Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Airport Board Ordinance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lincoln County commissioners vote down advertised change to airport advisory board
Summary
After a public hearing and legal-notice concerns, the Board of County Commissioners voted to reject the second-reading ordinance that would have altered the composition of the county's airport advisory board; commissioners said they will rework and re-advertise the proposal.
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners voted Oct. 7 to deny consideration of an advertised amendment to ordinance 0904-06 that would have changed the makeup of the county's airport advisory board.
At a second-reading public hearing, Commissioner Mark Schmidt (Commissioner) described a proposed restructure he said would make the advisory board "more direction and more insight" and help make the airport revenue-neutral. Schmidt told the board the airport manager had been injured in a serious plane accident and said the county needed volunteers with aviation and business experience to help manage operations.
The ordinance as advertised called for seven members composed of one county commissioner, five airport property lessees and one county-registered voter. Schmidt proposed an amendment to change that balance to two commissioners, four airport users and one public member. Several commissioners and members of the public objected to the amended version because it differed from the text that had been published for the second reading.
Linda Montgomery of Fairview urged the board to retain the advertised language, saying the published version — two commissioners, three lessees and two county residents — "is the most fair way to go" and that lessees should preferably be county residents. Local resident and attorney Chuck Styles warned of a potential legal-notice problem, telling the commission, "I think there there could be a potential legal issue with any action taken" if the board voted on a different proposal than the one advertised.
Citing that discrepancy, the chair sought a clean restart of the process rather than voting on an amendment that had not been properly noticed. The board adopted a motion to decline consideration of the proposed amendment and to return with a properly noticed ordinance; the motion carried on a roll-call vote with all commissioners voting yes.
Commissioner Schmidt said the county will revisit the issue and work with airport users and staff to bring back a clarified, properly noticed proposal.
The commission moved on to the next agenda item. No final ordinance change was adopted at this meeting.
