Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—The city council took another step in taking direct control of the municipally owned airport by instructing its attorney to draft an ordinance that would give the council hiring and firing authority over the airport manager.
Attorney Rich Komando presented the proposed changes to the council during its August meeting. The modifications also make the airport manager accountable to the city manager rather than the airport board.
Other changes would move approval for contracted services from the airport board to the city council and make the airport board an advisory body.
Councilman Steve Hart told his colleagues that the proposed changes might violate the city’s charter, which states that the airport authority is responsible for the facility’s day-to-day operations.
“If we select the manager,” he said, “which is what this suggests we should do or could do, I would be concerned that that would violate our charter ordinance.”
Komando disagreed with Hart, saying that the day-to-day operations would rest with the airport manager, not the city manager or council.
In previous discussions about managing the 2,476-acre facility, which straddles Clay and Bradford Counties, Hart said that if the city council took more control over the airport, it could expose Keystone Heights taxpayers to liability if someone sued the facility.
Komando said if the council wanted him to move forward with the proposed changes, he would incorporate them into an ordinance which would have to be approved by the council in two readings.
Mayor Nina Rodenroth and Council members Tony Brown and Chris Thompson voted for Komando to proceed. Hart voted against the measure, and Councilman Bobby Brown was absent.
