Zimmerlink ripped for airport comments
After reading Fayette County Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink’s recent letter to the editor, I guess you can say I was disappointed and disgusted with Commissioner Zimmerlink.
She is very quick to attack Airport Chairman Fred Davis, other unnamed authority members and the new airport manager. My question is, if the July, 2011, FAA letter you referenced in your letter has you so concerned, where have you been for almost 24 months?
Commissioner Zimmerlink, if this is such an important issue, why have you been missing in action on this issue for almost 24 months? Why come out now? Is it possible that you are running out of boogie men to protect the citizens from? Is it possible that since your first day in office you have not contributed one positive action toward economic development? In fact, I believe you would be hard-pressed to identify one positive thing you have done. You grandstand and make accusations, and the ill-informed follow you.
Perhaps if you really were concerned about the airport you would have advised Myrna Giannopolous, authority board secretary, to allow fellow board members to help in the running of the airport in the absence of an airport manager.
The following is an excerpt from the Jan. 28 edition of the Herald-Standard. Giannopolus is quoted, “I was entrusted with the keys for the airport and passwords for the computer when (Fast, the previous airport manager) left after the meeting,” said Giannopolus. “(Wallace) agrees with me that the keys and that information should not be given or shared with anyone until we all come to some agreement about a manager.” Giannopolus added that with her clerical experience, she is suited to take on the responsibilities.
Just so everyone reading this article can understand, the previous (outgoing) manager gave Giannopolus the keys and passwords to the airport, and Giannopolus refused to allow any other board members access to the airport office or the computer. So from the third week of January to the fourth week of March, the only person who had any access to the financial records was Giannopolus.
Zimmerlink then has the nerve in her editorial to blast Davis and other board members for not knowing the financial status of the airport? Perhaps they would have known something if Giannopolus had allowed them access. What brought this to a head in March was the airport being 60 to 90 days behind on most of its bills. Again what was Giannopolus doing while she had other board members locked out of the airport? Obviously, she wasn’t taking care of business, otherwise in March the airport would not have been delinquent in its finances.
I can attest first hand as a pilot and leaseholder at the Connellsville airport that the new manager is very active in the day-to-day operations of the airport, as well as making repairs to the buildings. I see chairman Davis and board members Cortis and Thomas at the airport on a regular basis in the evenings and weekends working through the issues such as the finances and the 2011 Federal Aviation Administration letter.
Commissioner Zimmerlink, you are not informed on airport issues, and you are only trying to make an issue where none exist. Your intervention with the FAA and the bureau of aviation will only muddy the waters which are just now starting to clear. I guess on a positive note, Commissioner Zimmerlink did at least request the information from the airport and didn’t have lunch with an ex-authority employee and an authority board member only to leave the information at the table. But that’s never happened before? Has it?
Robert Holsing is a resident of Dunbar.