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SALT LAKE CITY — City leaders are once again raising concerns over what they call the Utah Inland Port Authority board’s “lack of transparency.”
Last week, the port board voted to keep its subcommittee meetings closed to the public despite the opposition board members received from community members and government leaders when the closed meetings were first brought to light.
On Tuesday night, the Deseret News reports that Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and her staff shared similar concerns with city council members. She cited a letter written by her economic development director and port authority board member, Lara Fritts, that was sent to Derek Miller, the port board’s chairman, earlier in the day.
The letter, the paper reports, raises “concerns about the board's recent vote to negotiate a tax deal with Stadler Rail.” Fritts claims the "discussion and decision-making” regarding that vote “was not carried out in accordance with the Utah and Public Meetings Act.”
"My concern, and that shared by the public, is that the inland port board is and will continue to conduct the vast majority of business behind closed doors,” Biskupski told council members, “and then only provide the public a cursory input prior to coming together as a board to vote, which is what we are witnessing.”
Miller told the Deseret News Tuesday evening that port board leaders "are looking at the letter” and "if Lara is correct and this action was taken out of order, the board can easily remedy that at the next public meeting.”
