The McKinney city council approved $58 million in construction contracts for an airport expansion that voters have rejected twice in previous bond elections.
The council voted 4 to 2 on Tuesday to approve construction contracts totaling about $58 million for the airport expansion. Council members Justin Beller and Patrick Cloutier voted against three of the contracts and the budget amendment for the funding.
McKinney Mayor George Fuller said the airport could receive an additional $30 million for the airport at the state and federal level. Cloutier said he wanted to wait until that funding was secured before voting on the contracts. But now that the contracts have passed, Cloutier said he plans to be committed to ensuring the airport project succeeds.
"It is super important now that the city is committed to this passenger terminal, that we absolutely get this right for the taxpayers," Cloutier said.
McKinney voters struck down a $200 million bond to pay for the expansion two years ago. And the city council approved the funding to buy the 190 acres of land for the airport expansion in 2018 after voters rejected a bond to fund the purchase in 2015.
Bridgette Wallis, who runs the McKinney Citizen to Citizen Blog, told KERA in a previous interview the council is ignoring the will of the voters.
"Two bond elections now that have failed, and they went around and still did it anyway," Wallis said.
But Fuller said the voters didn't reject the airport project – just the funding method. The 2023 bond for the airport proposed using property tax dollars for the airport expansion. The city is using other funding sources for the current project.
"We listened," he said. "We asked staff to find another way for us to develop commercial service and come up with a strategy that would allow us to mitigate risk by proposing dual-use improvements on the east side and funded by sales taxes, all with strong opportunity for federal and state reimbursements."
Fuller is about to finish his last term as mayor after a city charter amendment to extend the council's term limits failed to pass in November. The race to replace Fuller as mayor is headed for a runoff election June 7. Bill Cox, who received about 47% of the vote, will face Scott Sanford, who got about 41% of the vote.
Sanford, a former state representative, said at a mayoral debate ahead of the May election the airport expansion should be paused until voters elected a new mayor and city council.
"The development will span decades, far beyond my lifetime," he said. "It's too big. It's too important to rush."
Fuller said at Tuesday's city council meeting that the current council has years of institutional knowledge on the airport. He said delaying the vote would be "an abdication of leadership."
"That argument ignores the depth of work, research, and public engagement already done," he said.
Cox, a former city council member, is the chair of the McKinney Planning and Zoning Commission. The commission approved the site plan for the airport after the city council passed a resolution in January. The proposed site plan for the airport includes a new Taxiway "Charlie" on the east side of the airport runway and a new roundabout for cars to enter the airport from FM 546. The plan also includes details for a 48,000 square foot terminal with parking.
Cox said at the mayoral debate it was unwise for a candidate who doesn't have inside knowledge of the airport project to make judgments. Fuller has endorsed Cox in the mayoral race.
"No one up here has seen the documents," Cox said. "No one knows what's in there. So to say you've got an accurate picture of the deal, you don't have an accurate picture of the deal."
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
Caroline Love is a Report For America corps member for KERA News.
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