It’s official: Palmer settles airport lawsuit

PALMER — The city’s run-in with the federal government over airport funding has reached its conclusion.

The city will pay the federal government $857,000 to settle the lawsuit. The city said it took the logical way out when faced with a potential $1 million in legal fees and the possibility of having to pay $30 million if it lost the case.

On Monday, the city and the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice in court that the case had been settled. By the end of the week the case was closed.

According to the original complaint filed by the justice department, Palmer took in multiple Federal Aviation Administration grants to upgrade its airport. To get the money the city certified it complied with all the federal government’s stipulations.

“In fact, all of Palmer’s … grant applications submitted to the FAA over the course of the last 10 years contained false implicit assurances that it was in compliance with all applicable federal laws and regulations,” according to the complaint.

For one thing, the city didn’t pay fair market rent for airport land used for:

• A city water well

• Storage space for snow removed from city streets

• A fire department training center

• A fire department equipment storage building

• An old hangar used as a shop by the city’s public works department

• An equipment storage building.

And, the city also misused revenue from its golf course — also on airport land — and took airport money to pay for a road grader used for non-airport purposes.

For its part the city has said that the federal government had wanted it to feel pain in the settlement and that the feds had accomplished their goal. The city’s mayor, DeLena Johnson, said in a press release that the violations were technical and described the lawsuit as overreaching.

In its prepared statement, the city disputes any wrongdoing.

Johnson said no one was enriched by the alleged violations, and grant funds were spent according to their intended purpose.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.