[Humboldt County] Grand Jury looks at safety, operations of local airports

Flying Around Humboldt Airports

The 2014-2015 Humboldt County Grand Jury completed an investigation of the Humboldt County Department of Public Works’ Aviation Division. The investigation included the commercial airport and five county general aviation airports. The six airports are the California Redwood Coast Humboldt County Airport (CRCHCA), Murray Field, Rohnerville Airport, Garberville Airport, Dinsmore Airport and Kneeland Airport.

After visits to all the airports, interviews with the department personnel and relevant community members, review of current budgets and examination of annual State Inspection notification letters for each general aviation airport, the Humboldt County Grand Jury discovered issues that led to findings and recommendations about the Department of Public Works and its Aviation Division. A summary of key recommendations include:

The Board of Supervisors (BOS) direct the Humboldt County Airport Advisory Committee to recommend alternatives to the BOS for realignment of the Aviation Division outside of the Humboldt County Department of Public Works.

The BOS direct the County Administrative Officer to perform an audit of the internal procedures between the Public Works’ Aviation Division and General Services Division to eliminate any duplication of services.

The BOS assign one person with the authority to negotiate a deal for additional airline services and grant the designee a direct line of communication to the BOS.

Public Works’ Aviation Division and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department strategize ways to reduce the cost differential for security services at CRCHCA.

Public Works correct, in a timely manner, all issues described in the annual State Inspection notification letters for each general aviation to enhance operational safety. This includes completing a Corrected Airport Permit Application for Dinsmore Airport indicating the correct runway length before July 1, 2015 to avoid suspension of its state airport permit.

Public Works share the annual inspection notification letters with the Humboldt County Airport Advisory Committee.

Should you decide to publically comment upon this final report of the 2014-2015 Humboldt County Grand Jury, it would be appreciated if you would include within your comment the fact that the full report may be viewed by the public at our website: www.humboldtgov.org/510/Grand-Jury.

May 26 2015

Press release from the Humboldt County Grand Jury

Eureka Times-Standard

By The Times-Standard