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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Transit Authority trustees picked up the pace Tuesday on changing the agency's name to Transit District of Utah, mandated by a new law that takes effect next week.
"I think we need to move forward on this," UTA Board Chairman Greg Bell told executive committee members, warning that one of the lawmakers behind the legislation, Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, was upset with their lack of progress.
"Rep. Schultz was extremely critical. He felt like we were slow-walking it, felt like we were making it too big a deal," Bell said. "It's easy to say, 'Well, just use your stationery up.' But you just don't do that in a company our size."
Instead, he said, a long-term rebranding effort will require professional advice.
Trustees agreed the full board will consider whether to seek bids for "an independent consultant with expertise in branding and corporate identity" at their next meeting on May 23.
UTA staff reported they are also conducting an inventory of where the UTA name and logo appear and have secured various domains for future websites, such as ridetdu.com, as well as usernames on social media, to reflect the switch.
The discussion started when trustee Bret Millburn, a Davis County commissioner, said he was "not trying to be dismissive" but questioned why so much attention was being placed on the name change.
Bell had told KSL in late March that the name change should be handled by the new management team that will take over UTA later this year as part of the sweeping legislation passed by the 2018 Legislature.
"We're going to put off as much as possible because there's clearly not a consensus in the community about how to go forward on that," Bell said then, comments that drew criticism from Schultz at the time.
Schultz said Tuesday he was not critical of how the name change is being handled.
"I am only critical when UTA tells me one thing and then they do another or tell people something else," he said. "The bill gives UTA lots of flexibility in how they implement the name change."
Schultz, who has suggested UTA sell naming rights to its TRAX and FrontRunner trains, said he hopes the change is done "in a way that does not waste money and that they use this as an opportunity to find new ways to generate revenue."
The new name has sparked considerable controversy, with UTA estimating it would cost $50 million to make the change and lawmakers insisting it could be done over time as existing resources allow.
Even Gov. Gary Herbert weighed in, saying he wanted to "push the pause button" on the name change because he could see "no compelling reason" for abandoning the UTA name.
In addition to the name change, the new legislation that takes effect May 8 also replaces the transit agency's board and top bosses with a three-member management team appointed by the governor before Nov. 1.
Lawmakers said they want a fresh start for the transit agency, which has been the subject of past legislative audits pointing out problems including oversized benefit packages.
Last year, UTA signed a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office, agreeing to cooperate in an ongoing federal investigation into transit development deals and to submit to up to three years of federal oversight.
Until the new management team is in place, Bell said after the meeting that the current board of trustees will fill their roles. Decisions made by the board's executive committee Tuesday will have to be approved by the full board.
That includes promoting Steve Meyer to UTA executive director, replacing Jerry Benson, the president and CEO terminated in mid-April after trustees determined the position he held will no longer exist when the new law takes effect.
Lawmakers have taken issue with that interpretation and the nine months of severance pay, estimated to be more than $205,500, that Benson is receiving under the terms of his contract because he was let go without cause.
Meyer, recently named UTA's acting vice president for operations, capital and assets, who is set to retire early next year, will serve as executive director of UTA, earning $191,189, a 5 percent increase over his current salary.
He joined the transit agency in 2002 as the manager of engineering and construction for the FrontRunner commuter rail system.
Also Tuesday, Gina Chamness, a trustee representing municipalities in Salt Lake County and Granstville in Tooele County, was appointed to serve as the board's vice chairwoman. She replaces Sherrie Hall Everett, who resigned from the board.
