This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Utah Transit Authority's credibility is so blown not even the former presiding bishop of the LDS Church could save it.

Bishop David Burton, who shepherded the massive City Creek Center to completion and was named a Giant in our City by the Salt Lake Chamber, became chairman of UTA's board last year to give the maligned transit agency the imprimatur of ethics and honesty. It looks like he was no match for UTA's perception as a spendy, unresponsive operation.

Assuming the small vote margin holds and Proposition 1 loses in Salt Lake County, it will be universally blamed on voters' unwillingness to give UTA any more money. There was no funded opposition to Proposition 1, and proponents raised more than $675,000, but it still looks like it will fail in Salt Lake and Utah counties, the two biggest in which UTA operates.

The lesson of the election is that mere personnel changes are not going to restore confidence in Utah's largest and most important transit agency. This is going to take a change in governance structure. Specifically, UTA needs more accountability to voters.

What UTA does now is too indirect. Elected officials from all levels of government — cities, counties, legislators and the governor — appoint UTA board members. The result is that, by being a little accountable to everyone, they do not directly answer to anyone. This is the climate that produces $30,000 bonuses and a resistance to transparency.

Denver elects its transit board, as do many others. There are also systems that elect just the head of the agency. Either way would still be a more direct connection to the public. No doubt there are other governance structures to consider.

Honestly, some of this is more perception than reality. UTA has won national and international awards. The commuter rail system we have along the Wasatch Front is tribute to some forward-thinking people at UTA. Whoever runs it will need to keep one eye on the future as current management has done.

Yes, electoral politics brings its own set of problems, but if they are the result of more direct involvement of the public, those are problems worth having. There is every reason to believe that if UTA had a more accountable structure now, Salt Lake County already would have some of the expanded services that UTA said it would fund with Prop. 1 money.

It's time to look at other models.