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ANR
Dear Editor:
To the Taxpayers of Hamilton County,
Tuesday night, July 12, 2022, during the Aurora Airport Authority meeting, members unanimously refused to discuss an inquiry from myself regarding their decision to just give a private individual possession of historic airport relics of days gone by. The authority had possession of the two items in question but could not sell them because they did not legally own them, they belonged to the Nebraska Department of Transportation. When complete rehabilitation of the runway at Al Potter Field (the Aurora Airport) was accomplished several years ago, the project included the upgrading of the rotating beacon and the Wind-T, a large lighted wind direction indicator visible from the air. These two items had been in place for decades assisting private and corporate pilots to safely navigate to the airport and land on a suitable runway.
When these two items had been replaced with new equipment they had been displayed for public viewing in a unique and totally non-disruptive area of the airport to which visitors had easy access. Then suddenly both items just disappeared. Upon my inquiry to the chairman of the Aurora Airport Authority, I was told that they are now in the possession of a private citizen who plans to display them as aviation artifacts. Displaying them for public viewing is exactly what was being done with them at this airport before their recent removal.
How then could five educated and respected men sitting as elected officials on the Aurora Airport Authority even consider selling or removing them from Al Potter Field, the very airport at which they had actually provided decades of service? At the very least, if the authority felt that the items needed to be removed from the airport for whatever reason, they should have conveyed these historical items to the Plainsman Museum for continued public display and preservation. If the Plainsman Museum could not accept them, then by Nebraska Law the Material Division for Surplus Property must be notified for disposition. Proceeds from the sale of such items must be deposited with the state treasurer for appropriate distribution.
In this case the chairman of the authority told me that the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics told them that these items couldn’t be sold or used operationally so the authority had given them to a private individual in exchange for a sizeable contribution to the airport. However, the authority members now claim that due to the possibility of litigation they have been advised not to disclose any further information about this transfer of possession.
I urge all citizens within Hamilton County to query each of the five publicly elected Aurora Airport Authority members regarding a lack of transparency about their actions and this ridiculous loss of access to local airport historical antiquity. Please help correct this situation by making known to the Aurora Airport Authority chairman and four other members and the airport manager your opinion regarding the return and reinstallation of these two items at the Aurora Airport or Plainsman Museum.
The Aurora Airport Authority members are John Wilcox, Kirk Reichardt, Kasey Wessels, Brett Mitchell and Mike Hawthorne. The airport manager is Terry Ott.
Scheduled meetings of the Aurora Airport Authority are open to the public and held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Airport Office in Building E. Aug. 9 would be the next opportunity for you to meet the authority members and the airport manager in person. You could then advise them of your opinion regarding the removal and loss of these two historic items from the Aurora Airport property.
D. Ross Beins,
Past chairman of the Aurora Airport Authority
