As a result of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation report, the Greenbrier County Commission agreed to pay $20,552.28 to the Greenbrier Valley Airport for past violations.
The reimbursement was approved during the Greenbrier County Commission meeting on Tuesday, April 26.
Commissioner Tammy Shifflett-Tincher explained the funds addressed “a corrective action plan that was submitted to the Greenbrier County Airport Authority by the FAA during their investigation. That has been ongoing over the last two years. We are getting to a closing of that, and with this corrective action, we will be able to meet the requests of the FAA. The FAA is requesting that a combined amount of $20,552.28 be reimbursed by the Greenbrier County Commission to take care of the preliminary findings. This will also meet the requirements of the FAA.”
The FAA first issued a letter to the Greenbrier Valley Airport and Greenbrier County Airport Authority (GCAA) in 2020 after receiving complaints from former Airport Director Stephen Snyder stating, in part, “Mr. Snyder alleges that the Greenbrier Valley Airport Authority, sponsor of the Greenbrier Valley Airport, is in violation of their Federal Grant Obligations as it relates to operations of the Airport.”
The subsequent FAA investigation resulted in a 48-page report detailing which of Snyder’s allegations it found evidence to support, and the allegations dismissed on their factual basis, statute of limitations, or lack of evidence.
The report splits the misuse of revenue allegations into “those that concern … Mr. Snyder’s predecessor in the LWB Airport Director position, Jeremiah O’Sullivan, those that concern … former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Linda Yoak (Yoak), those that concern the misuse of [airport revenue] due to the influence of The Greenbrier,” and miscellaneous issues, such as a lease to Union Concrete Products.
The report outlines each potential violation of “Grant Assurance 25, Airport Revenues,” that led to the reimbursement:
– “Snyder alleges that in 2019 the GCAA Board voted to give $10,000 to the Greenbrier County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) for a cost-share on a local market study. … Within the body of the document, Greenbrier Valley Airport is mentioned only 5 times, and there is no discussion of actions the airport can/should take to entice new air service. Based on our review of the Vibrancy Assessment, we consider its purpose to be one of general economic development for Greenbrier County. It is therefore our preliminary determination that GCAA illegally diverted revenue in potential violation … when it used $10,000 to fund the Vibrancy Assessment.”
– “Snyder alleges that in October 2014 approximately $3.3 million of GCAA funds were transferred at Yoak’s direction from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to the Bank of New York where the airport received a very poor rate of return. … The available evidence appears to indicate that Yoak was able to transfer $3,304,220.67 without the approval of the GCAA Board. Although GCAA indicates that Yoak was previously given approval to transfer $1.5 million of GCAA funds in 2008 we are not convinced that such prior approval indicates that she was in any way approved to transfer more than double that amount in 2014. That being said, neither Grant Assurances 24 or 25 prohibit the CFOs of sponsors from transferring airport funds without the approval of the sponsor’s upper management. Nevertheless, it appears to be a good idea for the GCAA Board to exercise closer oversight of GCAA’s finances and we are encouraged by GCAA’s statement that the current Board is presented with financial reports prior to its monthly meetings for review and approval at the meetings.”
– “Snyder alleges that GCAA paid O’Sullivan to fly aircraft, including Civil Air Patrol (CAP) aircraft. … Snyder further alleges that GCAA made these payments under a program whose purpose was to boost the traffic count at LWB. … Our preliminary determination is that the GCAA Board authorized the illegal diversion of $5,120.72 of airport revenue that occurred between May 2014 and February 2015, in potential violation of Grant Assurance 25, Airport Revenue, through payments to O’Sullivan associated with his operation of aircraft for the purpose of increasing LWB’s traffic count.”
– “Between June 5, 2014 and June 17, 2014, GCAA illegally diverted $462.74 of airport revenue, in potential violation of Grant Assurance 25, Airport Revenues, through reimbursement of expenses associated with O’Sullivan’s CFI renewal course.”
