Airport will get another $ transfer

The airport will get another influx of cash.
Portland Board of Aviation on Wednesday voted to accept nearly $12,000 in Federal Aviation Administration and state funds from Seymour’s Freeman Municipal Airport to be used to purchase land for its runway extension.
Rules require airports to spend all of their FAA allotment of funds in a given year. If they do not, those funds must be returned.
But they also have the option of loaning any funds they won’t use to another airport.
Seymour has a total of $11,949 — $11,441 and $508 from the state — that it will not use this year. It will transfer that money to Portland Municipal Airport, which will repay the funds in either 2017 or ’18.
Board members John Lyons, Dick Baldauf and Mitch Sutton, absent Jim Runkle, approved the transfer agreement, which had already been approved by the Seymour board.
They had accepted a similar transfer in June from Greensburg Municipal Airport totaling $38,618.
Acquiring the necessary land is the next step toward the airport’s runway extension project, which calls for an addition of 1,500 feet to bring it to a length of 5,500 feet. That will allow larger aircraft to be able to land at the airport. A justification study showed such an extension could result in nearly 800 additional operations — take offs or landings — per year.
In other business, the board:
•Learned via a report prepared by airport manager Hal Tavzel, who was absent from the meeting, that 6,172 gallons of fuel were sold at the airport in June for a total of $21,472.32.
•Heard that construction of a new hangar for Sonrise Aviation, which is owned by Tavzel, will be complete within the next few weeks. Also, construction of a new 11-space parking lot is scheduled to begin soon.
•Were reminded that the airport’s annual fly-in is scheduled for Aug. 27. The event will include a sausage and pancake breakfast from 6 a.m. to noon and plane rides at a cost of $15 per person from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. A shuttle will be available for those who want to visit the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Show.
•Learned from Clearwaters that the airport is still awaiting comments from the FAA on the layout plan it submitted in November.
•OK’d a repayment request for a grant for the airport’s environmental study related to its runway extension project. The request includes $11,646 from the FAA and $647 from the state.
•Approved payment of claims totaling $8,157.96.