By Katie Northcott, News Director
At its meeting on Monday, Feb. 9, the Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) passed two resolutions regarding the payment of Ozone Environmental Service (OES) for cleaning up a fuel spill at the Tullahoma Regional Airport in October.
Find reporting on the fuel spill here.
Payment to OES had stalled because there was disagreement among city officials about whether the funds should come from the City of Tullahoma or from the airport. At the beginning of the BOMA meeting, Mayor Lynn Sebourn said that OES planned to take legal action if the payment was not made by Friday, Feb. 20.
City Attorney Brittany Hoskins advised the BOMA that due to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations on how the airport could spend money, the city could be risking a lawsuit and/or fines if the payment for fuel spill cleanup came directly from the airport. Alderman Kurt Glick revealed at the meeting that City Administrator Jason Quick had contacted an attorney that specializes in FAA regulations for a second opinion.
Glick wanted to table the payment discussion until the other attorney could provide his opinion.
“I agree with getting the loan, and that’s what we’ll do, but I just want to make sure we’re doing it in the proper way and get guidance from the expert attorney on that,” Glick said. “I don’t want to delay long enough to pass any deadlines … and if he takes too much time, then we act without it.”
Hoskins cautioned the BOMA against paying an attorney for his opinion without reviewing his qualifications.
“The FAA is going to dissect our bill, so we need an attorney who is going to do that,” Hoskins said. “I don’t have any information about him.”
Glick persisted in his opinion that the BOMA should table discussion of OES’s payment. He believed it would benefit taxpayers if the airport had to gradually pay back a loan from the city rather than the city footing the $744,000 bill.
Alderman Busch Thoma said that the airport currently cannot pay back the loan anyway because it is not profitable.
“You’re asking the airport to pay for something when we all know from sitting in a meeting last night that the airport doesn’t have the ability to pay for it,” Thoma said. “If you want to slide [the bill] to the airport, and they don’t have any revenue to pay for it, then to me it’s a moot point, no matter what the FAA guy may say.”
Thoma said that if the airport became profitable, it would gradually pay back the city whether it was obligated to do so through a loan agreement or not. The city is currently allocating around $150,000 to the airport in its yearly budget. If the airport becomes able to support itself, Thoma thinks the city will get a return on its investment by being able to allocate that $150,000 to other projects.
Glick’s motion to table the resolution failed 4-3 (Glick, Alderman Bobbie Wilson, and Alderman Jerry Mathis in favor). At the advice of City Finance Director Sue Wilson, the BOMA voted to take out a loan to cover payment to OES with a 5-2 vote (Glick and Mathis opposed).
The BOMA unanimously authorized payment to OES.
During the meeting, Mayor Lynn Sebourn also noted that over the next few weeks, he planned to form an Airport Steering Committee to collaborate with the Tullahoma Airport Authority in overseeing airport operations.
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