After experiencing a bit of turbulence in November, two new members have finally landed on the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority’s board of directors, bringing the board to its full line-up of seven members.
The full board will be short-lived, however, as board member Steve Hein is retiring from the board when his current 5-year term expires on Jan. 25. The airport is currently accepting applications to fill the seat.
But with the election of David Palm and Timothy Miller to the SOCAA board on Dec. 2, the airport avoided the prospect of three vacancies at once on the seven-person board. The board approved Palm and Miller by a 3-1 vote, with Harold Idell abstaining. Though the tally looks like a clear result, it represents the narrowest of margins because SOCAA bylaws require candidates to receive a minimum of 75% of the vote to be seated on the board.
This was the SOCAA’s second vote on Palm and Miller; the prospective board members didn’t clear the 75% hurdle on a Nov. 9 vote because Idell and board member Hein voted against advancing the candidates.
That opposition stemmed from complaints by some airport users that the process used to review the applicants in the fall deviated from an established procedure.
Following the first vote, Yavapai Assistant County Administrator Jack Fields sent a letter to SOCAA expressing concern about a further delay in seating new board members.
In the Nov. 25 letter, Fields notified the board that Palm and Miller had been approved as board members by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors and strongly encouraged SOCAA to seat the candidates.
“With another SOCAA board member’s term set to expire in less than two months,” Fields wrote, “the SOCAA board will be operating with almost half of its seats vacant for the foreseeable future if new board members are not immediately seated. It is imperative that SOCAA recognize that it is in the best interests of SOCAA, the county and the citizens of Yavapai County that SOCAA prioritize the establishment and maintenance of full board membership.”
The letter appears to have spurred SOCAA to put a second vote on the agenda of the Dec. 2 board meeting. On the second vote — which occurred in spite of opposition from Hein, according to meeting minutes — Idell chose to abstain rather than voting against, getting the candidates to the 75% mark without having to go through a new candidate review process.
Palm and Miller are both pilots and aircraft owners who rent hangars at the airport, and both said that they fly primarily for business.
Palm started learning to fly long before he received his pilot’s license in 2013. He said that, starting in the 1980s, he was a frequent passenger in small airplanes while flying for business and started learning just in case he ever had to take over for a pilot.
Palm has lived in Arizona since 2008, but still has business in the oil and gas industry in northern Oklahoma. He uses his four-seat Bonanza aircraft to fly between Sedona and Oklahoma.
One of the airport issues on his mind is the shortage of water capacity on Airport Mesa.
“If we could get that resolved, the airport could do more things,” he said.
One of those things is increasing hangar space at the airport.
On airport noise, he thinks that “99% of the pilots that comply and are courteous” with noise reduction are undermined by the “one or two” who don’t follow the voluntary guidelines.
New board member Miller came to aviation through skydiving. He said he started skydiving in New Jersey in the 1990s. While pursuing this hobby, Miller spent a lot of time at the airport and started learning to fly from the pilots who ferried the jumpers up, especially when inclement weather grounded the sky divers.
Miller, who works in software implementation, moved to Arizona in 2010. Prior to the move, he lived outside Philadelphia, and since he could work remotely, decided to move to a region with a better climate. Currently, Miller flies primarily for work, flying from the Sedona Airport to meet with clients across the country.
At 49, Miller may be the youngest member of the SOCAA board. He said he was interested in joining the board in order to get more involved with the community.
“Because I’m working, I’m not as involved as I’d like to be,” he said, adding that he’s interested in “keeping the [larger] community in mind” at the airport.
Miller said that one of his concerns as a board member will be increasing “stability” in airport management. As a tenant of the airport, he said he’s noticed the turnover in the general manager position. He added that, as a professional, he doesn’t think the instability is always “fair” to the person who has relocated from out-of-state to take up the position.
Another concern he has is the congestion at the Airport vortex trailhead. He’s concerned with pedestrians walking along Airport Road and cars blocking the road waiting for parking spaces at the trailhead. One idea he has is creating a trail that connects the Airport overlook parking area with the vortex site.
Miller also noted that he had no hard feelings over the long process of getting the new members seated.
“You always kind of wonder what you’re getting yourself into,” he said of the procedural wrangling, adding that “they all reassured me that it’s not personal.”
Scott Shumaker can be reached at 282-7795 ext 117 or by email to sshumaker@larsonnewspapers.com
