For three months, the office of Josephine County Airports Manager Michael Crisafulli sat under the shadow of an internal county investigation that unfolded largely behind closed doors. Then, yesterday, on May 11, the Josephine County Board of Commissioners emerged from executive session and delivered a short public statement announcing Crisafulli would return to work the following morning at 8 a.m., reporting directly to Commissioner Gary Richardson.
The statement lasted only moments.
No detailed findings were discussed publicly. No explanation was given regarding disciplinary action. No clarification was offered as to whether the allegations outlined in the county’s own investigative summary had been sustained, partially sustained, or dismissed altogether.
For many residents of Josephine County, the unanswered questions now appear larger than the investigation itself.
According to the April 6, 2026 Investigative Report Summary obtained by the Grants Pass Tribune, Crisafulli had originally been placed on Paid Administrative Leave on February 10 pending the outcome of a Human Resources investigation involving potential violations of Josephine County Administrative Policy B-08, which requires Information Technology review and approval for computer hardware and software purchases.
What reportedly began as a policy compliance issue quickly expanded into something much broader.
The county investigation examined airport lease management, financial oversight, interdepartmental coordination, transparency, communication practices, and administrative conduct tied to airport operations. Investigators ultimately concluded there had been “significant breakdowns in administrative oversight and adherence to established county procedures.”
Among the most serious concerns identified were allegations involving airport lease administration and recordkeeping practices.
The report stated investigators found instances where rent was allegedly collected without clearly established or documented lease terms. Lease records were reportedly incomplete or disorganized, and county officials allegedly struggled to obtain accurate lease information when requested. The report also alleged that a lease list and other sensitive documents had been transmitted to a personal email account, raising concerns involving data management and security practices.
Those findings echoed concerns that had already surfaced publicly months earlier.
In August 2025, the Grants Pass Tribune submitted a public records request seeking a compiled lease list for the Grants Pass and Illinois Valley airports after hearing repeated concerns regarding airport lease management practices. According to the reporting, Crisafulli allegedly responded that no compiled list existed and proposed what reporters described as an unusually expensive fee structure to reproduce individual lease files instead.
That explanation later unraveled.
In January 2026, the Tribune obtained an airport lease spreadsheet through separate means. The document, reportedly last updated in July 2024, confirmed that a compiled lease list did in fact exist. Reporters have since maintained that the county still failed to provide a fully updated lease inventory despite repeated requests.
The lease records themselves raised additional questions.
According to records reviewed by this newspaper, numerous airport leases allegedly remained expired for extended periods without renewal. Some airport properties were reportedly occupied without signed lease agreements on file. The records also indicated that former Josephine County commissioners Herman Baertschiger and Andreas Blech held airport leases listed as expired or marked as having “no lease on file.”
Just days before the lease controversy intensified publicly, county commissioners approved BCC Order No. 2025-049 on July 3, 2025, granting the airports manager unilateral authority to execute airport leases without direct Board of Commissioners approval.
That decision is now receiving renewed scrutiny in light of the investigative findings.
The Human Resources investigation further alleged that newly constructed airport hangars were assigned outside of the established waiting list process. According to the report, hangars were rented to selected tenants, including Wagner, Baker Avionics, and Crisafulli himself, while concerns existed that the standard waiting list process may have been bypassed.
For many observers, that allegation became one of the most politically explosive findings in the entire investigation.
The report additionally stated that Finance Department staff were impeded from accessing lease, grant, loan, and financial information necessary for oversight responsibilities. Investigators concluded that the removal of a staff member from finance-related communications contributed to reduced transparency and interfered with county accountability requirements under the County Charter.
Other allegations raised broader concerns regarding operational conduct and interdepartmental cooperation.
According to the investigative summary, Crisafulli allegedly declined to meet with key county officials, including representatives from Finance and administration, hindering coordination between departments and complicating effective government operations.
Investigators also documented concerns involving county property.
Evidence reportedly indicated that identifying numbers on a county-owned airport vehicle had been covered with black tape. The report stated the purpose and authorization for the action remained unclear and raised concerns regarding unauthorized alteration of county property.
Another finding now drawing heightened attention involved a $14,466 credit memo issued to former Commissioner Andreas Blech.
According to the report, on January 20, 2026, Crisafulli drafted a lease amendment and issued the credit memo. While the action was reportedly presented to the county Legal Department, investigators found it was not reviewed or approved by either the Finance Department or the Board of County Commissioners, raising concerns regarding authorization and financial control procedures.
The county investigation ultimately recommended sweeping corrective actions, including stricter compliance with IT and purchasing policies, standardized lease management procedures, formalized waiting list practices, stronger financial approval protocols, and full cooperation between airport administration and county departments. Investigators also recommended examining the unauthorized alteration of county property.
Yet despite the seriousness of those findings, Crisafulli is now returning to work.
That decision has left many residents asking a difficult question: if these findings were serious enough to justify three months of paid administrative leave and a county investigation, why was the public given virtually no explanation before the county handed control of airport operations back to the same administrator at the center of the controversy?
Critics argue the issue now extends beyond one individual employee.
The larger concern for many residents is whether Josephine County government has developed a pattern of shielding internal investigations from meaningful public accountability while expecting taxpayers simply to trust the outcome.
The Crisafulli investigation does not exist in isolation.
Over the past several years, Josephine County has faced repeated controversy involving allegations of bullying, harassment, administrative misconduct, internal retaliation, executive session secrecy, and workplace conflict involving county leadership and department officials.
One of the most controversial examples involved an outside investigation into allegations that former Commissioners John West and Herman Baertschiger bullied and harassed the former Public Health Director and former Community Development Director. Despite taxpayer funds being used for the investigation and early findings allegedly shared within county administration, the report was never finalized or publicly released, leaving lingering questions about transparency, accountability, and why the public was never allowed to see the final conclusions surrounding allegations tied to two former county commissioners.
That history now shadows the Crisafulli controversy as well.
For many residents, the concern is no longer simply whether misconduct occurred. The concern is whether Josephine County leadership has become too comfortable conducting taxpayer-funded investigations behind closed doors while offering the public only fragments of explanation afterward.
The airport controversy itself also remains far from resolved.
The Grants Pass Tribune has publicly stated that multiple records requests tied to airport operations, contracts, lease records, and airport-related activities remain unanswered months after submission. The newspaper has also continued investigating airport runway extension contracts and related financial activities involving the airport department.
Meanwhile, residents are left trying to determine what exactly county commissioners believe happened inside the airport department and why they believe the problems identified in the investigative report no longer pose a concern.
For some citizens, the county’s decision to quietly restore authority without fully addressing the allegations feels less like accountability and more like placing the fox back in charge of the hen house.
And if bullying, harassment concerns, policy violations, financial oversight failures, and transparency breakdowns are now considered acceptable administrative outcomes inside Josephine County government without substantial public explanation, the county may be facing a much larger institutional problem still.