PROVO — Merrill Bateman sat in his car on I-15 last Friday wondering what happened to all that free time he was supposed to have.
After seven years working weekdays and many weekends as president of Brigham Young University, then filling most of the remaining weekends with the duties of an active General Authority of the LDS Church, Bateman expected some relief when he left BYU last month.
But here he was, stuck in Memorial Day traffic on his way home to Provo from his full-time duties at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City. The two-and-a-half hour drive isn't the norm, of course, but the commute can feel like a part-time job.
He could take back some of that time by moving north, closer to his office and his duties as a member of the presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the "For Sale" sign in front of his house is for the people next door. The Batemans aren't going anywhere. This is where he wants to be after a long day's work or a long weekend meeting with church members around the world.
The Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce will return that devotion tonight by naming Bateman Provo's Outstanding Citizen for 2003. The honor is designed as a lifetime achievement award, but city leaders say it's really a nod to the work Bateman did to streamline the relationship between BYU and Provo.
"The focus of his nomination was the fact he was outstanding in the community," chamber President Steve Densley said. "Sometimes the 'town-and-gown' relationship gets tricky. With President Bateman, it's always been great, always been first class."
BYU's numbers — 32,000 students, half of them married and many with children, plus 5,000 employees and their families — give it plenty of muscle. The university also adds $379.2 million to the local economy each year, according to a study commissioned by the chamber. The resultant power sometimes squishes toes in the surrounding communities, Bateman admitted, and that was one of the first issues he addressed in his administration.
"There are 50,000 to 60,000 people in Utah County whose livelihood and daily activities depend on BYU," said Bateman, who graduated from American Fork High School. "The last thing I felt we wanted was to be seen as a gorilla in the community. There were a number of things we worked on with the city to be a good citizen and contribute to the quality of life in the valley."
Those initiatives included improving coordination with Provo when, for example, the university added new power substations and traffic lights. He also agreed to subsidize the valley's minor league baseball team, the Provo Angels, by providing cheap rent at BYU's new stadium and shouldering maintenance costs.
"A lot of people said we'd never get to first base with BYU about having the Angels play there," Provo Mayor Lewis Billings said. "A number of people told me they were amazed that President Bateman opened the doors with appropriate conditions. He just did a fantastic job working with the city."
There is no question that BYU's presence increases traffic on the streets and contributes to crowded malls and long lines at movie theaters every fall and winter. Ironically, Bateman's attempt to manage the negative impact of those crowds dovetailed nicely with his goal of providing more people with a BYU experience.
With an enrollment cap in place, Bateman set out to make the world BYU's campus, literally, by expanding its borders through the Internet. Last year, he said, the university had more than 125,000 online enrollments in 43 countries. He believes the program can reach 250,000 people at a time.
When Olympic planners and the Utah Transit Authority approached Bateman about spending money to provide students with free bus transportation, he jumped at the idea, then hiked parking fees to encourage a further reduction in traffic and parking woes. This year he agreed to continue the program beyond the Olympics.
Billings said Bateman was up-front and honest about disagreements but remained approachable, a quality Billings said was enhanced when Bateman and his wife, Marilyn, opened their Provo home to community leaders once a year for a casual event.
"I think Provo really doesn't realize the powerhouse we've had in our community," Billings said. "We're fortunate to have a former vice president of a national company here. I don't know that people will ever give him the respect and accord he deserves."
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com