Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The top board governing the Utah Transit Authority is rewriting — and it insists clarifying — its own ethics policies.
The move comes on the heels of an ongoing probe by the Utah Attorney General's Office into whether former UTA board member Terry Diehl, who was involved in a multimillion-dollar land deal at a UTA transit stop, misused official information and broke the law.
But the agency's spokesman said the changes are being made so UTA policy complies with recent changes in state law.
"That's really why the changes are being done -- to make UTA board members accountable to the same ethics requirements as all other public employees and officials," said Gerry Carpenter, UTA's spokesman.
New rules would ban a board member or relative from having a financial interest in "transit-oriented developments" if UTA were a partner. They would require disclosure if a board member renders services to companies involved with UTA. They would also require a board member to disclose and abstain from voting if they own more than 10 percent of stock or interest in a company doing business with UTA. Current policy requires disclosure of a "more than 5 percent" interest.
For months, UTA's critics have blasted the agency for ignoring conflicts of interest. Supporting documents to a state audit stated Diehl made "in the millions and less than $24 million," on a land deal next to a commuter rail stop in Draper. Diehl has insisted he made little money on the deal and did nothing wrong.
It is not clear if the new rules would have forced Diehl to depart the board, as UTA was not a partner in the Draper project.
But Deb Wangsgard, of watchdog group FixUTA, said public officials should be held to a higher standard.
"It's too little, too late, and it's just window dressing," Wangsgard said. "It's not enough to just disclose. You've got to be able to say 'I'm not going to participate in those sorts of things.'"
"We disagree," said Carpenter. "Ultimately, what it comes down to is, should everybody be held accountable to the same standard? We believe so."
David Irvine, a former Republican lawmaker and attorney with Utahns for Ethical Government, said the new rules "suggest that conflicts are OK as long as they are disclosed.
"It begs the question of why any public agency would be seeking board members with conflicts of interest to begin with, but it also amounts to no meaningful brake on conflicts whatsoever."
UTA's full board is expected to vote on the new rules next week.
Email:jdaley@ksl.com
