Henry County will help fund MP Municipal Airport work

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

Henry County will be providing $5,000 towards the maintenance of the runway at the Mt. Pleasant Municipal Airport.

The runway at the airport requires a new crack sealing. The total cost of the project is estimated at more than $150,000. The City of Mt. Pleasant has applied for a grant, said Kent White, supervisor vice chairman, but in order to receive the grant they must commit $10,000 to the project. The city then asked the county to split this cost, as the airport services many county residents.

Last summer, the airport served 77 farmers, amounting to about 11,000 acres of county farmland.

White pointed out that if the runway was inadequate, farmers would need to go to other sites such as Burlington or Washington to receive service.

?That would be an increased cost to Henry County residents,? said White.

The $5,000 will be taken out of the local option sales tax fund.

The supervisors also discussed possibly renting office space in the Emergency Management Building to the staff of Regional Utility Services Systems (RUSS).

White, who is a member of the RUSS board, explained that RUSS is looking for a new, centralized office for the new staff it is hiring.

?The plan for RUSS is to hire their own employees,? said White. ?And they want to relocate to a centralized point. Mt. Pleasant appears to be that point.?

White had mentioned the empty office space in the Emergency Management Building, and members of RUSS have been by to look at it twice.

?I made no promises to anybody about space availability,? said White.

White said that he saw no specific advantages to the county by having the offices in Mt. Pleasant.

?The only advantage is getting some rent for awhile,? summarized Marc Lindeen, supervisor chairman.

Although the office space is currently empty, there is the possibility that the county will need it for its own purposes in the future, and the supervisors discussed making that part of the condition of renting the offices.

The supervisors are investigating what would be an appropriate rent for the two offices. The square footage of the two offices still needs to be measured, but fair market value is currently one dollar per square foot when the rent includes utilities. Utilities would be included, since it would be impossible to separate them from the rest of the building, said County Auditor Shelly Barber.

In other business, the supervisors passed a resolution reducing the speed limit to 20 miles per hour on 253 Street from Garth Avenue to 1,500 feet east, past the first boat ramp and parking for the disc golf course. They also passed a resolution adding a stop sign for south-bound traffic at the T-intersection of Garth Avenue and 253rd Street.

Both of these traffic changes will be effective Friday, Nov. 4.