Dear Editor,
Welcome to the new members of Oakdale City Council, you have broken the “collusion” council formed by past mayors. The long standing council of one mind is retired. JR and Cherilyn must have independent thought and speak their mind on all issues. You must not fall in line with the council legacy members on the many issues that face you. The previous councils have caused the financial disaster Oakdale has endured.
A good city manager, Steve Baker, was fired but has long survived Yreka and is still its manager. Mr. Baker denounced Fire station 2, acquisition of the Hershey visitor center, and wanted to help the airport. The interim city managers did discover the major fiascos but did not fully rectify them. Some progress has been made.
You won the measure Y vote. Now keep the budget balanced. Now do something positive with the airport, a $5 to $10 million asset. The previous council voted to allow the 5 year lease with a very tainted tenant, Sierra West Airlines and its dozen aliases doing non-aviation businesses while using the only facilities a legitimate aviation company needs to operate from. Oakdale will not fund expansion of facilities to accommodate new legitimate aviation tenants.
Oakdale has been visited by federal, state, and county agencies to understand why the airport is a financial and physical disaster. Some progress has been made, new lighting, regular sweeps of tarmac, and dead tree removal. But, the lease to Sierra is half of what should be charged in the present market. Staff has always complained that the airport cannot support itself, no wonder when it is not treated like a business.
The airport commission must be reinstated so that public meetings of all the issues and potential fiasco’s can be aired. If the council wants to select from the Ad Hoc Committee for the commission members, that is fine. Much work has been done by one or more members of Ad Hoc on behalf of the airport. But let’s not select airport commission members that are next door neighbors of past mayors or councilmen or owners of Sierra West Airlines.
Bill Bradford,
Oakdale Airport 15 year tenant
