Aug. 17--Even as a new contender emerged Thursday to run Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, a push was launched to give county commissioners direct control over both the airport and the neighboring seaport.
The board responsible for updating Broward County's charter is exploring whether to ask voters next year to strip the county administrator of authority over the two transportation hubs. That would be a major departure from the long-established system of the administrator running all day-to-day county operations and the commission being solely responsible for policy.
Commissioner Lois Wexler floated the idea in an e-mail to the charter board this week and has support from other commissioners. Wexler and her colleagues cite as reasons the problem-plagued search for an airport director, a series of controversies over the airport operation and the importance of the airport and Port Everglades to the local economy.
"People already hold us 100 percent responsible and believe the buck stops with us," Wexler said Thursday.
Hoping to end an almost yearlong search for an airport boss, County Administrator Pam Brangaccio offered the job to Kent George, the longtime director of Pittsburgh's airport. If the commission agrees, he would start work in October and receive a five-year contract with a yearly salary of $250,000, a county government wage second only to the medical examiner.
George, the 60-year-old executive director/CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority since 1998, guided Pittsburgh International through the bankruptcies of its major airline, US Airways. He is credited with attracting low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways there.
George's nomination makes him the fourth person chosen for the director's job since Tom Jargiello resigned last fall.
One finalist self-destructed after inflammatory e-mails he wrote became public, and another was offered the job twice only to back out both times at the last minute.
Under the proposal being reviewed by the charter board, the directors of the airport and seaport would report to the county commissioners and be hired and fired by them. Only three people now report directly to the commission: the county administrator, county attorney and auditor.
The two agencies account for $536 million of the county's $3.6 billion operations.
Brangaccio had no comment on the suggestion, but some members of the charter board are skeptical. Among the concerns is that the agencies would become politicized.
"There is so much to do, that you must delegate these tasks to competent people," said Bruce Rogow, a constitutional law expert who serves on the charter board.
"Ultimately, they are answerable to the County Commission through the administrator," he said.
Scott Wyman can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4511.
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