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SALT LAKE CITY -- On Utah's Capitol Hill Tuesday, top lawmakers ordered a new audit for the Utah Transit Authority. The state's legislative auditor general will specifically examine questions about conflicts of interest involving the agency's board.
Monday night, KSL News reported about high executive pay at UTA -- pay which is approved by UTA's Board of Trustees. Rep. Janice Fisher, a Democrat from West Valley City, requested the audit.
Fisher is concerned, for example, about the relationship between a UTA board member, who is a private developer, and a land project involving a UTA FrontRunner stop in Draper.
"Mainly, the conflict of some of the board members concerning different projects that are active at UTA. It's ongoing," Fisher says.
The committee convened late Tuesday afternoon. After hearing from Fisher, it agreed to have the auditor general examine those documents, then come back with a recommendation on whether or not a further look is needed.
"The public has a right to know whether the conflicts of interest that board members have declared has affected the decisions the agency has made," says Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council.
Government watchdog Claire Geddes says, "I'd like to know who is involved. I'd like to know what kind of financial interest different people have."
UTA says they welcome the scrutiny.
Apparently we're paying these people cause they're brilliant geniuses and now we need to scrutinize all this brilliant work they're doing and see if it's really up to what we're paying them. I suspect not.
–Claire Geddes
"Casting aspersions is an easy thing to do, and if we're given the opportunity to respond to that, we think it can be done successfully and to bring a conclusion to false accusations. So, we would appreciate that opportunity," says Bruce Jones, UTA General Counsel.
"We have a very aggressive conflict of interest policy. We believe, from UTA's standpoint, that all of our board members have complied with the policy and the process, and we welcome the opportunity to clear things up," says UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter.
Effective May 11, Carpenter says the agency has adopted an even more aggressive conflict of interest policy, which requires any board member who may have a conflict of interest to step down from the board.
The previous policy required disclosure and recusal from votes on the matter. Now, no conflict of interest by a board member regarding a transit-oriented development is allowed.
Watchdogs question whether the declared conflicts had anything to do with the selection of that stop.
"Apparently we're paying these people cause they're brilliant geniuses and now we need to scrutinize all this brilliant work they're doing and see if it's really up to what we're paying them," says government watchdog Claire Geddes. "I suspect not."
UTA currently has 19 board members. After an audit of UTA in 2008, which criticized the agency over generous executive compensation and bonuses, the Legislature added three new board positions. Those posts are currently held by Terry Diehl (House of Representatives), Chris Bleak (Governor) and Justin Allen (Senate).
Other board members include board chair Larry Ellertson (municipalities in Utah County), vice-chair Orrin Colby (municipalities in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties), Draper Rep. Greg Hughes (municipalities in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties), Michelle Facer Baguley (municipalities in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties), Dama Barbour (municipalities in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties), Keith Bartholomew (Salt Lake City), Burtis Bills (municipalities in Utah County), Necie Christensen (municipalities in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties), Steve Curtis (municipalities in Davis County), Charles Henderson (unincorporated Salt Lake County), Meghan Holbrook (Utah Transportation Commission), Robert A. Hunter (municipalities in Weber and Box Elder Counties), P. Bret Millburn (municipalities in Davis County), Frederick W. Oates (municipalities in Weber and Box Elder Counties), Michael E. Romero (municipalities in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties) and Ben Southworth (municipalities in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties).
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Story compiled with contributions from John Daley and Marc Giauque.
