the commission’s posted agendas and minutes from June 4, 2025 through October 21, 2026, as of November 5, 2026. Nothing.
None of the commissioners, BODEC or the chief executive named on BODEC’s website had answered the questions we sent on November 4 by the deadline we set, 5 p.m. on November 6.
They knew the rule
Utah law says a county officer who is “an officer, director, agent, or employee, or owner of a substantial interest in a business entity that does or anticipates doing business with the county” must disclose it “immediately before a discussion by the body on matters relating to the business entity,” and the disclosure “shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.” That duty dates from 1983; it is now Utah Code 17-70-506.
Both men had the rule in front of them. The sworn, notarized forms they signed in February 2024 restate it: ”Please note that pursuant to U.C.A. §17-16a-7, an officer must disclose his or her interest or involvement in such an entity immediately prior to any discussion in an open and public meeting pertaining to business that the County may do with any such entity, regardless of whether a disclosure of interest or involvement in the business was made in this document.” On that form Martines listed BODEC, Inc. among businesses that “do business with or anticipate doing business with Carbon County,” with his position as sales and marketing manager. Jensen listed his two sons at Jones & DeMille, under disclosures the form says are “not required to be made by law.”
On January 27, 2025, both men wrote the ties down again, on a county form whose instructions were written for people nominating a condition for newborn screening. It is not sworn or notarized, and it does not mention Utah’s disclosure rule, or any Utah law.
They followed it
In August 2022 BODEC bid on the county’s Ridge Road sewer, and Jones & DeMille was up for an engineering contract on the same project. The minutes record that “Commissioner Martines works for BODEC and disclosed that he waived his voting because BODEC submitted a bid”; he seconded the award to another firm. They record that Jensen’s son “would have direct supervision over this project,” and that Jensen “will not vote.” It was the third time in 14 months that the minutes record Martines citing BODEC as he recused himself, abstained or waived his vote.
The county’s appointed Planning Commission puts “Conflict of Interest on Agenda Items” on its agendas: 32 of the 33 we found on the state’s public notice website, April 2023 through November 2026. Scott Bruno, whom BODEC’s website lists as its chief executive, sits on it. None of the 183 County Commission agendas we found there, January 2019 through November 2026, has such an item. The law does not require one; it requires the disclosure, immediately before the discussion.
Then, in the minutes, the disclosures stopped
The state’s rule may not reach a son’s job; Jensen’s own 2024 form lists that disclosure among those “not required to be made by law.” But in 2022, with his son set to supervise a county project, he did not vote, and in January 2025 he wrote his sons’ jobs down as a conflict. The records we hold do not show that either son worked on the airport project. We asked the commission whether he disclosed the family tie on the airport project; we did not ask about his other Jones & DeMille items.
On February 19, 2025, twenty-three days after writing that his sons work for the firm, Jensen explained a state road contract that “would allow Jones & DeMille to do the engineering work,” and seconded its ratification. The minutes record no disclosure. At the same meeting, Commissioner Jared Haddock recused himself on another item.
On July 16, 2025, the day before construction bids were due, Martines moved budget amendments adding $80,000 “for work done by Jones and DeMille for the Airport Fire Suppression project.” Jensen seconded. The item named no bidder. The posted minutes, two of whose five pages are missing from the county’s copy, record no disclosure.
The meetings we found Meetings where the minutes record no disclosure Tap to openClose
These are the meetings we found, from September 2024 through April 2026, at which the posted minutes record one of the two men moving, seconding or explaining business involving the firm he had written down, or acting on the airport project’s money. None records a disclosure by either man. The list is from the posted minutes as of November 5, 2026, and may not be complete.
- September 18, 2024. Jensen, who in 2022 would not vote on a Jones & DeMille contract his son would supervise, presented the Jones & DeMille assignment order “for fire suppression pump at the Carbon County Airport” and moved to ratify it. “Commissioner Martines seconded.” The item concerned the engineer; no bids had yet been sought. The records we hold do not show that either son worked on the airport project.
- February 19, 2025. Twenty-three days after writing that his sons work for the firm, Jensen explained a state road contract between the county, Jones & DeMille and the Utah Department of Transportation that “would allow Jones & DeMille to do the engineering work,” and seconded its ratification.
- July 2, 2025. The commission approved a Jones & DeMille contract Jensen had explained.
- July 16, 2025. The day before construction bids were due, Martines moved budget amendments adding $80,000 “for work done by Jones and DeMille for the Airport Fire Suppression project.” Jensen seconded. The item named no bidder. The posted minutes, two of whose five pages are missing from the county’s copy, record no disclosure.
- October 1, 2025. The commission ratified a Jones & DeMille contract Jensen had explained.
- December 17, 2025. Nearly four months after the county’s first payment to BODEC, Martines seconded budget amendments adding $700,000 to the airport fund, most of it, the minutes say, for the north taxilane, and moved to approve the 2026 budget. BODEC was not named.
- January 21, 2026. Jensen seconded the ratification of another Jones & DeMille agreement.
- March 4, 2026. Bids for a separate airport project, pavement maintenance, were opened; the minutes say someone “from Jones and DeMille helped with the bid opening.” Jensen moved to acknowledge the bids and authorize Martines and another reviewer “to review them and award”; Martines seconded. BODEC was not among the five bidders.
