Greg Hughes promises openness as UTA's trustees chairman

SALT LAKE CITY — With the promise of granting media and the public more access to Utah Transit Authority meetings in the future, Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, was elected chairman of the UTA board of trustees, despite protests.

Trustees received a petition with nearly 300 names of people in protest of Hughes' potential conflicts of interest relating to his service in the Legislature, apartments he owns near the 900 South TRAX station and his refraining from voting on a controversial future FrontRunner station in Draper.

"I believe this board is being run by a select few people," Draper resident Dean Wangsgard said. "I believe the select few that is running this board is doing it with other motives in mind. I do not believe there should be any conflicts of interest."

Wangsgard was one of 12 people who addressed the UTA board Wednesday, talking almost an hour in protest or support of the state legislator.

Hughes' supporters came in full force and included politicians from the Democratic Party and fellow Republicans. They described Hughes as passionate and accessible.

"We're losing a good friend in Sen. Bennett in Washington," said Joe Hatch, a Salt Lake County Council Democrat and attorney for the union of bus and train drivers being sued by UTA management over contract negotiations. Hatch was referring to Sen. Bob Bennett, who was credited with bringing money to Utah public transit but was defeated in the recent GOP convention.

"That won't be replaced," Hatch said. "We need somebody to speak to our legislative delegation in Washington. I think Greg has those kinds of talents."

Hughes has denied having conflicts of interest that would skew his judgment as trustee chairman. Some of the alleged conflicts, such as the property near the 900 South station, are non-issues, he says, because UTA is done building the station, he's done building the apartments and he rarely hears from UTA about the property.

Public outrage with UTA centers around the future Draper station, the location of which has been moved from property containing a 3,000-year-old Native American village. Hughes said he abstained from voting because it was such a hot-button issue. When UTA was considering the property, another trustee, Terry Diehl, was involved in a mixed-use development in the area. Diehl declared a conflict and refrained from voting, but environmentalists and Draper residents have questioned whether he had access to UTA information about the station that others would not have had.