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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City administrator Bob Long was noticeably absent from a special council meeting Monday, where talk centred on a plan to install a public floatplane dock on Latham Island - a scheme some residents say places the floatplane-owning official in a conflict of interest.

The floatplane and boat dock on the southwest side of Latham Island was one of five priorities brought to council last week by the harbour planning committee chaired by city councillor Shelagh Montgomery.

Former city councillor Mike Byrne is suspicious of the plan because Long owns a floatplane and he is a member of the NWT Float Plane Association, a group that is pushing for the floatplane dock. Long currently keeps his Super Cub floatplane parked on city-owned property on Wiley Road, just a stone's throw from the proposed dock. He is not charged any rent for keeping his plane there, according to Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

"I went in the mayor's office and confronted him about Bob Long and the mayor told us why he wasn't at the meeting was because there was a perceived conflict of interest, but not a conflict," said Byrne, who was one of about 10 people who were in council chambers Monday to voice their opposition to the floatplane dock. "(Bob Long) has a private plane parked exclusively on the only piece of waterfront property the city actually owns ... What is that, a perk of the job or whatever that you get to park on taxpayers' property with your plane?"

The area in question is also among locations identified in the harbour committee's list of priorities as a future park site.

Montgomery said there wasn't any discussion of Long's plane among committee members while drafting the five harbourfront priorities.

"We didn't talk about any personal planes," she said. "But of planes illegally parked down on Back Bay."

Van Tighem told council and those gathered for the meeting that the city wanted to remove any misunderstanding that there could be a conflict of interest due to Long owning a floatplane or being a member of the floatplane association. Public works director Dennis Kefalas took the role of acting city administrator during the meeting.

Van Tighem, who spoke on Long's behalf, said the public land at Wiley Road is used for overflow plane parking due to a shortage of spaces in the city to park aircraft.

"So, no, (Long) has no interest in the new public float docks that are going in," said Van Tighem, adding it is not uncommon for planes to park on public land in Old Town free of charge.

"That has happened in the past on many occasions, very similar to the area where the new dock is being considered," he said.

"If you look any time during the summer, you will see six planes parked there. That is all public land. There is no permission granted for any of them to be parking there."

Van Tighem added a number of other places like Whitehorse, Fort Simpson and Fairbanks, Alaska face similar situations.

Byrne was highly critical of the floatplane dock, saying it would only benefit a few affluent plane owners at the expense of city taxpayers.

"By utilizing public tax dollars to provide private parking for a very small and select number of aircraft owners is essentially what this project is and there is nothing public about it except the expenditures of funds and resources," said Byrne.

Long could not be reached for comment.

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