The Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport board of directors voted in unanimous approval Tuesday to amend the airport’s personnel policy to be more inclusive toward members of the LGBTQ community. Nine of the 10 board members who were present voted to amend the airport’s personnel policy, effective immediately.
Airport board member Madison Silvert filed the motion to include the LGBTQ community in the list of itemized classes that the airport pledges to be inclusive — and, in doing so, non-discriminatory — toward. The airport will abide by these personnel policy upgrades in the hiring of new employees and in the treatment of existing employees. Even more, this personnel policy amendment reaches out to airport customers as well, Silvert said.
“There were probably three different issues that led me to file this motion,” Silvert said after Tuesday’s vote.
The first of Silvert’s issues was the language in the airport’s previous hiring and atmosphere policies. As much of the airport’s funding comes from the Department of Transportation, Silvert said he wanted the Owensboro-Daviess County Airport’s nondiscrimination and inclusion policies to mirror the policies outlined by Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.
“I felt it was important for us to have the same standards,” Silvert said.
The second issue that led to Silvert’s motion to amend the personnel policy was the realization that a nondiscrimination ordinance wouldn’t likely pass through Daviess County Fiscal Court in the near future. With three out of four County commissioners having publicly stated they would vote against it, Silvert felt the airport’s board members should take matters into their own hands.
“It was apparent that we weren’t going to have [a nondiscrimination ordinance] passed in the community anytime soon, so that fell on us,” he said.
The third issue that drove Silvert to amend the airport’s policy to be more inclusive toward the LGBTQ community was his belief that “the airport is the gateway to the community” and that those who work at and travel through Owensboro’s airport should feel an acceptance regardless of race, social status, sexual orientation or gender identification.
None of the airport’s 10 board members objected to the motion to amend the personnel policy and everyone was hugely supportive of the changes, according to both Silvert and Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport Director Rob Barnett.
“I think it’s important to — not only make our personnel policy more inclusive and modernized — but to expand our equal opportunity benefits in making the airport a more welcoming place,” Barnett said. “A lot of consideration, time and effort went into making these changes. We’ve been modernizing our policies for some time now, and Madison, our attorney and myself put a lot of effort into amending this policy.”
