The former director of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport insulted and disrespected Westminster residents by reportedly calling people with concerns about operations and airport noise as “nut jobs,” said city councilors Monday.
Still, Westminster should remain a sitting member of the airport’s Community Noise Roundtable because it gives the city a say in mitigating noise problems at the facility, a slim majority of the councilors said.
“I just know what it means to have a voice at the table,” Mayor Nancy McNally said before voting to keep the city on the roundtable. “Otherwise, I don’t know where that voice will go.”
The council voted 4-3 Monday to stay on the roundtable. Councilors Amber Hott, Kristine Ireland and Obi Ezeadi voted to depart. Hott reminded the council about the comments supposedly made by former airport director Paul Anslow in 2021 who derided the efforts of the roundtable to soften airport noise.
Nut jobs
“I want them to waste their money and time,” Anslow is quoted as saying in the transcript, made public late last year by KUNC News. “Cause here’s the deal, Centennial (airport) had a (noise) roundtable for 20 years plus, nothing gets done. It just makes people feel happy that they’re part of the roundtable and they get to bitch.”
Anslow says in the transcript that it will likely take five years to make any changes, “and a couple of hundred thousand dollars of taxpayer’s money that’s wasted, and I get to sit there and be like, ‘Hey we support this, we do anything we can to help (with) noise.”
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Later in the transcript, Anslow said those who made complaints about airport operations were “nut jobs.”
Anslow left as airport director in November 2023 and in December half of Jefferson County’s eight-member Airport Advisory Board resigned, citing “deep frustration and disappointment” with his “termination,” according to a story in the Westminster Window.
Hott said Anslow’s comments further eroded citizen trust in government and that Westminster’s presence as the roundtable did little to effect change at the airport.
“Residents feel frustrated that they have not been listened to,” Hott said. Anslow wanted Westminster “to continue to waste time and money” as members of the airport panel.
“Right now, there is no trust there,” Hott said. “Our residents don’t trust the process.”
Westminster left the round table in 2022 but returned shortly thereafter, said Westminster spokesman Andy Le.
Assistant City Manager Chris Lindsey, in a report to the city council, said that withdrawing from the roundtable eliminates the opportunity to collaborate with other cities in identifying and solving noise impacts surrounding the airport.
Westminster is among eight local governments that are voting members of the roundtable. Dues paid by participating members went up from $3,600 in 2022 to $12,000 in 2023, according to the staff report. The cost is projected to go back to $3,600 this year, the report states.
Westminster in 2022 also agreed to pay $7,810 to the roundtable to hire two consultants to study noise problems at the airport.
Councilor David DeMott said remaining on the roundtable is still the best way for Westminster to voice its concerns about the airport to the FAA. “The airport is not going away,” DeMott said.
There have also been improvements made to lessen noise impacts. They just haven’t come overnight, he said.
“It will continue to be hard and frustrating,” DeMott said. “But we will continue on.”