Big Sky and Little Airplanes

(Email to Bozeman Daily Chronicle, subsequently published in “Letters.”)

Fri 22 Aug 08

Editor —

The opinion piece of 13 August lauded the volunteer citizen boards that serve the valley. They indeed offer wonderful opportunities for participation in local government.

Curiously absent from the list of governments maintaining citizen boards is Gallatin Airport Authority. It owns and operates Gallatin Field. Its budget runs into the tens of millions and it controls more land than the cities of Belgrade, Manhattan, and Three Forks combined. Its impact is immeasurable and its decisions and visions effect the entire area. Yet, every petition to the Airport Authority to establish public boards and welcome direct citizen participation in this government body’s growth has been shot down unanimously.

What does Gallatin Airport Authority know that Gallatin County and the City of Bozeman does not? Why are citizens competent enough to serve these governments, yet useless to the Authority in a similar capacity? Are the members of the Authority so gifted that they are beyond public oversight?

Maybe so. Gallatin Airport Authority is a body politic. Its five board members are appointed by the Gallatin County Commission to serve five year terms. Once appointed, the County conducts no further oversight, believing that the Authority is independent and beyond scrutiny. Thus, the Authority has the power to tax and spend and regulate, yet is divorced from any direct control by the public it was established to serve. There are no term limits to the seats and the County Commission is in the habit of reappointing board members rather than bringing in new talent, new ideas, and new participants to local government. It is no wonder that the Authority maintains a distain for volunteer public boards — it has been permitted to maintain an oligarchy.

Volunteer citizen boards make this country great. If only Gallatin Airport Authority would share this respect for public participation.

Regards — Tom

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Gallatin Airport Authority, Gallatin Field, Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.