The Aug 18, 2008 edition of the Sun News announced a series of meetings on the proposed expansion of the airport terminal where residents will be able to make verbal and written comments regarding the project. At an earlier meeting, Rick Ott of MB Kahn (airport consultant) advised the public that they could only submit questions in writing.

M.B. Kahn Construction Company has been in business since 1927 and is headquartered in Conway, SC. Their web site depicts many beautiful commercial and municipal construction projects. However; none of which are airports. Rick Ott’s position with the Kahn Company can not be attained without setting up a profile and reason for asking employee information. His Sun News article of Aug.18^th said his title was Senior Vice-President and construction manager of the Myrtle Beach airport project. I have to assume the Myrtle Beach International Airport will be the Kahn’s Company’s first attempt at building an airport as well as Mr. Ott’s

In preparation for the Surfside meeting Surfside resident, Joe Zoltak, submitted the questions below as was asked:

 “Since residents of Horry County are prohibited from asking questions at your series of airport presentations, but written questions will be answered.   I request that you answer the following written questions at your presentation here in Surfside Beach on Aug 20 at 5 P.M.”

At a recent County Council meeting, you showed a chart indicating peak capacity at the airport for a short period at mid-day for only the summer months. 

Question 1:  Using this chart, how can expansion of the airport be justified? 

Question 2:  What do charts from other similar airports contemplating expansion look like using these same parameters?  Would you be kind enough to present charts from other similar airports."

Question 3:  The data that you are using to justify the expansion is not current reflecting the oil crisis and decline in air service world wide.  Why are you using obsolete data?  Please ensure that the data you present also reflects the departure of United and Southern Skways from Myrtle Beach and the 5 month decline in air service.  Also include data addressing the impact of new air line fees for additional luggage and fees for golf bags up to $100.  Would you be kind enough to update your charts with current data and trends for this presentation?

Question 4a:  Recent news articles indicate that you are presenting three expansion options for the terminal.  Could you present a fourth option which would be to merely modernize (with added efficiencies) the existing terminal as a near term plan and shelf your three long term options until the future of the airline industry stabilizes?

4b:  Perhaps your short term plan can incorporate smart design features and "efficiencies" which could then be incrementally executed as the airline industry recovers.  County council just slashed airline fees in an attempt to recruit airlines.  How will this revenue decrease be made back up while increasing debt significantly with a full blown expansion? 4c: If the airport defaults because of revenue shortfalls and unaffordable debt, will taxpayers be liable to bail it out?

All these are questions based on current information and are not unreasonable; however Mr. Ott decided he should have some Horry County Council member answer. The response that follows is where things got somewhat out of hand:

     Mr. Zoltak - A Council member has asked that I respond to the questions below posed by you. The questions that you pose have all been asked before - for about the last decade - and will not be answered nor debated again by Mr. Ott. No changes are anticipated in his presentation or calculations. If you are tremendously concerned, may I suggest that these questions be posed to one of several persons, namely, Doug Decker, Lou Kreiger, Bill Darby, Paul Gable or George James. I am certain that any of them can provide all of the answers that you need. I would also direct your attention to an exhaustive report prepared by The Boyd Group that is available in the office of the Greater Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. JOHN WEAVER, Horry County Attorney

Doug Decker is not part of the County Council or on any committee he is merely a concerned citizen, with a lot of knowledge about airports. He does not have the authority to answer for anybody but himself and should not be placed in the middle of this.

What is real interesting that the authority to answer was given to Mr. Decker by the Horry County Attorney, John Weaver and if Mr. Decker wanted to respond if would have been considered “OFFICAL”. The Boyd Group Report was paid for by the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce and my or may not have been used in any of the studies or proposals done by M.B. Kahn

This whole airport thing is getting out of hand and a P.R. nightmare. It has been going on forever with lost taxpayer’s money already in the millions. Somebody has to get a grip on this and soon. Right now it appears, to me, that the old saying applies “too many chefs, not enough cooks”

Every time I see articles in the paper about the Myrtle Beach Airport (MYR) I still am not convinced that we should spend the millions of dollars on a new airport at this time.

Taking a look at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and comparing the basic categories of Passengers coming in and out, Departures, Carriers, and Freight weight, compared with the other Airports, in the area. The MYR in the 12 mo. ending in May of 2008 the number of passengers arriving and departing were up by1.41%, Charleston was up 24% and Wilmington was up 18% The other categories MYR are either the same or down. Carriers, for instance, in Florence remained the same as did MYR during the same time period, but since then MYR has lost one, Delta. The other two competing airports added three new carriers during that time frame. MYR’s freight weight was down by 15.14% which was a lot more than Charleston, at 11.10% and Wilmington at 8.12%, interesting, that Florence was up by 36.47%. 

