Confidentiality sometimes tricky on IAF matters

Sometimes when a company gets Industrial Assistance Fund approval, its identity remains a secret.

Some companies request and receive confidentiality as they move through the IAF process, with their names revealed months, if not years, later. Typically, they request confidentiality for business reasons, which is covered by the state Government Records Access and Management Act.

"It's sort of a delicate process," said Mark Renda, who is in charge of the state's incentive funds. "If a company makes an application to a state board, they make applications in confidence because it's their business plan they're sharing with us. Normally in state government we do everything in the open, so there's this sort of inherent contradiction between a public process and the needs of businesses for it to be confidential."

IAF Committee meetings are held behind closed doors, but committee-approved matters come before the entire Board of Business and Economic Development, a group of business people from throughout the state. Board meetings are public, although sometimes, because of confidentiality agreements, approvals may be made to an unidentified "paper products company and shelving manufacturer" or "manufacturer and distributor of dietary supplements" or "health-foods company."

"It's really an awkward thing for us," said David Harmer, executive director of the state Department of Community and Economic Development. "You have this public meeting requirement where the transactions must be done in public, but we have the confidentiality agreements with the companies that we won't let this become public. They get very angry at us if we cause that to become public before they're ready for it to become public."

Why companies request that their names be hush-hush varies. Sometimes the companies seek out and weigh incentives from several states before deciding where to place new operations, or they may be planning consolidations that will lead to layoffs in one state and additional hiring in another, but they don't want that made public until they decide on the matter and inform their affected employees.

Harmer said privately owned companies often do not want other states or others they are negotiating with to know they're in discussions with Utah, and Renda said companies also can use confidentiality to deflect inquiries from possible vendors wanting to do business with the company should it land in the Beehive State.

Sometimes, armed with sketchy information, news media or others can determine or make a good guess about the company's identity. So far, Harmer said, that has not caused the state to lose any IAF job-creation project, but the potential exists.

"The other problem is we run the risk of being sued if we cause them some damages because we were unable to keep it confidential," Harmer said. "There is some exposure to us."

GRAMA requires that companies requesting confidentiality state reasons for its necessity. The government makes a determination based on whether the interests favoring access outweigh the interests favoring restriction of access.

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com