The committee that advises Port of Bellingham commissioners about the Bellingham International Airport is getting a much-needed fix.
The Bellingham International Airport Advisory Committee (BIAAC) will bring its quorum requirements of seven members at a meeting down to five members. The current quorum requirement has made it difficult for the committee to have official meetings with not enough members present.
Aaron Collins, the airport operations manager at BLI, said the committee’s inability to have a quorum over the past few years has made it ineffective.
“What we’re trying to do is help them along so those that do want to participate, they will be able to provide those recommendations to the port,” he said.
Currently, there are 24 positions on BIAAC with eight positions open, including three open community seats. All positions are volunteer.
The reason why BIAAC exists is so that port commissioners can get feedback about the airport’s operations from community members as well as those with experience in aviation. The group was established in 1992 to get community input about future development and activities at BLI.
“Our port commission really values citizen feedback on the different operations, and this is an opportunity for a citizen group to get a little bit more in-depth information about different issues that are going on at the airport,” said Mike Hogan, the public affairs administrator for the Port of Bellingham.
BLI has faced rough waters in the past six months from Southwest Airlines announcing its departure from the airport in April to the firing of Aviation Director Kip Turner in July. The deputy aviation director left a month later to pursue another opportunity.
Daily operations at the airport are now run by Rob Fix, the executive director of the Port of Bellingham.
By changing the quorum requirement, Collins hopes the committee will be able to have more participation.
“Over the past decade, I’ve seen quite a few members come and go, so we’re seeing a lot of diverse opinions,” he said. “This action by our port commission is really to make them more effective, so we’re trying to assist them and to be able to provide that support to the airport and recommendations to the port commission.”
In addition to approving the quorum requirement, nine members of the committee had their terms extended three more years by the port commission at its meeting Tuesday, Oct. 15. The committee members had their terms extended because no outside applications for the positions had been made.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
