Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Members of the Yampa Valley Airport Commission will convene for a six-hour retreat this week as they reform and anticipate naming a new chairman next month.

The nine-member panel acts as an advisory committee to both the Steamboat Springs City Council and the Routt County Board of Commissioners regarding the management and operation of Steamboat Springs Airport and Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden.

The retreat is from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the city's Transit Center on Twentymile Road.

Three new commission members were named last week and will serve through May 2011. They include former Steamboat city manager Paul Hughes, private pilot John Centner and Craig resident Ray Beck. A fourth member, private pilot Mike Forney, also will serve through 2011. He already has served a year on the commission, finishing the term of longtime member and former chairman Marty Kolonel.

The commission is losing two more veterans, outgoing chairman Joe McNasby and Ulrich Salzgeber. The latter has served on aviation panels at both the local and state levels.

Forney said in May that the commission began to set a course for the future when it reacted to the city's request for proposals that would lead to privatization of the fixed-base operator functions at Steamboat Springs Airport.

"We urged the city to ensure there wouldn't be any reduction in the level of service," Forney said.

The city presently acts as its own fixed-base operator in support of general aviation. It's a function that is contracted out to the private sector at many municipal airports.

Forney said other topics on the agenda for the retreat include committee structure and the profitability of both airports.

He said Craig officials also have been invited to attend and talk about their vision for the future of their municipal airport.

Other members of the commission include Steamboat City Council President Susan Dellinger, County Commissioner Doug Monger, Chuck Grobe of Hayden, Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. President Chris Diamond and Steamboat resident Dan Hill.