Friday, March 01, 2013

Sumner County Regional (M33), Gallatin, Tennessee: Airport, county power struggle reignites

The long-running power struggle between the Sumner County Commission and the Sumner County Regional Airport Authority reignited Monday and, if unresolved, may end up with the commission dissolving the board and starting over.

The County Commission unanimously approved eight replacement nominees to the Airport Authority board Monday under its new procedural rules adopted at its January meeting. The new rules completely cut the authority board out of the process of appointing its own members with no input, screening, or vetting of nominees.

“We don’t want to use the nuclear option if we don’t have to,” Com. Jerry Stone said at a January committee meeting. “We want to see if this works first. We sure don’t want to go back to court if we can avoid it.” Wednesday, he said that still was “an accurate summary” of his feelings on the matter.

Meanwhile, at the authority’s Monday meeting, board members voted to put forward to the County Commission the names of any board members whose terms had expired and who wanted to continue to serve.

The authority board also asked Jim Egan, a retired commercial pilot and member of Sumner United for Responsible Government, if he was willing to fill a vacant board seat. Egan pointed out he was already being put forward that same night for a vote before the County Commission, but said he would consider it. The name of John Berwin also was put forward.

A new turn in the troubles with the county comes from the authority board’s last-minute decision to give airport Administrator Steve Sudbury a raise of $1,000 a month with an additional cost-of-living adjustment of $250 a month, for a total $15,000 annual base pay boost for the post, meaning Sudbury’s pay increased from $30,000 per year to $45,000 annually.

Included in Sudbury’s employee agreement package was a five-year contract with an annual performance review. Sudbury told the board he had not been given a raise for “at least four years” and maybe five.

Sudbury pointed Wednesday to the recent completion of a 1,300-foot runway extension as a move that had made the airport “more attractive” to corporate jets and made his salary increase equitable.

“I think I've earned it and positioned it to be a super nice metropolitan airport,” he said, adding it would be “a huge part of the economic development for Sumner County.”

The eight authority nominees approved by the County Commission Monday are: pilot Don Drayton to replace Sue McPherson; pilot John Berwin to replace Tom Graves; pilot Steve Nelson to replace Jerry Kirby; pilot Bill Taylor to replace Chairman David Hunter; pilot Tim Lynch Jr. to replace Tim Adair; Egan to replace Richard Coker; Ben Williams, a retired Army Colonel who managed a military air base, to replace Kevin McCutcheon; and Don Dickerson, a retired Marine who was involved in helicopter logistics and maintenance, to replace David Blankenship.

Berwin and Taylor were previously appointed by the County Commission in December 2010 but the authority board refused to seat them and the matter ended up in Chancery Court. Chancellor Tom Gray ruled in November 2012 that the County Commission had not followed its own procedural rules in appointing airport board members, and so the commissioners had to re-do the process.

County Executive Anthony Holt screened, interviewed, and recommended the applicants to the Committee on Committees. In the previous failed attempt to place Berwin and Taylor on the board, the combined actions of two commission committees, Public Service and Committee on Committees, were found by the court to have not properly vetted credentials of the nominees.

After the County Commission meeting, Lynch said he hoped the transition would be “very smooth.”

“We have a lot of things we want to do,” he said. “We want to move the airport forward, make it an economic engine in the county again, and facilitate the growth of a transparent model.”

Coker, one of the airport board members that the County Commission has moved to replace, said Wednesday that he had volunteered to continue to stay on the board and wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep his post.

“Apparently the county has one interpretation and the Sumner County Airport board has another,” he said.

In regard to Sudbury’s pay increase, Coker said the board had “canvassed” other airports and found most full-time managers earn between $70,000 and $80,000 per year. He noted that Sudbury’s position was “almost” full time.

“He's doing a good job, and we will look at it every year,” Coker said.

County Attorney Leah Dennen declined to comment on the county’s response to the authority board’s actions.

In previous committee discussions, several members said the county had had enough and should dissolve the authority board and re-establish a new one. They were urged to try the appointment route first.

Contributing writer Jesse Hughes lives in Sumner County.


http://www.tennessean.com

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