Glendale OKs 3 for Airport Authority

GLENDALE —  The City Council Tuesday appointed local investment banker Jerry Briggs, 52, to the commission overseeing the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, replacing outgoing Commissioner Robert Garcin.

The council also voted to reappoint Commissioners Carl Meseck and Carl Raggio to the nine-member board, city spokesman Rich Wells said.

Briggs, a former Coca-Cola executive who says he helped negotiate the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA), says his first goal is to resolve pending litigation surrounding a planned expansion of Burbank Airport.

Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, which each appoint members to the airport commission, disagree on a plan for expanding the airport to 19 gates, with the potential to build eight more later.

Glendale and Pasadena support the plans; Burbank, which wants more control over noise and traffic around the airport, advocates a more limited expansion.

Although he supports Glendale’s position, Briggs also said he sees “room for movement for both parties.”

“Everyone has to sit down and [negotiate] with dignity. I think there is a happy medium in there somewhere,” he said.

Briggs is a former vice president and general manager of Coca Cola of Los Angeles and is a managing partner of Hollywell Partners, an investment company that specializes in small and medium-sized companies, he said.

A former chairman of the city’s Planning Commission and board of zoning adjustments, he also served with the U.S. International Trade Commission, leaving just after the NAFTA treaty was completed, he said. The experience prepared him for negotiating a settlement to the airport dispute, he said.

Airport commissioners serve four years with no limits on terms. Glendale this year conducted an unprecedented competitive process to select commissioners, choosing Raggio, Meseck and Briggs from a field of about 19 applicants.

Briggs was appointed on a 3-2 vote, with council members Eileen Givens and Sheldon Baker voting no. Raggio was reappointed in a 4-1 vote, with Councilman Dave Weaver voting no, and Meseck was appointed in a unanimous vote.