Greeneville Mayor Cal Doty is not happy with the Greeneville Municipal Airport Authority after an announcement earlier this week that Scott Niswonger is planning to take his airport investment and expansion plan to Indiana. And the Mayor says dissolving the Airport Authority Board is an option that may have to be considered by City Council.
In a statement, Mayor Doty wrote “As mayor of the town of Greeneville and as a taxpayer, I was disappointed when I received the Skyknight press release that announced the loss of a $5 million airport investment to the state of Indiana.”
The Town of Greeneville, the mayor says, “has funded many years of operating losses at Greeneville Municipal Airport, and the loss of this investment only makes a strained financial situation worse in the short and long term.”
“As the town is the fiscal agent of the airport, I find the loss of this investment concerning,” Doty added. “Just in the past year, the Greenville City Council voted for the town to assume responsibility for $124,500 per year in debt that the airport had been carrying to support the airport’s financial stability.”
Doty went on to comment that “the Greeneville Municipal Airport Authority has asked for more autonomy from the town, including the ability to use their own chosen accounting and banking establishments at additional cost to the airport instead of the town’s existing finance department.”
Therefore he said “it is the responsibility of the Airport Authority board to manage their revenues. However, we have recently found that neither the airport manager nor the Airport Authority board notified a tenant of a CPI rental adjustment until 18 months after it was due.”
The Greeneville City Council Doty says “has sole authority to appoint members to the Airport Authority Board, and if necessary, dissolve the Airport Authority Board.”
Doty concluded “I will urge the town council to immediately determine how this investment loss occurred and to take all steps necessary to ensure that it does not happen again.”
SCOTT NISWONGER RESPONDS
Responding to the comments from the Mayor, Niswonger told Radio Greeneville News Thursday he has heard concerns from many that he might being moving other operations out of town which he says is not happening. However he said “the people that I’m going to deal with in the community in the future are those that really are going forward and that have the best interest of the citizens of Greeneville and Greene County at heart.” As it pertains to the airport plans being moved to Indiana he added “I’m so disappointed that these high paying jobs won’t go to young people in Greene County.”
Skyknight Aviation is one of 22 companies that Niswonger and associates either own or have significant interest in.
PAUL MCAFEE
Airport Authority Chair Paul McAfee responding to the Radio Greeneville News request for comment this morning. That response is posted in a separate story on this page which may be viewed by clicking here.
RECENT BOARD APPOINTMENTS DELAYED
Recent appointments to the Airport Authority Board hit turbulence April 21st during a meeting of the City Council, which you can see here. The matter was referred back to the Airport Authority for further consideration.
FRUSTRATIONS VOICED OVER HANGAR DELAY IN APRIL
Niswonger had voiced frustrations about the hangar delay at the April 15th meeting of the Airport Authority, (seen here) where he first publicly suggested changes on the board.
NEXT MEETINGS
The next scheduled meeting of the City Council is at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, May 19th. The Greeneville Airport Authority Board meets the following day, Wednesday, May 20th at 4:00 pm. Both meetings will be held in the G. Thomas Love Board Room at the GEA Building.