– “Snyder alleges that when Yoak’s husband died she began paying herself a stipend of $300 a month, using GCAA funds, for the difference between family coverage medical benefits and single coverage. … our preliminary determination that GCAA diverted $3,990 of airport revenue, … due to the above described payments made to Yoak.”
The report also deals with a Union Concrete Products lease, a now-dissolved company lead by directors James L. Rose and Lowell C. Rose (now the president of the Greenbrier County Commission), according to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office:
– “Snyder alleges both that GCAA previously leased a 3.18-acre parcel of land for less than fair market value and that subsequently GCAA is leasing a 6,000 square foot building to the 911 Center for less than fair market value. In terms of the lease to Union Concrete Products it appears that, at a minimum, GCAA should have increased the rent once it became the owner of the 6,000 square foot building in 2008. … Furthermore, the $600 a year rent for 3.18 acres of airport property is even lower than the land lease rate preliminarily found to be too low for the Mott lease discussed above. It therefore appears that the 3.18 acre property was leased for less than fair market value between 2008 and 2016. Nevertheless, this would, of course, be an example of a past violation.”
The corrective action plan requires, “if FAA approves, the GCAA will make a request to the Greenbrier County Commission to provide $20,552.28 to the GCAA for the GCAA’s account for LWB” and that “GCAA will hire a certified appraiser to perform a fair market value rent analysis to obtain fair market value rent values for the 15 acres, the Mott Lease, and Seneca Health Services Lease.”
In February, the airport authority attorney Charles R. Bailey updated the board on the status of the complaint and FAA investigation.
“We accepted the FAA’s recommendations,” Bailey explained outside of the executive session. “We put forth a plan of remediation to take care of those issues. That plan will be implemented as soon as we get the appraisals started and completed, per FAA consideration. … I would have to say the FAA was pleased with our response to their many inquiries. The matters that they asked us to look into were not unexpected, at least. … We were hampered terribly by the fact that many of these things that occurred by a prior administration by other employees, so we had to do so much work to backpedal to find out what occurred, how it occurred, and why it occurred. I believe the FAA was pleased with our intense investigation response, for the most part, and we did the best we could. I want to thank all the board members of the staff for their tireless efforts, and because that was really helpful.”
This includes the $20,552.28 approved by the commission on Tuesday.
Rose explained, “this was a request that the airport was … told to make by the Greenbrier Valley Airport to the County Commision. They are doing what … they had been told do, which is come to the Greenbrier County Commission for payment of these funds. These funds are just corrective actions that the FAA determined, things that are in the distant past, all these things that I know of. … It was just where maybe a building was used for something it wasn’t intended … for or whatever. It was a request that the airport Greenbrier Valley Airport Authority was told to make of [the commission] by the FAA.”
Commissioner Mike McClung noted the agenda item did not contain the word consideration and asked if that could prevent the vote from taking effect.
“To be clear, I don’t remember whether the FAA used the word request, I think this is more of a command or demand,” said McClung. “This is basically a situation to correct some wrongdoing by previous administration.”
Rose called for the vote, thinking the verbiage on the agenda would cover the motion and action.
The commission approved the $20,552.28 in a two to one vote, Rose and Tincher voting in favor and McClung voting against.
The report covers some of the same ground as a lawsuit filed by Snyder in the Greenbrier County Circuit Court against the airport authority and county commission, in which Snyder states he began investigating a “former GCAA manager and former chief financial officer,” allegedly “improperly abused their positions and misused GCAA funding and property to their own financial gain” and “numerous instances of potential waste, fraud, and wrongdoing involving” a Greenbrier County Commission member. (see “Whistle-Blower Claim Dismissed In Suit Against Greenbrier Commission, Airport Authority” at wvdn.com/26071/). In January, one of the claims, a whistleblower claim, was dismissed due to statute of limitations (see “Dismissal Motion Filed In Case Between Former Airport Director and Gbr. Commission” at wvdn.com/27190/).
