The following comments are from the recipient of the St. Clair business of the month. He added them to the public comment section at the end of the meeting.
Mr. Marty Hinterlong commented the airport was never run as a business except for the gentleman about 15 years ago. He often pondered when the regional districts say an airport is one of the better assets why we would have an airport with no gas. Mr. Hinterlong said he would love to see the City let the airport be run as a business and see where it can go. Mayor Blum asked Mr. Hinterlong for suggestions. Mr. Hinterlong said he suggested we advertise as a business opportunity for someone. Then the City could say to the Airport Authorities we really tried. Mayor Blum replied he feels it has been tried several times. Fifty years has been spent on that facility, and if we spend another five years and the economy turns around, we may miss out on another opportunity.
This highlighted sentence made by Blum, along with other comments on the airport, give the impression that Ron Blum is trying to implicate that the airport is to blame for it present situation. He is trying to implicate others for the failure that has been spawned by the city. This airport has been abused by the city ever since Fred Atkinson left. The city is the airport. Is Ron Blum really going to try and throw off on someone else what he has done to the airport??
Citizens like Mr. Hinterlong need to become more involved with the city and its operations and find out what is really going on. They need to look into the audits and ask questions. They need to ask why the St. Clair Water and Sewer department, and the airport have been funding 45% of the city’s insurance cost. If someone would look at the numbers, they would see that the W/S department make up 20% of the payroll.
Look at the rest of the paragraph above. Retail is not coming to St. Clair as was promised. This was stated over and over and long after the retail boom was long gone. It has been a mantra for Ron Blum to justify the Gestapo tactics used to destroy the airport.
This is where it strands as the tenants see it. The city has no FAA acceptable plan. The amendment did not work, and by going the amendment route, the city has shown that they do not intend to follow the law. It is time for the city to get out of the airport business and find another sponsor for the facility.
