Aug. 26—Saying they needed more time to study the issue, the Portage Common Council on Thursday voted to table until January a resolution aimed at closing the Portage airport and abolishing its airport commission.
The 5-4 vote, following two hours of public comment, disappointed many of those attending the meeting who want the airport to remain open.
"I feel like they have the statistics," said Anastasia Lawrence, 17, a local student who is learning to fly in preparation to become a U.S. military medevac pilot after she graduates high school. "We gave them everything they needed, but they just want to keep postponing it, like they have the last 50-plus years."
"It is vital that aviation gains more interest," Lawrence told the council. "If Portage shuts down the airport it will lose the opportunity to welcome new businesses, tourism and getting youth out of the house, like it did for me."
The resolution would direct city staff to inquire with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Bureau of Aeronautics about what it would take to shut down an airport. A separate measure also scheduled for a vote Thursday but postponed until January would have abolished the Portage Airport Commission, which oversees the operation and management of the airport.
The motion to postpone the the vote was initiated by Ald. Allan Radant, District 1, and seconded by Ald. Eric Shimpach, District 6. The two council members originally proposed the resolution on Thursday's agenda.
"I'm going to need that much time, the staff is going to need that much time, and people on the council will need that much time to get all the facts and figures brought forward." Radant said of the effort to delay the vote.
Barry Erath, chairman of the Portage Airport Commission, noted that the airport uses roughly 1% of the city's budget every year.
Airport commission members feel they have been treated poorly by the Common Council, Erath said.
"It is the expectation that the council work in good faith, be transparent and collaborate with the commission," Erath said. "It is very disappointing that once again the cloaked-in-secrecy disrespect for (the) commission has resurfaced."
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