Southwest Oregon Regional Airport, struggling to build ridership on Portland flights, has tapped its contingency fund to hire a public relations spokesman.

Coos County native Matthew Jarvis, also a broadcast newsman and owner of a startup weekly newspaper, will be paid $1,000 a month for 20 hours a week. Airport Executive Director Gary LeTellier explained that airport commissioners had urged him to get help with community relations in order to improve the airport's image.



"We need to get the message out in a positive way about northbound flights," LeTellier said. "There's been a lack of information on what we're doing with these routes."

LeTellier said he chose the 54-year-old Jarvis after talking to several people about the position. Described as experimental, the job started April 1. The board will re-evaluate it in 60 to 90 days.

Jarvis' duties will include handling media calls, writing press releases and possibly coordinating radio and TV spots. The airport did not advertise the job.

"We want to get the right message out there, pull it all together and get it through one person so we can get a cohesive message across," LeTellier said.

"We're a small business," LeTellier said. We need to do a better job with that. We thought that Matt could do that for us on an interim basis."

Money has been tight at the airport, which has laid off all four of its part-time employees due in part to the economic downturn and its effect on ridership. Jarvis' salary comes from the airport's contingency fund, not the general fund from which other salaries are paid.

"There's not enough money in the budget to put a person here on a full-time basis," LeTellier said. "We're trying to fill a need here in an efficient way with as least a cost as possible."

SkyWest Airlines, which offers flights to San Francisco and to Portland, reported 42 percent fewer tickets sold in February than Horizon Air sold the year before. Coos County Airport District commissioners discussed getting Federal Aviation Administration justification for the remaining personnel.

A Coos Bay resident, Jarvis has a 40-year multiple media background. He has worked for several Oregon radio and TV stations. He currently manages Jarvis Communications, does radio news for Bicoastal Media, is a stringer for KOBI Channel 5 in Medford and does play-by-play sports for Marshfield High School's radio station, KMHS, during the school year. Jarvis Communications includes a recently launched weekly newspaper and a Web site.

Jarvis said he doesn't think his other media ventures will conflict with his job at the airport.

"I can, and do, separate the two and look at this as more of an opportunity as a citizen, and taxpayer, of the community to step forward to help out and lend my expertise and energy to something I feel is a very positive aspect of our community during tough economic times," he said.