BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph-Times-Monitor General Manager
The Keystone Heights City Council nixed an ordinance that would have given it the power to hire the next airport manager and make the administrator accountable to the city manager.
During a Monday, Aug. 21 workshop, council members Chris Thompson and Tony Brown said the proposed ordinance did not go as far as they had hoped, adding that they wanted the airport to become a city department rather than managed by a separate board.
Council member Chris Thompson said that after visiting Palatka’s municipal airport, which operates as a city department, she came away with a new vision for what Keystone’s facility could be.
“When I went over to the Palatka airport and had a conversation with the airport manager…I found out that there were some big businesses coming into the Palatka Airport, which was very impressive,” Thompson said. “And what will bring high-paying jobs to the residents…So, I got excited about that and thought we could do that here because how many jobs in this town realistically can you work at and make a living to feed your family and own a home here? There are really very few.”
City Attorney Rich Komando told the pair the only way to accomplish their goal was to amend the city’s charter, which may only be changed through a vote of Keystone Heights residents. Komando added that he would stop work on the proposed ordinance and instead draft a resolution to amend the charter, which will likely go before voters in April 2024.
Largest tenant threatens to leave
Meanwhile, the largest tenant at the airport said it might take its business elsewhere if the city council changes how the airport is governed.
MHD Rockland Vice President of Flight Operations Todd Falconer said that when considering where to locate his business, he did not like how the Palatka airfield operated and chose to come to Keystone Heights instead.
“That type of governing model is one of the primary reasons we didn’t go to Palatka,” he said.
Falconer added that before the Keystone Heights Airport came under the control of the airport board, the FAA shut the facility down because of an oversight by Keystone Heights officials.
“When the council previously ran the airport, they had some problems,” he said, “one resulting that the FAA shut down the airport for a while.”
The vice president added that if a similar event occurred in Keystone now, it would devastate his business.
