It was a bizarre night Monday, even by Leflore County Board of Supervisors’ standards.
First, the board voted against renewing the expired operating agreement for Greenwood-Leflore Airport.
Then it voted down temporarily extending the agreement for supervisors to meet with the Greenwood City Council to make amendments.
But finally the board voted to renew the agreement for 10 more years when the most vocal opponent of the existing airport governing structure, District 1 Supervisor Phil Wolfe, switched his vote.
The final tally was Wolfe, Preston Ratliff and Robert Collins in favor of the agreement, Robert Moore opposed and Wayne Self abstaining.
The city and county co-own the airport and appoint a five-member board to run it. Their 10-year joint operating agreement expired in September 2010. The board had temporarily extended it several times, most recently through Feb. 28.
Both sides met Feb. 17 to discuss the joint operating deal and indicated no problem with it.
On March 2, the City Council had approved the agreement without changes.
But Wolfe, who wasn’t at the joint meeting and said he had a good reason for not being there, said it’s not a good deal for the county or for economic development.
“Every time I hear of something that we’re getting from there, it’s always some kind of problem, fight or something going on or people breaking into the place,” he said. “And I think that it needs to be serious discussions to change this. We don’t need to haphazardly jump into an agreement because it’s time.”
After Wolfe spoke, Self made a motion to extend the agreement for 60 days, so county and city officials could meet.
But Collins said everyone present was satisfied when the city and county met Feb. 17, and Collins made a motion to approve the agreement for good, not just temporarily.
Self then rescinded his motion to allow a vote on Collins’ motion. However, Collins ended up withdrawing his motion because of doubt about the length of the agreement.
Then Ratliff made a motion to approve the agreement for 10 years and said the board would have the option of amending it later if dissatisfaction arose.
Collins seconded Ratliff’s motion, but it failed 3-2. Moore, Wolfe and Self voted against it.
Then Self put forward a motion to extend the agreement for 30 days, which Wolfe seconded. But Moore, Collins and Ratliff voted down that plan.
“We’re playing with something that we should have done took care of,” Collins said at that point.
Pilot Vernon Ricks, an airport lessee who is in a lawsuit with the airport, stood up as if to speak, but Moore and Self gestured for him to sit down.
Wolfe said people at the airport have run ahead without doing what the board has directed, leading to litigation.
“So we’re supposed to continue down this road and think that we’re not going to be in litigation in the future? That’s madness. We will be,” Wolfe said.
He called for a serious joint discussion where both the city and county could vote on the airport issue and move on.
Self then made another motion for a 30-day extension and said the city and county could meet before next Monday. Wolfe seconded it, but it again failed 3-2.
At that point, an exasperated Wolfe made a motion to approve the agreement as written. Collins seconded it, and it passed with Ratliff’s support. Moore voted against it, and Self abstained.
Wolfe said this morning that it became clear that any attempts to change the agreement were being blocked.
“It was just not good for the taxpayers to be sitting there in neutral,” he said.
• Contact Charlie Smith at csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
