Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1993                   TAG: 9306230199
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COUNCIL SPLIT ON FILLING AIRPORT-BOARD SLOT

Roanoke County's representatives on the commission say the vacancy is hampering its operations.

And City Council has no firm timetable for filling the post.

"I think the commission deserves a full complement of members," said Roanoke County Supervisor Bob Johnson, chairman of the commission.

The five-member commission was forced to postpone action on a proposed smoking ban because only three members attended the May meeting and one opposed the ban.

To ensure that four members would be present so action could be taken, Johnson attended the June meeting even though a family member was in the hospital.

"Sometimes, it is hard to do business when you have only four members and only three are present," said Johnson. "It would be a relief to know we had five members."

City Council is split on the type of person to fill the post: the new finance director, a council member, business person or general aviation enthusiast.

Schlanger was named to the commission because his financial expertise was needed, Councilman James Harvey said. But the airport now has its own finance officer.

Council may wait until after Schlanger's successor is chosen, even though the new finance director might not be appointed to the commission, Harvey said.

There has been talk of appointing a council member because all of the county's members have been supervisors. If that happens, the choice probably would be Harvey or Howard Musser, both pilots.

Johnson has long advocated the replacement of elected officials and governmental staff employees on the commission with business and non-governmental people.

Changing the commission's composition would help eliminate the perception that the city still runs the airport, Johnson said. And it would prevent disputes along city-county lines, he said.

But Harvey said he's not convinced that business people are necessarily needed on the commission. The airport appears to have enough management people, he said.