Allen County will pay a touch more than $22,400 for renovation of 5,500 square yards of an apron at Allen County Airport. A Federal Aviation Administration grant will pay the remainder of the $448,820 project.
Glen Davidson, senior vice president of Allgeier, Martin and Associates, Joplin, told commissioners Tuesday money for the airport improvements had been approved, but there was a brief moratorium on grants.
“The FAA said money should be available by July 1,” Davidson said.
Bids from seven contractors were opened last Friday, with Crossland Heavy Contractors, Columbus, having the lowest at $373,920. The remainder of project expense is for engineering and design.
According to a nearly completed master plan, next up are security fencing and resurfacing of the old runway as a taxiway. Davidson said the fencing would keep animals from wandering onto the runway, a hazard for airplanes landing and taking off, and also should discourage thefts of runway accessories that have occurred.
IN THE THREE months since it opened at 410 N. State St., the county’s 911 center has received 15,000 calls, Angie Murphy, dispatch director, said.
“That’s both business and emergency calls, not just 911,” Murphy explained.
Sheriff Tom Williams, within whose department 911 dispatch administration resides, noted that occasionally calls made to the emergency number go beyond the pale, but that dispatchers were encouraged to have an open mind.
He mentioned a 911 call from an elderly woman who reported her smoke detector was beeping. A response found it needed a new set of batteries.
“That might not seem like an emergency to some people, but to her it certainly was and the right thing to do was to treat it as such,” Williams said.
