"Carson City Airport Authority has been mired in conflict for years"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, September 5, 2008

Airport Authority has been mired in conflict for years
The Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal


There's a popular, albeit ungrammatical adage "If it ain't broke don't fix
it."

I'm not sure that applies to the Carson City Airport Authority, a board
appointed by the city supervisors to four-year staggered terms.

The seven-member board has been characterized for years as one mired in
personality conflicts and cronyism.

That's not to say it hasn't been responsible for major improvements to the
airport.

Neal Weaver, who abruptly resigned from the board last week, believes that
an independent investigation of the Authority needs to be conducted. Weaver,
who owns Weaver Aviation, a fixed base operation, resigned short of
completing his eight years of service. He had served as chairman twice and
as secretary-treasurer. But he acknowledged he hadn't attended at least the
last four board meetings.

He claims that members of the board engaged in cronyism, violated the state
Open Meeting Law, broke other state laws and didn't follow Roberts Rules of
Order.

Addressing the Open Meeting Law, Weaver said "We have a corps of three
members, and they'll shop around and find a fourth (for a majority)." Their
decisions are done with e-mails, telephone or lunches, he said, adding that
one member even suggested they could meet in her basement.

He added there is inconsistency about the policy that no one board member
hold office for more than 50 percent of their four-year term. Weaver said he
was removed as chairman after two years. However, he said, the current
chairman will soon have been in office more than two years, and the
secretary-treasurer has served in that post for four years.

The Airport Authority, he said, has "taken a dark side and needs to be
investigated. Let an independent investigator come in and take a look
independently, free of all the politics and local incestuous relationships"
and decide if something should be done.

"I'm confident that after it's inspected from top to bottom, significant
changes will take place. We're doing the work of the citizens of Carson
City, and we need to do it in an open and above-board fashion," Weaver said.

The board, he said, "gets to play with tens of millions of dollars without
oversight."

Weaver said that while serving on the board, he brought infrastructure into
the center of the airport "when nobody could figure out how to do it and
from which we've derived a revenue stream with hangars that could never have
been built if I didn't figure out how to do it."

He said he brought in a self-service budget-priced fueling operation that
increased the business at the airport and sold fuel at a much lower cost
than what had been charged by the one fuel provider at the airport. That
provider has also lowered its price due to the competition. He said he
brought in the self-service provider at his personal expense but
acknowledged that his Weaver Aviation was also a beneficiary of the lower
fuel prices.

Without the low-cost fuel, believed to be the lowest in the western United
States, one couldn't see the development that has occurred in the Carson
City Airport, he said.

Weaver said as an Airport Authority member, he played a role in acquiring
property to guarantee obstacle-free clearance to the west of the airport, a
new taxiway and taxiway markers.

Weaver, who was on the board when the Master Plan was adopted, said, "I'm
not a braggadocio but I believe I brought more to the airport and have done
more for the airport than any one member."

Since personality clashes and cronyism have existed for years at the Airport
Authority, Weaver might not be far off in urging that it be investigated.

On the web:

http://www.carsoncity-airport.com/



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