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San Miguel County approves chairsignature on $3.46 million FAA grant for Telluride airport after legal review
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners approved the chairsignature on a $3,461,703 Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program grant to the Telluride Airport Authority after county counsel flagged federal grant language requiring cooperation with federal immigration enforcement; counsel said the provision does not override state law.
The San Miguel County Board of County Commissioners voted July 9 to approve the chairsignature on a $3,461,703 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program for a Telluride Airport Authority project.
The board discussed legal language in the grant agreement that requires a sponsor to cooperate with federal officials, including components of the Department of Homeland Security, on enforcement of federal immigration laws. Maura Fehey, county counsel, told commissioners she did not read the provision as overriding state law.
"I don't read this provision as requiring anything more than what the county has stated its position already is, which is to cooperate with ICE investigations and certainly not impede them to the extent that it doesn't break state law," Maura Fehey said during the discussion.
Fehey also pointed commissioners to the grant's attachment of assurances, which lists recent federal executive orders; she said most of those assurances appear irrelevant to the county's role as sponsor for the airport project and that the assurances appear targeted at federal policy expectations rather than the specific airport work funded by the grant.
After legal counsel explained those points, a commissioner moved to approve the chair's signature on the grant; the motion passed unanimously.
The board and staff noted the county had previously approved a similar agreement in May and that the county, as sponsor, has limited ability to amend FAA grant language. Commissioners asked staff to keep flagging unusual or broad contractual provisions in future agreements.
No construction schedule or other project-specific contract changes were adopted at the meeting; the action authorized only the chair to sign the grant agreement as presented.
