Olympic trustees voted to increase their numbers from 28 to 31 members, a decision that makes room for more diversity on the board responsible for the $1 billion effort to host the 2002 Winter Games.
Gov. Mike Leavitt and Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini, who jointly make most of the appointments, are expected next week to name two new trustees to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee board.Advocates for the state's poor and minority communities, backed by the mayor and the Salt Lake City Council, have pushed for better representation on the board. The governor has promised they'll be satisfied with the appointments.
The third new member will be the chairman of the Winter National Governing Bodies Council, a sports organization. Three athletes positions also need to be filled on the board, and six members are up for reappointment.
In other action Thursday, the trustees:
- Reluctantly accepted "SLOC" as a new acronym to ease International Olympic Committee confusion over the former acronym, "SLOOC," which was also used by organizers of the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea.
The change meant dropping the word "Olympic" from the official name of the committee, now the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Trustees grumbled about the awkwardness of pronouncing "SLOC," which rhymes with "spook."
Tom Welch, committee president, said a new name might be considered in the future. One suggestion, from trustee Jim Easton, an IOC member to the United States, was "SLOCO," the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympics.
- Awarded an insurance contract to Fred A. Moreton and an audit contract to Deloitte & Touche. The contracts were the first awarded through the committee's new competitive bid process.
The companies were chosen during a closed-door session of Thursday's meeting, apparently over competitors that had contributed to the Olympic bid campaign.
- Adopted an information access policy detailing what will be made available to the public. The list includes salaries of the five highest-paid officials, summaries of contracts for more than $500,000 and financial reports.
Salt Lake media attorney Jeff Hunt, who maintains the state's freedom of information hotline, said he was "pleasantly surprised" about the thought put into the policy. "Overall, I have to give them some credit," Hunt said.