Reading airport authority responds to claims from state lawmaker

May 2—Members of the Reading Regional Airport Authority are addressing what they say are a local state lawmaker's erroneous claims about their plan to take over fuel operations at the airfield.

The claims were made in a message state Rep. David Maloney sent to his 130th District constituents Friday that included a proposed letter to the editor submitted to the Reading Eagle. The letter has not been published in the newspaper.

In the letter, the Pike Township Republican asserted that the authority thwarted a historic private investment at the Bern Township airfield so it could instead undertake its own development project using taxpayer money.

At an airport authority meeting Tuesday, Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach said the letter contained factual inaccuracies that the board wished to correct. He said he believed the letter was politically motivated, but that wasn't his biggest problem with it.

"The more critical issue is that virtually none of the claims made by Rep. Maloney in the letter are accurate," said Leinbach, who serves as chairman of the authority. "It is very clear that Rep. Maloney has not made any effort to verify or corroborate the information he was provided about the current matters before the Reading Regional Airport Authority. A simple call to airport officials could easily address each of the concerns he raised.

"We can only conclude that Rep. Maloney was not interested in the facts, but rather political stunts."

Leinbach and Commissioner Michael Rivera are seeking reelection and are on the ballot in the May 16 Republican primary.

Maloney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the authority's concerns.

The letter

With Leinbach taking the lead, the authority went on to highlight several parts of Maloney's letter that they said included incorrect information. Here is what they had to say:

Maloney wrote: "What if you went to the Berks County commissioners to learn more about the largest private investment in the history of the Reading airport — 50,000 square feet of hangar space, another 20,000 square feet of fixed base operator space, contracts signed for training, a new fuel farm and more — but the commissioners decided to revoke the contract and use taxpayer money to buy the would-be development space for their own use?"

Authority response: Leinbach said there were three things wrong with that section of the letter.

First, he said, there was no contract with Coral Aviation — the private developer Maloney referenced in his letter. Leinbach said the authority terminated negotiations because it could not legally move forward with the proposed development while also pursuing its exclusive proprietary right to own and operate the single fixed base operation at the airport.

The authority has announced plans to become the sole provider of fuel and related services at the airport, a right it has based on Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

Leinbach's second point was that if the deal makes financial sense the authority should not need to take any money from the county's general fund. The Coral project, on the other hand, had already received a $3 million state grant.

And finally, Leinbach said, the authority has no plans to use any of the land that Coral proposed to use. The initial plan from Coral was to use a 17-acre parcel, but in early January the company decided to move the project to a 5-acre parcel it had already leased. The 17-acre parcel is still open for development.

Maloney wrote: "Why are the commissioners doing this? Well, that is the mystery."

Authority response: Leinbach said the reason why the authority is planning on becoming the sole FBO at the airfield should not be a mystery to those who have been following the agency's actions in recent months. Authority members have said the decision is aimed at improving operations at the airfield and enhancing revenue to the airport.

Maloney wrote: "Where are the commissioners going to get the money? Well, all the money they have comes from taxpayers, be it federal taxes or state taxes, it still comes out of our pockets. The $14 million in COVID relief money they have lying around? I am quite sure funds for a pandemic weren't to be used on a socialist adventure into running an aviation business."

Authority response: Leinbach said the authority has crafted agreements to purchase the assets of the two existing fixed base operations at the airfield — the Reading Jet Center and Millennium Aviation — at a combined cost of about $14 million.

Leinbach said final approval of the agreements will be contingent on securing financing for the deal as well as on the results of a study being conducted investigating the purchase price of the FBOs and their ongoing operational costs.

"If the acquisition of the two FBOs generates clear revenue for the airport, it's that revenue that will finance the debt and not county taxpayer dollars," he said. "And, again, anyone familiar with authority discussions knows there are no plans to use COVID money for the acquisition."

A direct response

Board members voted unanimously to send a certified letter to Maloney expressing their concerns and requesting he issue a retraction. They said they have an obligation to respond when an elected official disseminates erroneous information.

"It cannot go unchallenged," Leinbach said.

Rivera and county chief operations officer Kevin Barnhardt agreed.

"If he was truly interested in what the truth is and what is going on, he should have asked some questions before putting out communication that is not truthful," Rivera said.

Commissioner Lucine Sihelnik said she appreciates Maloney's desire for more information and believes that is exactly what they are doing with their response.

"We cannot expect that everyone is tuning into our meetings in real time or that they have time set aside to access that information, so the continual approach of us providing this information back to the public is the right thing to do," she said.

Pamela Shupp Menet, the director of economic development for the county and a member of the authority, said she's not sure the response will change Maloney's mind on what the authority is doing. But, she noted, the authority can at least give him the facts on which he should have crafted his opinion.