Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter presented Tom Flynn with the key to The City of Plymouth at the end of the Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting Tuesday night. Flynn was serving as a board member for the last time. He was appointed to the board in 2007.
After that ceremony, Ken Houin was sworn in to replace Flynn on the board.
Earlier in the meeting Plymouth Airport manager Bill Sheeley told the board that he will be having a meeting next week with instructors from both Ancilla College and Culver Military Academy. Ancilla wants to establish an aviation program during the school year and Culver wants to move their summer aviation program to the Plymouth Airport. Sheeley wants to update the area presently rented by Ken Nolan for his helicopter training facility which will be shared with the two schools. The refurbishment of the 3,000 square foot area will cost about $15,000. Sheeley also wants to change the rental prices for the area.
The renovation will include painting or covering old paneling, replacing damaged ceiling tiles and either replacing the carpet or refinishing the floor. Also included will be a number of changes to the security system.
The mayor indicated that the city has formed a committee to look at all of the rental charges in the city with an eye to making them fair. The airport rental fees will be examined by that committee.
The airport is having problems with the self serve fuel pump which frequently declines credit cards. The problems are related to bad telephone lines to the machine but also to problems with the Philips 66 credit center. The machine that the airport uses will be obsolete and need to be replaced in 2020. Airport manager Sheeley wants to look into changing fuel suppliers as well as telephone wire updates to solve the problem.
Jim Kunze Correspondent
