Nantucket Airport Commission approves staff housing lease, enters executive session on manager negotiations

The Nantucket Airport Commission unanimously approved a lease Tuesday for a residence at 3 Yawkey Way to be assigned to airport staff, including an incoming airport manager, and later voted to enter an executive session to discuss negotiations involving the airport manager.

Arthur Gasparo, chairman of the Nantucket Airport Commission, called the meeting to order and led a roll call before the commission took up real-estate and personnel items.

Commission staff told the commission the lease would run through June 15 and asked the commission to authorize the chair to sign the agreement and to allow execution within 30 days. Staff said the town’s required procurement step for this type of real-estate transaction is a published “uniqueness determination” in the central register; that publication gives other parties an opportunity to propose alternative properties before a final contract is executed. Staff said airport counsel would handle the publication.

The commission moved and seconded a single motion covering the lease and the related uniqueness-determination step. The vote was recorded as unanimous: Commissioner Topham — aye; Commissioner Planzer — aye; Commissioner Buscaren — aye; Commissioner Marks — aye; Commissioner Sherry — aye; and Chair Arthur Gasparo — aye. The commission recorded that staff has up to 30 days to complete the execution process after publication of the uniqueness determination.

Later in the meeting commissioners voted unanimously to enter executive session under Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A, section 21A, clause 2. The motion identified the subject as “strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel for the airport manager” and stated the manager would not return to open session. The motion was moved, seconded and carried by recorded aye votes from the same commissioners present.

There was no public comment at the meeting. Staff will proceed with publishing the uniqueness determination and preparing the lease paperwork; the commission did not provide additional public details about the executive-session negotiations during open session.