Dear Editor,

The county council arranged a meeting April 6, inviting county residents to attend and listen and understand the city of Warsaw’s request for a combined city/county airport.

Per the handout agenda, the meeting started off with Warsaw’s Mayor Thallemer relaying his opinion why the county council should vote for the proposal. The speech was what was expected, the county needs to vote yes for the proposal.

Nick King, airport manager, gave a presentation on the current airport conditions and the need for additional funds to update, improve and expand operations at the local airport. Following the slide show, the meeting agenda was to focus on Kosciusko residents and their questions and concerns. What happened instead, was the city of Warsaw took control of the meeting, bringing in numerous city council representatives, airport aviation members, local business executives and state representatives.

All local city representatives spoke with a pre-planned unified message, directing the Kosciusko County Council members to vote yes for a combined city/county airport. One-by-one city representatives applied pressure to county council members to join the airport.

None of the city of Warsaw representatives relayed information or facts about the current airport activities, or why a proposed airport would benefit the county residents. Representatives David Abbott and Craig Snow spoke in neutral terms. Both pledgingceither way the vote goes they will work to obtain available funding and/or grants.

Towards the end of the meeting those county residents that had signed up to speak were allowed the opportunity to speak. The rules; a person would be allotted two minutes to make a statement, you cannot ask questions, only statements. I’m thinking, I just sat and listened to a dozen city/state/local speakers that all were given unlimited time to voice their opinions, and now we Kosciusko County residents are given two restricted minutes to make a statement.

The meeting felt like a city of Warsaw “pep rally,” with minimal information provided to curious and concerned county residents. Many issues and questions still need to be asked and answered. Warsaw representatives repeated a 2012 economic impact study.

The study suggests that 14 Warsaw airport employees generates over $860 million dollars in local economic impact. Warsaw then stated the city’s airport is in the top 5 in the state of Indiana. The city of Warsaw attempted to compare the local airport to Fort Wayne International, where 873 are employed, with more than 1,000 flights per month carrying 30,000 passengers per month.

We county residents are intelligent enough to understand that a Warsaw airport that flies a small number of flights per day (recreational flights, crop dusting, wealthy individuals, high-level executives) cannot possibly be compared to Fort Wayne’s commercial airport’s economic impact. The Kosciusko County Council should not be pressured by the city of Warsaw politicians to join in a fund deficient airport.

It became obvious the city of Warsaw does not want this proposal to go to a public referendum vote, where each voter will be allowed to determine what is in their best interest.

Reach out to your Kosciusko County Council district representative to have your voice heard.

Terry Martin
Warsaw