ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Delta County Board of Commissioners is moving forward with an investigation into administrative issues at the airport, despite some commissioners’ concerns.
In December, the board voted to have its hired attorney, Scott Graham, investigate the Delta County Airport’s ongoing “administrative crisis,” centered around Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance and potentially missing documents.
At Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Steven Viau said with new airport administrator Robert Ranstadler working with the FAA to solve compliance issues, an investigation is “a waste of money.”
“How much more could be internally done with the team we have in place now that is very proactive in making sure something like this is never going to happen again?” Viau asked. “I think, basically, it’s a duplication and a waste of money to get somebody in here at this time. Maybe eventually, when we get all the answers internally, it might be more advantageous for us to have a cause to hire an attorney to do something.”
Commissioner Robert Petersen, who made the motion in December to refer to Graham for an investigation, defended his motion.
“If nothing comes up, I will get blasted for spending the money,” said Petersen. “If we don’t investigate it and something happens at that airport—it gets shut down, gets fined—then I’m going to get blasted for the airport getting shut down. I would rather get blasted for spending a little money to make sure that everything is correct out there than have that airport shut down or fined.”
Commission Chair David Moyle added that although Ranstadler has made progress, the airport is “not out of the woods yet.”
Click here for more information on this developing story.
