Thumbnail photo courtesy of Andrew Goff With one of their colleagues conjuring up images of plane vs. elk collisions on the runway, Del Norte County supervisors authorized a line of credit that will allow the local airport authority to weather a cash flow emergency. It’s an emergency tied to three grant-funded projects that are currently underway at the Del Norte County Airport. According to District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, the emergency represents an oversight on the part of the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority and its former airport director Ryan Cooley. Howard, however, pinned much of the blame on Cooley, who in 2023 had secured contributions from the joint powers authority’s member agencies to help to meet a 5% match tied to the $8 million Federal Aviation Administration grant-funded runway rehabilitation project. “It was a massive oversight by our previous airport director in not bringing this to the attention of the commission and not bringing this to the attention of the [Board of Supervisors],” Howard said Tuesday. Howard, who, along with District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short represents the county on the BCRAA board, said that mechanisms were in place to avoid not having the cash in hand to meet its financial obligations when the new terminal was being built. With the runway project, however, that's not the case, Howard said. “Now we’re playing catch up, and we’re playing catch up in a way that, if shopped properly, maybe we could have received some outside financing, [but] that time has flown and now we’re into a 30-day period where we have obligations to a vendor to pay that vendor,” he said. Cooley had been working for BCRAA for three years and eight months, leaving in June to become the aviation director for Humboldt County. He was let go from that position on Aug. 14. On Wednesday, Cooley told Redwood Voice Community News that he was told that it wasn’t a good fit. “I was really disappointed,” he said. “But I’m casting my net and looking at moving my career.” In an op-ed he submitted to Redwood Voice on Wednesday, Cooley said he felt that pinning the blame for the airport’s current financial challenges on any one person was unfair and inaccurate. He argued that the financial strain stems from how federal programs are structured as well as the airport authority’s limited reserves. “Yes there were oversights in anticipating the scale of certain invoices tied to the runway project,” he said. “While those oversights were collective — shared by the Airport Board and staff — I accept my share of responsibility for not recognizing the possibility sooner. The challenges were not created by any one individual, but I acknowledge that as director, I shoulder part of that oversight.” On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved extending a line of credit to the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority for its runway rehabilitation project, a wildlife fencing project and an airport rescue firefighter truck — all of which are paid for through reimbursable federal grants. That line of credit will be available until the BCRAA no longer needs it or until the county needs those dollars for its own projects. According to Short, the BCRAA commission went to the county to secure a lower interest rate. “We could go to a bank and get charged between 7 and 8%, but if the county would move to supply this line of credit we [would] pay the LAIF rate, which is between 4 and 4.5%,” he said. Supervisors also called for a feasibility study to determine whether the current JPA model is the most efficient way to operate the airport. District 4 Supervisor Joey Borges added the latter stipulation pointing out that the county is the only agency that annually contributes funding to keep the airport going. “At what point do we run a feasibility study and find out [if] it is worth keeping in this scenario,” he said. “Or do we bring it back to the county where we can fill in some of those positions and bring the costs of the airport down. It doesn’t necessarily have to be profitable but it has to at least break even.” The Border Coast Regional Airport Authority’s members are Del Norte County, Crescent City, Brookings, Curry County, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and Elk Valley Rancheria. Del Norte County currently contributes $276,000 annually to the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority, according to Auditor-Controller Clint Schaad. The county also pays $100,000 annually on a loan that “cannot be repaid to the county,” he said. According to Cooley, who submitted an op-ed to Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday in response to statements Howard and others made on Tuesday, the loan was made to BCRAA for the construction of the airport terminal. The airport authority has “never been legally obligated” to make annual payments unless it received aviation fuel sales tax revenue dollars from the State of California or “outside contributions made expressly for loan repayments,” Cooley said. The JPA’s other member agencies contribute funding, Howard said, however not on a consistent basis. In 2023, each agency kicked in money to allow the airport authority to meet the 5% match for the runway rehabilitation project. Most contributed $77,000, though one agency was only able to commit $10,000 a year for three years, according to Patricia Stanley, BCRAA’s fiscal and programs manager. According to Schaad, the airport authority was forced to use those funds to pay its bills. He said he shouldn’t have used those dollars, but the airport authority had to make its payroll and keep the lights on. The auditor-controller, who acts as the JPA’s CFO, pointed out that the airport authority doesn’t have millions of dollars at its disposal. While the $242,000 in total contributions from the BCRAA’s member agencies for the 5% match is back in its coffers, the airport authority is on the hook for amounts it’s currently unable to pay for, Schaad said. Even the carrier fees the BCRAA pays to Advanced Air are reimbursed to the JPA through the U.S. Department of Transportation, County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez said. “This is just a line of credit and it is needed for these capital improvement projects because it is a significant amount of money,” Lopez said. According to Schaad, those reimbursement dollars would likely come to the BCRAA fairly quickly. Those dollars would cover 95% of the project cost, he said, taking into account the 5% local match the JPA needs to meet. For the rehabilitation of runway 18-36, the BCRAA recently paid a $2.8 million invoice to Tidewater Contractors, which is spearheading the work, according to Stanley. She said another $3.4 million invoice still needs to be paid and a third invoice for between $300,000 and $400,000 is expected shortly. The FAA also requires the BCRAA to maintain a wildlife fence. Due to salt water, the fence on the ocean side has deteriorated so much that three weeks ago a herd of 17 elk wandered onto the airport property, Stanley said. The airport authority expects to use a different type of FAA grant to pay for that project, which is expected to cost about $900,000, she said. “That needs to start immediately and, of course, we will be responsible for 5% of that project,” Stanley said. The final project the BCRAA is working on is the airport rescue and firefighters truck, which is expected to be $485,000, Stanley said. Ninety-five percent of that cost is also reimbursable through the FAA, she said. The airport’s second runway, Runway 12-30 is also expected to undergo a similar rehabilitation project soon, Stanley said. It, too, is expected to cost about $8 million, she said. While speaking to county supervisors on Tuesday, Stanley said the airport isn’t important to the community from a commercial standpoint. “Cal-Ore Life Flight is very important to our community,” she said, referring to the Brookings-based emergency medical provider that offers both ground and air transportation. “They need those runways as well to be able to take us out of here when we need it.” In his op-ed, Cooley said if the joint powers authority doesn’t operate the airport, Del Norte County must shoulder that responsibility. He argued that it’s appropriate that the county is the JPA member that provides consistent annual contributions, though that $271,000 amount hasn’t changed since 2007. “Adjusted for inflation alone, that figure would be roughly $447,000 in 2025 dollars,” Cooley said. “Since 2007, the authority has faced sharply higher labor and retirement obligations, state-mandated wage increases, more expensive consulting and engineering services, rising fuel and equipment costs and expanded federal compliance requirements. Updating the county’s contribution to reflect these modern realities would stabilize operations, sustain compliance and ensure the airport continues to serve as a vital economic driver for the region.”