CHARLESTON – The Yeager Airport Board now has $6 million to dispatch to residents affected by the landslide that occurred in March.
The airport board received $5.5 million from the bank and $500,000 from the Kanawha County Commission.
Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said the fact that the insurance companies have been refusing to pay claims is not fair to the residents whose lives were affected by the landslide.
"The insurance companies have not paid a single claim in the two months since the incident occurred," Carper said. "It's not fair to the innocent victims in all of this."
Carper said because of third-party liability, insurance companies don't pay because there is no penalty if they don't.
"The people involved are blameless, and what the insurance companies are doing is shameless," Carper said.
The airport board also hired three local attorneys to help them reimburse homeowners and Keystone Apostolic Church and attempt to recover costs.
Yeager Airport took out the $5.5 million bond and hired Scott Segal, Tony Majestro and Tim Bailey. The attorneys will work as a team and have agreed to front all legal expenses.
The airport board unanimously approved the bond at a special meeting May 8 and the bond is an extension of an existing parking-garage bond under the same terms.
Yeager will continue to make monthly payments to Summit Bank of $57,000, but for the next 20 years instead of the next nine, as had been previously scheduled.
The money will also be use to buy outright some of the property beneath the slide.
AIG, the airport’s principle insurer, has said the airport was not at fault for the slide and has stalled making settlement payments.
The landslide displaced more than 130 people, damaged 10 houses and, some still remain in hotels.
The airport has begun to pay settlement claims to some of the affected parties, but AIG has asked that the terms of those payments not be made public.