Crossville council approves changes to Airport FBO's contract.

Crossville city council approved changes to the contract between the city and Crossville Aero, the fixed base operator of the Crossville airport.

The contract changes brought up some discussion by council members and caught Crossville Aero's Chris Bennett off guard as he was unaware the item was on the council agenda though he was at the meeting.

Crossville Airport building

The item was originally under the council's consent agenda but was pulled out for separate discussion and action by councilwoman Pamala Harris. Ms. Harris asked city attorney Will Ridley if he was given an opportunity to review the agreement? Mr. Ridley said he saw it when the council did as part of the previous weeks work session but said he did not have a hand in drafting the document.

Council discusses airport contract changes

Harris said she felt that anytime an agreement of that nature the city attorney should be involved in drafting it. In addition Harris added that she would like the administration to share the document with the attorney.

Harris asked Ridley if he was OK with the agreement and Ridley said he was.

Crossville city manager Greg wood, left, and 

city council members

Mayor James Mayberry moved to approve the item and a second was given by councilman Danny Wyatt. Mayberry asked if the new city manager Greg Wood had negotiated the items of the agreement and Wood said that the agreement memorializes the agreements that had previously been made. Those agreements included an increase in the flow fee for fuel sales from 5 to 10 cents per gallon and an additional $200 a month rental fee for the use of the new hanger and paying for the hanger's utilities.

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Councilman Wyatt asked Mr. Bennett if he was good with the changes? Bennett said he was fine but had not seen the agreement and did not know it was on the agenda. Bennett added that he knew the changes had been talked about so they were not a surprise to him.

Wyatt added that he agreed with Ms. Harris that the city attorney should review the documents. Manager Wood said he had been educated on the issue and would see to it in the future,

The council voted unanimously to approve the contract amendment.

Crossville council OKs agreement on new corporate hanger at airport

The Crossville city council approved a plan discussed during the council's earlier work session on how to handle operation of the new corporate hanger at the Crossville Memorial Airport.

The new hanger is now complete and council also approved the final change order on the construction that reduced the cost of the total project by $13,296. The total cost of the hanger is around $1 million and with a grant, the city's portion of the cost was 5 percent or around $50,000.

Crossville Memorial Airport

There was a short discussion at the work session on the operation of the hanger. The city does not yet know what the average utilities cost will be for the operation nor what kind of demand the hanger will generate and rental revenue. The discussion from airport manager Chris Bennett of Crossville Areo included some typical rental charges for use of hangers at other airports in the area that Bennett researched.

Word for word: Airport hanger discussion

The discussion turned to allowing Bennett to rent the entire hanger from the city allowing him to operate the facility, paying for the utilities and a monthly rental charge while allowing Bennett to keep any fees generated by the use of the hanger.

At the regular meeting, Mayor James Mayberry explained that the city would accept $200 a month rent from Bennett for the use of the hanger. Mayberry moved to approve the agreement that would be amended to the rental agreement the city already has with the fixed base operator.

The motion was supported by councilman Danny Wyatt and with no further discussion, the motion was unanimously approved by all four council members present. Councilman J. H. Graham was unable to attend the meeting.  

City of Crossville has "No Comment" on employee charged with theft of signs and the connection to the Crossville airport.

A request for an official statement by the city of Crossville on city employee Jerry Kerley being summonsed to court on theft charges in connection with missing political signs from a house on Mockingbird Drive, part of which was caught on video, the connection to the Crossville airport shown by city security cameras there and the confirmation by the district attorney that the signs were recovered on the airport property was "no comment."

An email was sent to the city's marketing and PR director Bill Loggins over the weekend and with no response by the end of the day Monday, we stopped by city hall Tuesday and spoke with interim city manager Steve Hill.  Hill explained that the email had been forwarded to him by Loggins and he had forwarded it to Crossville city attorney Will Ridley who, according to Hill, advised that the city should not make a comment.





Crossville water resources director Jerry Kerley and Crossville airport employee William Harwell will face theft charges in general session court on Thursday November 10.  According to the clerks office both men are represented by attorney Jimmy Smith.

Neighbor's cell phone video image

The alleged theft took place on the morning of September 30 and a neighbor captured video of two men leaving the Mockingbird Drive property after removing a number of political charged signs critical of Crossville city councilman Jesse Kerley who is the son of suspect Jerry Kerley.

First story on sign theft with exclusive video captured by neighbor.

Charges filed against Kerley and Harwell in sign theft

A freedom of information request was filed requesting security camera videos from the Crossville airport for the morning of the incident and they revealed the truck owned by Jerry Kerley and the suspects Kerley and Harwell met at the airport, left there just prior to the alleged theft then returned to the airport.

Crossville airport security camera image

Jesse Kerley has previously stated at several council meeting that he and airport manager and fixed base operator Chris Bennett are friends.

Airport security videos raise questions about sign theft incident.