Four Santa Maria Public Airport District board members asked a colleague to resign after an insurance organization excluded David Baskett from liability coverage weeks following his involvement in a fatal crash while driving a heavy-duty forklift.

The ongoing drama around Baskett, who has filed multiple lawsuits against the airport district and board members, led his colleagues on Friday to call for his resignation six months before his term ends.

The Special District Risk Management Authority notified airport officials about an exclusion endorsement removing Baskett from the liability policy as long as the district belonged to SDRMA, airport General Manager Martin Pehl said during a special board meeting Friday.

“The board has a decision to make. We agree to sign the documents that exclude Mr. Baskett from our insurance policy, or we will all be excluded from that insurance policy,” Pehl said. “That’s the decision you have to make today.”

“So really what you’re saying is, this is the insurance company saying, hey, we want nothing to do with Mr. Baskett?” Director Chuck Adams asked.

The airport’s attorney said the SDRMA made the decision to provide the exclusion, not district staff or legal counsel.

“They had this discussion internally among themselves, and my understanding is that these types of decisions are exceedingly rare and only happen when the insurer has determined a situation or an individual constitutes an uninsurable high risk,” airport attorney Daniel Cheung from Adamski Moroski Madden Cumberland & Green LLP said.

The airport’s attorney said the exclusion focused on personal injury and liability related to Baskett, who was driving a heavy-duty forklift, or telescoping forklift, on May 2 when a pickup truck struck the prongs, killing Tiffany Ann Peterson, 39, of Orcutt. Baskett, 81, was stopped on Hangar Street; the pickup was driving on Skyway Drive.

Baskett was driving a rented telescoping forklift and was not acting in his capacity as a board member, airport officials said.

Baskett did not attend the special meeting at noon Friday, saying he was in Washington, D.C., and had requested a different date. 

“To date, I have not received any citation or even expressed concern from any police investigator or litigation pointing at me, delivered to me about any unsafe action on my part that resulted in the tragic death of a person traveling on Skyway Drive,” Baskett said in an email read during the special meeting. “I will challenge any restriction placed on my access to my property and my director duties.

“It was the airport that started the issues that led to the tragedy,” Baskett said at the end of his email.

The Santa Maria Police Department’s Traffic Bureau is investigating the incident. Once complete, the results will be forwarded to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office for a decision regarding criminal charges.

Complex crashes requiring extensive analysis can take several months to complete.

The policy excluding Baskett from coverage will take effect July 1, the airport’s attorney said. 

“If we don’t, they’ll drop our coverage for all of us. Is that what you said?” Director Michael Clayton asked. 

The district’s agreement allows SDRMA to make changes to coverage with notice, Cheung said, adding that the airport board was asked to acknowledge and sign the exclusion.  

“My experience with insurance companies is that if this board does not agree to it, then they will have the conversation internally about whether the district is insurable,” Cheung said. 

The board voted 4-0 to approve the exclusion along with a resolution related to the lack of coverage for Baskett, restating that the individuals on the airport board can’t act unilaterally. 

The resolution clarifies that Baskett has no independent authority and is not a legal agent or officer of the district, stating that he cannot sign contracts on behalf of the district. He can still attend meetings and participate as one of the five board members.

Airport board members are elected officials and can be removed only by a recall effort. However, his term expires this fall.

At the end of the meeting, board members said they believed Baskett should step down.

“He’s putting us, the airport, in a really bad position and himself in an even worse position by not being insured,” Director Steve Brown said. 

“This is like uncharted territory. I’ve never heard this happen before, never seen this happen before,” Adams said, adding that resignation would a decision for Baskett but something Adams would support. 

President Nash Moreno said he agreed with his fellow board members. 

Clayton said he respects Baskett and considers him “a very good friend of mine,” but asked him “to please step off the board.”

“I think that his time on this board has come and gone,” Clayton added, “and I think that he needs to step off again. I think it’s for the best of the airport.”