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Airport board head proposes changes

Gainesville Sun - October 15, 2000
By RAY WASHINGTON
Sun staff writer

The Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority -- no stranger to public squabbles -- has a plan that new Chairwoman Marilyn Tubb hopes will help the authority burnish its image.

Tubb, presiding at her first meeting Thursday, laid out the details of a proposal she said also would make authority service less stressful for board members.

"These meetings have not been enjoyable," Tubb said, following a sometimes contentious Thursday night debate over the bidding process for a new hangar. "Tonight was certainly a case in point."

The proposed changes -- including restrictions on member communication with news reporters and those who do business with the airport -- disturbed Airport Authority member and former Gainesville Mayor-Commissioner W.E. "Mac" McEachern, who had left the meeting before the proposals were introduced.

"They want to commit their sins and have nobody know about it," McEachern said. "I think the thing has gotten completely out of hand."

Other authority members praised the proposals.

"I think this is a good step," said board member Robert Todd, a travel agent, adding that the changes "absolutely" would improve the board's public image.

The authority's structure and operations are scheduled to be reviewed by a special task force appointed by the Gainesville City Commission and the Alachua County Commission. The task force was formed following concerns and complaints about declining airport services and perceived problems with the authority's functioning.

Among Tubb's proposed changes:

Limits on members' contacts with the news media and people who do business at the airport. Under the plan, members would not engage in contacts outside the Airport Authority meetings unless requested to do so by Tubb, or unless they give Tubb prior notification that "such solicited contact is essential." Tubb would be considered the "official spokesman" for the Airport Authority.

Centralized e-mail. All e-mail received by authority members from the public or others would go first to a central location where they could be read by the board's chief administrative officer, Aviation Director Gene Clerkin, and distributed to all members of the authority.

Postponed public comment. The public would no longer be allowed to address the authority at the beginning of the meeting. Instead, the meetings would begin with a "management report" delivered by Clerkin. Tubb said members of the public likely would be given a "time certain" when they could address the board later in the meeting.

No more evening meetings. Instead of holding meetings after working hours, the authority would hold them at 8 a.m. The meetings would be moved from their usual downtown location in city hall to the private Flightline Corp. facilities at the airport as soon as renovations there are complete.

Restrictions on contract details provided to authority members to consider at meetings. "We are paying a very good lawyer very good money to review such things for us," Tubb said. Instead of full contracts, "executive summaries" of contracts would be provided for the meetings. Members still could review the full contracts upon request.

Less extensive meeting minutes. The multi-page meeting record now currently provided would be replaced by more concise summaries, eliminating in-depth discussion of the issues and specifics. "If anyone really wants to hear what one person said to another and in what tone, they can go to the tape and pretty much pick that up," Tubb said.

Tubb said she also would report directly to the city and county commissions so those bodies would get direct reports on authority business without having to rely on news reports.

Authority member Pat Bainter said he would reserve his opinions on the proposal. There will be a formal vote on them Thursday. "We are under a bit of fire right now," Bainter said. "I don't see any harm in at least throwing suggestions out."

But Bainter said he "would oppose" any attempts to restrict member communications, particularly with those who use the airport.

"I don't think there is any way we could have that without some First Amendment problems," he said. "There could be a wish. I don't think there could be a rule."

McEachern said if such a rule were passed by the authority, "I'll have to violate it."

"They can make a rule that I can't drink water on Monday, but I'm going to do it," he said.

Tubb called the proposals "a work in progress" and "ideas for discussion."

"I'm hoping they are less formal than rules, but just agreements about how we operate, how we will conduct business."

The goal, she said, is not to infringe on "public comment or public access or member freedom of speech, but rather to improve our efficiency, our level of professionalism. We are entrusted with a certain amount of responsibility as adults."

Ray Washington can be reached at 374-5026 or washinr@gvillesun.com.

See October 15, 2000, issue of Gainesville Sun for original article.