- March 18, 2026. The commission approved a list of state-funded rural business grants, chosen by a review board, that included “Jones and DeMille Engineering $25,000”; Martines moved and Jensen seconded.
- April 15, 2026. With Jones & DeMille one of three firms that had submitted proposals for engineering work on a flood-mitigation project (the engineers chosen “are paid directly by the NRCS,” a federal agency, Jensen explained), Jensen said “Lincoln Irvine, Justin Needles and himself will need to review and decide.” The commission authorized “Commissioner Jensen, Engineer Lincoln Irvine and Emergency Management Director, Justin Needles to evaluate and choose the best option for Carbon County”; Jensen seconded.
Whether the state’s rule reaches a son’s job, and whether a budget vote is a discussion “on matters relating to” a contractor, are legal questions, taken up in “What the law says it costs.” In the minutes we found, BODEC’s contract never came before a meeting at all.
The bid notices for the two packages, issued in Jensen’s name, said the bids would be “publicly opened and read” at the Commissioners Office. We found no record of either opening in the minutes or on the county’s web pages.
Construction drew nine bids. BODEC’s was the lowest, at $1,337,090, $210,750 under the engineer’s estimate, and on July 23, 2025 the county awarded it the contract by a notice in Jensen’s name. It was the largest construction or service contract we found the county awarded in 2025, and of the largest we identified that the county awarded or paid for that year, the only one with neither a bid opening nor an approval in the minutes.
In 2022, when BODEC bid on a county job, Martines said so at the meeting. This time, in the minutes we found, BODEC did not come up. We found no mention of it in the minutes from August 2022 through October 2026, and no meeting where the award came before the commission. Through June 2026 the county paid BODEC $1,232,537.82 from its airport account, and ISCO and Rhino $270,838.06 more.
One name on the paperwork. The commission often opens bids at a meeting and leaves the award to staff or a commissioner. For these three contracts the minutes we found record no bid opening, no award and no delegation. We have not seen the county’s purchasing ordinance in force in 2025, which may say who can award a contract. We asked all three commissioners, Jensen included, who approved each award; none had responded by the deadline.
In January 2026, with BODEC still being paid, Martines listed BODEC as his employer and answered “N/A” where his county form asks for “any other matter or interest that the individual believes may constitute a conflict of interest.” Jensen answered “None”; the form does not ask about children’s employment.
What the law says it costs
Utah Code 17-70-510 says that “an individual who knowingly and intentionally violates this part: (a) is guilty of a class A misdemeanor; and (b) shall be dismissed from employment or removed from office.”
The rule is triggered by a discussion at a meeting, and we found no meeting at which the BODEC award was discussed. It applies to an officer’s own position in a business, or to owning a substantial interest in one; Jensen’s 2024 form lists his sons’ jobs among disclosures it says are “not required to be made by law.” Whether a budget vote that does not name a contractor is a discussion “on matters relating to” it is a question we put to the county; it had not responded by the deadline. We are not aware of any finding by a court, prosecutor or other agency that a Carbon County commissioner violated the disclosure law. The penalty applies only where the rule reached a vote and an officer knowingly and intentionally broke it; no record we found shows that either man believed the rule applied to these votes, or intended to break it. Whether either did is for a prosecutor or a court to decide. Whether the rule reached these votes is a legal question. DIG doesn’t act as an arbiter of law. DIG gives you the records, the documents and a timeline; what the law required is for others to decide.
How the fire system was paid for is a question we are still reporting, for a separate article.
Oh, and one more disclosure
In May 2025 Martines and a co-owner sold the Price house he swore was his residence when he declared his candidacy in 2022 (deed recorded May 12). Two days later, on May 14, Washington County recorded their purchase of a lot in St. George. The deed of trust says the borrower “must occupy, establish, and use the Property as Borrower’s principal residence within 60 days,” “unless Lender otherwise agrees in writing” or “extenuating circumstances exist that are beyond Borrower’s control,” standard wording on the loan’s form.
Utah law says that if a county officer establishes a principal place of residence outside the county, “the office is automatically vacant.” That turns on where a person’s “habitation is fixed” and where they intend to return when away, shown by stated intent and acts; owning a house elsewhere does not by itself settle it, and a person who moves “for temporary purposes with the intention of returning” keeps their principal place of residence. His 2025 and 2026 county forms give BODEC’s Price address as his employer’s. No record we found shows where he lives today, or that he has established a principal residence outside Carbon County, as of November 2026. We asked him where his principal residence is; we did not ask about the loan. He had not responded by the deadline.
This story is about county officers, not the people who work at BODEC and Jones & DeMille. They are doing their jobs, and DIG does not go after workers; no one at either company should lose a job over what is reported here. The questions in this story are for the commissioners.
About our searches. “The minutes” means the County Commission’s agendas and minutes posted on the Utah Public Notice Website. For BODEC’s name we searched meetings from August 17, 2022 through October 7, 2026, on October 28, 2026; for the bid openings, awards and delegations, meetings from June 4, 2025 through October 21, 2026, as of November 5, 2026, together with the county’s web pages; the posted minutes of July 16, 2025 are missing two of five pages. Payments are from the state’s Transparent Utah site as of October 31, 2026, and the 2025 contract comparison from the minutes and those records as of November 7, 2026.
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Every fact in this story is cited, with links to the records, in the long version.