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Salt Lake County Councilman Richard Snelgrove is reviving his proposal to block the pass-through of $150 million in sales-tax revenue to the Utah Transit Authority to prod its board to be more transparent.

Snelgrove's renewed interest follows a Salt Lake Tribune report that the UTA board creatively circumvented its vow to keep all its committee meetings open to the public, a promise made amid pressure from Snelgrove and others.

"We need to discuss this as a council to see what formal action we need to take in protecting the public interest and making sure that $150 million of Salt Lake County taxpayers' money is spent with openness, transparency and the utmost care," he said Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the UTA board decided to close all its committee meetings to the public and post no agendas. It argued that no votes would be taken there, so open meetings laws did not require them to be open.

The move caused a backlash from some elected leaders and others who said such meetings are where policy is usually hashed out in detail and vital to public information and participation.

Critics included Gov. Gary Herbert and State Auditor John Dougall. Snelgrove also proposed blocking distribution of the $150 million in sales tax that his county collects annually for UTA.

Amid pressure, the UTA Board reversed course and vowed in May to open all meetings to the public. That prompted Snelgrove to withdraw his proposal.

But on Monday, UTA Board member Charles Henderson made a remark indicating that members of the Planning and Development Committee he has led held a meeting last week, without public notice, to discuss goals for the agency.

Henderson later said that UTA has disbanded its committees. Because of that change, he said members of his former committee holding a conference call together did not violate the board's commitment to open its meetings to the public.

UTA Board Chairman H. David Burton later said the committees have been "held in abeyance" as the board discusses how to restructure them. He said, meanwhile, some members have met informally to discuss the restructuring, goals and the UTA budget, but says that did not violate open-meeting laws.

The UTA had not announced that the committees had been disbanded or put into abeyance. And when asked if committees originally scheduled for last week would meet, UTA simply said no, even though members of Henderson's former committee did.

"This is no way to conduct the public's business with an entity that touches so many lives and has such a large budget," Snelgrove said. "UTA needs to err on the side of transparency. What came out in this news report was just the opposite."

He added, "My initial reaction was, 'Wait a minute. Was that [earlier vow] just lip service and more of the same?' It's troubling what has now been revealed."

With that, Snelgrove said he will again push his proposal to block distribution of sales tax to UTA until the agency shows some true reform.

"I was cautiously optimistic that UTA had reached a new level of openness and transparency," he said. "Now with these most recent revelations, it damaged their credibility. It hasn't done anything to instill additional confidence. We need to get to that point."

Snelgrove said he hopes to place a discussion on the agenda of the County Council within the next two weeks.

Catherine Kanter, the Democrat running against Snelgrove, said while she agrees that UTA needs to change how it does business — including what she called its "blunders and secrecy" — she said Snelgrove's proposal might end up punishing UTA customers instead of its leaders.

"By withholding funds, we could be penalizing residents who rely upon that transportation for their everyday lives," she said. "Whatever consequences UTA should face should be internal consequences to its board and management. It shouldn't necessarily end up punishing UTA's customers."

In reaction to Snelgrove's plans, UTA spokesman Remi Barron issued a written statement on Tuesday.

"As the board clarified yesterday, no committee meeting was held," Barron wrote.

He said Burton directed Henderson "to work with staff on goals, and there was an informal telephone call last Thursday that included other board members to prepare for yesterday's Executive Committee meeting.

"As Chair[man] Burton indicated, the board has taken several steps to increase transparency and public comment at its meetings," Barron said. "The board is still evaluating its meeting structure going forward and has committed that all meetings will be open to the public."

Burton said in a written statement Monday that the UTA hopes to finalize how to restructure its committees and how they will operate after it elects new board officers later this month. Robert McKinley, a UTA vice chairman and an attorney at the firm of Kirton & McConkie, has been nominated as the replacement for Burton, who is stepping down to focus on his separate chairmanship of the University of Utah Board of Trustees.

"We look forward to sharing more about our meeting restructuring with the public as soon as it is finalized, and reiterate our emphasis on greater transparency and public access," he said.

ldavidson@sltrib.com Twitter: @LeeHDavidson