Eight people, including several with extensive aviation experience, have expressed interest in filling the seat on the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission left vacant by the recent resignation of Peter Bettencourt of Edgartown. The choice of who to pick to fill the remainder of Mr. Bettencourt’s three-year term falls to the Dukes County commissioners, who have been locked in battle with the airport commission.
The applicants include Jeffrey “Skipper” Manter, a West Tisbury police sergeant, selectman, and member of the county advisory board that oversees the Dukes County budget; Kristen Zern of West Tisbury, a realtor and president of a marketing firm specializing in the travel industry; Robert H. Rosenbaum, a seasonal resident of Chilmark who is a retired computer executive and pilot; and Geoffrey Wheeler of Vineyard Haven, an aviation consultant and commercial pilot.
Also expressing interest in the position are James Graham of West Tisbury, a former private school executive; Benjamin Hall Jr. of Edgartown, an attorney who served one term on the airport commission, until county commissioners declined to reappoint him earlier this year; Beth Toomey of Vineyard Haven, the retired West Tisbury police chief who also served briefly as an interim county commissioner; and Myron Garfinkle of West Tisbury, a former businessman, pilot, and local representative of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
The county commissioners are scheduled to consider the appointment at their September 10 meeting.
The county commission and the airport commission have been embroiled in controversy for much of 2014. The two sides recently went to court over control of the county-owned Martha’s Vineyard Airport and its operations.
On August 7, Dukes County Superior Court Associate Justice Richard J. Chin handed the airport commission a significant victory in its legal battle.In an 11-page decision Judge Chin ruled in favor of the airport commission on every point in its request for a preliminary injunction against the County Commission, county treasurer Noreen Mavro Flanders, and county manager Martina Thornton. That lawsuit is still pending.