PitCo commissioners reinstate original Airport Advisory Board member

After weeks of interviewing a field of seven applicants for a vacant seat on the Airport Advisory Board (AAB), the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners reinstated an original member of the AAB.

Andrew Doremus is a pilot and broker with Sotheby’s International Realty with 40-something years of experience flying in and out of Aspen. He said safety and functionality are his greatest priorities for the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, and his personal expertise leans toward airside processes. 

“With the safety, you have to have numerous improvements. And obviously, the widening of the runway has been one. I don’t care if we have bigger airplanes or not — I just want to be safer. If we have the Embraer (175) land here on a wider runway, that’s great because it’ll be better for everybody,” he said. “But there’s improved approaches. There’s approved avionics, there’s things we can do regarding the wind socks, traffic flow — all this kind of stuff that I’m very interested in.”

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He was unanimously appointed to the AAB at its inception in 2021 but resigned in 2023 after resuming work with Signature Flight Group during its response to the county’s Request For Proposals for a fixed base operator contract. 

He said his employment with Signature ended in December 2023. Atlantic Aviation, the current FBO, beat out Signature in the RFP process and is still in negotiations with the county for a 30-year contract.

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Jackie Merrill, Kate Spencer, Jack Cohen, Harrison Sachs, and Bill Landis were also considered. Michael Gottdenker interviewed with the commissioners but was deemed ineligible due to his primary residence being Florida. 

“There’s some pretty amazing interviews … They have aviation experience. They know a lot about the airport, they support the runway move, they believe that a wider runway is safer. And so is the wider separation,” said Commissioner Francie Jacober. “If we hadn’t chosen Andrew Doremus before, it would have been harder for me to make a decision because I really liked a lot of those people a lot. But I just thought maybe it’s obvious that we go with Andrew Doremus because we picked him unanimously last time. He’s really experienced in aviation and seems like a good match.”

The commissioners named Cohen, Sachs, and Landis for their varied aviation expertise. None of them mentioned Merrill or Spencer, the two applicants aligned with Aspen Fly Right — the non-profit that’s long advocated against widening the taxiway/runway centerline separation. 

The board also voted to renew Valerie Braun’s seat. The commissioners expressed approval at her knowledgeable, occasionally dissenting voice on the AAB and the value her perspective brings.

“I think she’s been there as a voice that has a different perspective than then many people,” said Commissioner Chair Greg Poschman. “And she doesn’t hesitate to express it in her minority reports.”

But Commissioner Patti Clapper noted that Braun had gotten a fact wrong during a special meeting on May 1 about an amended Airport Layout Plan. 

Braun, speaking as a private citizen, had said that the ASE Vision Committee was told that there were no commercial aircraft that could replace the CRJ700 that would fit at the airport. Mike Solonz, another AAB member, said later during public comment that they did consider the E175, but at the time, it was believed the aircraft did not have appropriate thrust, which has since changed with a software update.

“She did give some information that wasn’t correct, which is unusual for Valerie because she’s usually right on the mark, (but not) with her facts about the Embraer 175 not being part of the discussion,” Clapper said. “I appreciate her thoroughness and her difference of opinions, but I think … facts just need to be clear because there are enough facts out there that aren’t clear about the airport now.”

Both her and Doremus’ appointments will be codified via resolution at Wednesday’s county meeting.