Marion Co., West Virginia, Commission appoints DeVaul to NCWV Airport Authority after heated discussion

DeVaul seconded her motion at the Jan. 18 meeting, and although VanGilder shared his confusion and voted against the item at the time, he was outnumbered.

However, the item came back up during Wednesday’s meeting, this time written on the agenda that DeVaul would take over for Clayton. Before the three could vote on the replacement, though, VanGilder shared grievances he had with the issue so far, first questioning Longstreth on whether she had known or been part of discussions in the past to swap Elliott’s name out for Clayton’s.

Longstreth said she had heard that it was a possibility, but did not know the change had been made until she saw her agenda for the Jan. 18 meeting, which was different than the agenda released to the public.

She added that Elliott had requested to stay on the authority for another year until the airport’s new terminal could be completed.

VanGilder then questioned DeVaul, asking him about his involvement with the change. DeVaul said that he had conversations with Elliott, Clayton and NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock, all of which led him to believe he’d be a better replacement for Clayton than for Elliott.

“I was willing to have a conversation with anybody,” DeVaul said. “I think the lack of communication from the start is the issue we need to discuss.”

VanGilder continued his questioning, asking DeVaul how many days before the Jan. 18 meeting it was when Clayton was informed he would be replaced, adding that Rock did not control who could be appointed to the Marion County half of the Airport Authority.

Eventually, DeVaul responded with a rebuke.

“Ernie, am I on trial with you?” DeVaul asked.

“No, you’re not,” VanGilder responded. “I’m just trying to find out how this happened.”

“If you want to go into executive session and have a discussion with me and Linda, let’s step into executive session,” DeVaul said.

“No, I don’t think that’s necessary,” VanGilder said. “I think we have enough out in the open right now.”

VanGilder then asked that the agenda item for DeVaul to replace Elliott be placed back on the agenda as it was originally presented to the public during the Jan. 18 meeting. While the commission put the item back on the agenda and VanGilder motioned to accept the new item, Longstreth objected.

“My objection is that if Mr. Clayton had made this discussion that we wanted off of the board and agreed to go off of the board because of other matters … and that discussion was clarified through Commissioner DeVaul and him, if he’s willing and agreed to go off of it, then I think we should make a movement to replace Mr. Clayton with Bobby DeVaul,” Longstreth said.

VanGilder said that he had no issue with Elliott continuing to serve on the Airport Authority, adding that it seems the commission has made an “extremely large deal out of a little thing.”

“He currently wants to stay on, and you said you’re willing to let him stay on, so if that isn’t an issue, then let’s vote against replacing Randy with me and move forward with the agenda we have in place, vote on that and move forward,” DeVaul said.

VanGilder responded by saying that he wanted to amend DeVaul’s motion.

“Randy Elliott is a valuable asset,” VanGilder said. “He’ll bring a lot to that commission, but I’m going to ask that, rather than replacing Jack Clayton, we ask another member of that board if he would be willing to step aside in order for Bobby to take that position for the next six years.”

VanGilder then asked Marion County Administrator Kris Cinalli if he’d be willing to step down from the Airport Authority and be replaced by DeVaul, to which Cinalli immediately responded in the negative.

Finally, VanGilder made a motion to replace Clayton on the Airport Authority with DeVaul, to which both DeVaul and Longstreth agreed.