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County deals with airport issues
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Airport issues took up a portion of the Jan. 13 Houston County Board meeting.
Financial Director Casey Bradley presented an updated version of the County Airport Commission bylaws for the board to review and also brought the topic of transferring FAA funds to Winona County.
Airport Commission bylaws
“There has been some question as to what the Houston County Airport Commission is all about…who they should be reporting to and who should be responsible for approving expenditures. The modifications that have been made to the bylaws should cover these issues,” Bradley told the board.
Bradley added that because the County Highway Department is in charge of the facility, that is the department the airport commission should report to. And since County Highway Superintendent Tom Molling is the lead person in the department handling airport issues, he is the person who will be reporting to the county board.
“Marcus (former Houston County Engineer Marcus Evans) had this all drawn up, but never followed through with it,” Bradley stated. “With the revisions we have proposed, the bylaws now do a better job of defining the chain of command.”
The board unanimously approved the revised bylaws.
FAA fund transfer
Bradley then requested authorization to transfer $123,100 from the 2006 Airport Fund to Winona County to be used by the county to the north to help fund an improvement on their airport.
Bradley explained that the county receives money from the FAA every year, and if that money isn’t used for a specific airport project within a certain time, the money must be returned to the federal government.
“The FAA does allow a loan program to another county,” Bradley continued. “This is common practice. We don’t have anything planning right now, and wouldn’t have enough money to do the type of project we might wish to do in the future. But Winona County does.”
Bradley noted that he would like to set up an agreement with Winona County that would include a payback in 2012. By that time, a balance of approximately $950,000 would be accumulated, which would be enough money to do a decent sized project.
“You either use it (the FAA funds) or lose it…unless you loan the money to another county. This looks like a very workable option.”
The board approved Bradley’s request.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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