The Utah Lake Authority has approved a new written policy for the agency to address a common concern within the community about transparency in the organization.

The policy outlines guidelines for following public records, meetings and notices laws and a breakdown of what types of documents need board review or approval in a public meeting. The authority’s board approved the policy in a public meeting Wednesday.

New ULA Executive Director Luke Peterson said he has met with more than 100 stakeholders and community members since taking the position in January, and concerns about transparency were a common denominator.

“It came up frequently that people wanted to make sure that we were going to take seriously the concerns that were raised by individuals, by the media, and so we tried to honor that,” Peterson said.

He added his goal is to make the Utah Lake Authority a “model for good government in Utah.”

Sam Braegger, ULA deputy director, introduced the policy at the board meeting Wednesday, explaining that “questions were raised” regarding the approval of documents and transparency during the previous executive director’s time at the organization.

While the now-dissolved Lake Restoration Solutions island and dredging project was under discussion, the then-Executive Director Eric Ellis sent letters in support of the project to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The letters also promised funding for the project.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, members of the board had no knowledge of the letters sent by Ellis. Ellis has since left the Utah Lake Authority and is now the city manager for Vineyard.

Under the new policy, any “letters of support” are required to be provided to the board for review a minimum of 24 hours before being signed. The board is not required to vote on such documents.

“We didn’t have a policy like this at all,” Braegger said in the meeting. “So we wanted to establish a policy and a process to make sure that the board was involved, that we were being transparent when we do things like write letters of support for projects or other things.”

Other documents, such as budgets, resolutions and policies, will require seven days of review before then being voted on and approved by the board in a public meeting.

The policy also encourages ULA staff to exceed the minimum public notice requirement “whenever possible” to provide additional time for review. Under the policy, ULA also will need to create a page on its website with information on public records requests that make requests “understandable and simple to submit.”

Peterson said he would be creating an online calendar to allow anyone interested to schedule a call or meeting with him to discuss any issues.

“I wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to reach out if they need to,” he said.

Peterson also said that despite recent state legislative action making government officials’ calendars private records, he is willing to share his official calendar if someone requests it for public records.

To continue to build public trust, Peterson said the lake authority will be creating an advisory committee to be made up of citizens who will provide input to the organization.

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