Hawaii trip cost $26,000 | Published 11/23/08

By Jennifer Hewlett - jhewlett@herald-leader.com

Lexington's Blue Grass Airport is well represented in Hawaii at the American Association of Airport Executives Aviation Issues Conference each year.

This year, executive director Michael Gobb and four other airport officials attended the conference, which was Jan. 6 to 10. The cost to the airport was more than $26,000.

The story that sparked the investigation: A sky-high expense account | Published 11/23/08

Bernard Lovely, chairman of the airport board, said the conference is an important one that is attended by members of Congress who deal with air travel issues and by others in the industry.

Lovely, Gobb, operations director John Coon, marketing and community relations director Brian Ellestad and vice chairman of the board James Boyd attended the conference. The airport paid for 10 nights in a hotel for Coon; eight nights each for Gobb and Ellestad; six for Boyd; and five for Lovely, according to Blue Grass Airport expense reports.

Airport officials took their spouses and, in some cases, children on the trip. Lovely said the airport did not pay expenses for spouses and children.

Coon serves on association committees and had to arrive earlier than the others, according to Ellestad.

Fernita Wallace, a former member of the Lexington- Fayette Urban County Council and former chairwoman of the 10-member airport board, went to Hawaii once during her tenure on the board.

"I went to all the meetings because I was very interested in all the issues," she said, adding that she didn't find it that useful as a board member.

"We didn't really meet all that many hours. ... It was just morning meetings," she said. "I really think it was more about networking than anything else."

Dick DeCamp, a member of the Urban County Council and a former airport board member, also attended the Hawaii conference during his tenure on the board. He saw Gobb in action, and he was "terrific," DeCamp said. "He made the Blue Grass Field known."

Gobb, who goes to the conference nearly every year, bought an airline ticket to Hawaii in March for next January. It cost $1,909.81.

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