The Williams County Commissioners held their meeting on Tuesday, August 27th at 9:00 a.m. Commissioners first moved to approve the following items.
– Resolution 292 – Transfer Resolution on behalf of the Commissioners, Engineer, and Regional Airport.
– Resolution 293 – Entering into a 4E Contract with Family Services and Ohio MHAS Eastway Corporation.
Commissioners then reviewed the weekly dog warden report for August 19th through the 25th and monthly expenditures for the Commissioner’s Office for the month of September.
It was then stated that Commissioner Bart Westfall needs to sign the State of Ohio Department of Development Data Confidentiality Agreement.
Two requests for pay from Maumee Valley were also discussed before commissioners moved to approve the minutes as presented along with the bills as presented by the auditor.
Commissioners were then about to enter into recess, but not before the following item was brought up. It was stated by Commissioner Hilkert that, some time ago, the amount of $45,000.00 was committed to the Ohio State Extension Office for some educational items they were working on.
“It has since been noted that they had sufficient funds they could use, and our clerk had made a request to Ohio State Extension, and they did in fact issue a refund check to us for $45,000.00. So, that’s a savings that going to go straight into our general fund,” said Commissioner Hilkert.
Commissioners then entered into recess and upon their return moved to talk with representatives from the Airport Authority, Brent Wilson and Kirk Vashaw.
Wilson spoke with commissioners and stated they had received a letter from the county engineer that they will no longer be removing the snow or sand from the runway this coming winter, and that they will have to come up with avenues to keep the airport open.
A quote was received from a company in the amount of $1,500.00 just to plow and $750.00 additional if sand is needed, with this cost being accumulated each time.
One inch or more would require a plow in order to keep things safe for aircraft. A tractor is also being looked at which would come with a snow blower and a broom. A snowblade would be needed for this, which would cost $18,000.00.
However, this does not solve the sanding problem. To this end, a dump truck that has similar items on-board that ODOT uses for salt, is available.
The seller has agreed to part ways with the item at cost, which is set at $22,250.00. It was then stated that paving the runway 14 times would lead to the tractor paying for itself, when compared to the cost of plowing.
Discussion then followed between the Airport Authority and Commissioners. It is not currently known as to when the tractor will be coming from the FAA, so the current ask would be for the $22,250.00 for the dump truck. A motion was made to support the airport and purchase the vehicle.
One additional request was then discussed, which was to raise the salary of one of the airport employees who would be doing the plowing. This salary increase would increase in January 2025.
Lastly, a letter was read which stated the following Wyandotte Air LLC is in good standing with Williams County, Ohio, and has consistently paid their airport rental on time.
With no additional items to discuss, Commissioners moved to adjourn the meeting.