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Longmont council pauses airport-advisory appointments amid concerns about interview process and board procedures
Summary
Council members flagged irregularities in the Airport Advisory Board interview process and voted to leave the current advisory vacancies unfilled pending a future midyear appointment process and a study of liaison roles and board appointment procedures.
Longmont City Council members raised procedural concerns Dec. 16 about the recent Airport Advisory Board interview and recommendation process and voted to leave the present airport-advisory vacancies unfilled until the city's midyear appointment round.
Mayor Hidalgo Faring opened a council discussion after hearing public and council concerns that the board's recruitment and vetting process did not include adequate outreach or consistent participation by existing board members. Several council members described the November Airport Advisory Board interview as "irregular" and said that two board members who helped with interviews were themselves applicants.
"I'm not comfortable appointing any of these individuals, regardless of them being recommended or not," the mayor said on the record, moving that council reopen airport-advisory vacancies for a new recruitment and that council, rather than the advisory board alone, conduct interviews. The motion to reopen recruitment as proposed did not pass. Council then moved — and by voice vote approved — an alternative approach to leave the airport advisory vacancies vacant and revisit them through the city's scheduled midyear appointment process; that motion carried 5-1.
Council members said the vote aims to restore public confidence in the fairness and transparency of board appointments and to create clearer, uniform procedures for how advisory boards recruit, interview and recommend candidates. Staff told council that a reopened recruitment would take several weeks to advertise and gather applications and that council could address liaison roles and board-appointment procedures in a study session in the coming months.
Mayor Pro Tem McCoy, Council Members Marcin, Popkin and others supported delaying appointments to allow a more transparent process; Council Member Crist dissented when a narrower reopening motion failed but ultimately the motion to leave vacancies and handle them in the March appointment cycle carried.
