It’s been over a month since a dispute between the Baxter County Airport Commission and County Judge Kevin Litty was turned into legal action. At the end of October, Chairman Dr. Steven Vester announced the commission filed a lawsuit against the county and Judge Litty, claiming he has interfered with airport operations and jeopardized federal funding.
Dr. Vester says the dispute is whether the commission or the judge has the authority to negotiate leases at the airport, leading the commission to ask a judge for his legal opinion.
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Dr. Vester says the dispute has led to the airport’s loss of discretionary funding, and its expansion project is on hold, possibly on a permanent basis. In addition, he says the dispute has the potential to affect every county-owned airport in Arkansas.
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In 2017, the airport commission reportedly unanimously approved of the construction of a hangar for Brooke Development Company, owned by Brad Hasselwander, with an agreement for a rental rate of 15 cents per square foot. The hangar was 10,000 feet with 2,000 feet of living quarters. Dr. Vester says the rates and terms were discussed at the time, but no documentation could be located.
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Dr. Vester says the commission respected Judge Litty’s position at the time and backed away from the dispute. However, the matter reportedly needs to be resolved, and it’s the commission’s contention that the judge went around them and created a lease unfair to others at the airport.
The hangar in question was partially funded by a grant from the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics, and Hasselwander initially put up an additional $200,000 as a prepayment for rent. Dr. Vester says one of the problems is the hangar has several personal amenities not typically funded by a government entity.
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Dr. Vester adds the money being used for the legal matter is coming from the airport commission and not from taxpayer funds.
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At last update, the lawsuit had been put on hold by the court until Dec. 18.
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