Many ex-members ousted by Jeffs have started moving back into the towns. They're helping Wisan serve tax notices, get the properties together and bring economic development into Hildale and Colorado City.

"The only way we're going to get our lives back is to shut him down," Michael Chatwin said of Jeffs.

Wisan ends his whirlwind tour at the building that housed Western Precision. Linked to the FLDS Church, the manufacturing business recently left Hildale and moved to the Las Vegas area. Many FLDS members have followed.

Wisan is working to resolve issues over what in the company belongs to the UEP. During his visit Thursday, he met with some potential buyers of the property.

"They're talking about 100-200 jobs. People moving in, houses needing to be built," he said.

The future UEP

In a way, Wisan said running the UEP is similar to running a business.

"You've got property issues to deal with, taxes to deal with, revenue to generate, expenses to pay. You've got a myriad of personnel issues to deal with," he said. "I have a lot of customers, I guess, beneficiaries of the trust."

After more than a year, resistance to the fiduciary may be wearing down. Wisan said he is getting some "professional cooperation" from a few FLDS members.

"They're doing their duty and they're not bending over backwards to help me, but they are communicating and getting things done," he said.

A few times, Wisan has had to get his lawyers involved, particularly to grill Hildale and Colorado City town marshals about their loyalties to Jeffs and missing property belonging to the UEP.

The UEP will start its transition with a judge's signature. Wisan hopes to step aside in the next six months or so and let a new board of trustees take over.

In the proposed reform plan, community property would ultimately be subdivided and privatized. A number of "spendthrift" trusts would be created, placing assets and property in the control of a trustee until the recipients are deemed able to control it themselves.

Lawyers for the fiduciary said religious beliefs have been "carved out" of the UEP.

"I'm hoping that the community will begin to heal," said Carolyn Jessop, an ex-FLDS member who is on the revised UEP's board of advisers. "It was just a fraudulent system. It was creating a lot of economic hardship for the community."

However, Judge Denise P. Lindberg said she is troubled that any attempts to reach the estimated 10,000 FLDS faithful who will be affected by the changes have been met with silence.

"I just wish there was some way to reach that community," Lindberg said at a court hearing on the reformation earlier this month.

Wisan told the Deseret Morning News he expects Jeffs will continue to exert some influence over the communities.

"I've always heard that the mob was able to run their organization from behind bars," he said. "Warren has an organization and is very good at control, and I figure he'll manage to continue that."

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com