| Summary |
The Public Airport Authority Act (act) authorizes a county or a
municipality, or a combination of counties and municipalities, to create
an airport authority to operate an airport located within the county or
municipality or the combination of counties and municipalities. The bill
modernizes the act as follows:
•
Section 1 of the bill defines inflation as the annual
percentage change in the United States department of labor,
bureau of labor statistics, consumer price index for
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood for all items paid by all urban
consumers, or its successor index;
•
Section 2 clarifies the extent of the power of a county, a
municipality, or a combination of counties and
municipalities, to terminate an airport authority by
requiring that a terminating county, municipality, or
combination assume the terminated authority's outstanding
financial and contractual obligations and requiring that a
terminating county, municipality, or combination operate
and maintain the airport that the airport authority
previously operated, and receive and hold title to the land
on which the airport is located;
•
Section 3 clarifies that members of an airport authority's
board of commissioners (board) do not receive
compensation for their services, members of a board are
subject to the statutory ethics and conflict of interest
provisions that apply to local government officials, a
member of a board who was appointed to fill a vacancy
may be appointed to serve a successive term, and that board
meetings are subject to statutory open meetings
requirements;
•
Section 3 changes the requirement that 60% of board
members be present for a quorum to 50%;
•
Section 3 clarifies that the majority vote of all members of
a board is required for questions involving the inclusion in
or exclusion from an airport authority of a municipality or
county and for authorizing an expenditure greater than
$250,000;
•
Section 3 modifies the process by which a board procures
contracts, including updating the process for a board to
award a contract to the lowest bidder after soliciting an
invitation for bids and clarifying that the process to award
a contract to the lowest bidder applies only to capital
improvement projects and the purchase of new vehicles and
equipment;
•
Section 4 clarifies an airport authority's powers to remove
hazards and encroachments, impose fees on airport users to
defray the cost of operating an airport, and regulate
commercial activities conducted within an airport authority;
•
Section 4 clarifies that an airport authority must follow
local zoning regulations when erecting structures within an
airport authority and that an airport authority may invest
surplus money in a local government investment pool;
•
Section 4 allows an airport authority to request that a
county or municipality within which the airport authority is
located levy a tax for the airport authority's benefit or
modify or adopt certain local zoning regulations;
•
Section 5 clarifies that tenants or users of an airport that an
airport authority operates are not entitled to any of the tax
exemptions that apply to airport authorities; and
•
Section 6 makes a conforming amendment to clarify that a
member of a board is a local government official.
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