STEWART AIRPORT – James Wright has been the unanimous choice for
chairman of the Stewart Airport Commission over 30 years ago, being reelected
every January. On Tuesday, he announced he would not seek the top post
on the state’s advisory committee to the airport, saying “it
is time for a change.”
Former Chairman James Wright, center, with former vice chairman,
now chairman, Louis Heimbach, to
his right, at Tuesday’s SAC session
The commission chose Vice Chairman Louis Heimbach as the new chairman.
He was Orange County’s second county executive.
Heimbach praised Wright as “the glue that held the commission together
all these years.”
Long time SAC member Paul Quartararro was selected as the new vice chairman
of the commission.
When the state owned and operated Stewart in the early 1980s, the commission
was created to provide advice and consent to the Department of Transportation.
In later years when the airport was sold to British transportation company,
National Express, the SAC remained in existence to provide guidance to
the DOT, and when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey bought
the remainder of the lease in late 2007, the commission continued to meet,
serving to provide advice to the DOT, which remains on as the airport
landlord.
Wright will remain on the commission, but not as an officer.
