Friday, January 11, 2013

Burlington International (KBTV), Vermont: Planning committee discusses airport future

SOUTH BURLINGTON — The Airport Strategic Planning Committee, created last summer at the behest of Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, met Thursday at the airport to continue its discussion of how best to govern and manage the airport.

The committee is co-chaired by Burlington City Councilor Karen Paul, I-Ward 6, and interim Chief Administrative Officer Paul Sisson. It includes representatives from the business community as well as officials from South Burlington and Winooski.

Thursday, the Committee heard a presentation on the strengths and weaknesses of different governing models for the airport: maintaining the status quo, a city-managed facility with a weak commission; moving to a strong commission style; creating a regional airport authority; or privatizing the management.

Managing Director Adam Whiteman of Frasca & Associates, a transportation consultant and financial advisory firm from New York City, made no recommendation.

The committee will study his report in the coming weeks, as it begins to refine its goals and a time line for any changes it might ultimately recommend. To committee member Jane Knodell, the main issue for the committee is to determine “what structure would maximize the airport as an economic development tool.”

Interim airport head Gene Richards said the committee’s work is “an historical opportunity for the airport. We do need to make changes,” he said, “or history, and the mistakes that were made, will repeat itself. (The airport) needs to be insulated from what could happen again.”

The airport, with 1,600 jobs, has an annual payroll of $56 million, and Steven Baldwin Associates of Albany, N.Y., which studied its finances and management structure and presented its findings in May, said the airport is indirectly responsible for another 10,250 jobs. The firm estimates the airport’s total economic impact annually at close to $1 billion.

“Practically speaking,” that report stated, “Burlington International Airport is the state’s only commercial service airport and plays a vitally important role in the state’s overall economy and transportation network.”

Baldwin recommended the city explore creating a regional airport authority to replace the current municipal management system, but Weinberger said he is waiting for recommendations on governance to emerge from the planning committee’s findings later this year. He said he is unconvinced the airport’s well-documented financial problems of recent years — including a junk-bond-level credit rating — are attributable to the city’s control of the airport.

Thursday, Tamara Gagne, the airport’s director of finance and administration, released a report showing December “enplanements were down 14.6% leaving the airport down by 3.79% for the calendar year.” The total enplanements for 2012 totaled 623,604, down from 648,195 in 2011 and the 2008 mark of 759,021.

Prior to Thursday’s meeting, South Burlington City Council Chairwoman Rosanne Greco said she was displeased that as the committee deliberations began, neither South Burlington (which has one member on the five-person Airport Commission) or Winooski were not initially given voting seats on the committee.

South Burlington City Manager Sandy Miller told the Burlington Free Press that “we were originally invited to the meetings without a vote, but Mayor Weinberger and Burlington City Council amended their resolution to give South Burlington and Winooski a voting seat.”

Miller said he has attended meetings throughout the fall and has “found everyone on the Committee receptive to the ideas of others. ... The process is moving forward as we gather and discuss information related to the Committee charge,” Miller said.

Greco said South Burlington welcomed Weinberger’s invitation to participate in the meeting but said it was disconcerting to have to ask to have a vote. She said that at one meeting Miller couldn’t attend, committee co-chair Paul questioned the appropriateness of Deputy City Manager Bob Rusten sitting at the table.

She said South Burlington needs representation beyond a single vote on the committee, given the possible importance of the committee’s recommendations and the impact airport operations have on the city.

“South Burlington needs a say in future plans for the airport,” Greco said, “a pretty robust say.”

O’Brien said that is true as well for Winooski. “Winooski has a big interest in the operation of the airport,” he said.

She said that while Weinberger seems to “want to include us,” in practice the committee, while not “consciously excluding us ... (is) going back to the old ways of doing business.”

She said that while Mayor Michael O’Brien of Winooski has a vote, no elected official from South Burlington does. Rather, the vote was given specifically to Miller, who “doesn’t do policy, but administration. I’m trying to understand it,” she said.

She noted that a legal dispute between Burlington and South Burlington in a lawsuit brought by Burlington and Heritage Aviation on South Burlington’s tax assessment for the airport remains unresolved.

Greco said the airport has a continuous effect on South Burlington’s tax revenues, its quality of life (through its immediate effect on adjoining neighborhoods buffeted by airport noise) and an impact on numerous aspects of city services.

“We ought to be represented,” she said of the committee. “One voice is not sufficient.”

The committee’s next meeting is from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at the airport.


 Story and Photo:   http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com

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