The Airport Authority Board Chairman, Anthony Magee, met twice last week with the Choctaw County Board of Supervisors to finalize plans to apply for a $300,000 dollar grant to build a 4,725 square foot building that will house up to six hangars at the Ackerman/Choctaw County Airport.
The grant will also pay for an access road and a 240-foot taxiway to the building.
The grant that had been taken away from the airport because of size limitations and given to the airport in Grenada, was given back to Choctaw County upon request by the Ackerman/Choctaw County Board Authority back in March. After further review of the grant application, the FAA through its Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant agreed to let Choctaw County apply for the funding of $300,000 dollars. They even extended the deadline for an engineer to be hired until August 1, 2016.
The Choctaw County Board of Supervisors met Thursday, July 21 at 1:00 p.m. and reviewed credentials of three firms in the state with extensive FAA grant writing experience. The three firms the supervisors considered were Cook, Coggin Engineers from Tupelo, Crowder Engineering of Ackerman and Waggoner Engineers out of Jackson. After careful consideration the board chose Crowder citing their familiarity with the project.
FAA issues the funds from the AIP. It non-competitively grants (not loans) 90 per cent of the cost of an approved type of project.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) Aeronautics Division, as a participant with this program, provides a five per cent additional grant to such projects, leaving only the remaining five per cent to be supplied by local sources.
Currently, the Choctaw Economic Development Foundation is going to pay the additional five per cent or $15,000 dollars.
The next step for the project is to finish the grant application, with costs and designs attached, to be completed by Crowder Engineering.
Minutes from the April, May and June 2016 Airport Authority meetings as prepared by Anthony McGee are as follows:
Be it remembered that the Ackerman/Choctaw County Airport Board Authority, 9M4, held a Regular Board meeting Thursday, April 7, 2016 at the Choctaw County Courthouse Boardroom at 6:00 p.m. Board members; Dannie Reed, Alan Hovas, Terry Teer, Ken Paine and Anthony McGee were present. (M is for Motion, S is for Second followed by the vote)
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