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Instead, the authority later used federal funding for the project to buy and raze the Orchard Park Mobile Home Park on Wilkins Road, which is within the airport's noise-abatement area. The authority planned to re-sell the properties and use the proceeds toward the cost of soundproofing homes close to the airport.

The authority bought the property and two others nearby as part of a multi-year noise-abatement project. A home on the property at that time was later removed. was purchased by the Airport Authority in 1996 for $70,000. The half-acre property at 1426 Powell Ave. The Erie Regional Airport Authority authorized its sale in June 2020.

The Powell Avenue propertyĪuthority-owned land on Powell Avenue in Millcreek, near Erie International Airport, was sold to a local development company for $30,000 in February 2021, according to Erie County property records.

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The money also paid the 25% local match for a $1.2 million Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Bureau of Aviation grant to install an additional passenger jet bridge and continue airport terminal roof improvements. The Airport Authority received almost $20 million in CARES funding allocated in 20.Īirport projects funded by the money include parking lot improvements and construction of a snow removal equipment building. Giannelli declined to comment on specifics of the FAA investigation, including whether bonuses were paid with the federal funding. How much CARES Act money was spent to fully fund employee pensions was not recorded.Ī Times-News review of authority minutes found no board action authorizing the use of CARES money for employee bonuses. 18, 2020, meeting available on the airport website. The Erie Regional Airport Authority authorized using CARES Act money to fully fund its obligation for airport employees' pensions in November 2020.Īirport Executive Director Derek Martin told authority members at the time that previous requests for reimbursement of $14,000 monthly payments to the pension fund had been approved and paid with CARES Act funding and that pension obligations are a permitted use of the money, according to minutes of the authority's Nov. The FAA letter asks that requested information be provided within 30 days.ĭerek Martin, executive director of Erie International Airport, is shown in the public waiting area at the airport in 2019. We look forward to providing the FAA with the requested information and to the resolution of this administrative review,' he said. 'The ERAA has always been a good steward of public funds and has an excellent working relationship with the FAA. The authority is gathering the information requested by FAA, Giannelli said. There is a process for citizens to ask FAA to investigate airport practices. The investigation most likely was initiated in response to a citizen's complaint concerning the use of federal funding, he said. The Erie Regional Airport Authority has received and invested more than $25 million in FAA funding over the last four years to improve the airport and its facilities and to ensure efficient airport operations, Giannelli said in an emailed response to an Erie Times-News inquiry about the FAA investigation. 'The FAA doesn’t comment on open investigations or speculate about possible outcomes,' FAA spokeswoman Emma Duncan said in an emailed response to Erie Times-News inquiries. The agency declined to provide additional details about the investigation and what the penalties might be if violations are found. 19 and Sunday - threats to place bombs in buildings including the Erie police station and the Erie County Courthouse, according to information in a new criminal complaint filed on Monday. While Wagner was awaiting his preliminary hearing in that case, authorities allege he broadcast - between Dec. Wagner was charged in October with airing the false weather reports and making the bomb threat. Wagner, aged 61, of Erie PA, who has been of accused of making bogus weather emergency reports on ham radio over several months in 2021Īuthorities also accused Wagner of threatening to assault other radio operators who told him to stop, and of threatening to place a bomb in an Erie apartment building where he lives.

The Erie Times-News reports on the case of amateur radio operator Richard L.

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