Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt. That has since been corrected.
By AVA FRICKE
The Ramspondents
The cities of Fort Collins and Loveland have jointly operated the Northern Colorado Regional Airport since 1963. Recently, both cities’ councils have moved away from the current airport governance to a new authority.
The Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) passed by the Fort Collins City Council amends the governance structure of the airport by eliminating the Northern Colorado Regional Airport Commission and delegating powers to the city councils, city managers, and airport staff while the cities continue to jointly operate the airport while working toward the formation of an independent airport authority.
In 1963, Fort Collins and Loveland collaborated to build and operate a regional airport. It opened in 1964 under a joint agreement and ownership. Throughout the years both cities have stated that it has suffered from both financial problems and issues with the governance structure that limited the airport’s ability to function effectively.
The new IGA, passed by the Fort Collins City Council on Oct. 21, sets forth the cities’ plan for a joint operation of the airport and delegates certain decisions surrounding the airport to the city managers and the airport director. This shift is intended to streamline both decision making and workloads.
The key elements of the IGA are laid out in a presentation delivered to the Fort Collins City Council by Ginny Sawyer, project and policy manager for the city. She highlights that “financial sharing and responsibilities, “cleanup of insurance protocols” and “shifting decision-making to city managers” are the most important parts of the new IGA.
Anne Hutchinson, who represents the Fort Collins area Chamber of Commerce said at the passing of the legislation, “There's a tremendous opportunity in front of us when we think about regional economic development, and we have really left the Northern Colorado Regional Airport behind.”
“It's time for us to really make some positive change in order to bring that economic driver back to Northern Colorado.” Hutchinson said.
Mayor Jeni Arndt said “The two cities have been working really closely together, it is exceedingly complicated to work with the FAA, the airports are special little units themselves. So there are so many caveats of things you can do, and can't do, so it's an interesting space for cities to work in because the FAA really drives a lot of the decisions and the finances out there.”
Ava Fricke is a political journalist focusing on written media.