Share This Article
In a marathon public meeting Tuesday night that preceded Wednesday’s successful vote to dissolve the Baxter County Airport Commission, members of the commission, county officials, and dozens of community members engaged in three-and-a-half hours of intense discussion about airport operations and a controversial hangar lease.
Despite the lengthy debate at Tuesday’s meeting, the Quorum Court voted yesterday evening to abolish the commission. The vote was 8-3, with only JP’s Bob Nault, Rick Steiner and Eric Payne voting against the measure.
The Tuesday meeting, which drew more than 50 attendees, featured Gary Loftus, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance officer for the Southwest region, appearing via video conference. Loftus immediately addressed concerns about the airport’s federal compliance status.
“I’ve been down here in the South since 1976 with the FAA last 12 years,” Loftus said. “I’ve been in aviation for about 40 years. I’ve been the director of compliance for the Southwest region since 2014.”
Loftus explained his involvement with Baxter County began in September 2022 when he was contacted to review four leases. He noted that until recently, the airport had been under “administrative conditional compliance.”
“We had, we were waiting for one final lease and it had been about five years,” Loftus said. “This hangar had been on the airport but we couldn’t come to an agreement, y’all couldn’t come to an agreement – not we in the FAA, but y’all with this particular hangar tenant.”
The meeting revealed that only two hangars at the airport operate under ground leases based on square footage – the Clevenger hangar and the Hasselwander hangar. All other leases are structured with set monthly rates.
“There’s no leases on this airport they’re charged by the square foot other than two and that’s the two grounds,” Judge Kevin Litty explained. “The rest of them charged by either the size of the building… they’re paying a rental fee.”
A significant portion of the discussion focused on the residential addition to the Hasselwander hangar. Loftus addressed this directly, clarifying FAA regulations regarding living quarters at airports.
“You cannot have a residence in a hangar, that is true,” Loftus stated. “Usually we let the airport tell us.”
He added that crew rest facilities are permitted. When asked how long crews can rest Loftus remarked that, “It could be two days, could be three days. The airport should put in their minimum standards or rules and regs to put a rule out as to what that would be. Top put this out there, the FAA does not run the airport. We just try to make sure that you comply with grant terms.”
Litty noted that Arkansas law usually defines residency as full-time occupancy for 30 days or more.
A significant revelation during the meeting concerned the existence of an original 2017 lease that had been drafted but never executed. The discussion revealed that Brad Hasselwander had signed a copy of this lease, and the airport commission at the time had approved meeting minutes laying out the basic terms of the agreement.
Additional controversy emerged when discussion turned to a discrimination complaint recently filed with the FAA. While the commission initially declined to identify who filed the complaint, Commissioner Kyle McAlister eventually acknowledged it was his hangar partner after being directly questioned. Unlike the Hasselwander and Clevenger properties, McAlister’s hangar operates under a standard rental agreement rather than a square-footage-based ground lease, making the situations not directly comparable.
A FOIA request revealed that the complaint was filed by one Dr. Eric Rosenberger.
When asked about the status of this complaint, Loftus maintained discretion. “I’m not authorized to release that information,” Loftus said. “But moving forward, I’m very confident that the powers that be are going to try to work through everything that needs to be worked through.”
“I asked former judge Pendergrass twice as to why the original lease, which was drafted, was never signed,” Litty said during the meeting. “He never gave an answer.”
Commission Chairman Stephen Vester offered an explanation for the unsigned lease: “Mark Carney was an attorney that saw on the commission for quite some time. He, I suspect was probably the guy that was in charge with the lease — I have no proof of this, but I figure this was probably something that was on his desk that he was working on when his health took a dive and it probably just never got done.” Vester indicated Carney’s passing likely contributed to the lease remaining unsigned.
The meeting minutes from 2017 were approved by a quorum of commissioners at the time, though two members abstained due to their business relationships with Hasselwander. This created a complex situation where an agreement existed in principle through the minutes, but without a formal signed lease document.
