Two familiar faces returning to Juneau International Airport’s board of directors will be immediately asked this week to help resolve a budget stalemate that involved two members removed last week due to concerns that one member said involved alleged conflict-of-interest issues.
The Juneau Assembly, during a special meeting Monday, unanimously approved appointing former Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. Executive Director Angela Rodell and Juneau Planning Commission member David Epstein to terms through the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Both have previously served on the board.
The full airport board is scheduled to consider revisions to the airport’s budget for this year as well as next year’s budget at its regular meeting Thursday evening. The agenda also includes items referencing a “conflict of interest discussion – law department” and “airport board officer discussion.”
The board’s three-member Finance Committee failed to pass any of the three budget scenarios it considered last Tuesday, with the question of whether to raise rates and fees to cover contingency and other costs the key point of disagreement. The committee voted to have another meeting last Friday morning to further discuss the airport’s finances.
But Jodi Garza, a member of the committee and president of Alaska Seaplanes, said instead she got a call Tuesday afternoon from Mayor Beth Weldon about the budget impasse and an implied conflict of interest.
“I could tell that it was frustrating to the airport manager and that afternoon I received a call from the mayor saying I could resign or I could be removed,” Garza said. Furthermore, “if I decided not to resign by three o’clock that day I could attend an Assembly meeting where they would have an executive session and I would be able to go into the executive session and provide a statement, which I did. I did not resign. I went in and and made a statement, and cleared — in my mind — myself of any conflict of interest.
However, Assembly members meeting as the Finance Committee last Wednesday, after the 90-minute executive session, unanimously voted to remove Garza and Jason Custer, the latter of whom was the committee’s chair.
Garza, nearing the end of her second three-year term after being named to the airport board, said she has recused herself from matters involving her business in the past when necessary and nothing discussed at the budget meeting involved issues she has abstained from previously.
Garza expressed opposition to raising rates and fees during the committee meeting, stating the airport’s fund balance appeared to be sufficient for contingencies. Custer similarly stated he felt an increase was not needed now, but the matter could be revisited later if a need arose. The third finance committee member, Chris Peloso, expressed concerns about a status quo budget, citing as a reason possible cuts in federal funding under the Trump administration.
Airport Manager Patty Wahto on Friday referred questions about the removal of Garza and Custer to the Assembly. Subsequent attempts to reach her Monday night for a response to Garza’s comments were not successful. During last Tuesday’s meeting she noted the board’s finance committee also failed last year to approve a recommended budget for the full board to consider.
Custer, in an interview Friday, said he didn’t know about his removal until he called an Assembly member on Thursday upon hearing Garza had been removed.
“I don’t know what the concerns are,” he said. “Nobody told me and I was surprised. I found out about it secondhand the next day.”
The appointments of Rodell and Epstein occurred during an online-only Assembly meeting at midday Monday that consisted mostly of a brief executive session before votes for both were approved without discussion.
Rodell, a member of the airport board for six years and longtime financial executive, said Monday “my understanding is that (experience is) one of the key reasons they were asking me to fill in at that point.” She also noted issues such as fee increases are common during budget discussions.
“There’s always this tension between the big airlines like Delta and Alaska, and the small airlines, and what they can be charged,” she said.
Rodell said she served on the board with Garza without encountering difficulties, as well as with Epstein who held that seat until 2019, and their return to the board essentially restores the group that was there several years ago.
Thursday’s board meeting will also include discussion of bringing back another former leader, with former airport and city manager Dave Palmer being asked to return as interim airport manager starting in April to replace Wahto, who is scheduled to retire in May.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