This information along with continued questions, of who should run the MYR and the other three county airports, I think maybe we should put our money into getting an interstate highway built, because the majority of the tourists are driving here.

The Horry County Council voted against any authority taking over the management of the airports, but now they are putting four members of the Council on a panel which will discuss creating an authority, just to see what they are discussing. That sounds like the panel will have four nonparticipating members that will be in a defense mode. One of the nonparticipating County Council members is Howard Barnard, he says the MYR is making a profit every year and is managed very well by the County. This comes after he made a statement a Chamber of Commerce earlier this year that the Airport Manager should be fired. Well, profits are coming from the higher fees to do business at MYR, which they just reduced, certainly the statistics above are telling a different story.

I am not sure, an authority is the way to go or not, I am sure that the way the MYR is being portrayed, at least to the public is feckless.         

Posted on Thu, Aug. 21, 2008

County joins airport authority study group

By Mike Cherney - mcherney@thesunnews.com

Could this may be the end of Horry County’s running of the Myrtle Beach Airport.

On August 5^th 2008 I posted the BLOG “Airport and Horry Country Council Shanagans.” This is now getting some added exposure in the alternative press.

Does Myrtle Beach Need Eight Snow Plows?
Alternatives News Magazine August 14th - 28th, 2008   

   Webster’s dictionary defines fraud as the intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value. Keep that definition in mind while you are reading this.

   In June 2005, the Horry County Department of Airports submitted an application for an Airport Improvement Program Grant for federal funds to the Federal Aviation Administration.

   Buried in that grant was a request for $355,000 to be used by the airport to purchase snow removal equipment. Among the equipment to be purchased were two crew cab pick up trucks, an 11 ton dump truck, a pull behind sweeper and snow plows for the front of the trucks.

   In order to help justify the grant request, airport director Bob Kemp included pictures of a December 1989 snowstorm at the Myrtle Beach airport (MYR). The 1989 storm dumped over 14 inches of snow at the airport. It is also the largest snowfall in recorded history for Myrtle Beach.

   Why wasn’t a picture of a more recent storm used? It’s quite a simple answer - there hasn’t been one that would have required equipment to remove snow.

   The application for the snow removal equipment includes these statements: “The airport does not possess snow removal equipment for snow and ice removal on ramps, taxiways and the runway. When such conditions occur, MYR has been at best hampered and, at worst, closed until runway conditions improve. In the past, the airport has had to rely on private off-airport contractors or other public agencies go provide snow removal operations on the airport. The airport proposes to reduce dependency on off-airport sources by purchasing a limited amount of snow removal equipment that will allow MYR to better maintain runway conditions with airport staff in most adverse winter conditions.”

   The state of South Carolina website providing information on annual snowfall in Myrtle Beach says the city averages one “snow event’ every two years. A snow event is defined as a snowfall of more than one-tenth of an inch. The average annual snowfall is listed as zero inches.

   As any person who has spent winters here for any period of time will tell you, Myrtle Beach doesn’t get much snow, especially not in amounts that require snowplows.

   In fact, an amount of snow requiring plowing is so rare that none of the cities, nor the county, has snow removal equipment for the roads.

Why Snow Removal Equipment For The Airport?

   Actually, the airport wanted maintenance equipment in the form of the trucks, etc. It just didn’t want to pay for it.

   The Federal Aviation Administration will not provide grant money for routine maintenance equipment. It says so right on the FAA website and in regulations regarding the use of AIP grants for airports.

   So, airport director Bob Kemp came up with a great idea – The airport could get routine maintenance equipment paid for by the federal government if it was called snow removal equipment.

   Worse, the county didn’t even try to hide this fact. Airport director Bob Kemp proudly told county council “if we didn’t get the grant from the FAA, we would have had to buy the equipment ourselves” and that he sent the photo of the 1989 snowstorm to “make us eligible” for the grant.

   In addition, Kemp proudly said he did exactly the same thing when he was airport director in Wilmington, N. C. He also said that the FAA will not fund the construction of maintenance sheds, but will fund the construction of sheds to house snow removal equipment. Therefore, the next time the county needs a maintenance shed, we will apply to the FAA for more money to build a structure for our snow removal equipment. 

Plus A Million Dollar Garage?

   That grant request, in the amount of $1,052,000, is scheduled to be applied for next year, according to the airport’s capital improvement plan.

   When the grant request first hit the FAA there was confusion about the “laundry list of equipment” requested by Myrtle Beach.

