No agreements between airport owners

Wheeling and Prospect Heights came together Tuesday to try to work out issues over Chicago Executive Airport, which both towns own.

The boards of both municipalities came to no decisions, however, on changes to the intergovernmental agreement.

The group decided to meet again in a month, after the Wheeling village board and the Prospect Heights city council each have a chance to go through changes in the agreement regarding the airport chairman.

The towns have been butting heads since last year, when Kevin Dohm, the former chairman of the airport board, resigned following questions of his work with an airport consultant.

The boards will be considering three changes to the intergovernmental agreement, including: the airport manager's job description, the roles and duties of the board chairman and the hiring and dismissal of the chairman.

There was some question Tuesday of who actually should be investigating changes to the agreement: the two municipalities or the airport board.

"The (CEA board) knows best what makes the airport function," Prospect Heights acting mayor Pat Ludvigsen said.

However, some Wheeling trustees countered that the airport ultimately is the two towns' responsibility.

"We put too much of this to the CEA board," Wheeling Trustee Dean Argiris said.

The towns also argued over who should be allowed into the closed session at the end of the meeting, where they would be talking about personnel -- namely airport manager Dennis Rouleau.

Prospect Heights wanted Rouleau; E. Allan Englehardt, the newly appointed chairman of the airport board; and the airport lawyer to all be included in the closed session.

Wheeling opposed having Englehardt included, but the majority of trustees changed their minds after a prolonged discussion on the issue.