"Mayor asks for FAA enforcement action to be waived"

Friday, April 6, 2007

Ellis says Macon has asked for airport fine to be waived
By Matt Barnwell
The Macon (GA) Telegraph


Macon Mayor Jack Ellis said today that the city has asked the Federal
Aviation Administration to waive a $99,000 fine for violations at the Middle
Georgia Regional Airport, or to at least reduce the figure to a more
reasonable amount.

In a December letter to city officials, the FAA outlined 23 violations of
federal regulations at the airport that occurred between mid-2004 and late
2006. Most of those violations were uncovered in late 2005 and led to the
replacement of airport management.

The problems have since been fixed, Ellis said at a City Hall news
conference. But the FAA did not get around to formally notifying the city of
fines until the letter arrived in December. After a few months of telephone
and e-mail negotiations, he said city officials made a recent trip to
Atlanta to meet with FAA officials in person and plead Macon's case.

"Our point is that (the problems) have been corrected," he said. "We
corrected them in record time."

The mayor would not say what portion of the fine Macon told the FAA it would
be willing to pay. He said the city is waiting to hear back from the federal
agency on the proposal.

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