Beverly Airport Access Lawsuit Settled

BEVERLY — The city has settled a lawsuit filed by a former Danvers selectman and local cable TV host who said he was unfairly banned from Beverly Regional Airport.

Neither the city nor Mark Zuberek would disclose the terms of the settlement, which was approved on Oct. 16 by the Beverly Regional Airport Commission.

Zuberek filed a federal lawsuit in April claiming that the airport commission, airport manager Gloria Bouillon, and the city of Beverly, which owns the airport, violated his civil rights by permanently banning him from the airport.

The commission issued a no-trespass order last November saying that Zuberek made repeated attempts to gain access to secure areas of the airport, according to the lawsuit.

Zuberek acknowledged that he approached a fence separating a parking lot from airport buildings, runways and taxiing areas on one occasion, but said he did not cross the fence and denied ever trying to reach secure areas or film them.

The lawsuit said the ban violated Zuberek's rights to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom to gather information, and freedom of the press, and that Bouillon's statements constituted defamation.

The lawsuit asked the court for "an amount of money which will fairly compensate him for his emotional pain and suffering, and damage to his reputation."

Zuberek declined to comment on the lawsuit or the terms of the settlement. Bouillon declined to comment, referring questions to the city's attorney for the case, David Monastersky. Monastersky did not return a phone call.

In the lawsuit, Zuberek said he attended an airport commission meeting on Oct. 10, 2018, filmed the meeting for his Danvers television show, "Topics of Town News," and asked questions about plans for widening the airport runways.

Zuberek said he tried to interview Bouillon after the meeting, but the room was too noisy to record the interview. He said he emailed Bouillon on Oct. 21 requesting an interview and saying he wanted to film the west side of the airport, which is located in Danvers.

The next night, Zuberek said his daughter, a pilot who flies frequently out of Beverly Airport, told him there was a sign posted at the airport with his photograph and a message that said, "DO NOT ALLOW ON AIRPORT PROPERTY."

That same night, Bouillon sent an email to Zuberek saying she was not available for an interview the next morning, but did not say anything about him not being allowed on airport property, according to the lawsuit.

Zuberek said he did not see that email until later, so he went to the airport on Oct. 23 to interview Bouillon, who told him in person that she was not available. Zuberek said in his lawsuit that Bouillon again said nothing about his ability to visit other parts of the airport.

Zuberek then drove to the west side of the airport, parked in a parking lot outside the airport fence, and walked to the fence that separated the parking lot from the operating areas of the airport. There were no signs stated that the parking lot was a restricted area, according to the lawsuit.

Zuberek asked some men inside the airport hangar if they could locate an airport business owner that he wanted to interview. The business owner came to the fence and said he did not want to be interviewed, so Zuberek returned to his car and left the airport, the lawsuit said.

The next day, Bouillon sent an email to Zuberek saying that he was not permitted on secure portions of the airport and that his request to film the secured portion was denied. The airport also issued a security alert saying an unauthorized person tried to gain access to the airfield, and notified the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Homeland Security and state aeronautics officials.

On Nov. 1, Zuberek received a no-trespass order from the airport commission, as well as a notice from the MassDOT Aeronautics Division stating the he had repeatedly attempted to gain access to the airport operating area, refused to stop when notified, and that police had been called.

In Feburary of 2019, Zuberek filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office alleging that the commission violated the state open meeting law by denying him access to its meetings.

In July, the Attorney General's Division of Open Government ruled that the commission had violated the open meeting law. In the ruling, Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Carnes Flynn said the commission "made no showing of a specific, articulable threat to public safety should (Zuberek) be allowed to attend the commission's public meetings."

Flynn also said the commission did not make an effort to resolve its security concerns in a manner that would allow Zuberek to attend its meetings until several months later, when it moved the meetings to Beverly City Hall, where the no-trespass order did not apply. The AG's office ordered immediate compliance with the open meeting law and said future violations may be considered evidence of intent of violate the law.

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or [email protected].

———

Visit The Salem News (Beverly, Mass.) at www.salemnews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.