MLAA VOTE - Comment by President Elliott

MLAA Special Meeting

by Dave Elliott/ President MLAA

MLAA held a Special Meeting on Nov 9^th to discuss and vote on an offer for the Meadow Lake Airport Association to purchase the old Penkhus property from Johnston Enterprises.

The spirited discussion involved FAA grants for the principal and MLAA funds for interest, and focused on potential impact of the property on future airport construction and concern about continued FAA support for Meadow Lake.

With proxies in hand, a whopping 97% of the voting interest of the Assn was represented at the meeting. 20,805 votes were cast for the offer (42.6%), and 21,150 votes were cast against the proposal (43.3%).

The remainder of the ballots (approx 4,000) were proxies assigned to the Board of Directors. At the regular monthly Board of Directors meeting on Nov 10^th, I decided that a split Board voting on the remainder of the votes would only complicate an issue that was clearly too close to obligate the Assn at this time. Therefore, we have passed on the offer at this time and will pursue other alternatives/ variations in the near future.

Of significance to the MLAA, and our EAA brethren, were the remarks after the voting by Travis Vallin, Director, Colorado Div of Aeronautics. Travis expressed his continued support for Meadow Lake, and speaking for the FAA, addressed recent concerns and challenges for MLAA.

Three specifics were covered, which the Assn Board of Directors has already been working on:

• "Thru-the-Fence": is currently on "hold", although the 41 residential lots should be "grandfathered", and the Assn should not allow any add’l lots to have access to the airport.

• Self-Sustainability: The Assn needs to address equitable access fees to the airport (runway complex) that the FAA has funded.

• Control Airport Access. The Airport Authority needs to address measures to control access to the runway, i.e.: restrict the ability of local teenagers to use the runway at midnight to drag race.

All of these points were already under review by the Board and will be discussed in greater detail in an upcoming MLAA Newsletter

INCOMING MAIL 2/10

I only rent hangar space at Meadow Lake Airport, But I am Treasurer of my residential HOA. I know how hard it is to change a By-Law, and to get volunteers for The Board. I'm wondering if "continuity of The Board" would be better achieved by making it a 6 or 9 Member BOD, and have 1/3 of The Board stand for election each year? This way 2/3's of The Board is retained each year, giving stability to the management of the airport. I think this would be more acceptable to the FAA. These changes can be done at one meeting, by one vote, just as the proposed change would be adopted. 

E.J.

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 DEAR E.J.

Thanks for your suggestion.  But there is a large resistance to any term changes. 

REASON, we allow cumulative voting for directors.  

Because of that, if you change how many directors are elected each term, you change the little guys voting strength and lessen the chance a small group can get a single representative elected.

  This is bad for minority voices. 

That's why I support all 7 directors elected to 2 year terms just like the US House of Representatives has done for over 220 years.

 ED.