Airport Authority turns back on community’s questions

Airport Authority turns back on community’s questions
Thursday, 11 June 2009
By D. Linsey Wisdom
News Editor

Members of the public have questions they want answers to, but according to Airport Authority Attorney Joe Collins, those questions will remain unanswered.

On the request of authority chairman Milles Gregory, residents submitted written questions regarding the Macon County Airport expansion and future development. Letters were answered with little result.

“It is my opinion,” wrote Collins, “that neither Chairman Gregory nor any member of the Airport Authority are obligated to respond to your questionnaire, and I have advised them accordingly.”

The letter was sent to a representative from two groups, Olga Pader with Save Iotla Valley Citizens Group and Sharon Kitchens with Save the Sacred Sites. The two organizations are not related. Each group, however, submitted separate lists of questions to the authority last month.

The Save Iotla Valley questions indicated they were responding to the authority’s request to submit all questions in writing. Six community members submitted questions with each person asking four to eight questions.

Collins said in all, just from Save Iotla Valley, there were about 50 questions.

“Some are questions. Some are statements of opinion. Some would require extensive research, engineering and hard work that those asking the question could answer just as well,” Collins said on Friday.

He said all resources are available to residents, like the 400-page environmental assessment which addresses issues like need for the airport and size of plane that is currently using the airport and will use the airport in the future.

Some questions are straightforward. “Who really owns the airport? Provide legal proof,” writes Jess Meadows. Others are more in depth: “How will increased noise pollution affect all of North Macon County and residents?” asked Debby Boots.

Pader, who lives close to the airport and has become the unofficial point person for Save Iotla Valley, said she feels like it is a “slap in the face” that the airport authority refused to answer questions.

“I find the whole situation frustrating and disheartening. What has become very clear is the people who live in Iotla Valley are being ignored,” she said.

She said the authority argues that this plan has been in process for the last 10 years.

“That being the case, these questions should already be answered,” Pader said.

Fleming Bell with the North Carolina School of Government says the authority is acting within the confines of the law.

“I think that attendees are entitled to ask questions during a public comment period or a public hearing, but there is no requirement that board members respond to those questions, either at the meeting or at some later time,” Bell said.

He said that public comment periods are only required as the law dictates, which is once a month at city council, school board and county commission meetings only.

Boards can impose time limits or adopt other rules in regards to public hearing and public comment periods.

“If public comment is being received, the board must be careful to allow all viewpoints to be heard. In my opinion, criticism of the board itself must also be allowed,” Bell said. “These rules stem from the fact that public comment periods and public hearings constitute limited public forums under First Amendment law.”

Collins said the authority was trying to be accommodating, but Gregory was simply overwhelmed by the number of responses received to the statement “submit your questions in writing.”

“It was suggested to Milles that, if these questions were written down, they would be more manageable,” Collins said. Meetings this spring have been well attended and many residents were seeking answers to questions during the public comment period.

When the letters were submitted, said Collins, Gregory was overwhelmed and brought the information to the attorney’s attention.

“As an attorney, I saw this was an unreasonable request of them. These people are volunteers. And I don’t think it would have satisfied those asking the questions,” Collins said. “It would open the door for interpretation of our answers. I just didn’t see the benefit to begin a process like that. It would be never ending.”

Collins said he advised Gregory against answering the questions individually.

“A well developed, complete response would require many manhours of work by many people. Some responses could be made by the members of the authority while other responses would require the assistance of others, including industry experts,” Collins explains in his letter. Those experts would cost money.

The offer was made to answer questions in writing because a number of people were very upset to learn of the project nearing the end of its completion. But in truth, the project is too far along to start over from the beginning.

“What we really want to know is where this is leading,” Pader said. She said there is talk in the community of future expansion, widening Airport Road and widening Iotla Road.

“We are the people living in this community. We have a right to know. We have a right to receive answers. They are beholdened to us, not the other way around,” she said.

Dolly Reed, a native Cherokee and area resident, said she doesn’t understand the attorney’s response.

“I couldn’t see why they couldn’t answer any of the questions,” she said. “When a child asks you a question, you answer ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘maybe later.’” If the authority didn’t have answers readily available, or were asked too many questions at once, they should have said, “Maybe later.”

Gregory said on Tuesday he understood that people were upset.

“I take the blame for that,” Gregory said. “I had no idea when I opened that door just what the response would be.”

The authority states it followed the law. It posted notices of meetings as required. A formal public hearing was held.

Reed agreed that the board may have followed the letter of the law, but posting public notices when people aren’t expecting to look for them is an unrealistic solution.

“If you’re not really looking for it, you’re going to miss it,” she said.

Macon County Commissioner Bobby Kuppers acts as a liaison between the authority and the county commission. He has served in this role for the last six months.

“I hesitate to make any comment on this letter. It is a decision reached between the authority and its attorney,” he said. Kuppers is not a voting authority member and did not observe any discussion regarding the action.

“I can speak as a commissioner and say that in a commission meeting, the time to really raise the issues is during the public hearing,” he said. “I know during public comments, sometimes people don’t get the floor as long as they would like, but on the flip side of the coin, it’s really just a business meeting.”

He reiterated the fact that those serving on the authority were just volunteers.

“And at the end of the day, they’re your neighbors,” he said.

From what he has observed in the last six months, Kuppers said he has seen people become very interested in what the airport expansion is doing right now. But a lot of background work and public discussion took place before reaching this point.

“I respect their opinion, I really do. But this shows why it is so important for people to get involved early on. When you get in too late, you can’t be as effective,” he said.

Community members came before the board of commissioners to express their concerns earlier this year. The county has heard the concerns but taken no action and has failed to answer citizens’ concerns.

“People are welcome to come before the commissioners at anytime, but I don’t know that it will bring resolution to this situation,” Kuppers said.

Gregory also said he did not know how to come to a truce. The vocal groups right now are just against the project, he said.

“I don’t see resolution from their point of view. But, the majority of the people I have spoken with are for the project. This has been ongoing for 10 years.”

He said as far as future expansion, lots of things have been discussed over the last decade. There is a desire to build more hangars on the site. As for road projects, there was talk at one time, but he did not think that funding was available at this point.

Reed said now may be the time to become more organized as a community. She said she would like to see more effort made to keep residents informed of projects in those “early stages.”

Commissioners are now making visits to community clubs and that would be one communication tool which could help prevent problems like this in the future. A small public notice or posting information in the courthouse just doesn’t reach the people effectively.

“We’re not going to give up,” Pader said. “This is our community; we have a right to know.”
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