Venice on the web
A semi-regular column

The FAA agreed to... what?
Newspapers are reporting that Hunt and the FAA are now in agreement; FAA is stating that they don't know anything about it
-- John Patten, 10/17/03
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

Got a comment? Make it here.

RELATED:
VGA, city settle golf course lease dispute
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/18/03
Still no agreement on golf course rent
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/20/03

Say what?
City Manager George Hunt's (shown at right) agreement with the VGA is the subject of this morning's editorial in the Herald-Tribune. In the editorial's opening paragraph, you'll read:

"Long-awaited work on the runways at Venice Municipal Airport can go forward now that city officials and the Venice Golf Association have finally come to terms on a lease deemed acceptable by the Federal Aviation Administration."

That information is according to Hunt. The Trib dutifully reported what Hunt had said at last Tuesday's city council meeting and took off from there in the editorial by mildly blasting at Hunt and council for getting into the situation.

Problem: nobody at the FAA is stating that they've agreed to anything. Even city attorney Bob Anderson is saying that there are still some details to be worked out between the VGA and the city.

Even stranger than that, as the Herald-Tribune noted: nobody on council blinked or asked any questions.

Prior to Tuesday's council meeting, Hunt had stated that he would be announcing at the council meeting that a breakthrough in the FAA/VGA conflict had been made.

I called the FAA in Washington on Tuesday morning, shortly before Hunt made his scheduled announcement. I received this response: that the investigation as spelled out in the Notice of Investigation is still open, that the FAA has not seen and does not know about any agreement between Venice and the VGA, and that the FAA hasn't agreed to anything yet. As far as the FAA is concerned, the city still hasn't complied or responded satisfactorily to the Notice of Investigation.

Subsequent requests for information were deflected with the standard "I cannot answer that until the investigation is over." All other questions were to be referred to Marcia Adams, the media liaison for the FAA.

I finally made contact with Adams late in the day today. Adams stated that  "...the FAA has been discussing the issues identified in the Notice of Investigation and we hope to have a resolution soon to close the case, but that hasn't happened yet."

Hunt had stated at Tuesday's meeting that an annual lease to the VGA for $180,000 was acceptable to the VGA and to the FAA.

When asked if the lease amount would be retroactive to the beginning of the VGA's current disputed $160,000 annual lease, City Attorney Bob Anderson stated that there were some details that still needed to be worked out. Those are the same details that needed to be worked out the last time council openly discussed the FAA/VGA situation, which was several months ago. Which means that the city and the VGA still haven't hammered out a final agreement, in spite of Hunt's announcement to the contrary.

Translation: it ain't over 'til it's over, and this ain't over yet.

Move along folks, there's nothing here to see.