“The lease was actually drafted,” Vester explained. “Mr. Hasselwander had signed it but the judge didn’t sign it, the commission didn’t sign it, it was not reported. And so it’s all said and done, it was just simply not properly executed.”
The commission’s recent legal actions against Litty cost the airport approximately $15,000 in airport funds. This lawsuit had characterized Litty as a “despot.”
When asked if the commission had reviewed the language of their complaint with their attorney prior to it being filed in court, Vester said that they did have discussions with their attorney about the case but did not state if they specifically signed off on the language used in the legal filing.
A substantial debate emerged regarding credits for improvements to the Hasselwander hangar. Vester expressed concerns about the credit system.
“Things that were done as much as two years later are now being credited into this amount of prepayment,” Vester said. “There’s no question Mr. Hasselwander should get credit for the money that was actually used to construct the hangar. No problem with that. The guy did a favor for the airport. But you can’t just continue to give credit for money that is spent that has no aeronautical value and what is not a benefit to the airport itself.”
Loftus indicated he would conduct a walkthrough of the hangar to evaluate which improvements qualify as aviation-related. The discussion revealed that of the $425,000 in total improvements, $200,000 was initial construction costs, with the remainder including various additions and upgrades.
Judge Litty expressed frustration with the ongoing conflicts: “I’ve been beaten by this commission for two years, I’ve been pulled, prodded, embarrassed, sued… I’m having sleepless nights. And I will not do it anymore. There’s got to be a better life because I’ve got a good job and I’m surrounded by seven good elected officials. I will not deal with it anymore.”
Kevin Crawford, a longtime flight instructor, offered perspective on both sides of the dispute.
“The accusations and stuff that have been going on and the stuff that was publicly on Facebook, papers, whatever, have been ridiculous. No need for that. You know, it’s very unprofessional. On one hand, I can see Kevin’s point. You know, it looks like you can’t work with these people. But you know in the last 25 years I guarantee you I have conducted more operations than flight hours at this airport than anybody else not even close. And probably more than the next 10 or 15 combined. This commission, it’s been the best by far, and its frankly the only commission in the last 25 years that it really seriously worked for the airport. If I was in Kevin’s shoes, I might do exactly the same thing, because it does not feel like there’s anybody trying to work together here.”
“I think it’s probably going to take a couple of people on the commission… need to resign, you know, there’s just been too much done, said and so on that there’s no going back at this point.”
Mountain Home Police Chief and newly appointed JP Eddie Griffin, who served alongside Litty during his 25-year tenure as a police officer, spoke forcefully about the personal attacks on Judge Litty.
“What really offended me was when I heard people attacking his character,” Griffin said. “I expect a bunch of keyboard warriors out there at the house, you know, that really don’t have a dog in the fight. But I also heard some of that from the commission and that’s unacceptable.”
JP Dirk Waldrop, who openly admitted that he did not want to be forced to vote on the matter Wednesday evening, pushed for an immediate resolution to the conflict.
“Let’s quit talking about what happened five years ago, or ten years ago or some kind of standard procedure,” Waldrop said. “Why can’t we settle this right now? We can come up with something that you can all agree on. And this little thing just goes away.”
Dennis Chafa, a local resident, defended the commission’s work while raising concerns about accountability.
“I take affront to someone come up here and blaming these guys that you don’t even know them and have never been here,” Chafa said. “This man has tried to fix things.”
Loftus praised the airport’s potential while encouraging the modernization of its fee structures.
During discussions about lease standardization, Vester explained that early attempts to create a comprehensive lease agreement had proven challenging. “We went to aviation attorney specialists down in Little Rock with the Rose Law Firm,” Vester said. “They came back to us at our request with a model lease… it was 115 pages long that did not include the appendices.”
