JACKSON - Officials say the Jackson Hole Airport could close by Dec. 1 if the Teton County sheriff follows through on a promise to pull badges from three law enforcement officers who work there.

Sheriff Bob Zimmer wrote to airport officials recently stating that his department will no longer certify the three airport officers because of liability concerns. The officers work for the Jackson Hole Airport Board but have been certified as sheriff's deputies for years.

The Transportation Security Administration requires a law enforcement presence during security screening operations.

"This is a real dilemma for us," Jackson Hole Airport director Ray Bishop said.

Bishop said options for the airport include having the town of Jackson, the state highway department, the National Park Service or another federal law enforcement agency certify the airport's officers. He said airport officials hope to talk to Jackson representatives about certifying the officers through the city police force.

"The TSA said that on the first of December, we're going to decertify your airport. This is a community concern. At the end of the day, it's the sheriff's decision to make. He has control," Bishop said.

He said Wyoming law doesn't allow airports to certify their own officers, a measure allowed in many other states.

"In my view, we should change the law," Bishop said.

Zimmer wrote to Bishop last month stating that he would not allow the airport's officers to wear his department's badge after Oct. 1. Zimmer later extended the deadline to Dec. 1.

"Even though (the airport's law enforcement officers) were not my employees, they had the power to act in the capacity of a sheriff's deputy," Zimmer stated in his August letter. "Under the best of circumstances, this is not a particularly attractive arrangement from any sheriff's perspective. I am not comfortable with my accountability for deputies over whom I have little or no control."

Zimmer stated that during his more than nine years as sheriff, he has acquiesced to the wishes of the airport board to maintain the status quo.

"I was often told that if I removed the deputy status of those airport board employees, I would be responsible for 'shutting down the airport,"' Zimmer wrote. "I begrudgingly agreed to have the status quo resume. However, maintaining the status quo was a mistake and continues to be a mistake."

Zimmer said the situation must be fixed.

"Until I push the issue, it is going to stay the same as it always has," Zimmer said. "I'm not shutting down anything. This is a liability."

Teton County Sheriff's Capt. Jim Whalen said the airport has failed to follow through on a 2005 agreement with the sheriff's department, including a provision that was to allow the department some control over the hiring and supervision of the airport's deputies

Whalen said the agreement also specified that airport deputies would participate in regular training programs conducted by the department. Both Whalen and Bishop said airport deputies have not participated in regular training exercises.

Bishop said the training from the sheriff's office included practicing traffic stops and other scenarios that aren't applicable to the airport.

"My feeling is that it shouldn't matter," Whalen said. "They have to make it work out. We are essentially out of the loop, and we need to be in the loop."