The Prince George Airport Authority is open to appointing someone with skills and experience in transportation logistics to its board of directors but finding the right person has been easier said than done, says chair Jim Blake.
"If you can find somebody who has a logistics background and is willing to spend the time to come to Prince George to sit at board meetings at a reasonable cost to us then we would be happy to entertain that," he said.
"Nobody has ever come forward, there's nobody in Prince George with that background, to my knowledge and so we would have to go outside the community... usually those people are reasonably highly paid and we're not going to pay them a salary to come and spend their time here either."
The PGAA's 11 directors earn $3,500 a year in remuneration plus $150 per board and committee meeting. As chair, Blake receives $12,000 a year plus $200 per meeting. Board meetings are typically held every two months while the frequency of committee meetings can vary.
Blake's comments are in answer to a call from Initiatives Prince George chair Clint Dahl who says additional expertise is needed to make the most of the airport as a stopover for large cargo-carrying jets flying between Asia and North America, now that the extended runway and refueling apron are in place.
"We've just got to look at the big picture, what are we trying to accomplish and what's in the best interests of the community," he said. "And the best interest of the community is to making sure that airport is a success and I think having someone with international experience (on the board) is one of the best things we can do."
Dahl stressed that his proposal should not be seen as knock against PGAA president and chief executive officer John Gibson, who helped develop Hamilton International Airport into a cargo terminus before taking over the post in Prince George midway through 2009.
"John is the perfect guy up there and he's doing an awesome job but the more people we can bring in with contacts and connections, the better," he said.
IPG's input into finding the kind of person Dahl is seeking will be greatly reduced over the next two years. In response to a management review conducted by a Transport Canada consultant, the number of municipal nominations to the board will be reduced by two over the next two years.
As it stands, the city directly nominates three candidates and indirectly nominates two through IPG, its economic development arm, and two through the Fraser-Fort George Regional District board of directors, where it controls 60 per cent of the vote.
As a result, the city is looking to strip IPG of one or both of its nominations in the name of preserving its two direct nominations for itself. Meanwhile, the Prince George Chamber of Commerce will gain one of the city's nominations starting in Jan. 2011 and the PGAA will see its number of direct appointees rise to three from two by Jan. 2012.
Transport Canada will continue to appoint two people directly and the provincial government will continue to nominate one. The PGAA has been operating the airport since April 2003 but the federal government remains its owner. As such, Blake said the PGAA is obligated to follow Transport Canada policies.
Dahl said he has no problem with losing the nominations provided the right people are ultimately chosen. "Your board is supposed to be giving advice and support to your CEO, not your CEO always having to educate your board," he said.
Mayor Dan Rogers said there is "nothing of major concern" about the changes. A board's primary roll should be to represent the "local and community perspective" and maintained there are other ways to bring expertise to the table.
"(City) council is a good example," he said. "We're not experts but we oversee public policy and we hire or bring in the expertise when it's needed and I suspect it will continue to be that process with the airport."
Chamber president Adele Yakemchuk said PGAA officials will be meeting with chamber directors in February to answer questions. She made no promises about finding an expert in logistics but Yakemchuk said the chamber has a "vast pool" of names it can pull from.
The PGAA retains the right to reject nominations but Yakemchuk noted that if one name is rejected, the chamber and other nominating groups can still put more names forward of their own choosing in answer to the skills the board is seeking.
"It's about communicating and working together," she said.
The PGAA is obligated to have one representative each from business, labour and consumer interests. In its current form, the board also has a lawyer who specializes in mediation, a civil engineer and a chartered accountant in addition to largely representatives from the business community.
