The Utah Transit Authority held a "public hearing" last night in which the only person there to do any listening was a court reporter hired for the purpose.

That's right, the board, which will make a decision later this month on imposing a fuel surcharge on bus and train rides didn't sit and listen to the public. Instead, members will have access to the written transcript of any comments.

A group of disabled bus riders and advocates for the poor who came to protest the surcharge proposal left angrily when officials declined to let them speak out publicly at the microphone.

UTA general manager John Inglish said it was "unfortunate they decided to leave" and that the board does a lot of hearings that way.

Indeed, UTA spokeswoman Carrie Bohnsack-Ware told me Wednesday that the board has been using the court reporter version of a public hearing on certain issues since at least 2002.

"They've found that it's much more effective," Bohnsack-Ware said. "It's just not effective to verbally spar on an open microphone."

She said that the board members all receive a packet of materials that include the transcribed comments, along with emails and comment cards and remarks that are phoned in.

She added that regular board meetings and public hearings for permanent fare increases still allow open-mike testimony.

OK, well maybe I just haven't been paying attention, but I've never heard of a court-reporter assisted public hearing. A Tribune reporter did just point out to me that last year a couple of federal agencies held "public information sessions" on a proposed massive bomb test in Nevada in which court reporters were available, but no decision makers.

Bonsack-Ware may be correct that the court reporter is "the most effective way to get the information across."

But it seems to me that it's missing a fundamental purpose of a public hearing: allowing people to air grievances, quiz decision makers and maybe -- in a best case scenario -- even get a bit of dialogue going, all while they're looking one another in the eye.

Like they say, democracy is messy.

-- dh