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To the Mcminn County Commission,
 
Good evening to the commission, the county mayor, and guests. My name is Kenny Witt, I am a user of your airport, and I am speaking on behalf of a group of pilots and citizens called S.A.F.E "Safe Airport & Flight Enthusiasts" who are concerning themselves with the runway gradient issues at the airport.
 
I am reading from a prepared statement and a copy has been made available to the commission members and the county mayor.
 
S.A.F.E. supports the county's recent decision to bring the airport into compliance with recommendations made by the FAA and State of Tennessee, Department of Transportation's, Aeronautics Division, herein referred to as "TAD".
 
We believe the safety concerns connected with the runway line of sight issue are now, at least, temporarily mitigated.
With that behind us, we now believe the county will be faced with several decisions concerning the permanent solution to the line of sight issue.
 
We encourage the county commission to seek the most beneficial permanent repair by excavating that part of the runway inhibiting the line of sight.
 

We feel that this permanent repair will immediately result in the achievement of three goals:

We believe that the most economical permanent repair to the line of sight is to actually remove the obstacle, the hump. Removal through excavation, while costly in the short term, will be the most economical permanent solution in the long term.
 
We believe that since the effort to achieve Class C standards was touted as a major goal in various publications, to settle for anything less, which permanently affixes a lower status to the county's airport, is unsatisfactory. This would be a waste of taxpayer's money.
 
With respect to the developmental standards, "TAD's" specialists on December 16, 2005 once again dismissed a mandatory standard set forth in the FAA's "Runway Design" circular concerning the future growth and use of taxiways as, "rarely a concern for general aviation airports." "TAD's" statement is in direct conflict with FAA standards concerning the future growth needs of our airport.
 
Therefore, We feel with the recent admission by "TAD", that their initial recommendation to build the runway in an incorrect fashion was indeed a mistake and now together with "TAD's" subsequent dismissal of developmental standards, that "TAD's" vision for our airport is not aligned with the county's.  Careful attention should be paid to any solution offered by "TAD" or any other group offering a "quick fix" or a "modification of standard" to these problems. We have paid for an airport that is up to standards, that is what we want.
 
We further feel the total responsibility for all such costs incurred by this repair should be borne by the State of Tennessee, since it was "TAD's" recommendation that resulted in the hump creating all three of these issues.
 
We believe that the County, State and Federal Governments have invested much revenue in the runway to enable future growth. This commission should pursue removing the single impediment in reaching that goal. Removing the hump through excavation, will not only enable reaching the permanent solution to the line of sight problem, and immediately make our facility a Class C airport, but will additionally enable the new taxiway to achieve greater compliance with developmental standards concerning future growth.
 
We wish to applaud Mayor Gentry for stepping out and securing a guarantee that any costs incurred to fix this problem would not be borne by the County. Mayor Gentry's quick thinking and forethought leaped ahead of us all when he sought and gained this guarantee. From this point forward, and in line with Mayor Gentry's quick thinking, we want to encourage the county commission, and Mayor Gentry, to vigorously pursue the State of Tennessee in redemption of this matter. This commission should pursue the State in seeking the removal of the hump which creates the line of sight problem, prevents the airport from immediately reaching Class C status, and inhibits compliance with developmental standards concerning our new taxiway.
 
We believe removal through excavation will enable the realization of your goals, any other solution will not.
 
To recap, when you are faced with a decision concerning the permanent solution to the airport please remember these following points:

Respectfully Kenny Witt on behalf of S.A.F.E    

"TAD", Ronnie Fitzgerald, December 16, 2005, correspondence to Kenny Witt, available at ww.mcminncountyairport.org
FAA "Runway Design" Advisory Circular 150/1500-13, Federal Standards referenced herein available at www.faa.gov