BURBANK : Airport Panel Elects Temporary President

Burbank Airport commissioners on Monday narrowly elected former Glendale City Councilman Carl Raggio, a strong proponent of the airport’s controversial terminal expansion plan, as their temporary president.

Raggio, who was first appointed to the airport authority in 1989 and served one previous term as its president, will temporarily fill the post vacated by Brian Bowman of Burbank.

Bowman resigned as president last week over philosophical differences with the new Burbank City Council over the airport’s plans for a new terminal that would roughly triple the size of the current facility.

Raggio was elected by a five-vote majority of the nine-member panel and will serve through July, when a permanent president will be elected, airport officials said.

Commissioners Philip Berlin of Burbank and William Paparian of Pasadena also were nominated but failed to garner enough votes. A temporary vice president will be selected at the airport authority’s next meeting June 5.

Also Monday, the airport authority agreed to change the time of its biweekly meetings from mornings to evenings effective next month.

The authority has held its meetings at 9 a.m. on the first and third Monday of each month ever since the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena jointly purchased the airport in 1977, officials said. Heeding a recent public outcry for better accessibility, the authority will now meet the first and third Thursday of each month at 5 p.m.

The meetings will continue to be held in the Skyroom at the airport’s administrative offices until a new location better suited for the installation of a cable broadcasting system is found, officials said.

The authority has expressed its intent to begin televising its meetings on a local public-access station. To do this, the commission may have to move into rented space at the Burbank Airport Hilton or another building on airport property, officials said.