City Council accepts FAA subsidy
Funding outlay, though, tied in with Connect/Oregon II funding

By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 10:43 AM PST

Ontario — The Ontario City Council voted to accept match money from the Federal Aviation Administration to help fund a $4 million potential grant to revamp the Ontario Municipal Airport runway at its meeting Tuesday night.

In the only order of new business, Ontario Airport Manager and city Economic Development Coordinator Alan Daniels said the $124,168 in grant funds are to help offset a $800,000 city match to rehabilitate the runway, taxiway and apron at the airport. The grant is contingent upon the city receiving a $4 million Connect/Oregon II grant for airport improvements.

If the city does not receive the Connect/Oregon II grant it will not be able to keep the FAA subsidy. The grant money from the FAA can only be used for airport improvements.

“This grant is a reimbursement grant. We can’t use it,” Daniels said.

Daniels said the FAA money will sit in an account in the city’s name awaiting confirmed funding decisions on other Connect/Oregon II projects in Eastern Oregon including an Alicel Intermodal Transportation Project in Union County, a $4.064 million request from Grant County for an airport terminal building, $360,000 for a rail spur in Baker City and $400,000 for runway paving at Vale’s airport.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Nobody’s thrown in the towel yet,” Daniels said. In the public comment section of the meeting, the council heard from Ontario resident Larry Heidbrink regarding his viewpoint on the city’s current proposal to charge the newly-formed library district $5,000 a month in rent.

Heidbrink said the new district will receive more money through funding of the new district than the library has seen in its entire history.

He said he believed part of the reason residents voted for the library district is to help continue funding facilities such as the Aquatic Center and golf course, which he said were in danger of being axed. Heidbrink said the city supported the library to keep it alive long enough to form the district.

“It’s kind of payback time,” he said.

He also said he believed the city should stick by the $5,000 a month lease proposal for the library building, asserting if the library can no longer be open after June 30, the day before city funding expires until the district can open it on its own, so be it.

“Play hard ball,” he said.

However, Ontario City Councilman John Gaskill said the proposed lease was an initial step in the process and not simply a take-all, leave-all proposal. Ontario Mayor Joe Dominick said he plans to set a date for a public forum between the library district and the city, hopefully within the next two weeks.

In other council news:

—At the council’s work session Thursday, the council gave the go-ahead to purchase a $41,500 1999 Volvo dumptruck from Cesco Equipment Company of Meridian.

The budget committee approved $55,000 in funds for the purchase in the 2007-09 budget. A portion of the money saved would be used to paint the dumptruck to match the rest of the city’s fleet.

However, Bishop said the total would have to be evaluated because of Dominick asked him to price the paint jobs locally.

The current 1974 dumptruck has a failed engine and once declared surplus through City Manager Henry Lawrence and Ontario Finance Director Rachel Hopper, it would be sold at auction April 4.