Kurt Carlson, board member of Housing Opportunities of Warsaw, holds a display he made. The display contains a T-shirt signed by all pilots and crews who participated in this years air show.

WARSAW — The relocation of power lines, on the east side of the Warsaw Airport property, is on the radar of the Indiana Department of Transportation. Nick King, airport manager, shared information he learned at the Aviation Association of Indiana Conference last week, during the Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioner’s meeting Tuesday evening, Oct. 20.

King stated he had the opportunity to meet with the program manager of the Federal Aviation Administration and project manager with INDOT. He learned INDOT is appropriating funds now for moving of power lines on the east side of the airport for its 2017 budget.

He encouraged the board to start planning to have funds available when this project is scheduled. “The down side is the state funding will not be 5 percent,” Kind stated. He stated the matching portion will be much higher than anticipated.

King will be working on getting the INDOT project manager and FAA program manager to do a site visit to further discuss the project.

Ernie Wiggins, who attended a portion of the conference, added a scholarship, named after Charlie Smith was given at the end of the conference. “It was neat. There were five scholarships and one was named after Charlie for his dedication to aviation.”

During the business portion of the meeting, Nick King, airport manager, received approval to purchase a two-seat theatre recliner for the pilots lounge from Reinholt’s Town Square Furniture, Warsaw.

He also received approval to proceed to work with James Emans, city engineer, on a design plan to update the terminal restrooms. The plan is to convert the two restrooms into a unisex facility possibly with a shower area. “There’s not enough room to do (remodel) both,” he said. “It will be less expensive to make it unisex. This will tie us over until we can build a new terminal on the diagonal taxiway.”

Deicing Approved

King reported all the paperwork is complete and a plan in place to offer deicing this winter. He stated UPS was expressing concern for the Air Cargo flights.

The material used in the deicing will flow into the storm drain. King explained the drains run into a ditch. To prevent the material from entering the ditch, an inflatable sack will be placed in the drains. While the material is biodegradable, it does remove oxygen from water harmful to aquatic wildlife. The city’s wastewater treatment department will come and vacuum the liquid from the two vaults and put it through the wastewater treatment plant. It was noted the material will help the treatment plant system.

In the spring the inflatable sacks will be removed and operations will continue as normal.

King was given approval to hire Reece Seal Coating, Indianapolis, at a cost of $16,800 to repair four major cracks in the runways with a new material — Mastic. Should the material work, King anticipates asking the commission to purchase a trailer for the material, a cost of $60,000, plus the material to do repair works internally. The material could also be used by the street department to fill large cracks. It was noted in the long term funds would be saved.

During other business:

• Accepted a presentation by Pam Kennedy, executive director of Housing Opportunities of Warsaw, and Kurt Carlson, board member, of a framed T-shirt from the 2015 air show, signed by all participating pilots and crews, was presented to the board. “We have been thrilled to be a part of the air show for the last two years,” said Kennedy.She noted the frame was designed and built by Carlson.
• Approved the purchase of four high efficiency furnaces for the maintenance shop at a cost of $13,623 from Alliance Comfort Solutions, Warsaw.

Prior to the start of the meeting Jay Rigdon, board of aviation president, asked for a moment of silence for the four “very valuable people” who died Oct. 2 in a plane crash, one of whom was Charlie Smith, a city council representative on the aviation board and pilot at the airport.

The next meeting of the board will be 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10.