HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 05 1989 Airport board disbandedAirport board disbanded
Members express concerns at final meeting
By George Ricker
As its final official act, the Sebas-
tian Airport Advisory Board recom-
mended that the Sebastian City Coun-
cil approve the renewal of the Mid -
Florida Shutzhund Club's lease of
one acre of land at the airport.
Me-,ting fvr the last 3 me, board,
members expressed concern Tuesday
afternoon about the future of the air-
port and took a few parting shots at the
City Council, which voted to dissolve
the board on the following evening.
Ed Paluch, who has served on the
advisory board for 17 years, noted
that he estimates there is about
$300,000 in the airport enterprise
fund.
Paluch said, "I suggest that the
people who take charge of the money
use it for the maintenance and im-
provement on the airport.
"It has been an arduous task to
generate and handle these funds and
keep them accessible to the airport
and the aviation community," he
added.
Chairman Robert Morrow took is-
sue with the City Council's rejection
of an advisory board recommenda-
tion that up to $10,000 be spent to
provide security lighting for the pub-
lic parking areas at the airport.
One reason the board had made that
recommendation, Morrow said, was
because the police chief had sug-
gested it as a remedy for the $50,000
to $60,000 in thefts of aviationequip-
menta,t the airport.
- ' 1-1 tl'iu+ g t we Warited a SIIIAlI, safe -
airport," he observed. "At least, that's
what I kept hearing during the cam-
paign before the election."
Noting that the city had spent
money on an engineering study from
Empire Engineering, and the study
had recommended paving the run -
,ways at the airport, Morrow said he
could not understand why the City
Council now was advocating ''the
application of slurry seal to the run-
ways.
"If we are going to slurry seal the
runways," he said, "we might as well
go ahead and slurry seal the city
streets, instead of paving them."
Morrow said he had served on quite
a few other boards before coming to
Sebastian and had seen some nasty
political fighter, but "...I have never
heard as much mi
have heard about
believes once sewer service has been
extended to the airport area - some-
thing that is supposed to happen by
late summer or early fall of next year.
- the airport property will be like
"gold."
He said the possibility of pending
litigation, which could cost the city
hundreds of thousands of dollars in
legal fees .and millions in damages,
was a matter of grave concern to him
and should be a matter of concern for
everyone in the community.
In addition to Paluch and Morrow,
board members Kenneth Meguin and
Ted Ahneman were present at the
meeting. Vice Chairman Earl Mas-
teller, member Rene VanpeVoorde
and member Mike Kenney were not in
attendance.
The City Council voted 3-2 Wed
nesday night to approve an ordinance
disbanding the airport advisory
board. Vice Mayor Robert McCarthy
and Councilmen Lloyd Rondeau and
Robert McCollum voted yes, and
Mayor Richard Votapka and Council-
man Frank Oberbeck were dissenters.
th