by Barry Cheatham

Although it has been well-documented why I voted against further discussions with the Navy about touch-and-go pilot training at Franklin Municipal Airport, I welcome this opportunity to give citizens a brief recap of my position. During the discussions with the Navy, I also met with citizens from both sides of the issue on multiple occasions in a desire to find some common ground.

The majority of the citizens I spoke with felt their way of life was at risk of being destroyed, while the Navy was already underutilizing its existing facilities. Comments and questions that I received from concerned citizens were provided to the Navy, which had well over 30 days to respond. No formal response was ever received. In fact, the only acknowledgment was an indirect response by the Navy saying it would fly only three planes.

Only flying three planes is irrelevant to whether they can or will fly in an established and agreed upon flight pattern during established and agreed upon timeframes. While a penalty could be set for instances when the agreement to flight patterns and timeframes were broken, how do you prove that the agreements were broken and, even if you can prove it, how do you penalize someone who says they did it due to safety reasons?

Other concerns dealt with credibility. To many, it felt that we were pursuing a moving target with respect to knowing what to expect. Again, an example is not flying in the proposed patterns and consistently having an excuse for why. This did not build confidence that the professionals had done their homework or would actually stand by what was negotiated. In fact, one of their professionals told me it was a “learning experience” for them in determining how many planes could fly in the pattern. This indicates that the answers being given to the City of Franklin were based on unproven estimates on shaky grounds and not hard facts.

The city cannot afford to be the subject of the Navy’s learning curve. Along the same credibility concern, I also took issue when our citizens questioned the Navy on multiple occasions regarding why something occurred and the Navy told the citizens they were wrong. When the citizens showed photographic evidence, the Navy suddenly had a reason or an excuse to something they had just denied having ever occurred. To me, this all pointed to the Navy not being completely forthcoming with the City of Franklin about their intent.

There has been some discussion that the process of negotiating with the Navy was cut off early. The City of Franklin was given a deadline by the Navy and we chose to give an answer two weeks early because a decision had been reached. We saw what they offered in writing. We saw them in action and we listened to the numerous excuses and justifications for not operating in the framework that they proposed. We listened to the affected residents of Franklin and the surrounding areas. Ultimately, we decided that it was not a good fit economically or operationally and additional discussions were not going to change the facts of the situation. It was best to let the Navy look elsewhere than to keep them and our citizens hanging on.

I believe that even the most ardent opponents of the Navy doing touch-and-go training would agree that if the Navy had to have the Franklin site as a matter of national security, it would have been a proposal that would have been supported. This is not the case. This issue had absolutely nothing to do with patriotism, as several proponents have tried to paint. When asking many of these proponents why they thought the Navy should come, only two answers were given. First, they believed there was economic benefit and, second, they believed it was our duty to let the Navy use the facility at any cost simply because it was the Navy. While believing that it’s appropriate to grant the Navy something similar to eminent domain simply because they want to use the property is a personal choice, the presumed economic benefit is not factual. Based on the information provided to the City of Franklin by the Navy, the contract was going to be a break-even deal for Franklin at best. It did not appear to give us any real economic benefit – certainly not upwards of $1 million. The only thing I could and would go by was what was before me in writing. The contract was not cost-plus, but rather expense reimbursement for time spent on the Navy work. This could actually end up costing the City money in supplementing salaries, benefits, etc. for additional personnel during working hours not directly spent on Navy work. Based on the proposed Navy contract, support would not be consistent or full-time.

The people that have called opponents of the Navy’s proposal “unpatriotic” have no idea what the backgrounds of our citizens are and I am disappointed to see that some have resorted to this emotional name-calling now that so much of the factual basis for supporting their cause has faltered. The citizens of Franklin are diverse and intelligent and able to make educated decisions that are driven by facts rather than emotion. I was raised by a Navy Chief and have always been very supportive of the Navy and always will be. It is the finest Navy in the world and they do great things for many communities. Even while believing these things personally, I do not believe that ours would be one of those communities that experienced great benefit. While I do believe that Adm. John C. Harvey Jr. is a very up-front and honorable man, I do not believe the Navy did their job adequately with public relations with our citizens or with planning.

Will there be less tax revenue for the city government in the future? As it stands now, the answer is yes, but we would still be facing a shortfall even with the Navy’s presence. There is still work being done to repurpose the mill to make up some of the money. We have restructured the debt to help lighten the payments when the funds lessen. We are working to attract new business to our industrial parks. With so much work to be done, now is not the time to continue to be separated by this issue. It is time to let it go by and to stand together as a united city and work together on real economic improvement.

BARRY CHEATHAM represents Ward 1 on the Franklin City Council. His e-mail address is bwcheatham@hotmail.com.