Starting next month, the effort to retain Davis-Monthan Air Force Base should become more visible to the public.
DM50, the nonprofit, volunteer-run group that is working to protect the air base from closure, will now send the city and county monthly reports on its efforts to support the base. DM50, the city and county are each paying $180,000 for a consulting firm as part of the overall effort to protect the base from possible closure.
Leading the push to disclose the DM50βs lobbying efforts was Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik. He argued the city deserves a monthly update, given the city and county are helping fund the three-year lobbying effort.
Earlier this week, City Manager Mike Ortega reached out to the head of the DM50 to ask the group to submit updates, reminding DM50 the city has a deep interest in D-Mβs long-term success. βI recognize that our initial letter of agreement does not reference monthly reports, but I would appreciate you providing them,β he wrote.
Bob Logan, president of DM50, said his group will begin releasing monthly reports next month. A report detailing advocacy efforts between February and August has already been sent to the governments.
βWe are happy to comply,β Logan said of the request.
The reports made public by DM50 wonβt exactly be the reports the group receives from its military consultant Eugene Santarelli β some sensitive information is likely to be omitted from the public documents.
Emails sent earlier this year between DM50 members and Santarelli, a retired Air Force general, released through a public records request showed Santarelli and Logan carefully discussing the options regarding releasing information.
Santarelli wrote he is concerned that making his reports to DM50 public will disclose sensitive, strategic planning.
βWe were told the county and city wanted to be silent participants in the contract. So, if we provide a report that officially ties us to the county, this will likely become a FOIA (public) document,β Santarelli wrote to Logan in May.
Logan questioned in an email in July that he didnβt know whether making the reports public was necessary under the contracts with the city and county, but acknowledged there might be political ramifications.
Kozachik applauds the decision by the DM50 to provide reports but says he still has an issue if the nonprofit is holding back information. βI have an issue with sanitizing the reports that the taxpayers are paying for,β he says.
He said he backs the mission of the DM50 but that oversight is important. βIt is important the consulting agreement yields results,β he said.
The largest concern, officials concede, is the balance between informing community partners of monthly activity without disclosing sensitive, strategic information.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has seen some of the DM50 reports and says the information so far has been innocuous. There is some logic, he said, in withholding information if it jeopardizes the efforts to protect the base.
