When Provo Mayor Lewis Billings told his city's Municipal Council in May it had less than two months to review and make a decision whether to allow the $40 million sale of the iProvo fiber-optic network, several of its members balked. There were hundreds of pages of technical information to pore through, not to mention questions about a practically unknown buyer, Broadweave Networks, and allegations of a sweetheart deal.

Now, those members are trying to make sure that doesn't happen again.

The Council will discuss at a work session today an ordinance that would require the mayor to outline his plans before asking the Council to put city property up for sale. The proposal is intended to keep Council members in the loop and facilitate better decisions, said Councilwoman Sherrie Hall Everett.

"It gives the Council more of a say in what he's proposing," she said. "I think it brings more balance to the process, and I think it will bring better results."

The details of the ordinance are still being ironed out and a vote on the matter is at least several weeks away, but Hall Everett said something needs to be done -- especially since iProvo was not the first time the Council has felt pressured to vote quickly. In December 2007, the Council voted in favor of developing Southgate, a shopping center in south Provo, under threat that anchor tenant Target would bail if the Council didn't act.

"The iProvo thing was kind of sprung on us. Southgate was kind of sprung on us," she said. "As a newcomer, I'm looking and I'm saying, 'Why are we doing it this way?' "

Council Vice Chairman George Stewart said he shares some of the same concerns, but also wonders if more Council involvement would make it harder for the mayor to strike good deals with groups that want to negotiate with just one person, rather than having to convince seven Council members.

"We want to be sure that the mayor can negotiate things," he said. "It's very much an open question."

The Council has effectively arranged a form of the proposed system once already since the iProvo sale: In July, it denied a request from the administration that a downtown parking lot be put up for sale.

On concerns from business owners that the loss of the lot would ruin their enterprises, the Council asked that more specific plans for the property be offered before it would allow the sale.

City spokeswoman Helen Anderson said the mayor's office has no comment on the issue until it has a chance to review the proposal in detail.

"That's the purpose of the meeting is to have that dialogue with the Council," she said.

• Ace Stryker can be reached at 344-2556 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it