The Chehalis-Centralia Airport has become the center of some controversy in recent weeks.
Centralia city councilors went public two weeks ago with an official announcement that they plan to withdraw from ownership of the airport, which has been a three-way partnership among Centralia, Chehalis and Lewis County for more than 40 years.
In response to the city's move, Joyce Barnes and Charlie Rowe, Centralia's representatives on the airport governance board, spoke Tuesday evening to the city's leaders during the citizens' business portion of the regular council meeting.
"We were not invited to the last meeting," Barnes said. "And we're sort of protesting. We should have at least been called."
Mayor Tim Browning countered by referring to a 2002 audit of the airport's governance, paid for by Centralia. The audit, Browning said, showed "substantial violations of the airport agreement."
"Our consultant says that the agreement has been violated," Browning said on Tuesday. "The board, the cities, the county don't follow the rules."
Barnes, a former Centralia city councilor and a member of the airport board for more than six years, said later that a decision as important as whether to give up ownership of the airport shouldn't have been taken lightly. Councilors should have called for citizen comment, or for advice from their representatives on the airport board at the least, she said.
The airport property is growing daily in value to the county and surrounding cities, with its thousands of retail dollars in stores that lease property from the airport, such as Wal-Mart. This year, the airport plans to make at least $600,000 from those leases; next year, the board anticipates that figure to increase to $800,000.
"I don't feel that it's in the best interest of the city of Centralia or its citizens to withdraw," Barnes told councilors. "It's better to continue and have a voice."
For months, the city had openly discussed the possibility of "getting out of the airport business."
The formal acknowledgment of this came when city councilors approved a resolution earlier this week allowing the county to issue a line of credit to the airport for the $3 million needed to make several capital improvements to the site.
"As the City of Centralia looks to the future of the region," Acting City Manager Bob Berg wrote to Chehalis officials on June 11, "we find that our continued involvement in the rather cumbersome current governance structure does not add value to the Airport moving forward. It also seems to be in our interest to invest our energies in other community and economic development initiatives."
Dian McClurg covers city government in Centralia and Chehalis, and health issues for The Chronicle. She may be reached at 807-8239, or by e-mail at dmcclurg@chronline.com.
