Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich and Councilman DeWayne Briscoe this week countered charges that they're among a handful of north Blaine County figures attempting to either delay or block construction of a replacement airport for Friedman Memorial in Hailey.
During a joint meeting of the Hailey City Council and Blaine County Commission last week, former Blaine County prosecutor and now state Democratic Party chairman Keith Roark contended that "people in this room" are committed to stopping the new airport's development. In addition to Willich and Briscoe, he also named Ketchum City Councilman Charles Conn and valley real estate executive Dick Fenton.
The same general charge was made by Hailey City Councilman Fritz Haemmerle during the meeting to discuss how a new airport should be governed. However, Haemmerle declined to name anyone.
Fenton declined to comment on Roark's and Haemmerle's statements for last Friday's Mountain Express, while Conn said "my comments on creating an oversight body for planning our replacement airport that represents all Blaine County's citizens, including drivers of our visitor-based economy and general aviation, can stand for themselves."
In comments too late for the Express deadline last week, Willich said "the 'move-the-airport' train' left the station a long time ago. My interest is in how much the taxpayers of Sun Valley will be asked to contribute to buying coal for the steam engine to keep it moving. The concept of our citizens having zero meaningful input to the new airport process and being presented with a bill for it somewhere along the line is offensive and intolerable.
"The people in the process can become open and inconclusive to move quickly or they can hoard power and stall the effort. To their credit, the county commissioners seem to be taking the inclusionary approach."
Councilman Briscoe told the Express that Roark's comments "surprised me—he must not have been listening when I pleaded we all need to get together for a new airport." He called Roark's statement "totally inappropriate," also citing his work on the board of Fly Sun Valley Alliance.
