For the week of July 17 - 23, 2002

Hailey police keeping guard at Friedman

Officers bring in extra dough for city

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"It is my estimation that we’ll have federal officers in the terminal long before the end of the (contract)."

- RICK BAIRD, airport manager

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

The National Guard has pulled out of Friedman Memorial Airport, and City of Hailey police officers under a new contract are keeping guard at security posts inside the terminal.

The arrangement is part of a federal plan that came in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Drafted by the federal Transportation Security Administration, the plan includes a requirement that uniformed police officers be present in all airports to oversee security screening.

Pursuant to a TSA mandate that Friedman arrange for security to be provided after National Guard officers exited on May 10, airport officials in April asked the City of Hailey to enter into a contract to provide a single, armed Hailey police officer to stand guard at Friedman’s security checkpoint for each boarding flight.

Hailey City Council members on April 22 authorized Mayor Al Lindley to execute a contract for the city to provide security at the airport for 581 days, approximately until the end of 2003.

However, Rick Baird, manager of the airport, said that he believes that the TSA will arrange to install federal security officers at the airport before the end of the contract, which has a 90-day out clause. "It is my estimation that we’ll have federal officers in the terminal long before the end of the (contract)," he said.

Baird originally estimated that it would cost the airport $550 per day to pay for the services, or a total of roughly $319,000 over the duration of the contract.

He explained this week that the TSA has agreed to reimburse the airport $332 per day for security, which will be used to pay the City of Hailey. He said that Hailey will be reimbursed for all of the services it provides, regardless whether the TSA grant dollars fluctuate.

Heather Dawson, Hailey city clerk, said city officials on Tuesday determined that revenues from the contract—all of which are offset as expenditures—should be included in an amended budget for the current fiscal year.

She said city staffers will propose to the city council on Monday that they adopt a tentative budget amendment to reflect that the city from May to September will receive $55,000 from the security contract, in addition to some $109,000 in other revenues.

However, she noted that the new revenues will not result in a budget surplus for the city, since all of the money has been appropriated for specific programs.

 

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