City Council OKs West Main legislation

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The first meeting of the new year for Van Wert City Council was a brief one, as city officials rushed home to watch the Ohio State-Oregon national championship game later that night.

During the meeting, Council approved enabling legislation to move forward with Phase 2 of the West Main Street reconstruction project and also heard a presentation from Randy Thompson, president of the Van Wert County Regional Airport Authority, concerning planned projects at the airport.

City Auditor Martha Balyeat and Mayor Don Farmer also provided year-end reports on the city’s finances during the brief meeting.

The city’s cost for the West Main Street project, Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming said, will be $504,914, with the state picking up 80 percent of the cost and the city providing 20 percent in local matching funds. That project will begin this summer. The legislation was passed as an emergency on first and final reading to meet a January 28 deadline set by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Thompson talked about several projects planned at the airport over the next couple of years, including a new parking area for planes on the south side of the current runway and a connecting ramp, a new terminal and hangar large enough for corporate jets and, most importantly, extension of the current 4,000-foot runway to 5,000 feet, large enough to accommodate Scott Niswonger’s Gulfstream IV 19-passenger jet, which Thompson said was the largest plane to use the local airport.

The Airport Authority is seeking FAA financial aid for the runway expansion, hoping to bring the cost down to somewhere between $2 million and $3 million. The organization currently receives approximately $150,000 a year from the FAA for maintenance projects – far too little to take on a major project such as the runway expansion.

Grants and other funding would also likely be sought for the terminal project, which would also cost more than $1 million. Thompson also thanked the city for its contributions to the airport and said the money would be well-spent.

Mayor Farmer noted that, although income tax receipts were down more than $5,000 in December, income taxes for 2014 were up nearly $200,000 over 2013. Balyeat added that the city did better than projected last year. Although spending in 2014 exceeded revenues, the additional expenses were nowhere near the $1 million projected early in the year.