Board of Supervisors Stands Against Airport Agreement
The Mahaska County Supervisors debated a resolution that would withdraw the county from a 28E agreement with Pella and Oskaloosa over a regional airport.
BY HAILEY BROWN
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Tensions were high during the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday as officials voted in favor of dropping out of a controversial 28E agreement to build a regional airport with the cities of Oskaloosa and Pella. According to video coverage provided by the Communication Research Institute of William Penn University, the resolution passed 2-1 to cancel the agreement, however the cities of Oskaloosa and Pella would still need to vote in favor to drop out of the agreement for it to take effect.
Lone voter against leaving the agreement, Supervisor Willie Van Weelden, said he believes development and opportunity are important pieces to keeping the area alive, especially with the region being home to companies that do business both nationally and internationally.
“This old dog is getting tired of being kicked around and I have been kicked around on this issue,” he said, disclosing that many naysayers to the agreement have not approached him and asked him why he voted for it in the first place. He said he believed many were spreading misinformation about the project and also about Van Weelden himself.
“There is a lot of crap out there that I am bought and paid for and it’s not true,” he stated. “…Not once have I ever talked to [Musco President and CEO] Joe Crookham about this airport.”
Board member Mark Groenendyk did agree on the point of misinformation being circulated but said his major disappointment rested with elected officials and a lack of Mahaska County representation on the South Central Regional Airport Association (SCRAA) board.
“From a county standpoint I don’t think we have representation on the board with one vote out of six,” he stated during the meeting.
Doland echoed this sentiment, saying he found very little support for the airport itself and he was unsure why Mahaska County was involved to begin with.
Jim Hansen, chair of the board of the SCRAA, spoke during the public comment portion of the debate and conveyed his disappointment at the resolution as well as doubts that Pella and Oskaloosa would allow this drop happen. During his comment period, Hansen shifted discussion to 220th Street, conveying that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) agreed that 220th Street would not be closed until a new bypass road around the proposed airport was built and opened, allowing local farmers a safer alternative to using Highway 163 to haul farm equipment.
Other comments from the public included lengthy commentary from local Tim Van Maanen, citing history as a necessary component to understanding the topic. Van Maanen took issue with the fact that very little or no information is routinely shared with the public as well as the “consolation appointment” of only having one county representative on the SCRAA board.
The next SCRAA board meeting is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31, at the Pella Public Safety Complex.