    “A broom and maybe a spreader on a dump truck with a blade might be the maximum for their location,” read an internal e-mail at the FAA.

   However, the Myrtle Beach airport submitted a revision to their Airport Certification Manual to include a snow plan, according to FAA documents. The reason for this snow plan was listed as “The snow accumulation (last couple of years) and the increase in Air Carrier Ops.”

   The question is what snow accumulation in the last couple of years, prior to 2005? Maybe it was snowing at the airport when it wasn’t snowing any place else in the county.

   Once it received the new snow plan from Myrtle Beach, the FAA approved the requested snow removal equipment, complete with a grant to pay for 95 percent of the cost.

   In 2007, the Department of Transportation Inspector General conducted an investigation into the FAA’s oversight of the Myrtle Beach airport with respect to the failed west side passenger terminal, the snow removal equipment and illegal fencing at the Grand Strand Airport in North Myrtle Beach. The FAA was determined to have failed in certain areas of its oversight responsibilities.

   Included in the report of the investigation was the statement by the IG investigator: “The FAA has stipulated to the HCDA (Horry County Department of Airports) that the snow removal equipment should be used for the sole purpose of snow and ice removal.”

   The FAA notified HCDA in December 2007 that the equipment purchased under the grant “should be used exclusively for snow removal, ice removal and FOD (foreign object debris) removal.”

   Not exactly what the IG said, but close.

   Horry County responded to the FAA in February 2008 that it was using the equipment, when not needed for snow and ice removal, for maintenance activities.

   Definitely beyond the bounds of the IG investigation report summary.

   The IG contacted the FAA in July 2008 about the continued use of the snow removal equipment for maintenance purposes in violation of the AIP grant regulations, the IG findings and the FAA restrictions placed on the airport in 2007.

Why Is This Important?

   So the Myrtle Beach airport has found a way to put one over on the FAA and the federal government. What is the big deal?

   There is no big deal if you believe that the government does not have to obey the law. If your philosophy is such that you believe the government is above the law, that it can make laws it requires its citizens to obey but doesn’t have to obey the law itself, you would see no harm in the airport department’s actions.

   If, however, you believe that government, along with its elected and appointed officials and employees, should be required to abide by laws just as you are, you can see the problem.

   The airport department was determined to apply for equipment in one form in order to use it in another. It didn’t want to buy the equipment itself. If it had, there would be no problem. There are no FAA restrictions on the use of equipment purchased with airport funds.

   One other point is that AIP grant money comes from taxes- federal taxes on fuel and, partially, federal income taxes on working citizens. To some extent, your tax dollars purchased snow removal equipment for the airport that the airport doesn’t need.

   Now, go back to the top of this article. Fraud is the intentional perversion of truth to induce another to part with something of value.

   It would certainly seem that there was an intentional perversion of truth in the application for snow removal equipment. When Kemp was questioned about the equipment later, he bragged that it was a way to obtain maintenance equipment without having to pay for it with airport funds.

   The FAA certainly parted with something of value when it sent grant money to Horry County for snow removal equipment that was always intended to be used as maintenance equipment and still is being used in that way.

A Series Of Misrepresentations

   Unfortunately, this is not the only misrepresentation we have experienced by our current airport department and its director.

   Probably the greatest misrepresentation has been in the need for a new airport passenger terminal. We have heard stories of the “rapid growth” or “relentless growth” in passengers experienced by the airport. 

   The real story is the airport has experienced no growth in passengers over the last eight years. 

   In 2000 the airport had 792,529 departing passengers. In 2007, the airport had 839,000 departing passengers. However, from 2000-2007, the airport averaged only 740,000 departing passengers per year. The above two years were peaks and there were a lot of valleys in between.

   No matter how the county tries to spin it, those numbers definitively show Myrtle Beach International Airport is not growing.

   Worse than that, with the price of aviation fuel at its current levels, airlines are cutting service nationwide and those cuts include Myrtle Beach.

   For the second time in five years, the county is moving forward on plans for a new airport passenger terminal. 

   This comes at a time when no other airport in the country is making such plans and many construction projects at airports around the nation are being suspended or abandoned.

   Remember, this is a county which felt it couldn’t afford to spend even one-third of a million dollars to buy maintenance trucks, which are needed. However, it has no problem considering a total expense in excess of $600 million dollars (including the $240 million bond issue) for a new terminal that is definitely not needed. 

   There is currently a move to establish a state mandated airport authority to run the Horry County airports. Horry County is resisting this in every possible way.

   But the Horry County Department of Airports and Horry County government have shown themselves to be totally inept at running the Myrtle Beach airport. It is time for another approach.