Vester noted these standardized leases weren’t practical for their needs. “They have nothing to do with the way we do business in Baxter County Arkansas. They’re totally irrelevant to what we do in Arkansas or maybe in Baxter County. And for that reason, it’s too complex, it’s too complicated.”
Russ Gillis, addressing the financial arrangements with Hasselwander, offered support for the existing agreement. “Mr. Hasselwander has been a massive contributor to this county. Nobody questions that,” Gillis said. “Communities and states all around the country routinely give tax breaks to businesses that will either build in their community, bring improvements to their community, or what have you. If we want to give a tax break to Mr. Hasselwander who’s got a great business up there, I don’t have any heartburn with that.”
Loftus repeatedly emphasized the airport’s potential throughout the evening. “You guys have what I classify as a phenomenon of a country airport,” he said. “You have not a diamond in the rough. You just have a jewel that a lot of people in the GA [general aviation] world would love to be able to get their hands on. You have a lot of land that’s available for people to build hangars. You have development opportunities… you guys have so much opportunity, it’s crazy.”
As the meeting progressed, a consensus emerged among attendees that the Hasselwander lease, regardless of its complicated history, was now finalized and should be considered settled. Multiple speakers acknowledged that with Judge Litty’s signature on the current lease and the FAA’s apparent satisfaction with the arrangement, it was time to move forward rather than continue debating its terms.
The meeting grew particularly heated when a student pilot and Army veteran raised concerns about the relationship between Judge Litty and Hasselwander noting that “the internet is forever.” Litty forcefully responded to these allegations.
“I really knew nothing about this hangar although I sat on the quorum court,” Litty said. “He was one of many that gave me the max of twenty-nine hundred dollars when I was campaigning… Do I owe him anything? No, because I knew nothing about this until about November.”
It should be noted, while Judge Litty’s campaign contributions from Hasselwander are public record due to required campaign finance disclosures, the airport commissioners’ potential conflicts of interest remain unknown. The commissioners have not filed their annual statement of financial interest documents with the county clerk as mandated by state law. These documents serve to disclose to the public where each official gets their income from, what boards they serve on, what businesses they have stakes in, etc.
The student pilot also incorrectly claimed that Hasselwander was Litty’s biggest donor. Hasselwander is merely one of the many Baxter County residents who gave Litty the maximum legal amount of campaign contributions under state law at the time ($2,900). During his race for County Judge, Litty led the pack in both maximum donations from wealthier voters and smaller donations from grassroots donors.
Throughout the evening, Loftus repeatedly stressed that while improvements could be made, the facility faced no immediate threats.
“The FAA has no intentions of stopping anybody’s funding unless the airport doesn’t want to come into full compliance,” he said. “Right this second, the airport is in full compliance.”
Near the meeting’s conclusion, several attendees urged the elected officials to consider public opinion before proceeding with the vote to dissolve the commission.
“You need to listen and you have listened to the applauses. You have listened to what people have said,” one citizen told the assembled officials. “I can tell you that those here are for keeping the commission. So I suggest that you listen to the people… please and not only just now but for always, listen to the people in the community.”
Judge Litty indicated that while Wednesday’s vote was still scheduled, there might be room for compromise. “We pumped the breaks yesterday,” Litty said, noting that commissioners were scheduled to meet with him the following day.
Bob Nault, justice of the peace, repeatedly attempted to mediate between the parties.
“Can the commission work with the judge?” Nault asked. “We understand that there’s got to be some things that have to come together, leave the egos and everything outside the doors, whether it’s on commission, whether it’s on the judge, leave those egos out.”
Despite potential hopes for peace between the judge and commission, Litty announced Wednesday afternoon that the vote to disband the commission was still on following his morning meeting with commissioners.
The Baxter County Airport serves as a critical transportation hub for the region, handling approximately 7,500 aircraft operations annually, according to figures discussed at the meeting. The airport brings in roughly $5 million or more in revenue to the county per year.
