news1@ulyssesnews.com
The Grant County Airport Board is finally complete.
The Grant County Commission on March 18 invited the entire board to its regular commission meeting and all except one who was working out of town made it to the meeting. Newly appointed Airport Board member and former county clerk Sheila Brown took the lead and suggested one more person was needed to complete the board.
“We would like to introduce Luke Grimes as a board member and hope that you would appoint him today,” Brown said.
Grimes is the Ulysses City Administrator and received his pilot’s license five years ago, according to one board member.
“He thinks pretty good, I’ve watched him over on city council,” said commission chair John Martin. “He works well with people, and he puts good thought into about everything I’ve seen him do. I think he’d be a good asset to the board.”
Martin and commissioner Darrin Figgins eagerly voted to appoint Grimes.
“Thank you, guys, very much,” Brown said. “We have a full board, now. We have a full board and that’s very exciting for us.”
The Airport Board now consists of Kevin Moyer, Ed Neidert, Paul Mitchell, Brown and Grimes.
The next airport issue is a prairie dog town starting, as well as noxious weeds in the pavement cracks on the runways.
“We are needing some help either by the county or by private t get some issues cleaned up out there,” Brown said.
Airport manager Steve Rice said there has been quite a bit of thistle come up along the main runway and weeds growing through the cracks in the taxiways. There have also been complaints of sand burrs in the T-hangar area which track into people’s aircraft.
Rice said he took Noxious Weed Department Head Ty Shoemaker and Public Works Director Sam Meeks to the problem areas and said they seemed willing to help but would not be able to spray the open area, but could handle the sand burrs. Rice reached out to Larry Smith at Tri Rotor Crop Services who quoted $11.75 per acre applied. The area is less than 300 acres.
“We’ve got to be careful what we put out there as far as product-wise because we’ve got quite a bit of bare soil that needs to be seeded coming up here pretty soon,” Rice said. “And then there’s been some re-seeding from the projects last year so that new growth, that new seed, but I also don’t want the weeds coming around in that stuff, too. So, we have to be a little careful what we put out there on some of that stuff.”
The consensus was to let the grass take hold and wait another year to spray the main area but take care of the areas along the runway and the sand burrs at the T-hangar.
Rice said it’s too late for the legal treatment of prairie dogs this year but said there is a prairie dog town where the runways meet.
“Just straight to the east of that, we’re gaining more and more prairie dogs right through there,” Rice added. “It’s a growing issue through there, they have created some damage in the past.”
Martin asked if the thistle problem could be taken care of if the county would mow, and Rice said that’s what he did last year.
Brown said that the board is looking to develop bylaws for the airport board so that the board knows what its job is and what it needs to take care of.
“That’s a big project, thanks for taking that on,” said Figgins, himself a former airport board member.
“I think it’s awesome to do it because I just think that clears so much up,” Brown added.
The board and commissioners discussed the removal of an old underground fuel tank and installation of a new one. The project would be split in two – one for removal and one for installation - because that is more cost effective.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here