Jan 18, 2007 2 min read

Who is Fayette County Airport Authority Chairman Jess Wallace trying to fool with his recent statement, made Tuesday, regarding his board’s secretive decision to change the name of Connellsville Airport? Here’s what Wallace told a room full of upset Connellsville area residents: “We respect your opinion. We want your opinion.” Come again, Mr. Wallace? If you and your cohorts in deciding to change the airport name to Joseph A. Hardy Regional Airport had really wanted to respect the public and solicit its opinion, you wouldn’t have voted to change the name at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning, with no prior notice. What Wallace and board members Mark Wasler, Todd Radolec and Terry Shallenberger failed and keep failing to recognize is that the airport is a public asset, not their personal plaything.

Any change of such monumental importance deserves full disclosure before the board of directors votes on the matter. Period. What the “Airport Four” did was show total disrespect, for the public, especially for the residents of Connellsville.

When Richard Ruck of Connellsville asked why the board changed the name without giving ample public notice, Wallace revealed a truth that should have everyone shaking their heads in disbelief: The board majority wanted to do it before Hardy’s much-heralded 84th birthday party later that day. It appears that those four board members’ rush to give Hardy a birthday present owned by the public clearly trumped any desire to respect that very same public.

If you think this deal wasn’t cooked up well ahead of time, how about this: An artistic rendition of the airport bearing Hardy’s name was presented to him at his birthday bash later that same day. Unless one of the “Airport Four” is an accomplished sketch artist, someone had to have commissioned that piece of work, right?

If the board wanted to honor Hardy for his $800,000 loan to the airport, it should have at least done so in an open manner, giving people time to comment before not after the decision was made. The way they did this leaves the bad taste of politics-as-usual in the mouth.