Iowa Supreme Court Sides With Mahaska County In Regional Airport Agreement
Iowa Supreme Court Ruling over regional airport agreement.
The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday said that Mahaska County was correct, and the 28E didn’t allow for removing themselves from the 28E agreement over a regional airport in the same way they got into the agreement.
The dispute between the entities is over a decade old over the creation of a regional airport.
“First, we agree with the County that the 28E Agreement unlawfully binds the County’s board of supervisors to the decisions of an earlier-elected board regarding the exercise of governmental functions. Second, we agree that the 28E Agreement unlawfully restricts the County from terminating its delegation of powers to the SCRAA. The Landowners raise similar challenges, and they further assert that the 28E Agreement is constitutionally infirm because it lasts for an indefinite term and because it violates the Landowners’ right to equal protection of laws. Because we find the issues raised by the County are dispositive of both appeals, we need not consider these additional arguments raised by the Landowners.”
“Taken to its logical conclusion, the Cities’ interpretation of chapter 28E would allow any county to enter into a 28E agreement to permanently delegate its governmental functions (and its ability to undo that earlier delegation) to another county. In fact, the Cities conceded this very point during oral argument in this case. This view would render the voters of Mahaska County like 25 permanent passengers aboard RMS Titanic, without the ability to steer their ship around new obstacles as they arise. The better view, advanced by appellants, is that the voters of the County, through their elected board of supervisors, are captains of their own ship, not bound permanently to a particular course by an earlier vote of their county supervisors.”
“In this case, the County delegated to the SCRAA several governmental powers, including those over zoning, road relocations, eminent domain, and issuing building permits. The parties have argued about the extent to which each of these delegations was lawful, but we need not reach that question because if a local government delegates its governmental functions to another entity, it must be “free to revoke or change [the] delegation of power,” and this revocation or change “must be done by the same type of procedures that created the delegation.” Warren Cnty. Bd. of Health, 654 N.W.2d at 915; see also GTE Int’l Inc. v. Hunter, 649 F. Supp. 139, 147 (D.P.R. 1986) (stating an agency may delegate its powers via regulation and “is free to change its regulations with the proper procedures if it wishes to do so”). The County is not able to revoke its delegation of powers in this case by the same procedures that created the delegation because a majority vote of the board of supervisors is insufficient to effect the revocation. The 28E Agreement is therefore unlawful to the extent it does not include symmetrical procedures to delegate and revoke the delegation of the County’s governmental powers.”
In a phone interview with Oskaloosa News, Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Groenendyk said he believes the Iowa Supreme Court ruling “was a victory for the people and the citizens of Mahaska County.”
“They (people) do get to dictate and have a say in their local government and how things are run,” added Groenendyk.
When asked if Mahaska County was going to withdraw from the 28E agreement that created the South Central Regional Airport, Groenendyk says he’s not had a chance to speak about the situation with the other two supervisors about the court’s decision. “I know there are some issues that they (Iowa Supreme Court) did not address.”
Groenendyk expects there to be a Supervisor’s meeting in the coming week.
“This is really a strong victory for the people. Again, Mahaska County got reinforced; they are basically the steering wheel for their local government,” Groenendyk added.
The airport issue has divided the citizens in Mahaska County for nearly a decade. When asked if the court’s decision might help bring friends, family, and the community back together, Gronendyk said, “Hopefully, we find some peace now.”
