Spaceport governance meeting pushed back

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority governing board postponed a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, according to its online meeting announcement.

No agenda was posted for the meeting.

Alicia Keyes, New Mexico Economic Development Department Secretary and board chair for the Spaceport Authority, said the delay stemmed from the Virgin Galactic flight planned for May 25.

The date for a new meeting is up in the air.

“We will post when the next meeting will be but with so much travel from board members, it’s looking like July,” Keyes told Source NM in an email..

Additional questions emailed to New Mexico Spaceport Authority staff went unanswered Tuesday. The agency is without a public information officer, according to an auto-response, Alice Carruth recently departed the agency.

The postponement raises questions about the board’s obligations to host meetings every fiscal quarter.

The law establishing the board states it “shall meet in regular session at least once every three months.”

The last regular board meeting posted to the site is dated Jan. 20, 2023. There was a public hearing on a rule on Feb. 22, 2023.

Keyes did not respond by deadline to a follow-up question regarding the law.

Emails, a call and texts to the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, regarding the obligations were unreturned Tuesday.