I am also not aware of who John Smith is.  What I gathered from this letter is he is the current president of the Colville Chamber of Commerce and does volunteer work. Did I mention he does volunteer work? I reserve my comments for later.

Here is what he has to say about the relocation of the Colville Airport:

Letter from the President
Why Do We Need an Economic Impact Study for Relocating the Airport?

Living and working in this community for over twenty years, my perspective was largely based on second party reporting. I had all kinds of misconceptions about how things worked both socially and in local government here in Colville . As I worked more closely with many of you, I had to frequently adjust my preconceived ideas as new revelations became evident and my love for and desire to serve our community grew. As I’ve seen my own words publicly misrepresented over the past few months, I have gained a whole new respect for those who dare to speak out on controversial issues.

For several years now as a participant in the Colville Chamber of Commerce Board, it became my responsibility to talk with local businesses and gather their input regarding Chamber activities. As I asked businesses how we could help them, repeatedly the issue of an expansion and relocation of the Colville airport came up. Not initially familiar with the issue, I visited with long time local residents, former officials, and current elected officials and public employees. In every occasion I found those with whom I spoke ready and willing to answer my questions.

As president of the Chamber, I have taken an active role in the conversation about the airport, because many of our members urged me to do so. Many have given detailed accounts of how utilization of expanded flight services that could be provided through a relocated airport could specifically serve their businesses. It has been quite an education. Many of these members pointed out things I never would have considered.

Now let me be quite clear here. Every business has differing needs. I haven’t spoken with every business in Colville , nor have I spoken with every Chamber member, but I have made an earnest attempt to speak with the broadest cross section of local business that my 20 or 30 hours a week of volunteer service will allow.

In economically uncertain times, small communities either stick together or fall apart. Please keep in mind that those 20 to 30 hours of volunteer time I mentioned above don’t just apply to working with the airport project. The Chamber has increased its financial commitment and involvement in many of our local events. We have completely revamped and expanded our approach to tourism and external marketing. We have significantly improved our local web-presence and improved our relationships and interaction with neighboring cities, towns and communities. We have attempted to convey the needs and desires you have shared with us to our elected representatives at all levels. Together the board and staff are constantly looking at the feasibility of new ideas to enable our local businesses to continue to encourage the character and spirit within our community that we love and appreciate.

In the private sector, when someone has an idea for a new business venture, the wisest path is to do a feasibility study to determine if the project is financially viable or not. A little bit of time and money dedicated to research can often save millions in project costs or can even prevent catastrophic failure. It is amazing to me that when it comes to the public sector, instead of doing this sort of fact based research, projects succeed or fail based upon perceived public opinion. I say perceived because often those who voice their opinions the loudest are those the least knowledgeable.  However, due to the nature of the media and political systems they often get more attention than those who are quietly forming the engine driving productivity in the region.

I believe an Economic Impact Study for the Relocation / Expansion of the airport would allow those who are quietly minding their own business (literally), creating jobs, and maintaining the economic activity we do enjoy to both get the facts regarding this issue, and give their input. It could provide a transparent system of information sharing in which the general public could both receive the facts enabling them to form educated opinions, and share their concerns or interest in the matter. And it could enable decision makers to access facts regarding this issue in a more “easily digestible” format. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, and I believe this study has the potential to get us more answers than we have now.

Frequent repetition of half truths doesn’t add up to the whole truth. Just because a few have taken information out of context and insist that the current airport is economically unsustainable, it doesn’t make it true. A closer look at our city’s financial report shows our local airport, as it currently stands, is one of the few City operations that actually brings money into the city’s treasury. Opponents of the airport in general like to point to a USA Today article, which if we are to believe is accurate, suggests that 75% of all general aviation airports in this country lose money and cost the taxpayers. If this is true then the City of Colville ’s airport is currently in the top 25% of airports in the nation. Keep in mind, this isn’t my data, I’m just using the information in the USA Today article that so many like to quote and current city financial records.

As a business owner, when we encounter tight times, we re-evaluate our current operations and wisely cut back in areas that are draining to our budgets, and expand those areas that are productive. It is a reasonable move by the City of Colville to look at how to expand one of its few productive assets, now, when things are tight.

Unlike many, I do not believe it is the government’s job to stimulate the economy. The role of public entities should not be to participate in or meddle with the private sector, but to create an environment in which productivity can exist. Many of those working in industry in our area have shown me how the expansion of our airport’s flight operations would positively impact their ability to function and provide employment. There are still businesses with whom I have not spoken, which is why I believe a comprehensive and transparent Economic Impact Study involving many levels of participation from the community and region is vital and necessary at this point.

We often hear of our deteriorating roads and limited budgets. The right move to meet these needs is to enable local business and industry to become more productive so that additional sales and property tax revenue can be generated to address these needs within the city. Just because we’re hungry doesn’t justify killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. This is a time to listen to local businesses and work with them to create new and innovative solutions.

At this time in no way do I, nor does the Chamber, endorse any one site or location for this expansion / relocation. We have an intense respect for the rights of both business and property owners and we urge a solution that can serve and protect the rights of both and improve public safety throughout our region.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and please feel free to contact me with your comments.

John Smith
President
Colville Chamber of Commerce