There’s “a sense of urgency” to building up the Allen County Regional Airport.
That’s according to Jonathon Goering, Thrive Allen County economic development director, who discussed the possibility with commissioners.
He said although the county had pursued the possibility of such projects in the past, the moment to strike might be now.
Goering noted that, for one, federal stimulus dollars may soon become available such that the developments can be made with little to no cost to taxpayers.
And he added that the Kansas Department of Commerce is currently sending out site-selectors to help identify potential building places.
Goering said the county misses out on quite a few opportunities of this kind, and so suggested the importance of putting together a “master plan” to remedy the situation.
The plan might look as follows, he said: 1) determine the feasibility of building up the airport, 2) look into compliance with FFA rules, 3) study which businesses might be physically situated at the airport, 4) see which new buildings or structures might be appropriate there.
To make such a vision into reality, Goering said that Thrive had also been in conversation with the aviation director at KDOT and the program manager of the Kansas Airport Improvement Program, who had already offered to help.
Commissioner Bill King called the idea a “win win,” and expressed excitement at seeing what might be possible.
Representatives from Thrive Allen County likewise returned to discuss with commissioners options for spending the final few dollars of the initial $2.4 million dollars in CARES Act/SPARK funds.
According to Thrive CEO Lisse Regehr, only $1,320 in SPARK money remains, and she offered suggestions on items that the county might want to purchase, for instance, recouping costs for employees having to be quarantined due to COVID-19.
Regehr said that area churches and food pantries had already received their portion of the remaining assistance, but noted that another option might be buying more touchless restroom technologies for county facilities.
Thrive’s primary grant writer and development director Jessica Thompson was also on hand to share good news that the county had been awarded one of the transportation pilot program grants for which it had applied.
This grant will help the county to rent a bus and hire a driver to facilitate non-emergency transportation throughout the area in the coming year.
Interim 911 director Chelsie Angleton and Jason Trego brought a proposal to commissioners regarding purchasing new chairs for the emergency dispatch center.
Three possibilities were supplied for an order of 10 chairs, including: Secretlab ($5,390), Concept Seating ($18,450) and GT Racing ($1,629).
