Airport board members take off

By Vernon Daily Courier staff May 11 http://www.dailycourier.ca/

The city’s decision to dissolve the Vernon Regional Airport Corporation and turn the corporation’s responsibilities over to a city council committee has met some turbulence. The second official meeting of the committee which is tasked with overseeing the development of the airport was cancelled as the required quorum of three was not met. City Councillor Barry Beardsell, one of the three current members of the committee was ill and could not attend the meeting. According to city administrator Leon Gous, the city originally created a separate corporate entity to control the airport to allow a buffer between the city and the airport in terms of liability in relation to airport operations. However, lawyers for the city soon convinced council that the corporation did not shield the city from any liability arising from any mishaps at the airport. Thus the decision was made to change the management structure from an independent board of directors to a committee which would act in an advisory role to Grahame Go, who is the airport manager and now a civic employee.

This change in structure didn’t suit three of the previous members of the airport corporation board of governors, who declined to join the advisory committee. “We would have been serving in a completely different function,” said Ross Burrows, who served as one of the airport corporation board members. “As a board member you have the power to make decisions; as an advisor you just advise someone else.” Burrows, a pilot for more than 25 years, does not think that any of the three board members who declined to continue on as advisers left with any bad feelings. Ian Hawes and Bob Scott are the other two board members who did not take up the new position. “We’re all busy people, and I felt there was no purpose to an advisory board without the power to make decisions.”

City council will pick replacements for the remaining two positions to be filled on the advisory committee, which calls for four members of the public at large and one city councillor (Barry Beardsell), at Monday’s council meeting.
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Don Quixote Note: There is no agenda item posted for Airport Appointments on Monday but the council may revert to their latest procedures and debate and vote on the appointments at their Morning In-Camera session and announce the appointees at the Open afternoon council meeting. Since their has been no advertisements for persons wishing to be appointed since the changeover from Corporation to Committee I assume they will be working from a list of those that applied from 2006 when they last advertised the openings. Perhaps this gives rays of hope for those persons who were not accepted for the Land Corps and presumably are now on the short list for those necessary appointments? (2 vacancies)