Utah Transportation Commission chief Glen Brown, who led the state through the Interstate 15 overhaul and the creation of the Centennial Highway Fund, has been ordered to step down as chairman of the powerful board that holds the state's road-building purse strings.

Brown was driving to his grandchildren's graduation party Monday evening when he got a call on his cell phone informing him that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. would replace him with former state legislator Stuart Adams, a Layton real estate agent Huntsman appointed to the commission last month.

The news shocked Brown. "I got a phone call out of the blue from [Utah Department of Transportation executive director] John Njord. He said, 'The governor is changing the chairman of the transportation commission,' to Stuart Adams," Brown said. "[Adams] has been to one meeting."

On Tuesday, Brown, a former House speaker who served 15 years in the Legislature, skipped the first day of a two-day commission meeting in Brigham City. He told The Salt Lake Tribune he wouldn't attend today's session, whose heavy agenda includes discussion of how to spend the $1 billion in transportation bonding approved during the 2007 Legislature and a possible decision on the Mountain View Corridor's preferred route through Utah County.

Brown, whom Gov. Mike Leavitt appointed to head the commission in 1994, said he has a bit more than a year left on his current commission term but is unsure he will finish it.

"The handwriting is on the wall what they would like me to do," Brown said.

Rumors that Brown's chairmanship could be in trouble emerged in February during discussions about what became HB314, co-sponsored by Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, and Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse.

The bill, which set up a Critical Highway Needs Fund, allowed for $1 billion in construction bonding through annual $90 million appropriations from general fund sales tax revenues.

It was the biggest transportation cash infusion in 10 years. It also provided an alternative to the current top project - the $3.1 billion reconstruction of I-15 through Utah County. While that project will remain at the head of the list, it's not likely to be ready to go for at least four years and would suck up all available funding. In the meantime, the commission will rank and fund other "critical need" roads around the state.

HB314 emerged during the final days of the session and was substituted twice after it was introduced. Discussed for but a few minutes before passing the House, the bill saw 16 minutes of Senate debate amid joking and suspensions of every rule governing proper reading and public notice of proposed legislation.

Several sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, said Republican leaders vetted the proposal in the governor's office in February. During the discussions, the sources said, certain road projects were picked out according to certain lawmakers' wishes and UDOT was told to put them on the priority list.

The sources said Brown didn't like the way lawmakers were pressuring UDOT and that he would be willing to walk away from his commission post over it.

Tuesday, Brown declined to comment specifically about the meeting, saying only that he wanted to do what was best for the commission and the state. "I try to do my best to keep things open," he said. "I think we're off course."

Brown also said the commission was being pressured to move faster on spending decisions than he would like.

But Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said his impression was that Brown was the one pushing to make bonding decisions quickly - something Valentine said lawmakers learned wasn't good practice from the $3.35 billion Centennial Highway Fund experience.

Brown helped the Legislature craft the 1997 Centennial Highway Fund legislation that allowed lawmakers and local officials to create a list of projects at the beginning of the fund's 11-year life. During those years, however, the state's fortunes and road needs changed.

"If you make a decision in 1995, your priorities might change in 2005," said Valentine, who welcomed Brown's support for a slower process for the $1 billion. Valentine also said he knew of no extraordinary contention during the 2007 session but didn't have a problem with arguments over transportation priorities.

"There's always head butting over bills that have controversy," he said.

Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower said the announcement about Brown was to be made public today, when the governor planned to release a list of changes to all the state's boards and commissions.

Brown's replacement "is just one of many," Mower said, adding, "Gov. Huntsman is very appreciative of the long service Glen Brown has given for Utah motorists, as a legislator and a member of the Transportation Commis- sion."

Huntsman already has shaken up the Board of Pardons and the Public Service Commission and replaced two Transportation Commission members. Valentine said his understanding was that the governor wants to replace people by the time they have served two terms.

Adams, who served twp terms in the Legislature before deciding not to run again for the seat that Rep. Kevin Garn, R-Layton, now holds, did not return a telephone message seeking comment about his appointment.

Killpack said Adams is "well-known and respected as a level-headed individual." The two Davis County lawmakers worked to get legislative approval for a court settlement that allowed construction of the Legacy Parkway to proceed.

Adams had long supported the Legacy Highway and fiercely opposed efforts to halt construction despite lawsuits claiming federal malfeasance in granting permits to build in wetlands. In 2003, Adams, a former Layton City Councilman, held in limbo more than $2 million in state sales taxes owed to Salt Lake City until Mayor Rocky Anderson agreed to abandon his lawsuit that sought to stop the highway.

Even so, Sierra Club spokesman Marc Heileson, whose organization and others successfully invoked federal Clean Water Act provisions to stop Legacy, praised Adams for his commitment to public transit.

phenetz@sltrib.com

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* JUDY FAHYS contributed to this report.

On Gov. Huntsman's request:

The handwriting is on the wall what they would like me to do.

- Transportation Commission Chairman Glen Brown,

who is being asked to step down from his post