If the runway extension project is to get off the ground, it is essential that it have the full backing of the financiers of the project: Gadsden’s taxpayers. The proper way to have the taxpayers’ support is through full disclosure.
A Gadsden man has filed complaints with the Alabama Ethics Commission claiming the directors of the Gadsden Airport Authority are being paid more than the bylaws of the authority call for, and that Mayor Sherman Guyton has used his authority to nominate directors and the over-compensation to influence them.
Lance B, Koury filed the complaints. One names the current members of the GAA board of directors: Chairman Harry McLendon, Chad Hare, Jonathan M. Welch, Robert Turk, Tim McCartney and Spencer Williams.
The complaint says the directors have been receiving $120 per member for monthly board meetings, while the authority s bylaws and Alabama Code Section 4.-3.5 allow for directors to be reimbursed for actual expenses, and to be compensated by the authority in an amount not to exceed $20 a month, at a rate not to exceed $10 for each board meeting they attend.