Illinois Valley News

A group hoping to establish a smokejumper museum at Illinois Valley Airport near Cave Junction is blaming Josephine County Airports Manager Alex Grossi for project delays.

The issue was discussed by the county board of commissioners during its Friday, Jan. 22 administrative meeting at the courthouse in Grants Pass.

A draft lease has been submitted by museum advocates to the county. But disagreements about the terms and conditions have arisen between the group and county officials.

Commission Chairman Dwight Ellis suggested that a workshop or executive (closed to the public) session meeting be held to work through those differences. He added that he is uncomfortable talking about contracts in open public sessions.

County Legal Counsel Steve Rich said that executive sessions typically are reserved for discussions about pending or threatened litigation. He expressed doubt about whether it would be appropriate to talk about the proposed lease in such a setting.

Ellis and Commissioner Dave Toler, an Illinois Valley resident, said that they were not prepared to make any decisions about the lease at this point. The matter should be tabled until it can be discussed with Rich, Grossi and Property Manager Phil Killian, Ellis said.

Museum advocates Roger Brandt and Gary Buck, who are Illinois Valley residents, later showed up at the meeting to state their positions on the proposed lease for the former Siskiyou Smokejumper Base.

Brandt said that the lease changes suggested by his group were not ?capricious? or ?arbitrary.? He accused Grossi of spreading ?inaccurate information? about the proposal.

Grossi also was characterized by Brandt as having used ?defamatory language? toward the smokejumper group and utilizing ?selective enforcement of regulations.? Brandt then handed documentation of his claims to the commissioners for their consideration, and said he had been the ?target of retaliatory behavior? from Grossi.

?I don?t expect that to stop in the future,? Brandt stated.

Buck, a former smokejumper, stated that the group would like to repair some of the airport facilities. He said that doing so would be expensive, but that volunteers from throughout the country would be willing to aid those efforts this summer.

?Those buildings have been neglected,? Buck said.

He added that windows in the airport?s historic parachute loft building are falling out, and that its mess hall and office have been empty for five years.

Fixing those buildings will cost between $60,000 and $70,000 in time and material, Buck said.

?We deserve credit for our work,? he said. ?We deserve a fair lease.?

Toler apologized again for the board not being prepared to settle the issue. He added that the commissioners will need input from county staff before proceeding further, and can do a workshop afterward.

?I think it?s a great project,? Toler said. ?I think we need to see it happen.?

However, in light of the comments that Brandt and Buck made about Grossi, Rich reversed his previous recommendation against deliberating the matter in executive session.

Rich said that an executive session would be advisable, for the sake of avoiding potential liability stemming from the remarks about Grossi.

Vice Chairman Sandi Cassanelli said that the museum project would benefit Cave Junction. She added that the county still has an ?open mind? on the issue. Brandt stated that everything his group has done is about supporting the county.

Cassanelli praised the group for its work on the parachute loft last summer.

Michael Smith, from Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., said that once the museum is established, it would have the potential to draw money to the area from outside. It would create ?momentum? for the airport and its users, according to Smith.

He said that grants are available for operating museums, but not for constructing them.

In a telephone interview Jan. 22, Grossi said that the allegations made against him are ?unfounded? and not based in fact.

?I went into that meeting prepared and eager to work out a lease with the smokejumpers,? he said. ?It?s my desire and the commissioners? desire to put the lease in place.

?I?m a bit stunned and surprised from the verbal assault on the person who?s going to be administering that lease. It left me very surprised.?

Grossi added that he had yet to see the documentation presented by Brandt, but would if it were offered to him. He said that the exchange during the meeting will not change any plans to move forward with the lease.

?My enthusiasm had a bucket of ice water dumped on it,? he said. ?It will not prevent me from still working as hard as I can to get it done, but it is disheartening.?

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