About the $2.9 million FAA Airport Grant

Announced in the Herald Bulletin on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, this $2.9 million grant has been 10 years in the making. Rather than laying to rest questions about the proposed SW Madison County airport, it actually raises more alarms.

The City of Anderson quietly accepted this grant on September 25, 2007. No public announcement was made. Two days later, Board of Aviation Commissioners President Tony Rogers told the Herald Bulletin he wouldn't attend County Commissioner Paul Wilson's community informational meeting because, “We understand the public’s desire for information, but there are no new substantive facts to present at this early stage.”

The fact is, at this point the City of Anderson was obligated to keep the Anderson Municipal Airport up and running for 20 more years or repay the FAA not only the $2.9 million, but other grant monies previously supplied to the airport. Anderson officials did not want to face the wrath of the southwest Madison County voters who were against the proposed airport, nor the raise the issue of repayment of grant money in the minds of the Anderson taxpayers who would have to shoulder the burden. The announcement of the grant award was suppressed. The original grant announcement should have come through the BOAC to the Herald Bulletin. The Herald Bulletin received no information from the BOAC, so other sources were required to make the news public.

Three days later, the only Anderson official to show up at Commissioner Wilson's October 1st community meeting about the proposed airport was Councilman Rick Muir. He told us how he and most of the other Anderson council members were kept in the dark about the Anderson Administration's airport relocation plan. This was the third meeting convened by Commissioner Wilson for the purpose of informing the local community about the proposed airport. It was the third time that no one in the Smith administration attended one of his meetings.

One day later, on October 2nd, NO FLY ZONE members attended the Anderson Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting and heard BOAC President Tony Rogers state,

"I can’t tell you this will be an airport next year. I can’t give you that certainty,” Rogers said.

“We are considering what are the options for this land once the city no longer funds it.” (see story in The Herald Bulletin).

The City had signed a grant document which obligated them to keep the airport open for 20 more years, but a week later, Mr. Rogers couldn't promise it would be open even one more year. Further, he said they were already considering options for the land on the assumption the City would no longer fund the airport.

Ten days later, on Oct. 12, NO FLY ZONE appeared before the Anderson City Council to present more than 1,000 signatures they'd received (within 3 1/2 days) on petitions against the proposed southwest Madison County airport. Council members claimed they were not informed of the project and knew nothing about it. Council president Donna Davis invited Anderson Mayor Kevin Smith to speak to the issue. Instead of citing the grant stipulation that the airport would stay operational for 20 more years, Mayor Smith insisted that he would pursue the issue of a replacement airport in SW Madison County. In fact, Mayor Smith made no mention of the grant at all, leaving NO FLY ZONE members as the sole source of information regarding the FAA grant and its obligations.

On October 17, five days later, Democratic mayoral candidate Kris Ockomon publicly challenged Mayor Smith to tell the audience at a debate forum that he will keep Municipal Airport open. Mayor Smith refused to make that promise and again insisted that he will maintain the course toward development of the relocation airport.

Pursuing a replacement airport will likely cost Anderson taxpayers millions of dollars if Municipal Airport is closed and FAA grants are repaid.