Rossiter resigns airport panel

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Aug. 3, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

After flying high for the better part of 20 years, Bemidji/Beltrami County Airport Commission Chairman Henry Rossiter's public service career has landed.

Rossiter announced in a July 15 letter to the commission that he would be resigning from his chairmanship effective Sept. 1 because he and his wife would be spending increasing amounts of time away from Bemidji. According to his letter of resignation, Rossiter will be living in Bemidji only two to three months a year, and the rest of the time will be spent in Arizona.

"It is not fair to the board, or myself, to continue as a part-time chairman," Rossiter wrote. "The airport is important and needs someone who can devote time to it."

Rossiter's relationship with the Airport Commission dates back to 1979 when he and fellow city councilman Lester Jones negotiated a joint powers agreement concerning the airport with Beltrami County. The airport had become too much of a burden for the city to handle alone, he said, and so the joint agreement was negotiated to share the burden and the benefits.

He continued to serve on the commission, representing the city until he retired from the Bemidji City Council after 16 years in 1994. Thereafter, he served on the commission as an at-large member, and he took over the chairman's duties in 1995 when long-time chairman Chester Swedmark retired. Rossiter is only the second person to chair the commission since its inception in 1979. Swedmark was the first.

When he began serving on the airport commission, the airport was not much to brag about, Rossiter admitted. In fact, it was typical of most airports its size -- built sometime in the 1940s or 1950s, overcrowded and underused.

His time on the commission has kept him busy. During his tenure, he saw the building of the new terminal; the comings and goings of airlines; and probably most importantly, he proceeded with his fight with Bemidji's only current airline over fare prices when there was not much support.

Rossiter began a quest earlier this year to force the only carrier in Bemidji, Mesaba, an airlink of Northwest, to lower its fares. Against tall odds and everybody's negative expectations, he said he thought if he could get enough media coverage of the situation, he could at least force the airline to the negotiating table, and succeeded he did. The company implemented a test program in April, lowering its fares for a six month period to see how it would affect ridership.

Now, with July ridership figures at almost 3,400 -- even higher than the years when the airport had competing airlines -- Rossiter said he believes there is now way Northwest can justify its previously high fares.

Ridership was 2,055 in July of 1996. it was 2,345 in July of 1995, when United Airlines competed with Northwest in Bemidji.

The lowering of airfares probably was his mot publicized accomplishment, but Rossiter said he is most proud of the negotiation worked out between the city and the county. It was "the smoothest, most trouble-free agreement" he had ever been involved with. "A perfect marriage," he said.

As for the future of the airport, Rossiter said he is confident the state's fourth busiest airport has a "viable future as a good regional airport." Currently, it supports a commuter operation, but it also supports freight hauling and charter planes, and even is a center for firefighting planes. And eh said there is no reason the airport should not be able to support yet more business.

"It has been very gratifying, and an honor, to end a long career of public service as chairman of the airport commission," he wrote in his resignation letter. "Being part of establishing joint ownership of the present airport, serving on the commission and ending as your chairman have been the highlight of my career in public service."