Airport Authority Board Should Expand

The governor recently signed into law a measure that eliminates a requirement that one member of the Bloomington-Normal Airport Authority must come from an area not annexed to Bloomington or Normal, but annexed into the airport authority. The new law will allow anyone to be appointed from any area annexed to the airport authority. That new law will help to broaden the base for potential new members of the authority board.

I believe another amendment to the Airport Authority Act needs to be made and would suggest increasing the number of board members from five to seven. Having seven members would allow two members to have a discussion about airport business. At present this is not allowed because The Open Meetings Act prohibits a majority of a quorum to discuss board business.

With seven members, three members would constitute a majority of a quorum. Many local government boards have seven or more members and we think the Airport Authority should have seven members, also. The two new members should be appointed by the mayors of Bloomington and Normal. This would allow each mayor to appoint two members and the McLean County Board chair three members.

A seven-person board will allow for broader interest and experiences by adding two new members.

I think our local legislators should sponsor the legislation necessary to accomplish amending the Airport Authority Act to allow for seven members.

Dave Anderson

Rural Bloomington

The writer is former interim director of Central Illinois Regional Airport.