A routine monthly meeting of the Stewart Airport Commission turned suddenly into a freewheeling discussion on the purpose of the commission itself and calls among members for increased transparency of airport operations being performed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Last week”™s meeting began with a routine presentation about continued incremental growth at the airport this year and discussion of plans for expanding the terminal in hopes of attracting more international charter business.
Diannae Ehler, the airport”™s general manager, said passenger traffic was up about 3 percent over this time period in 2009 and cargo operations had shipped about 20 percent more than a year ago. She called the figures “good for the airport and good for the economy.”
The Port Authority board had approved a $2 million expenditure for creating a 25,000 square foot expansion to the current terminal, saying the study was designed to allow better flow for current domestic traffic and the addition would be built to allow facilities for U.S. Customs in the future.
When commission members asked if plans for a new terminal that were included in the master plan created by the airport”™s former owner NEG, were still operational, Ehler did not answer directly but said the Port Authority hoped to get about a decade of use from the expanded terminal.
“It is too soon to tell” what the cost of the expansion might be, she said.
Following a presentation about the Orange County Business Incubator, Commission Chairman James C. Wright”™s called for public comment before adjourning the meeting. Sandra Kissam, president of the Stewart Park and Reserve Coalition and a longtime activist on airport issues, requested to speak.
Kissam said that since the airport was taken over by the Port Authority in 2007, little information on some key issues has been made public. She cited reports as diverse as wildlife in the area, bird strike and hazard data, the airport capital plan, environmental reviews being conducted, plans for development along Drury Lane and, especially, the lease agreement between the state Department of Transportation and the Port Authority that was finalized in the spring.
“My impression is that important concrete information is not being provided to the Stewart Airport Commission, and as a result is not being provided to the public,” Kissam said. “I assume the Port Authority is doing their best to develop this airport, but they are not sharing information with us.”
Wright fully supported Kissam”™s statement.
“Some of these issues bother me personally and I think bother some other members of the Commission,” said Wright when she finished speaking. “We don”™t really feel like we know what is going on here.”
“I must agree these are some of the major issues, we don”™t have the information and the public doesn”™t have the information,” Wright said. He noted that the commission was originally appointed by the state Legislature to make recommendation when the DOT took over airport operations from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority back in the 1980s. When the DOT ceded operations to the Port Authority, he said, the commission”™s role “diminished.”
Commission member Christopher White, who was appointed in 2009, said even as a commission member he has no financial information regarding the airport, including never receiving copies of the Stewart capital plan requested last July. “If a member of the public asks me is the airport making money, I have no idea, I have seen no documents,” said White adding, “I am not sure what this body does. I think all of us are a little confused about what our role is.”
Wright, White, and even Kissam expressed appreciation for Port Authority operations, but said their concerns for transparency and relevance remained and no one on the board dissented.
“Our role has changed, and the original (appointing) legislation probably isn”™t appropriate any more,” said longtime member and vice chairman Louis Heimbach. “I wouldn”™t have any problem disbanding the commission. It wouldn”™t be a bad idea to ask the folks up in Albany what they would like us to do.”
The next commission meeting is Jan. 25.
