A few thoughts on the airport

After sorting through the debate and conflict over Portland Municipal Airport, a few conclusions seem pretty clear.

First, two separate agreements between the city and the airport manager and between the city and its fixed base operator need to be drawn up as clearly as possible so that duties and responsibilities are completely spelled out.

Under the current arrangement, with Dave Miller as airport manager and Miller Aviation as fixed base operator, it's next to impossible to know where Miller's duties as airport manager end and his business operations begin.

That muddy relationship with the city led directly to a clash with the city's fiscal adviser over financial data the city sought back in 2008.

From the city's point of view, it had a right to the numbers because the airport's a city-owned and city-maintained facility.

From Miller's point of view, the request is a case of serious over-reaching into the affairs of a private business.

A case can be made for both perspectives, but the lack of clarity in the contracted relationship made conflict inevitable.

Second, while the dispute between the Hosier administration and Miller began over a matter of perspective and philosophy, it has become personal. And because it has become personal, it's going to be much harder to reach a win-win conclusion.

Miller, as a private businessman, was angered by the city's proposal that he open his books and tax returns. He saw it as none of the city's business. Mayor Hosier, as the city's chief executive, was irked by Miller's refusal to share financial information. He saw it as Miller thumbing his nose at the city.

Reading through the communiqués between Greg Guerrettaz, the city's financial adviser, and Miller, it's clear that the two were talking past each other from the start. They had no shared frame of reference and may as well have been from different planets.

Third, the aviation board needs to take immediate steps to improve its professionalism and its transparency. This is nothing new.

Historically the aviation board has been one of the most casual units of local government when it comes to abiding by Indiana's open meetings law. That's a record that goes back decades before the current administration.

A more businesslike board, faced with the need for hangar repairs last year, would have done this: It would have consulted in a regularly scheduled open meeting with the airport manager and determined whether the repairs fell under the manager's contracted duties. Since it appears that's not a part of the contract, the next step would have been to ask the airport manager to secure quotes from at least three local contractors and bring them back to the board for consideration and a vote in a public session.

Instead, this is what happened: The board never clarified the manager's role in making repairs but directed the board president - by consensus but no vote - to get the repairs taken care of. There was no budget. There were no written, competing quotes. And the whole thing exceeded the statutory limits for such expenditures set by the state of Indiana.

As a result, a cloud hangs over the whole project. All because the board didn't conduct itself in a businesslike manner. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]