UIPA's flurry of activity has it 'going in the right direction'

Brice Wallace 

The Utah Inland Port Authority is developing a business plan and a master plan while its new executive director is exuding confidence that a series of changes ensure “that we’re going the right direction.”

At its most recent meeting, the port authority board approved a couple of policies, and more will be refined and presented in upcoming meetings. It also will vote Dec. 14 on the business plan and the master plan approach for the port’s jurisdictional area in Salt Lake City’s Northwest Quadrant.

It’s been a whirlwind past few months for the authority, with alterations in the board’s makeup, leadership, staff, policies and procedures.

“We’ve been saying this a lot lately, but I’ll say it again: This is one of those really important meetings for us in terms of really ensuring that we’re going the right direction, and making sure that what we’re doing is transparent and that what we’re doing is in the public’s best interest as well, and we’re confident that we’re moving in that direction,” Ben Hart, executive director, said at the meeting.

Many of the policy changes were prompted by audits that found faults with the port’s internal controls.

“I feel like the policies that we’re going to review today, the policies that we’ll be looking at the next couple of meetings, we’re absolutely going in the right direction. There will always be improvements, things we can look at, but I feel like this organization is stronger than it’s ever been,” Hart said.

The authority needs plans, policies, controls and a strong internal organization “before we can sell this organization and make sure that others really believe in our mission and scope, which we intend to do,” he said.

“I will just say, from the executive director’s purview, I feel like we’re absolutely going in the right direction. We are a much different and stronger organization than what we were two months ago.”

Hart said the business plan will build on a complicated port authority statute “and provide that bridge for the general public and for our board and for our stakeholders to understand what exactly what our organization’s purpose is. The auditors noted and felt like that was lacking.”

Both the business plan and master plan are critical to the public understanding “what it is that we’re trying to accomplish,” he added.

The master plan is being developed in coordination with Salt Lake City to ensure “that everyone is aligned with what we’re doing,” he said. Both plans are posted online and will be adopted after receiving public input.

Currently, “there’s no plans to build a port … but we need to actually start this process,” he said. The authority is not backing down from building and operating a logistics facility but it will feature more than just rail transportation. At the same time, some short-term actions can “really economically empower this area,” he said.

Only after the authority has its plans in place will it conduct community, traffic and health impact studies.

“If we get ahead of ourselves and try and do those studies before we know what we actually should be building, then we feel like we’re putting the cart before the horse,” Hart said. “So we hope that this is a much more methodically sound approach to what we’re trying to do in the Northwest Quadrant.”

Hart said he has been meeting with people in rural Utah about possibly partnering with the port authority on projects that would be beneficial there. “As far as I’m concerned, these [meetings] are kind of just wiping the slate clean and kind of starting a little bit from scratch in terms of what we hope to accomplish,” he said.

Still, the Salt Lake City project area is the authority’s highest priority. “If we don’t get this right in Salt Lake City, at the Salt Lake City project area, we’re just going to continue to fail, project area after project area,” he said. Only after getting that right, he said, will opportunities elsewhere be developed. Those would take place in limited areas of the state, where “we can move out and potentially try and either replicate or bring something unique to that project area as well, but certainly not losing sight of Salt Lake,” Hart said.

Board member Jerry Stevenson, also a state senator, stressed that local officials should take the lead on any local projects, with the authority available to review their processes and “walk hand-in-hand with them to get where they need to be,” he said.

Hart agreed that the authority should work with local officials.

“We’re not going to go this alone anywhere, and we’re not going to lead, and it’s a very, very important distinction,” he said. “We need local partners that want this and that are willing to help lead.”

Stevenson echoed some of Hart’s comments about the authority’s current status. “Boy, I do believe we’re really on the right track with the direction we’re headed right now,” he said.