Don Overcash Has Proven He Cannot Be Trusted, Don’t Let Him Fail You Further

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Today we learned that the remote tower project at the Northern Colorado Regional Airport is “paused” indefinitely. I've watched candidate for mayor Don Overcash chair the Northern Colorado Regional Airport Commission for the last several years. To be blunt, the airport is a colossal failure, an embarrassment to the industry, and in my opinion, Overcash is largely to blame. Why? In the last two years he's held what I consider to be unnecessary executive sessions time after time with zero regard for public transparency or taxpayer best interest.  

The result? It appears that the virtual tower is a failed experiment, and the lack of concern is arguably putting our airport and its pilots in a dangerous and economically devastating situation. It also appears that commercial airlines won't come here because of it and pilots’ safety and efficiency are at risk because of it. 

Overcash knows this yet he lies to the public and makes excuses. (See the City Council meeting on June 6th, 2023 to see what I mean). What's the value of even one avoidable incident with pilots' safety? I’m writing this letter because every single time sunlight of transparency makes its way to this airport, a new nightmare is exposed. 

One of the meetings I am critical of resulted in over 50 tenants of the airport getting evicted! Luckily, Overcash and then manager Jason Licon were forced to open records disclosures and we found out they lied about the safety study for the hangars, and ultimately they rescinded the evictions. Licon resigned, and in that instance, justice ultimately prevailed for us general aviation pilots and tenants. However, this exact same process is now continuing on with the virtual tower (currently defunct) and the terminal project, which has been referred to as a “terminal to nowhere.” I have to agree.

I watched Overcash in a public airport meeting deny Martin Lind, a significant stakeholder at the airport, the right to present and speak even after five others stood up and yielded their time. Overcash denied Mr Lind any time over a measly three minutes to expose what I consider to be the unethical behavior of the airport manager and important projects, specifically the virtual tower and terminal. I believe there is nothing worse than a government that dismisses their public. 

The airport is now building a $25mm terminal with no airline tenant. The airport is operating without a control tower. The airport has had to close an integral crosswind runway because of human error and placement of the construction trailer! This closure has nothing to do with physical properties of the runway. 

It is my opinion that Overcash should never be trusted with public well being. He has proved his incompetence with his leadership at the airport. Expect a wholesale disaster in the entire city if you trust him with the mayor's gavel. 

I invite you to explore the public record at www.flyfnl.com for more evidence of the issues I am raising.

Loveland voters: You deserve honesty and integrity, neither of which are attributes of Don Overcash.

-- Mark Coan, Aircraft and hangar owner at the Northern Colorado Regional Airport