The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

City Council hears airport presentation

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council looked at a request to maintain city funding for the Van Wert Regional Airport, while a vote on a measure to merge city and county Revolving Loan Funds shows support is apparently eroding the legislation. Council’s Health-Service-Safety Committee also continued its discussion of the solid waste collection situation, while a number of Rosalie Drive residents came to complain about a sanitary sewer problem on that street.

Van Wert Regional Airport Authority member Mike Keysor holds a map showing planned airport improvements during Monday's  Van Wert City Council meeting. Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent
Van Wert Regional Airport Authority member Mike Keysor holds a map showing planned airport improvements during Monday’s Van Wert City Council meeting. Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent

Mike Keysor, president of the Van Wert Regional Airport Authority, made a presentation to City Council to maintain the $21,000 in annual funding the airport receives from the city. Airport Manager Steve Bailey and Airport Authority Member Dr. Tom Wilkin also attended the meeting.

Keysor noted that the airport has applied for a $3.5-million Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant that would fund a number of improvements at the airport, including eventually extending the airport’s main runway from 4,000 feet to 5,000 feet.

Keysor said the Airport Authority has verbal approval that it would receive the grant, and is confident it can come up with the local match of $175,000 (5 percent) needed with the grant. If awarded, the grant would pay for several airport projects, including taxiway work, access to the airport from Elks Drive, and a runway extension down the road.

Keysor said the grant would not pay for a new terminal building, since the FAA does not fund building projects, but the Airport Authority is working on funding that project through private funds.

The most important project included in the 10-year improvement plan submitted by the Airport Authority is lengthening the airport’s main runway to 5,000 feet, which Keysor said would “open up another door to Van Wert.”

Currently, the airport, which serves Paulding. Delphos, and Decatur, Indiana, as well as Van Wert County, has a 4,000-foot runway, which legally precludes it from being able to serve larger aircraft, such as many corporate jets. Those aircraft currently fly in to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

“That would give access to different kinds of aircraft,” Keysor said of the runway extension. “That would open up Van Wert.”

Airport Authority members see the runway extension as a major boon to local economic development, since it would allow larger aircraft currently flying into Fort Wayne to land here, with Bailey saying the airport’s shorter runway is hurting business there.

“We miss out on a lot of traffic,” he noted, while First Ward Councilman Fred Fisher, who is also a local pilot, called the runway extension “an economic development tool.”

Keysor said the Airport Authority is not asking for more money from the city, merely a continuation of the $21,000 in funding received this past year. That money was used to fund a computerized fuel system that Fisher said has resulted in a “huge increase in fuel sales” at the airport.

City Council took the request under advisement, but funding the request could likely hinge on whether the 0.28-percent income tax increase is passed by voters in May.

Also Monday, a group of Rosalie Drive residents attended the Council meeting to seek action on a broken sanitary sewer line that results in periodic flooding of the area, as well as the development of a sinkhole at one property.

Rosalie Drive resident Connie Hoverman said the city has promised for three years to do something about the broken sewer line, but nothing has been done so far. Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming said he would inspect the problem, and, with the majority of major streets now resurfaced, added that hopefully the problem can be fixed next year.

City Council also introduced legislation authorizing the combining of the city and county Revolving Loan Funds, although it was obvious that several Council members are now apparently siding with City Auditor Martha Balyeat, who opposes the proposal because the city would lose control of its RLF forever if the legislation goes through.

While those for the measure appear to look at combining the funds as an investment in a joint city-county economic development effort that would also streamline RLF operations, Balyeat said she feels the loss of the city’s RLF, which has significantly more money in it than the county fund, could also lose the city potential administrative fees in the future, while giving control of the fund to a city-county Revolving Loan Fund Committee — which she sees as not benefiting the city’s financial interests.

The vote to introduce the legislation was narrowly approved, 4-3, with Council members Steve Trittschuh, Ken Markward, and Warren Straley voting “no.”

Councilman Bill Marshall also reported on discussions between him, City Law Director John Hatcher, and City Engineering Supervisor Bill Lawson on what might be included in solid waste legislation.

“I think we’ve got a good foundation here,” Marshall said of what has come from the discussions.

Marshall said any measure Council approves needs to include regulations for trash haulers.

“I think we should know who’s working in our community,” he said of regulations that would mandate that trash haulers provide information on their operations, including who is working for them and the type of equipment used. Legislation should also include inspection of equipment, Marshall noted.

Hatcher said one more committee meeting is needed to tweak proposed legislation, with Marshall saying he feels a new measure should be ready for consideration next month.

Mayor Jerry Mazur put in another pitch for the 0.28-percent income tax hike, noting that any reduction in the fire department from the failure of the tax increase would likely result in raising the city’s fire protection rating, thereby costing city residents more money in homeowners’ insurance premiums.

One more town hall meeting is planned for this Wednesday, April 26, at Liberty Baptist Church on East Third Street. The meeting would begin at 7 p.m. and include information on Liberty Mobility transportation service as well.

Fleming reminded city residents that the first spring brush pick-up would begin Monday, May 1, adding that people should place their brush at the curb prior to then, even though pick-up will take place all that week.

City Council approved legislation Monday that would allow the city to sell a 1989 Grummond fire truck to the Village of Willshire.

The next regular meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 8, in Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.

POSTED: 04/25/17 at 8:15 am. FILED UNDER: News