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A former Utah Transit Authority official lost most of his case Thursday before the State Records Committee seeking documents that he says would show he was fired for warning the agency that it was violating federal safety rules.

J. Michael Clara — a former UTA transit planner, who is also a Salt Lake City School Board member known for sparring with his colleagues — said afterward that he hopes to appeal the rulings to district court, if he can find a way to afford it.

Clara, now unemployed, argued that he could not afford a $300 fee that UTA imposed for some of the documents sought. He sought a fee waiver as allowed by state law for those too poor to pay. UTA had denied the waiver, and the records committee sustained that action.

Besides a possible court appeal, Clara said he is talking to a potential donor who may help him cover the fees for the documents.

Also at Clara's request, the records committee reviewed in private more than 100 documents to determine whether the agency had properly classified them as protected from release.

It ruled that the vast majority were properly classified for such reasons as attorney-client privilege between UTA and its lawyers. But it ordered a handful released, saying some included emails about Clara's open-records request itself, and that some had forwarded news articles for review by various UTA officials.

The committee also ordered UTA to release a log that lists the documents that were withheld and a general description of them.

Clara was a transit planner for 20 years for UTA, but he was fired in October. He was terminated, UTA says, for job abandonment after failing to return on time from a two-week vacation. Clara said he worked the first week of that planned vacation, so he extended it a week after clearing plans with his boss.

He contends, in filings with the commission, that the real reason he was fired was because "I would not authorize the installation of unsafe and illegal bus shelters" that did not comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

UTA was upset, he said, because it believed "these illegal shelters were essential to UTA's ability to see a favorable outcome in the Proposition 1 bond election" to raise sales tax for transportation and transit.

The agency overrode his objections, he said, and pointed to some of the shelters as examples of amenities UTA would add if the tax hike passed. Prop 1 failed in Salt Lake, Utah and Box Elder counties — but it passed in Davis, Weber and Tooele counties.

In earlier responses to Clara's allegations, UTA said it works with municipalities and regulatory agencies to ensure that bus stops and shelters are in compliance with all safety regulations.

Clara is known for spats with his colleagues on the Salt Lake City School Board — including suing them for possible violations of open-meetings law. He even dressed as the "Frito Bandito" to protest board moves he said hurt minorities, including assigning a police officer to watch him in meetings.