Airport will get generator

Portland Municipal Airport will now have a backup plan in case the power goes out. 

Portland Board of Aviation voted Wednesday to purchase a generator for its fuel system. 

It also approved an easement for Indiana Michigan Power. 

In the past, power outages have shut down access to the airport’s fuel tanks. But with Lutheran Air’s medical helicopter stationed at the airport, it’s essential to have fuel accessible at any given time. 

“With Lutheran here doing emergency medevac, it’s important,” said Hal Tavzel, the airport’s manger. “They depend on the fuel.”

Purchasing and installing the 20 kilowatt Kohler generator will cost $6,823.56 from Brewster Electric of Portland. It will be paid for out of the fuel fund rather than the airport’s budget. 

Indiana Michigan Power has been updating its utilities in the area around the airport. The board on Wednesday granted it a 20-foot right-of-way and easement extending across county road 100 North into airport property. 

In other business, board members John Lyons, Dick Baldauf and Faron Parr, absent Mitch Sutton: 

•Learned that the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to announce the recipients of supplemental funding in March. Portland applied in October for a portion of the $1 billion allotted to rural airports in last year’s federal omnibus spending bill. The money would be used to help pay to extend the airport’s 4,000-foot runway to 5,500 feet.

•Paid claims of $6,144.34 for the month of January. 

•Heard that the airport sold 4,100 gallons in fuel in January for $15,725. Those numbers are up compared to the same month in 2018, when the airport sold 3,696.33 gallons for $13,770.72. 

•Approved a two-year lease agreement with Casey Wagner for about 72 acres of tillable land around the airport. Wagner will pay $15,377.40 each year.

•Paid Butler, Fairman and Seufert $723 for continued work on the design for the runway extension.