Airport plans progressing

Plans continue to advance on a couple of projects at Portland Municipal Airport.

Jason Clearwaters of engineering firm Butler, Fairman & Seufert updated Portland Board of Aviation on Wednesday about work toward runway rehabilitation and the installation of a new automated weather observing system.

Clearwaters said his firm has the design of the runway rehabilitation about 60% complete. It will be ready to advertise for bids in May.

The project calls for milling and paving the original 4,000 feet of the runway, which is about 25 years old. (In 2022, the runway was extended to 5,500 feet.) Clearwaters previously said he is hopeful that the Federal Aviation Administration will also approve new LED lighting for the entire runway.

Bids for the project will be due in mid-June for the board to review at its June 17 meeting. Final grant applications and bids are due to the FAA by June 30. The project is estimated at $1.52 million.

Clearwaters added that the design is about 90% complete on a new weather system for the airport. He said he had a call scheduled for Thursday to learn more about options for communications linking the terminal to the new weather system.

He previously told the board two other facilities he works with recently replaced their weather systems, with costs ranging from $181,000 to $225,000. The project will be paid for with the airport’s remaining funds from the 2021 federal infrastructure bill.

The current weather system, which provides real-time weather data for pilots, is nearing 25 years old. Airport manager Hal Tavzel has said they are typically expected to last about 15 years.

The board also approved three grant reimbursement requests totaling $24,347.76 for the airport’s apron expansion project, which is complete except for grass seeding that will wait until the spring. The expansion added 57,700 square feet to the apron — the area where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, boarded or maintained.

Clearwaters noted that the city will be returning $39,466 to the FAA and Indiana Department of Transportation because the project came in under budget. He said the federal portion of those funds will be available to the board for other projects.

In other business, the board:

•Learned from Clearwaters that the state is implementing a new software program that will require e-signatures for reimbursement.

•Heard the following from airport manager Hal Tavzel:

    —The airport sold 7,839 gallons of fuel in December for $34,446.56. That’s up from 4,281 gallons in December 2024. He also reported that the total fuel sales came in at 90,037 gallons for 2025, up by more than 7,000 gallons from 2024.

    —He is working on hiring a new flight instructor. He explained that the current instructor will be transitioning into more charter flight work.

    —A project to add spray foam insulation to a hangar has been completed by Schmidt’s Spray Foaming of Willshire, Ohio.

•Approved $843.71 in claims.