ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The embattled St. Augustine Airport had its first meeting this week with its newly installed board members. It lost no time diving into business.
Action News Jax Investigator Emily Turner has been covering the saga for more than a year and found there are not one but two major investigations ahead.
The executive director and airport attorney are set to be central figures in that investigation and it all comes in the wake of another investigation that director called for.
The airport has been in turmoil for more than a year, running through multiple executive directors and leading to the resignation of four board members. The most recent resignee is Jennifer Liotta. Action News Jax talked to her after she resigned, and she told us, “I found it in the best interest of the airport and the community for me to step aside so that the board could do its work.”
But Action News Jax found her resignation came days after the interim executive director asked the state ethics commission to investigate Liotta, saying, “Mrs. Liotta’s conduct and actions as a board member have been substantially impacted by her conflicts of interest… and have visited substantial harm and institutional risk to the airport authority.”
Liotta refuted those claims. She sent us this statement: “It’s disappointing but not surprising that Mr. Pittman has filed an ethics complaint against me, an action taken without Board authorization or even informing the Board. I was the only member who consistently pressed for accountability and compliance with state law. I have always disclosed and handled potential conflicts appropriately. This appears to be an attempt to retaliate and rewrite the narrative after I raised legitimate concerns about his conduct and misuse of public resources.”
Her ten-page resignation letter also called out the interim executive director, Courtney Pittman, saying he gave himself a raise and violated several airport policies.
Pittman didn’t return our call for comment, but the board last night launched an investigation into him and the airport authority’s legal counsel.
In the meantime, the airport’s stakeholders say they are tired of making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
We’ll keep you updated on those investigations. As for the ethics inquiry into Liotta, it was dropped because she resigned.
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