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SALT LAKE CITY — Two more Utah Transit Authority board members associated with a controversial trade mission to Switzerland are expected to step down in the coming days.
But Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said Thursday he doesn't believe the resignations have anything to do with the September trip he put together for legislative leaders and lobbyists.
"I think the timing is unfortunate, but I don't think that they're related," Hughes said on KSL Newsradio's "The Doug Wright Show."
The UTA board announced Vice Chairman Chris Bleak's resignation after a closed-door meeting Wednesday and said two others would soon resign, but did not identify them.
Bleak and board member Sheldon Killpack went to Switzerland without informing UTA, and they were not traveling in the capacity as board members. UTA did not pay for their travel.
In a resignation letter, Bleak said he told the board last week he intended for the Nov. 18 meeting to be his last because a new client project at work would make it difficult for him to serve. He said it would be "too unwieldy" to have to recuse himself from certain decisions, hurting his ability to represent Utah County, the area from which he was appointed.
Bleak said it was unfortunate his resignation coincided with media scrutiny of the Switzerland trip, and he apologized for "creating this issue and distraction."
Another UTA board member, Justin Allen, is president of the transportation-oriented Utah 2040 PAC, which largely funded the trip, though he did not go to Switzerland. Bleak is vice president of the organization. Killpack paid his own way, Hughes said.
The PAC has raised $95,000 since it was founded in 2014 with donations from rail and highway contractors, some of which have done work for UTA. It has contributed to the election campaigns of at least 56 state legislators. It also gave $10,000 for Proposition 1, the local sales tax increase that some counties approved earlier this month for transportation improvements.
Allen, Bleak and Killpack did not attend Wednesday's UTA board meeting.
UTA general counsel Jayme Blakesley announced after the meeting that the agency intended to conduct an investigation into the trip. He said neither UTA management nor the board authorized Bleak and Killpack to negotiate on their behalf or act as their agents.
State legislative leaders, lobbyists, including two who had represented UTA, and the two board members met with Swiss railcar manufacturer Stadler Rail Group, which was bidding to lease space in UTA's FrontRunner maintenance facility. Stadler is also considering Utah for its North American headquarters.
Hughes said that if anything about UTA came up, the two board members "immediately recused themselves."
"There was an overabundance of caution that was taken on this trip without even knowing ahead of time that there would be stories and comment publicly about it," he said. "Everything was absolutely appropriate."
Apparently to make sure of that, the Governor's Office of Economic Development sent deputy director Kimberly Henrie on the trip at the last minute. GOED Executive Director Val Hale said earlier this week he wanted to make sure any commitments made for or by the state were legitimate and in accordance with Utah law.
1 UTA board member resigns after Switzerland trip, 2 others to follow
A Utah Transit Authority board member who took an undisclosed trip to Switzerland with state lawmakers and lobbyists in September stepped down Wednesday.Lobbyist Jeff Hartley said the contingent invited GOED as an "afterthought" because it was in negotiations with Stadler Rail and believed that might be beneficial to have a representative there.
"They didn't insert themselves to provide parental supervision," Hartley said. "They'd never gone on one of the trips with legislators before."
Hughes said the Swiss Parliament invited lawmakers over and they talked about funding and operating mountain railway systems, which he believes Utah could someday build to enhance the visitor experience.
"I know that there's a negative narrative going on right now, but I'm nothing but proud of the efforts that have gone on and that we're working hard as policymakers to make sure we're making the state better," the speaker said.
In announcing the resignations and UTA's investigation at Wednesday's board meeting, Blakesley also said the agency canceled all of its contracts with state lobbyists, seemingly connecting all of those things to the Switzerland trip.
But Hartley, who has lobbied for UTA, said the lobbyists and UTA mutually agreed to sever ties about a week ago. He said none of them had written contracts, and the transit authority wants to put them up for bid. UTA, he said, never expressed to him concern about the trip.
"The transit authority could be more clear as to why things are happening and what things are and aren't tied to their frustration over the board members' actions," Hartley said.
UTA spokesman Remi Barron said Blakesley was simply telling the board that there was no need to address any concerns about lobbyists who went to Switzerland. UTA is determining how to handle state lobbying because its government relations manager recently retired, he said.
"With that said, neither one of the two lobbyists who went on the trip was representing UTA, and we were unaware they were going," Barron said.
Hartley, who organized the Switzerland itinerary, said UTA management and staff purposefully weren't told about the trip.
"The goal was to leave them out of it to take away the thrash that follows if UTA's involved, and we got the thrash anyway," he said.
