Freeport’s 5,500-Foot Runway: Where Power, Privilege, and Scandal Land

FREEPORT, IL – July 10, 2025

On July 7, 2025, the Freeport City Council held the first reading of Ordinance #2025-42, a measure that would authorize City Manager Rob Boyer to execute all airplane hangar leases at Albertus Airport without council oversight. The ordinance, presented by Alderpersons Tom Klemm and Greg Shadle, claims it will save time and taxpayer money by removing council from what they describe as “micro-managing” routine lease approvals.

But to many residents familiar with recent airport controversies, the ordinance is anything but routine and this move simply consolidates Miller’s power and keeps Klemm’s and Shadle’s hands clean.

A Quick History of Airport Controversy

In 2024, Albertus Airport became a political lightning rod after then-Alderman James Monroe uncovered text messages and backroom communications between city officials and select hangar tenants. Those documents revealed:

  • Undocumented tenants using city property rent-free

  • Leases missing or expired for years

  • Deals brokered behind closed doors without public knowledge or competitive process

These revelations led council to require all airport leases be approved publicly. For the first time in years, taxpayers could see who was renting public land and at what price.

Why the Rush to Roll Back Oversight Now?

The new ordinance argues that oversight is unnecessary because lease rates are based on square footage with fixed prices. But critics point out that:

✅ The city already pays a third-party airport management company to handle operations and leases.
✅ All major decisions still flow through City Manager Boyer and Fehr Graham, through their man on the inside - Darin Stykel as Freeport’s Public Works Director.
✅ Past lack of oversight enabled years of misuse of taxpayer property.

A Pattern of Power Consolidation

Monday’s council discussion reignited concerns about what many call a “hostile takeover” of the airport by the MAGA Miller administration. Mayor Jodi Miller, City Manager Boyer, Fehr Graham, and allies like Klemm and Shadle now seek to remove the very oversight that exposed wrongdoing just last year.

Residents are asking pointed questions:

  • Why does City Manager Boyer need more unilateral power when his administration has failed to address rising crime, fleeing population, delayed construction, and looming city worker strikes caused by stalled contract negotiations?

  • Why is Fehr Graham – a private engineering firm – so deeply inserted into airport operations, and what exactly is happening within hangars that has sparked such secrecy?

An Airport of Secrets?

One long-time observer put it bluntly:

“What is it about our small-town airport that has Jodi Miller, Rob Boyer, Fehr Graham, Darin Stykel, and the MAGA Council fighting so hard to seize total control with zero public oversight? What’s going on in those hangars? What’s coming in and out of there avoiding local and state law enforcement?”

These questions remain unanswered.

But many remember Mayor Jodi Miller’s now-infamous 2024 statement on the council floor when directly confronted:

“Drug test me all you want. It’s not like you can have someone removed from office.”

Next Steps

The ordinance will face a second reading and final vote at a future council meeting. For now, Freeport residents watch closely as their local government moves to erase transparency at the airport – one ordinance at a time.

—Brought to you and Paid for by Fighting4Freeport