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SALT LAKE CITY — Two Utah Transit Authority board members anticipated to resign amid controversy over a trip to Switzerland will stay on for now.
Justin Allen said Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, asked him serve until his term expires next August while he searches for a replacement. Niederhauser is among elected officials who appoint members to the board.
"I am still concerned about my availability to attend the various UTA meetings required of a board member, so I will be seeking to remove myself from a couple of UTA subcommittee and external transportation committee assignments for the remainder of my term," Allen said in an email.
Allen, the Salt Lake Board of Realtors government relations director, was not among state legislative leaders, lobbyists and UTA board members who traveled to Switzerland in September to meet with Stadler Rail, a company looking to expand in Utah.
However, the political action committee that Allen heads, the Utah 2040 PAC, helped pay for the trip.
UTA board members Chris Bleak, a co-director of the Utah 2040 PAC, and Sheldon Killpack went on the trip without telling the board and have said they weren't traveling on behalf of the agency. Killpack paid his own way.
The trip prompted UTA to abruptly cancel competitive bids to lease space at its FrontRunner maintenance facility because Stadler Rail was one of the bidders. The process was later reopened.
Bleak, who served as board vice chairman, resigned Nov. 18, two days after the trip became public through an open records request to the state. In a letter to the board, he said he submitted his resignation the week before due to a new client project at work that would make it difficult for him to serve.
Utah House speaker says UTA resignations not related to Switzerland trip
Two more Utah Transit Authority board members associated with a controversial trade mission to Switzerland are expected to step down in the coming days. (Photo: Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)On the same day Bleak stepped down, UTA announced that two other board members would resign but did not identify them. The transit authority also said at that time that it would conduct its own investigation into the Switzerland trip.
House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said the anticipated resignations were unrelated to the trip. He appointed Killpack, a former state senator who lives in Davis County, to the board in April.
Hughes said he started thinking about replacing Killpack after the ballot proposition to raise sales tax for transportation projects failed in Salt Lake County last month.
"When that happened, I thought a different perspective might be needed on the board," he said. "I'm not looking to make that switch right now because I don't want that decision to be confused with the trip to Switzerland or anything related to that."
Hughes, a former UTA board chairman, said he wants the new board member to be closer to UTA's rail service, perhaps someone who uses the trains or works in downtown Salt Lake City.
The 16-member board is made up of people appointed by a several elected officials, including the governor, Senate president and House speaker, and local governments and the Utah Transportation Commission.
