Forensic audit may be needed for airport

A forensic audit that would separate the finances of the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport from those of the city of Lewiston would be needed before attempting to create an independent governing board, Prosecutor Dan Spickler said Tuesday.

A clear idea of the revenues and assets of the airport would provide a starting point in establishing whether the airport is capable of becoming a separate business-like entity, said Spickler, who downplayed any bickering between the city and county at a meeting with commissioners.

The county is interested in patterning the airport operation after one at Hailey, where a five-person board hires a manager who oversees a staff of 11. The board is made up of two Blaine County commissioners, two city councilors and one person chosen by the other four.

Hailey, which serves Sun Valley, has a different revenue base, including more hangars and landings by private jets, Spickler said.

Here, the day-to-day activities of the jointly owned airport are overseen by the city. Over time, fewer and fewer decisions that are mandated in the joint agreement have gone to the county for approval, Spickler said. That appears to be changing, he said, but of the litany of problems outlined to the city council Monday night, virtually all originated and continued without county involvement.

Those include not only the water line the city planned across the airport without first getting Federal Aviation Administration approval, but also a sewer line over the east end of the airport, he said.

What the county is trying to get across to everybody is there's more advantage to looking to the future than to the past, Spickler said. It's also not enough for the county to say it didn't know what was going on. "We need to get back on top of it."

The joint powers agreement says all contracts and budget matters must have approval of both the city and county. It also says the city will provide administrative, fire and legal services at no cost in return for a nominal rental fee for airport property used for city parks and ball fields.

The city in June, however, presented the county with a statement of those fees that showed $1.45 million that could be charged to the county out of $2.9 million in various administrative and fire protection costs.

That money could be used to offset costs if the FAA demands payment for things such as Bryden Canyon Road right of way taken by the city more than a decade ago, probably without compensation to the airport or a legal easement.

But FAA representatives said months ago they were only interested in getting the paperwork straightened out, said Dick Roberts of the Airport Advisory Commission appointed by the city and county. Commissioner Ron Wittman agreed. "They said they wanted a paper trail," Wittman said.

Now, Roberts said, the FAA is "perturbed at us" and the city needs the leverage of the $2.9 million in case it sends a bill.

If the FAA isn't happy, this airport loses access to discretionary funds that could count in the millions of dollars, Roberts said.

The commissioners will get their monthly report from the airport manager, Robin L. Turner, at 9 a.m. Thursday. City Manager John C. (Jay) Krauss said Monday city staff will attend that meeting.

In other business Tuesday, Rick Saager, chief of the Milton-Freewater Rural Fire Department, said in a conference call that finding an outside ambulance service to come into Nez Perce County would be difficult with only about 500 calls a year and in this economic climate.

Almost all options would reduce the present quality of service, he said, something residents frequently don't understand until they pick up the phone and there's no one to call, or whoever comes has limited abilities to provide medical help prior to getting to a hospital.

Saager suggested breaking out ambulance costs billed to city taxpayers and finding a mechanism, such as creating a district, where rural residents would pay the same amount.

Commissioner Michael Grow said the county is just looking for options in case Lewiston refuses to continue sign a contract to continue ambulance service outside the city limits. There is no desire to change unless forced to, he said.

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Lee may be contacted at slee@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.