SALT LAKE CITY
The president of the Utah College of Applied Technology has resigned, a month after a critical state audit, the state System of Higher Education said Thursday.
The audit said Robert Brems was given an unreasonable compensation package and that one of the schools that reports to him illegally used public financing to build a float for political purposes.
The audit said Brems received a questionable $157,782 pay package when he left Mountainland Applied Technology College in May 2006 to take the job as head of UCAT.
Brems said the audit has disrupted operations at UCAT and that his resignation is in the school’s best interest.
The audit said that the chairman of Mountainland Applied Technology College approved the transition package for Brems because he was being penalized financially for accepting the job as UCAT’s president and giving up an opportunity to receive an early retirement benefit in the future.
The August audit disputed that statement, saying Brems made more money as UCAT’s president than he did at MTAC and that Brems wouldn’t have qualified for early retirement.
