TVC Pushes For Public Meeting Videos, Airline Summit

Cherry Capital Airport (TVC) officials will step up efforts to record board meetings and make them available for public viewing.

The Northwest Regional Airport Authority Board this week instructed its Executive Committee to take the lead in creating video recordings of NRAA meetings. That’s after a recent request for proposals to modify the airport’s conference room with audio and video equipment to record and replay board meetings failed to generate any bids.

An increasing number of requests to record and replay NRAA Board meetings have been fielded by the board in recent months, both from local officials and residents who attend board meetings.

Airport CEO Kevin Klein said this year’s TVC’s operating budget included $25,000 to launch the recording and replaying of NRAA Board meetings. After the RPF for the work issued in July didn’t get any response, Klein says airport staff reached out to the company that operates the airport’s public intercom system for a proposal. That came in at around $47,000 – almost twice what airport officials have budgeted.

“One of the biggest disadvantages is that we don’t have the infrastructure to do it,” Klein says. The airport’s 22-year-old conference room has no microphones to record board discussions, and limited video capabilities.

Klein says the Executive Committee will look at various issues including the audio/visual equipment needed to record meetings, and platforms to make them available for public viewing such as You Tube and the airport’s soon-to-be-upgraded website. It will also consider how long to retain the recordings and necessary compliance with public disclosure laws.

“We’re asking them to look at all the options that are out there,” Klein says.

Despite the delay, Klein says the board is aiming to have its meetings available for public viewing by the end of the year. Board members say the sooner the better.

“I believe we need to be transparent in broadcasting these meetings,” board member Doug DeYoung says.

In other action this week the board approved a 3-year, $231,820 marketing contract with Traverse Connect, the regional business support and advocacy organization based in Traverse City. The contract will pay $75,000 in 2027 and increase by three percent a year.

The new contract represents a nearly 30 percent increase from this year’s $58,000 marketing agreement. Klein says much of the increase is related to enlisting the organization’s assistance in planning and hosting a national air service conference in the Traverse City area that airport officials are targeting for the fall of 2027.

Klein says airport staff and consultants have attended such conferences in various cities including Phoenix, Dallas, Chicago and Denver. The conferences are typically hosted by national airport and airline consultants like Mead & Hunt, a Wisconsin-based firm that provides various consulting services to TVC.

Klein says he’s hoping the conference will draw representatives from more than a dozen national and regional airlines to the Grand Traverse area, including those that don’t currently provide air service to the region. 

Klein says the national conferences create opportunities for airline leaders and schedulers to meet with local business and tourism representatives - and public officials - to learn more about local and regional travel markets.
“It’s great to be able to bring those decision-makers into your town,” Klein says.

Klein is looking at “a September time frame” in 2027 for hosting the conference, which he estimates will cost between $125,000 and $135,000.

The airport’s marketing contract with Traverse Connect is also matched by the organization’s existing business and talent attraction marketing program that totals more than $109,000 a year, according to a memo from Klein to the airport board

“Traverse Connect will provide the Airport Authority with regular reporting to track the effectiveness of work for the targeted industries, talent attraction and remote work, as well as overall economic activity,” Klein’s memo says. “Quarterly reporting will be provided on intended outcomes and growth barometer metrics detailing the regional business sentiment, future prospects and current challenges.”

Beyond the marketing contract, TVC also pays Traverse Connect $11,125 in annual dues for a Champions Level membership in the organization.

This week’s meeting was the last for DeYoung, who submitted his resignation last month after nearly 12 years on the airport board.

DeYoung has chaired the airport board’s Building and Grounds Committee for the past two years, which has led TVC’s bidding and contracting work for its new $120 million terminal expansion project that broke ground this spring and is scheduled for completion by spring 2028. DeYoung told board members he’s enjoyed his tenure on the TVC board, but cited increasing professional and travel obligations related to his work as the executive director for community engagement at Consumers Energy as the reason for his resignation.

Klein says the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners is seeking applicants to fill out the remainder of DeYoung’s three-year term, which expires at the end of the year.